"Catch"

same thing basically acting and predictable. another thing though, i noticed that the music sometimes drained out the Dad's audio levels a bit. If you brought that down a bit it would have been perfect. But as the way it was shot and everything from on your part, Great Job! Nothing you can do about a bad cast.
 
Carrying on the tradition from Timefest, the AIM sessions have returned, a live stream of whatever may come out of our heads as we watch your films. Here are Ben Sliker, Brad Mate, and Justin Kuhn's thoughts on "Catch."

Since for some reason, since we couldn't get Adium, AIM and iChat to all agree with each in one chat room, we had to go to an online chat room for the 3-person chats. After almost being molested by a forty year old man in a chat room for "privates" (ben read private chat), we managed to hop on to the chatzy client, which worked well. Note: Never search "free chat" in google and expect what you are looking for.

Jebus: so catch
Kuhn: ok
Ben: Rdy?
Kuhn: ready
Jebus: rdy..
Ben: ok
Ben: 3
Ben: 2
Ben: 1
Ben: go
Ben: BLING!
Kuhn: AAAGH TITLES COMING OUT OF MY EYES
Ben: ooo ... text wipe ... who is this guy? george lucas?
Jebus: again. some title work can go a long way to getting a legit look
Ben: MOM TALKS WITH NODS
Ben: if all else fails, black screen, white text
Ben: the 80s rap video titles ... little distracting.
Jebus: apparently these parents don't allow posters.
Ben: and apparently his wife was in a windtunnel
Kuhn: that's how she keeps her youthful jowels
Jebus: reallly? you are gonna stay up late to catch a ball? don't you have video games?
Kuhn: that's what i did when i was a kid.
Jebus: I said "catch a ball" not "play with balls"
Kuhn: oh ... right ... (*dick)
Ben: GET UP KID
Ben: I WANT SPELL RIGHT NOW
Ben: A-B-C-D-E-F-G ... I WILL KILL YOUR FAMILY
Kuhn: dad is kind of a sadist really.
Ben: it's over?
Kuhn: There's a lot of parent's not listening to kids in this fest ...
Jebus: yeah...turning on the poo pooing light would have helped you look in the closet
Jebus: light helps
Jebus: thats why you die
Jebus: dark=death.
Kuhn: he eats lots of carrots
Ben: "no animals were hurt"
Ben: i guess we dropped the ball on that one for the end of ours ...
Ben: "only freezedried rats were stabbed during the making of Harold Allen"
Kuhn: whata pain in the ass it was to get even that
Jebus: well thats because we tend to hurt a lot of animals to make our films
Jebus: method
Ben: that rat was a pro.
Jebus: cant think like a serial killer without killing animals...
Jebus: and seriously. i didn't get in the film industry to not hurt animals
Ben: we should ahve some insight on this one, since it's about a killer in the closet
Kuhn: I don't think we saw enough of the guy
Kuhn: it wasn't foreshadowed
Ben: im thinking a light passing through window gag for a reveal at the end?
Jebus: there was no twist. the kid thinks there was someone in the closet, then there was a guy in the closet
Jebus: not a big mystery
Jebus: there were so many creepy ideas passed up for a "twist" ending
Ben: final thoughts?
Kuhn: somewhat lackluster I felt overall
Jebus: it was all very ok. sound was fine. shots were ok when they were stationary. i hated the dolly when he's on the stairs and when he walks into his room
Jebus: the story could have been way better with the concept, felt like opportunities were missed
Jebus: no real resolution
Kuhn: agree, if you are going to go scary, play that up, not just a few seconds at the end.
Jebus: good one
Kuhn: I'm a clever boy.
Ben: boy being the operative term
Jebus: the story is about the kid, hes the main character but he disappears at the end. the point of view shifts at the end for a cheap ending
Jebus: that = weaksauce
Ben: good sum up.

HVXOU, i'll try not to re-iterate what has already been said, but I think my bud Brad (Jebus), makes a really great point there at the end of the session, the piece completely switches focus at the end to the father just so he can get pulled off of screen. Here's what I would have liked to seen. If the story is about something scary in the closet, set the entire short in the bedroom. No one is going to have trouble believing that it's bedtime. Play up the child's fear and make the father a secondary character. There was no less than 10 REALLY scary things that went through my brain as i watched this and it made me sad cause i didn't get to see any of them. Good job getting a film across the finish line. Cheers! :beer:
 
Hey I enjoyed this. It had cool retro Tales From the Darkside vibe. I especially liked the music which was very much in that vein with the pitchbend wheel synth etc.

Thanks for the entertainment.

:beer:
 
Hey,

Just caught the piece. I thought the set-up was good and the scary factor worked for me (I was actually kinda freaked out. But then I'm a sucker for tension and music). Good work there.

Lighting was okay, but the production design needs a bit of work. White walls are terrible in any piece unless you want that modernist minimlism, which is not what it looks like here. Also I think this piece could have been improved with on different shot selection.

And I agree with what they said in the AIM session. The POV shifts so we don't know what's going on with the character. Is he being rewarded somehow for not brushing his teeth? Is he being punished via the death of his father, for the piece? I think it's important for us to know how you want the character to evolve, which he doesn't really seem to. I think that could have helped.

But kudos for getting one done. Thanks for sharing and looking towards next time.
 
This was pretty straight forward for the most part. I too jumped at the ending even
though I was expecting it. Finding talent is tough, but that could mean all the difference
in believability even if the dialogue is dull. There's room for improvement here and I look
forward to your next short!
 
Danielleus said:
Hey,

Just caught the piece. I thought the set-up was good and the scary factor worked for me (I was actually kinda freaked out. But then I'm a sucker for tension and music). Good work there.

Lighting was okay, but the production design needs a bit of work. White walls are terrible in any piece unless you want that modernist minimlism, which is not what it looks like here. Also I think this piece could have been improved with on different shot selection.

And I agree with what they said in the AIM session. The POV shifts so we don't know what's going on with the character. Is he being rewarded somehow for not brushing his teeth? Is he being punished via the death of his father, for the piece? I think it's important for us to know how you want the character to evolve, which he doesn't really seem to. I think that could have helped.

But kudos for getting one done. Thanks for sharing and looking towards next time.
Click to expand...


Very helpful response - thanks!
 
A very traditional thriller (in a good way). I like the piece overall but there were a couple of things that have been mentioned already that could be improved. They have already ben mentioned but mostly the lighting. I think that there is a good sense of storytelling here, and a decent concept that can be fleshed out even more. Good to see you in the fest!
 
just wondering, there have been a lot of comments about lighting - not sure what should be fixed. Any thoughts?
 
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