Calls From The Führerbunker

I thought the music was right on. Like the old Outer Limits or something. Herman did a great job.
 
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As far as "Twilight Fest" goes, this one captured it better than any other IMO. (Still got a few to look at but I am up to zip 9).
 
Zim said:
I thought the music was right on. Like the old Outer Limits or something. Herman did a great job.
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Herman did an incredible job. Hopefully he's seen all the many compliments on his score. :thumbup:

Noel Evans said:
As far as "Twilight Fest" goes, this one captured it better than any other IMO. (Still got a few to look at but I am up to zip 9).
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Good to know. Thanks for posting.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Another great film, Michael!

Such a simple and effective story.

I always love films where a character says something like "There are three things you should know..." Makes me think of Gremlins.

Great acting.

The score does a very nice job of giving the film lighter comic moments in addition to the darker moments.

The one problem I have with the movie is that the nature of having so much of the story in the subtitles means that I had to read very carefully, and sometimes that meant I couldn't take in the images as much as I would have liked.

Showed this one to my wife, and she really loved it. She thought it achieved everything it set out to, which I think is a great compliment to get.

Oh, one more thing. Is the phone ringing during the cleaning montage? Because I couldn't hear it. I'm guessing it's in the mix, but it wasn't loud enough for my speakers to pick it up.
 
Wow, what an amazing film. I'm a big fan of the Twilight Zone and found this to be very true to the Twilight vibe. The camera work, pacing, and acting were all really well done here. You have a great visual eye, and your movie was one of the best shot films in the fest. Kudos!

It sounds silly of me to comment on the VO since my film is almost totally narrated, but this seemed to be the weakest aspect of the "Calls". I know it's hard to do in such a short, but maybe you could have shown the Misch reveal and the unplugged machine reveal more creatively without VO. The line, "and I'm talking to myself" pulled me out of the movie for a moment.

Of course, these are personal minor critiques in an otherwise perfect film. Definitely in my top three films of the fest. Your film reminds me that I have a lot to work on. Awesome job!
 
jasonthewho said:
Another great film, Michael!

Such a simple and effective story.

I always love films where a character says something like "There are three things you should know..." Makes me think of Gremlins.

Great acting.

The score does a very nice job of giving the film lighter comic moments in addition to the darker moments.

The one problem I have with the movie is that the nature of having so much of the story in the subtitles means that I had to read very carefully, and sometimes that meant I couldn't take in the images as much as I would have liked.

Showed this one to my wife, and she really loved it. She thought it achieved everything it set out to, which I think is a great compliment to get.

Oh, one more thing. Is the phone ringing during the cleaning montage? Because I couldn't hear it. I'm guessing it's in the mix, but it wasn't loud enough for my speakers to pick it up.
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That means a lot. I'm so happy that this movie is working for so many people. I worked really hard on this one and it's nice to get a little recognition. :beer:

Yes, the ringing is definitely there, albeit low in the mix and down the hall. I figured if I could hear it on my cheap Toshiba speakers via my tiny laptop that it would be a none issue. It should be mixed higher though. It's better in the 5.1 mix! :)
Glad your wife enjoyed it as well.

Richie White said:
Wow, what an amazing film. I'm a big fan of the Twilight Zone and found this to be very true to the Twilight vibe. The camera work, pacing, and acting were all really well done here. You have a great visual eye, and your movie was one of the best shot films in the fest. Kudos!

It sounds silly of me to comment on the VO since my film is almost totally narrated, but this seemed to be the weakest aspect of the "Calls". I know it's hard to do in such a short, but maybe you could have shown the Misch reveal and the unplugged machine reveal more creatively without VO. The line, "and I'm talking to myself" pulled me out of the movie for a moment.

Of course, these are personal minor critiques in an otherwise perfect film. Definitely in my top three films of the fest. Your film reminds me that I have a lot to work on. Awesome job!
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Top 3!? In this fest I'll take that and run!! :D

We wanted to play with the fact that people talk to themselves on occasion in movies like it's no big deal. Hence the.... "And now I'm talking to myself."
A bit of a minor gag. People talked to themselves a LOT in the old Twilight Zone shows. We thought it was funny, but we didn't overdo it throughout the movie.

Now, I'll take...
You have a great visual eye, and your movie was one of the best shot films in the fest. Kudos!
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and run off through the house screaming like a little girl.
:dankk2:
 
Hey Michael,
this one is really really good! It was so much fun to watch :) The overall mood was just perfect! You fulfilled the twilight theme like no one else.

My only gripe is the ending. Was a little fast for me.

Definitely top 3, which means 9 stars from me. Highest rating together with Cold Calls. Gotta be the phones :D
 
Simon Höfer said:
Hey Michael,
this one is really really good! It was so much fun to watch :) The overall mood was just perfect! You fulfilled the twilight theme like no one else.

My only gripe is the ending. Was a little fast for me.

Definitely top 3, which means 9 stars from me. Highest rating together with Cold Calls. Gotta be the phones :D
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That's an amazing compliment. Jack and his crew are very well respected and extremely talented.

That comment means a lot to me.

Thanks,

Mike
 
First off, I'll come out and admit I'm an old person, and as such grew up on BW television, and watched Twilight Zone and the like as it happened!!

Of all the entries - and there are some trully great and humbling films here - this is the one that screams Twilight Zone.

Many of the old episodes of TZ and Night Gallery left stories unfinished, leaving the audience to participate through imagination what happens next. The ending in this film accomplished just that.

I also got a very Hitchcock feel from some of the camera angles and the lighting. Very nice.

Story-wise this had many layers. History and its horror aside, the irony of one of the world's most murderous and brutal men that ends up a humble and kind Janitor the world pays no attention to, speaks much about the human animal and our thirst for a headlines existence.

The world's great creators and the great destroyers get all the glory, yet a janitor will pass through life unnoticed. ‘Adolf’ picked the best possible hiding spot.

The actors were top notch. Ian never disappoints.

My only ***** is the low volume of the telephone. Course, I have a less-than-desirable sound system, and being old doesn’t help the hearing, so I know it’s there - I just can’t hear it. And, I’m still partial to the off-color subtitles, but clearly I’m outnumbered on that one.

I think we all agree the location was great.


An excellent job. I’m giving you one star just to make a level playing field!! :beer:

aw
 
alex whitmer said:
First off, I'll come out and admit I'm an old person, and as such grew up on BW television, and watched Twilight Zone and the like as it happened!!

Of all the entries - and there are some trully great and humbling films here - this is the one that screams Twilight Zone.

Many of the old episodes of TZ and Night Gallery left stories unfinished, leaving the audience to participate through imagination what happens next. The ending in this film accomplished just that.

I also got a very Hitchcock feel from some of the camera angles and the lighting. Very nice.

Story-wise this had many layers. History and its horror aside, the irony of one of the world's most murderous and brutal men that ends up a humble and kind Janitor the world pays no attention to, speaks much about the human animal and our thirst for a headlines existence.

The world's great creators and the great destroyers get all the glory, yet a janitor will pass through life unnoticed. ‘Adolf’ picked the best possible hiding spot.

The actors were top notch. Ian never disappoints.

My only ***** is the low volume of the telephone. Course, I have a less-than-desirable sound system, and being old doesn’t help the hearing, so I know it’s there - I just can’t hear it. And, I’m still partial to the off-color subtitles, but clearly I’m outnumbered on that one.

I think we all agree the location was great.


An excellent job. I’m giving you one star just to make a level playing field!! :beer:

aw
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Thanks, Alex. I'm glad that I passed the early draft of the script your way for a few final pointers before shooting. I really appreciated your help. :thumbup:

Thanks for the comments and praise.
This forum is only as good as its people and I'm glad that I made some new friendships while making this movie.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Great job on this! Gotta love that location you had, really great creepy feel to it. I wish your older actor, (Ian I think) would have had more screen time, give him just another scene where he's a little creepier. I keep thinking of that movie that Ian Mckellan did where he's an old Nazi. This should be a 10 minute short I think. Just my humble opinion, feels like something I would be seeing on the Sci-Fi channel. Technically, I think this looked great, loved the black and white, really worked well.

best,

Jon
 
Mike,

You wanted a "real" Ben Sliker review and you're gonna get one. Let me start off by saying that this is the best thing I've seen from you yet, and I liked your other films too. You absolutely nailed the theme and it was engaging and fun to watch the whole time. That being said ... :evil: I'm going to get really picky.

Motivation - I think this is the main thing you need to work on, ask yourself for EVERY shot, what does this mean to the film? what am i telling my audience? A lot of times, shot will get cut because of this and there's a few things I think could be trimmed out of this one.

1. The dolly through the chain link fence at the beginning. Cool shot, but it doesn't really fit in. You do a fine job of establishing the environment and the guard through these beautiful static shots. The movement in the fence shot really threw me off. I was expecting something to happen from there. I would have suggested a simple profile shot as he turns to look or even cut back to to long and then go to the slight push in on his face.

2. When he goes to check out the radio in the back and it's not plugged in, please cut out the "nothing's connected" line, it's really redundant, (especially considering the old man ALSO tells us it's disconnected in the beginning) we can clearly see that the radio is FUBAR and is also unplugged. The "must be a recording" line however, is great.

3. Don't overuse the closeup. In the beginning coversation with the old man, you use the close up for the majority of the convo and then come in for this EXTRME closeup of his eye for the dramatic line, which was weird for me. I would have taken it back, use a MS or MCU for the convo and then save the CU for the dramatic line.

4. Art Direction - Your location is AWESOME. In working with a location like this, I think the rest of the details need to be at par with the location. I'm talking about the nametags. Especially cause they play an important role in the film. I would have spent a few bucks and had custom ones made.

5. The interaction between the guard and Chris in the bathroom is really awkward and poorly acted, i giggled.

Like I said, don't let any of this take away from the fact that this is a great and damn clever film. One of the few I've watched more than once. A finalist for me for sure!
 
jpsheets said:
Great job on this! Gotta love that location you had, really great creepy feel to it. I wish your older actor, (Ian I think) would have had more screen time, give him just another scene where he's a little creepier. I keep thinking of that movie that Ian Mckellan did where he's an old Nazi. This should be a 10 minute short I think. Just my humble opinion, feels like something I would be seeing on the Sci-Fi channel. Technically, I think this looked great, loved the black and white, really worked well.

best,

Jon
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Johni is the older actor actually. Glad you liked him. :)

Thanks!

Mike
 
Exactly what I wanted from you, Thanks! I'll respond below in bold below but we agree on some of it.

Ben Sliker said:
Mike,

You wanted a "real" Ben Sliker review and you're gonna get one. Let me start off by saying that this is the best thing I've seen from you yet, and I liked your other films too. You absolutely nailed the theme and it was engaging and fun to watch the whole time. That being said ... :evil: I'm going to get really picky.

BRING IT! :evil:

Motivation - I think this is the main thing you need to work on, ask yourself for EVERY shot, what does this mean to the film? what am i telling my audience? A lot of times, shot will get cut because of this and there's a few things I think could be trimmed out of this one.

1. The dolly through the chain link fence at the beginning. Cool shot, but it doesn't really fit in. You do a fine job of establishing the environment and the guard through these beautiful static shots. The movement in the fence shot really threw me off. I was expecting something to happen from there. I would have suggested a simple profile shot as he turns to look or even cut back to to long and then go to the slight push in on his face.

Let me know if you caught the phone ringing in that shot. It's there, pay attention. Albeit low! The push in through the fence with the phone ringing is my way of having the calls reach out beyond the bunker. I thought it was a little creepy. :)

2. When he goes to check out the radio in the back and it's not plugged in, please cut out the "nothing's connected" line, it's really redundant, (especially considering the old man ALSO tells us it's disconnected in the beginning) we can clearly see that the radio is FUBAR and is also unplugged. The "must be a recording" line however, is great.

Agree completely! Thanks.
3. Don't overuse the closeup. In the beginning coversation with the old man, you use the close up for the majority of the convo and then come in for this EXTRME closeup of his eye for the dramatic line, which was weird for me. I would have taken it back, use a MS or MCU for the convo and then save the CU for the dramatic line.

I went with the closeup on the eyes because I was having fun. Most people thought something serious and evil was coming. Turns out it was just a prank on the audience. Just having fun. I needed more wider shots though, less close. I agree.

4. Art Direction - Your location is AWESOME. In working with a location like this, I think the rest of the details need to be at par with the location. I'm talking about the nametags. Especially cause they play an important role in the film. I would have spent a few bucks and had custom ones made.

Funny you mention that.... I used the exact same type of tag that they used back in the bunker during the sixties. Not so much the badge, but the description and coding. Identical. Sometime real isn't as exciting as the movies.

5. The interaction between the guard and Chris in the bathroom is really awkward and poorly acted, i giggled.

I think when people see the 2 other interactions between the guard and Chris that scene will pull more weight. They will be in the DC. Let's just say that they have some history. :)

Like I said, don't let any of this take away from the fact that this is a great and damn clever film. One of the few I've watched more than once. A finalist for me for sure!

Finalist!? I'll take it. :)
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Thanks, man! I really do appreciate the time you took to do this.
I owe you one.

Cheers,

Mike
 
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Mike,

I re-watched your entry and scrubbed it here and there. Could or should watch a few more times. I also don't know the right jargon for commenting, but here goes.

Details: I like that you paid very close attention to details in narratives in the tunnel. You filmed both characters full dialog from both front and back and the cuts were perfect.

Your use of the ball was a great lead into day time hour, off work at home, doing research. Your use of the ball was one of the best uses of the ball in the whole festival in my humble opinion.

Lighting: It was soft light and pleasing to the eye, and must to have been difficult behind the phone equipment. You let it go to dark as opposed to burning out the highlights. I thought a good job there.

Text crawls were OK, maybe a drop shadow would have helped in the whites and grays.

The German and text crawl was so fast I had a hard time understanding what was said and what was going on. My second review helped me realize that Shoe was Hitler. An important part as it turns out.

The transitions and cuts were smooth and seemed natural to me. I liked the movie the first time even with my not knowing its full implication. The shots were all good and I liked the lighting through out the movie.

Music: was great, pretty near perfect. However, up front with the guard at the gate. There was an eerie sound that gave me a false alarm about something might be lurking around. The eerie feeling passed once we entered the tunnel without any incident and it was soon forgotten. You did an excellent job using music to set the pace. With the before mentioned exception.

I really feel inadequate commenting on someone's work that far exceeds my skill or moviemaking understanding. But maybe there is something in here that reinforces some very good feeling you and the crew must have about your work. I graded it as excellent and among the top and most likely in the finalist.

Regards,

Wayne Beck
 
WayneB said:
Mike,

I re-watched your entry and scrubbed it here and there. Could or should watch a few more times. I also don't know the right jargon for commenting, but here goes.

Details: I like that you paid very close attention to details in narratives in the tunnel. You filmed both characters full dialog from both front and back and the cuts were perfect.

Your use of the ball was a great lead into day time hour, off work at home, doing research. Your use of the ball was one of the best uses of the ball in the whole festival in my humble opinion.

Lighting: It was soft light and pleasing to the eye, and must to have been difficult behind the phone equipment. You let it go to dark as opposed to burning out the highlights. I thought a good job there.

Text crawls were OK, maybe a drop shadow would have helped in the whites and grays.

The German and text crawl was so fast I had a hard time understanding what was said and what was going on. My second review helped me realize that Shoe was Hitler. An important part as it turns out.

The transitions and cuts were smooth and seemed natural to me. I liked the movie the first time even with my not knowing its full implication. The shots were all good and I liked the lighting through out the movie.

Music: was great, pretty near perfect. However, up front with the guard at the gate. There was an eerie sound that gave me a false alarm about something might be lurking around. The eerie feeling passed once we entered the tunnel without any incident and it was soon forgotten. You did an excellent job using music to set the pace. With the before mentioned exception.

I really feel inadequate commenting on someone's work that far exceeds my skill or moviemaking understanding. But maybe there is something in here that reinforces some very good feeling you and the crew must have about your work. I graded it as excellent and among the top and most likely in the finalist.

Regards,

Wayne Beck
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Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for posting. :thumbup:
Herman's score definitely added an entire new element. He really helped create the world that the movie takes place in.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Taking another look at it... i think you should bump up the volume on the OC phone rings. I've shown it to a few people.. and every time i have to point out that there's a phone ringing.. you have a weird effect on the sound to make it seem like it's coming from another room.. i think you should lessen the effect and up the volume a little bit.

PS... AWESME deleted scene. I wish that was in there just cuz it looks so great... but I can see how it didn't really fit.
 
blindbuzta said:
Taking another look at it... i think you should bump up the volume on the OC phone rings. I've shown it to a few people.. and every time i have to point out that there's a phone ringing.. you have a weird effect on the sound to make it seem like it's coming from another room.. i think you should lessen the effect and up the volume a little bit.

PS... AWESME deleted scene. I wish that was in there just cuz it looks so great... but I can see how it didn't really fit.
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Thanks, the new mix will fix any issues. I think it's because we went from a 5.1 mix to a low compressed stereo mix. I can still hear it fine on all my PC's and Mac's here. It is supposed by coming from down the hall though, not the same room.

The new scene was a way to introduce the guard, there's more of that as well. The guard actually pranks him later on as well. :)

I'm not sure what will and won't make it in to the final cut.

Mike
 
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This has jumped into my top ten. I love the sheer concept (not to mention title) of the piece. It's such a Twlight Zone-y / Outer Limits / Perversions of Science idea that I can't NOT like it.

I loved the cinematography and other than issues with the sound mix (granted, POS speakers don't help) this just felt right. The environment / atmosphere were great. And I really enjoyed the German voice acting and while your lead wasn't perfect, he was still able to sell the film for me.

Great job with this!
 
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