Coming Out Is Hard To Do

Jaime, you are going to hell!!! HAHAHA!!! LMAO!

Funny story.

You camera work bothered me. Seem like if you are going to go handheld, you need to use a handheld style. I felt that you were trying desperately to keep the camera steady.

The lighting was very flat and boring. I know that you can do more than that! That card table scene was too bright. Turned down some lights and add some texture, man!

Your actors gave a perfect tongue-in-cheek performance.

Very entertaining, Jaime!

Congrats,
Ted
 
Jeez Ted, you're fast! I didn't even realize viewing was open lol!

I'm gonna have to download the movies tomorrow...it's almost 1am here (busy night at work)

Thanks for viewing, and letting me know what you thought. I was trying for a handheld look. But a steady-ish handheld? Not vertigo inducing I guess :) The main reason being, that I wanted some sense of movement this time, but I don't have a dolly :)

I think I get what you mean about adding texture (um...you mean like set decoration in general right?).

Thanks again for watching Ted! I'll check yours out tomorrow if the wife will let me on V-Day ;-)
 
Overall I liked it. Funny idea, and the ending was very funny. I agree about the lighting being very flat. The performances were pretty good. Good job.
 
Jaime V said:
I think I get what you mean about adding texture (um...you mean like set decoration in general right?).
Click to expand...

Yeah, set decor helps! But even if you don't have it, you could have flagged some of the light off the walls. They just popped with nothing on them. You needed some break-up on those lights.

I'll be watching yours again and give more feedback later.

Enjoy the fest!

-Ted
 
Only to encourage:
Too shaky overall.
audio needs work almost everywhere.
color correction needs to take place.
the story was not good to us.
Take it or leave it.
 
Thanks MDC. I appreciate any critiques and take from it what I can. Thanks for viewing and taking the time to post your thoughts.
 
Jaime, the biggest problem I had with your film was the lack of production value. While the story was funny, it fell into the trap of looking like it was shot in empty rooms. I would have liked to seen some set dressing here to bring your locations to life.
 
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Jamie, I would encourage you to keep exploring and learning. you're on the path. the biggest problem I had was that it conceded to gay stereotypes. I didn't believe the choices the characters were making, i didn't believe them as people. comedy or not, try avoiding the mockery and farce next time. my 2¢.
 
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Blaine - I can't argue there. I will tack set dressing on to the ever-growing list of things I need to learn how to do much better! Thanks!

Zak - Thanks for the words of encouragement. Re: the stereotypes...it was my intent to make fun of the stereotypes themselves, as opposed to mocking gay people. If that didn't come across properly, then obviously I failed there.

Thanks for viewing and posting your thoughts for me...seriously guys...it's the best way for me to learn, and I have a lot to learn.
 
I have to say... when he "switched sides" I really didn't buy it. Nor did I like the stereotype attached to it. The lisping and such.
I think I see where you were headed with this but I think you approached it too tentatively.

There were some good moments though. The poker game also seemed pretty natural. As did some of the acting.

Cheers,

Mike
 
First, I like hand-held camera work, but this was a little too shaky.

Second, the stereotypes were a little hard to take - even if you didn't mean it that way.
 
Lol great story, really enjoyed the ending. I do have to agree with the others on the camera work though, was a bit distracting. Overall great job :D
 
Jaime:

I think the technical details have been pretty much covered, shaky hand-held and lighting issues. I need to learn a lot more about lighting myself.

I also agree about the poker room set. It seemed like a cool game room like this should have some cool guy stuff in it. It looks almost antiseptic.

Story-wise, I'm not sure that I'm in love with it (no LoveFest pun intended). It seems like you had an interesting premise at the get-go, but I saw the ending coming a mile away. I would have preferred a shocking twist to bring me to the finish line.

I thought that Patty was a pretty good actress.

Take it all with a grain, as I'm not one to talk. My last dvxuser fest entry pretty much finished dead last.
 
Sorry mate. Totally missed the mark for me. Keep going man, seriously there were moments when I thought nice shot. Opening kitchen shot for example. THen the shaky thing .....
 
I liked the music.
I was distracted by the handheld camera perspective. Once or twice the audio was a bit weak – kinda drowned out, but not too bad. In the end, the story didn't work for me.
 
Hey Jaime! Keep pushin' forward, man.

As a writer I have to suggest that when writing about what can be a touchy subject you take special care to treat the matter like fragile glass: respect it when moving from point a to b.

The stereotypes were a bit of a miss although there's a funny moment or two here.

=\ And I just bought two pairs of jeans from American Eagle.
 
Jaime i had fun with this, technically its a bit weak, but you'll improve over time.
The flashbacks were good though, looked like a CSI flashback, and the the fact
that you not only had a gay theme, but a main character coming to grips with
his sexual preference is brave and topical. And it was generally funny.
so aside from the sound and blah cinematography, i enjoyed what you
were going for!
 
Good effort here and there were some good sequences like the flashbacks. Everybody has covered most of the points. I see where you were going with the piece and ultimately it gets there.
 
Guys, thanks for all the comments, critiques and advice! I haven't been able to visit dvxuer for a couple days since I was in the middle of my PC to Mac Switch!

Now I have to watch all the other entries and vote before the 24th!

Thanks again for watching and commenting!
 
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