"DIVERSIONS" - a last minute entry by stinkpot

[Chris Messineo]

Great film. It's such a shame you weren't able to get it in on time.

You're right about your actors, they do have a great chemistry together. They both felt so natural.

I liked the look of this a lot and I especially liked that it didn't end in violence, which was a nice twist, because I definitely thought it was coming.

So, well done, and thank for sharing it.

 

[Chris_Keaton]

Nice film! Although I am partial to everyone dying in the end this was a nice change.

 

[Bigmagic]

Thanks everyone! I'm hoping to get it uploaded late late tonight (thanks to the extended deadline).

As for the H4n... I used my Rode shotgun mic and had phantom pwr at 48. On my DVX this mic sounds great. With the H4n, all I'm getting is a super low recording level (even when cranked up)... it's nothing but mud. Not sure but maybe the xlr inputs are a novelty and I should have just used the onboard mics.

@Mike - If I end up selling it I'll shoot you a PM.

I'm just curious, why didn't you use the dvx for sound?

 

[stinkpot]

"Plus, I couldn't get it chopped down to 6 minutes without it feeling way too rushed. "

this has happened to me almost every fest. and you're right, when you chop it down the story
doesn't work as well. sometimes you gotta make 2 cuts, a dvxuser cut and then a directors cut at the final length. in terms of bad sound you gotta just ADR the whole thing. sucks but its necessary.

Yeah, I wanted to do two cuts but ran out of time on top of it all. Since everything was so rushed and last minute I just couldn't get it done. I'll revisit the audio at a later date and possibly see if the talent wants to do ADR for the hell of it.

Hey, they still let me upload the film for "exhibition only" so check it out if you're curious. I did end up using the audio off of the h4n anyway.

 

[stinkpot]

Great film. It's such a shame you weren't able to get it in on time.

You're right about your actors, they do have a great chemistry together. They both felt so natural.

I liked the look of this a lot and I especially liked that it didn't end in violence, which was a nice twist, because I definitely thought it was coming.

So, well done, and thank for sharing it.

Yeah, the gun poster can really throw ya Thanks for checking it out and I'm really glad you liked it!

Nice film! Although I am partial to everyone dying in the end this was a nice change.

Well, for the next fest I'll probably kill off everyone... since it'll be the spring fest, it might have a "love" theme like Love Fest in the past... hehe.

I'm just curious, why didn't you use the dvx for sound?

Because I'm phasing the DVX out and was really wanting the H4n to do the trick. I got some tips that I'll try with the H4n but if I have to shoot anything soon, I'll do just that. The DVX is a great cam, even now.

 

[Matt Harris]

oh you did get your film uploaded - i loved this! seriously, everything. this was one of the first films i watched. i thought the sound was fine? whats the ptoblem?

 

[ZazaCast]

Great film Stinkpot! I liked everything about it. The acting was wonderful, good chemistry between the two of them. That guy has to be the dumbest 'hitman' I've ever seen...even a kid knows you don't shove a gun down the front of your pants! LOL.
The camera work was good, maybe just a few more medium shots to get a better idea of the surroundings. I know you had trouble with the audio, but it felt like the music was too loud also.

Guns...but hey, no one got shot...that we know of... There was the rest of the night and I'd never trust a woman with a gun.

Really good job on this one, it was a pleasure to watch. Thanks!

 

[Tim Joy]

Great to see this. Very nice piece, and too bad it's not competing. Next time....

Aside from the audio issues, it looked great, had great dialog and very good acting. I like that it's just a conversation. I think that's one of the more difficult things to do- have two people sit down and talk, and keep it engaging, which it was.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[GoodLuck]

Just watched it and have to agree your actors had great chemistry. Wasn't sure where it was going on the intro, you definitely caught me off guard with the story. Very professional looking, think you did a great job on this one!

 

[stinkpot]

oh you did get your film uploaded - i loved this! seriously, everything. this was one of the first films i watched. i thought the sound was fine? whats the ptoblem?

Thanks Defcon. I had fixed the sound somewhat since posting my initial rant. Now that I've uploaded it, I've since gone back and tweaked it even more and it's vastly improved.

Great film Stinkpot! I liked everything about it. The acting was wonderful, good chemistry between the two of them. That guy has to be the dumbest 'hitman' I've ever seen...even a kid knows you don't shove a gun down the front of your pants! LOL.
The camera work was good, maybe just a few more medium shots to get a better idea of the surroundings. I know you had trouble with the audio, but it felt like the music was too loud also.

Guns...but hey, no one got shot...that we know of... There was the rest of the night and I'd never trust a woman with a gun.

Really good job on this one, it was a pleasure to watch. Thanks!

Thanks a lot Zaza! Yeah, the gun in the front of the pants is more symolic than anything -haha!

I agree that the music is too loud... it needed to be run through some filters as well (like room reverb and a lowpass filter for bathroom scene) since it's supposed to sound like it's playing at the bar and not a soundtrack to the movie.

Great to see this. Very nice piece, and too bad it's not competing. Next time....

Aside from the audio issues, it looked great, had great dialog and very good acting. I like that it's just a conversation. I think that's one of the more difficult things to do- have two people sit down and talk, and keep it engaging, which it was.

Thanks for sharing!

When I first read the script I was kind of worried how to poull of a 6 minute conversation... but the bathroom scene breaks it up a bit.

Thanks for checking out!

Just watched it and have to agree your actors had great chemistry. Wasn't sure where it was going on the intro, you definitely caught me off guard with the story. Very professional looking, think you did a great job on this one!

Thanks alot GoodLuck! Personally, I'm surprized we got a decent look out of it since the lighting in the place was awful and one of my kit lights blew a bulb right when we started. Overall, my favs are the CUs after he sits back down.

 

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

This was great. It's a shame that you had the sound issues that you did and you weren't able to get this one in the Fest on time.

Your female lead was gorgeous! Aside from that little tidbit she can really act as well. They both had great chemistry and I was really engaged while watching this. This was shot extremely well. I would have liked a few more wide/establishing shots but that's nitpicking.

Story and dialogue really sucked me in.

Really nice work.

MAH

 

[stinkpot]

This was great. It's a shame that you had the sound issues that you did and you weren't able to get this one in the Fest on time.

Your female lead was gorgeous! Aside from that little tidbit she can really act as well. They both had great chemistry and I was really engaged while watching this. This was shot extremely well. I would have liked a few more wide/establishing shots but that's nitpicking.

Story and dialogue really sucked me in.

Really nice work.

MAH

Thanks Mike! I lucked out with the cast, they look sooo good on screen and did a great job with very little rehearsal.

Thanks for the compliments on my shooting. You are not nitpicking by any means... I completely agree about having a few more wides in there. There were one or two that I shot but they were such garbage that I had to throw them out.

Yeah, it would have been nice to have it done on time to see how we ranked. I'm REALLY going to try to make the next one (planning in advance) on time and under 6 minutes.

 

[RodThompson]

I think it's a damned shame when a CLEARLY TOP 10 FILM gets exhibition only.

My only gripe was the music being overbearing, oh...and the ambient light seemed to be very dominant. I would have liked to have seen more key lighting on the individual actors. Overall, still a very pro piece!

 

[Richard J. Johnson]

great film.

 

[Ben Sliker]

not making it in ... bummer, audio issues ... bummer, everything else, really good.

For me, the part that worked the best was the shot-reverse-shot from behind them. it's really hard to make those shots look interesting, you've got to have good blocking. But it was really effective. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Bigmagic]

I enjoyed it as well, I didn't like the quick cuts to black on each side of the bathroom scene and the ending was unsatisfying for me. I didn't need any more wides since the closeups and reversals were well done. I had a hard time believing the chick could or would pull off what she did but I think that's more because of the lack of time to establish her character than her acting. I thought both actors were good. I loved the DOF in the closeups and I love the shot at the through the bar window. This would have been a very competitive piece and I wish you would have solved your sound issues sooner. Well done keep making movies.

 

[Tom Shortridge]

Shame this didn't make it in time, it's a solid entry.

Nice performances, especially from the female lead.

A little meandering and repetitive in the conversation at the bar - you don't need to spoonfeed every little detail to the audience, otherwise it can come off as overly expository.

The gun down the trousers was a nice scene - I haven't seen that before, but the effectiveness of it makes me wonder why it hasn't been done to death.

You played a little loose with the 180 line at times, but it wasn't too horribly distracting.

This is actually a film I'd like to see continued, to see where these characters go. Definitely felt like the beginning of a feature.

 

[stinkpot]

I think it's a damned shame when a CLEARLY TOP 10 FILM gets exhibition only.

My only gripe was the music being overbearing, oh...and the ambient light seemed to be very dominant. I would have liked to have seen more key lighting on the individual actors. Overall, still a very pro piece!

Wow! Big thanks on this comment. Top 10? ... there are some really good films here.

Yeah, the music was meant to sound like it was playing in the bar at the time but I totally fail as a sound engineer - haha. As for the lighting, I agree, more key and less ambient is the way to go for something like a bar scene. We only had one short evening to shoot this so I was too paranoid to experiment with the light and went the safe route.

great film.

Thanks man!

not making it in ... bummer, audio issues ... bummer, everything else, really good.

For me, the part that worked the best was the shot-reverse-shot from behind them. it's really hard to make those shots look interesting, you've got to have good blocking. But it was really effective. Thanks for sharing!

The behind shots were kind of an experiment...

The script was mostly a conversation at a bar and I still felt like it needed to be broken into three parts. It seemed to work out because the shots from behind are when the conversation is more personally "closed" (not talking about closed framing cuz it would correlate more with open framing)... once he decides to sit back down, it switches to the front CUs which are more open and there is a lot of shared space.

I enjoyed it as well, I didn't like the quick cuts to black on each side of the bathroom scene and the ending was unsatisfying for me. I didn't need any more wides since the closeups and reversals were well done. I had a hard time believing the chick could or would pull off what she did but I think that's more because of the lack of time to establish her character than her acting. I thought both actors were good. I loved the DOF in the closeups and I love the shot at the through the bar window. This would have been a very competitive piece and I wish you would have solved your sound issues sooner. Well done keep making movies.

I've heard that several times about the black cuts... I'll hafta mess around with that a bit.

I have no choice but to keep making movies cuz I am so freakin' hooked on it... as I'm sure most of us on this board are.

Shame this didn't make it in time, it's a solid entry.

Nice performances, especially from the female lead.

A little meandering and repetitive in the conversation at the bar - you don't need to spoonfeed every little detail to the audience, otherwise it can come off as overly expository.

The gun down the trousers was a nice scene - I haven't seen that before, but the effectiveness of it makes me wonder why it hasn't been done to death.

You played a little loose with the 180 line at times, but it wasn't too horribly distracting.

This is actually a film I'd like to see continued, to see where these characters go. Definitely felt like the beginning of a feature.

Spoonfeeding - you should see the lines that got cut! -hehe

Yeah, the gun thing seems soooo obvious. Our female actor actual had wounded her hand prior to the shoot and was grabbing the gun gingerly as to not tear back freshly re-adhering skin... otherwise she would have done a more solid and forceful "grip" which would have really made that insert pop.

That 180 line taunts me at times. I actually have two hinge shots that were to be inserted right where I flop the line but they were so lousy that I opted to flop instead of obey.

Thanks for the good feedback!

 

[Luis_]

Loved it!
the audio was not bad at the bar when he was talking back to her thought!
what I didn't feel was a warm bar environment. It was too bright for me in there.
There was a bright light hitting her neck. the bathroom light was ok.
I usually see flat bright light in bathrooms. I'm going to assume there were
speakers in the bathroom ceiling because the music volume did not change when she opened and shut the door rogar-Dum(DBG):
Yes she was gorgeous and so was the acting on both.
The acting was so good that I don't even know what happened to the
story and it doesn't really matter because the movie was projected so well to me that it kept me hooked. :thumbsup:
Loved the shots, very creative angles and the dof was awesome!
Loved the framing.
I have to say this one hit the spot for me. Incredible work.
I really enjoyed it and would love to see more from you guys.
I was captured good!
Thank you so much for uploading this.
It was really, really great, you should be very proud.

 

[Luis_]

Oh ok, I just saw your comment above about going on the safe side with the light due to limitations. Got cha! Still awesome! lol..