"Contraband" - DahopaFilms

Jarred Land said:
Hello everyone,

My name is Jarred.

I have been sober for..

wait.. wrong room.
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Excuse me, sir, but I think you're looking for the thread entitled "Four Minutes".

On pretty much every subject you want to comment on.:eek:

Now, please, stop hijacking this thread.:D
 
Dahopafilms,

I've been a fan since first seeing your ZombieFest short.
Needless to say, you didn't disappoint this time around.

I was quite impressed with your narrative.
Yours is definitely a story that would have gotten the nod of
approval from Rod Serling himself.
In fact, I think that I may have seen a specific Twilight Zone
episode influence....
The Obsolete Man (with Burgess Meredith)?
...or not. You may have never caught it.

Technically everything served the story well.

I am impressed, my man.
Cheers
beer.gif
my man on a nice little film.

Edit: To clarify, I feel your story is totally original. By "Twilight Zone influence" I meant with regards to the cinematography & lighting in the court room finale.
 
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CallaghanFilms said:
Dahopafilms,

I've been a fan since first seeing your ZombieFest short.
Needless to say, you didn't disappoint this time around.

I was quite impressed with your narrative.
Yours is definitely a story that would have gotten the nod of
approval from Rod Serling himself.
In fact, I think that I may have seen a specific Twilight Zone
episode influence....
The Obsolete Man (with Burgess Meredith)?
...or not. You may have never caught it.

Technically everything served the story well.

I am impressed, my man.
Cheers
beer.gif
my man on a nice little film.

Edit: To clarify, I feel your story is totally original. By "Twilight Zone influence" I meant with regards to the cinematography & lighting in the court room finale.
Click to expand...

Callaghan,

I always consider the source (for praise, criticism and beer) and those comments coming from you really mean a lot to me. Thanks very much.

I'm kinda ticked that you mentioned the Twilight Zone episode, because now I have some homework to do! I don't recall that episode, but was (years ago) a Twilight Zone fan (I used to get too scared as a kid to watch the Outer Limits). I am going to hunt down that episode. Thanks for the suggestion.

To be absolutely honest, the influence for the courtroom scene was a combination of limits on budget (I couldn't pour tons of cash into this) and talent (I knew my DP/editor was going to flee the country and leave me fumbling on my own this time - and I simply knew my limits on anything beyond very basic editing techniques in Vegas). I also liked the blown out whites in the sequence from the first Superman movie (the Marlon Brando scene) and so discussed that with Charlene (regarding costume) and Jarred (regarding lighting) for the courtroom scene. Simple idea - they pulled it off.

Again, thanks very much for your words - they are very encouraging to me (as are the other entires in this Fest which again demonstrate what can be done).

Cheers. You made my night.:)
 
Very good overall. How did you get Dakota Fanning? Outdoor lighting and framing were good. I liked the score - it reminded me of "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" - it was kind of like creepy carnival music.
 
I liked the landing (a bit too long, though), it's very believable.
And it's good to see that you care for costume design.
I have the same problem as Macgregor, english is not my native language, so I'll have to watch again my favourite ones to understand everything (yours is one of them).
I'd also use cleaner text in the opening sequence, it's on black, so you don't need shadows or outstroke.

Very good movie
Pablo
 
conrad_johnson said:
Very good overall. How did you get Dakota Fanning? Outdoor lighting and framing were good. I liked the score - it reminded me of "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" - it was kind of like creepy carnival music.
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Thanks Conrad. We actually did get Dakota, but then decided to go with Dejiana because she only wanted a double-wide trailer. It was the best choice at the end of the day.

Regarding the scoring of the Courtroom scene, I wanted exactly the effect you have perceived. Surreal. Bizarre. Carnival (and yes, clowns are scary). Child-like to set off against the pending fate of the young girl. Thanks for noticing.

pabloabad said:
I liked the landing (a bit too long, though), it's very believable.
And it's good to see that you care for costume design.
I have the same problem as Macgregor, english is not my native language, so I'll have to watch again my favourite ones to understand everything (yours is one of them).
I'd also use cleaner text in the opening sequence, it's on black, so you don't need shadows or outstroke.
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Thanks Pablo. The landing scene was simply a case of the editor falling in love with the shots the cinematographer got. And being too lazy to pay closer attention to that scene.

I'd be delighted to put together a captioned version for you and Macgregor. Let me think about how that might work logistically (maybe put a down-rezzed version up on the Stickypod site). I'm in the midst of putting together a behind-the-scenes extra now, so as soon as I'm through that I'd be happy to slap some subtitles on it.

And I hear you (and others) on the opening text. Thanks for that, and I agree.

Thank you both for taking the time to view and the effort to comment.
 
The first thing I noticed that I really liked was the costume design. Sets this one apart in that regard so far. (I still have MANY MANY more films to watch) The cuts were all great, story was well done, and acting was top-notch. The use of dramatic lighting was fantastic in the 'courtroom' scene.

The one thing that kinda stuttered up my viewing experience would be the scrolling backstory at the beginning. It seemed to much thrown in there, but it could be that I am tired and not running on all cylinders myself. :) Its why I only want to watch a few at a time. No burn out allowed this time around! :D
 
chotoboto said:
Yes you know
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Ahhhhh. Finally.

Someone who really gets it.

Life is good.

(Hey ... wait just a minute ... isn't Jarred's middle name "Chotoboto"? Hmmm ...):D
 
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thartley said:
The first thing I noticed that I really liked was the costume design. Sets this one apart in that regard so far. (I still have MANY MANY more films to watch) The cuts were all great, story was well done, and acting was top-notch. The use of dramatic lighting was fantastic in the 'courtroom' scene.

The one thing that kinda stuttered up my viewing experience would be the scrolling backstory at the beginning. It seemed to much thrown in there, but it could be that I am tired and not running on all cylinders myself. :) Its why I only want to watch a few at a time. No burn out allowed this time around! :D
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Thanks very much for your comments. Very encouraging and much appreciated.

Burned-out, tired or not, you seem to agree with many others on the text intro. I'm wondering at this stage (based on the very inciteful and helpful comments) how the short would play with no text intro at all. I wonder if people would still "get" the story on one viewing without the up-front clues. Just a shorter "landing sequence" to start. I'm too close to it now to be objective, but I find the idea of killing the text in its entirety kinda interesting ...

In any event, thanks again for taking the time to view and comment.
 
This film is still up there in my top ten! Really enjoyed it! Just reiterating my enjoyment of this film! :) Great work.
 
Stills - for those interested

Stills - for those interested

Further to one of my earlier posts, here are some stills of Mike Todd getting "lazed". He keeps his eyes closed, but I think he's still breathing ...

 
Hey!

I don't read other posts on a film until after I've posted, so sorry if I repeat...

I really enjoyed your film. You pulled off the twist nicely. I enjoyed that.

Nice effects work, specifically on the shot.

Good score. Really enjoyed that aspect of your film as well.

My biggest and really only major complaint is the acting. It was very subpar almost across the boards.

Additionally, I didn't like the font for the opening text. I can't really say why, but it just didn't feel right to me.

Great work overall! I really enjoyed how you executed a nice idea. Solid work! Yours is in my top 5.

-Robert
 
Quick Disclaimer: I am avoiding reading other comments before rating each of the films, so I may repeat comments others have said to death.

I enjoyed this film, good job. In particular I liked the costume design, especially in the "trial" sequence. I have to admit I had a hard time following the opening text, so I wasn't sure what the story was until the end...that may not be a bad thing, but I kept thinking about what I may have missed in the text while watching the remainder of the film.

The effect of the laser blast was pretty cool, I liked that it was a practical effect and the smoke swirled around him.

Good Job.

Larry
 
Ought2bCommitted said:
Hey!

I don't read other posts on a film until after I've posted, so sorry if I repeat...

I really enjoyed your film. You pulled off the twist nicely. I enjoyed that.

Nice effects work, specifically on the shot.

Good score. Really enjoyed that aspect of your film as well.

My biggest and really only major complaint is the acting. It was very subpar almost across the boards.

Additionally, I didn't like the font for the opening text. I can't really say why, but it just didn't feel right to me.

Great work overall! I really enjoyed how you executed a nice idea. Solid work! Yours is in my top 5.

-Robert
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Robert,

Thank you for taking the time to watch the short and comment on it. Much appreciated.

I really appreciate your positive comments but, of course, I tend to learn more from thoughtful criticisms. Others have commented on the text opening and so you are in very good company with regard to that issue. Insofar as the acting is concerned, to the extent you had issues with it I believe the blame clearly lies with the poo poo director and the poo poo editor (in this case, both are the same person. "OK - I'm FIRED!"). The actors were all very talented people who cheerfully let me borrow their time, energy and talents for this project. Some of them are pros and the rest were not. They also had some very valuable creative input to the story (all the good suggestions I claim entirely as my own original ideas, of course). None were paid, except for Dejiana who took home $35,000 and 40% of producer's net profits (hehehe - I think I really took her to the cleaners on the last part). To the extent they (or any one of them) failed to shine on screen, then the blame rests squarely with me.

And to the extent that this short is in your top five, that is extraordinary, much appreciated and I can only give credit to the team that put this together. I just really hope that you don't watch film number 6 before the deadline for ballot submissions!:D

Again, thanks for taking the time to watch and comment.

(ps - Colin - who played the civil attorney in the Courtroom scene - is a new dad as of a couple of days ago. His wife, Alison, and the baby are doing well, so big congrats to them)
 
Larry R said:
Quick Disclaimer: I am avoiding reading other comments before rating each of the films, so I may repeat comments others have said to death.

I enjoyed this film, good job. In particular I liked the costume design, especially in the "trial" sequence. I have to admit I had a hard time following the opening text, so I wasn't sure what the story was until the end...that may not be a bad thing, but I kept thinking about what I may have missed in the text while watching the remainder of the film.

The effect of the laser blast was pretty cool, I liked that it was a practical effect and the smoke swirled around him.

Good Job.

Larry
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Thanks very much Larry. Your comments are appreciated.

Char and Colin get credit for costumes in the courtroom scene. Craig gets credit for the SPFX in the "lazing" scene.
 
I liked this short. Technical issues aside (sound mostly) which have all been dicussed, there were only a couple small elements that brought me out of the film. Warning: these are pretty nitpicky comments.

The two henchman...the fact that they were hot blondes...I don't know. I hear what you're saying about Abe Vigoda, :) but almost everything else in your story felt more autonomous of the usual sci-fi universe cliches.

This is the epitome of nitpickiness, but I really disliked the fact that they were wearing ski masks. I also hated the judge's yellow turtleneck. :)

Anyway, nice job. Your short felt like it had relatively high production values. You successfully incorporated a pretty large cast, and most of them did great jobs with their lines. You had some very cool effects, namely the landing and the laserbeam, and I really liked the "set-less" courtroom taking place in blackness. Good stuff.

I enjoyed this one!

-Jared
 
I liked this one, thought the acting and the music was pretty good and I also liked the fact that it actually had a good storyline to it.



 
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