Dreamland

Yo! Thanks for telling me to check yours out in that other thread. I hadn't watched this one and I'm glad I just did!

First of all, let me say how EXTREMELY jealous I am that you had a metal table and chairs for your interrogation scene... I WANTED THAT SO BADLY FOR MINE but could not find it...

You have a great eye - the cinematography is excellent- Great lighting and great score!

However, I think the acting is a little poor. Particularly from your female lead. The cop plays it pretty straight and it works.. but I think the woman is out of her league for the performance you were asking of her. When you find that the actor isn't giving what you need on set, try thinking of ways for them to re-approach/reinterpret the performance to get something they're more conformable giving.

As for the story, despite my qualms with having people wake up form a dream at the end, I think it worked. However, there's a lot of expositional sh*t you could have cut out and the story would have benefited greatly from it. Mainly, all the stuff about it him being a scientist experimenting with induced out of body experiences... i laughed when I heard that.... Essentially, what you have is a "Show don't tell" scenario. You're telling me all this crazy sh*t, but it means nothing to me unless I see it. If you take a look at my film (not that it's the end-all-be-al word on interrogation scenes), you'll see that there's no telling of things that we don't see. Every-time he's about to describe something, we just cut to it. Obviously, you didn't have the budget (or time) to get into showing us what induced out of body episodes are like - and what the laboratory looks like, etc. etc. WHich is why I suggest that it should have been nixed. Instead, you'd have a story where a woman's husband is in a coma and entering her dreams through some supernatural occurrence, and he's begging her to kill him. Everything else is the same, you're just killing all that expositional "He was a scientist who did this and this and this and this" you know?

Anyway man, great job! Again, thanks for reminding me to check it out! I'm glad I watched it.
 
Darkline said:
this one is near the top of the pile. I really liked the way it all played out but the ending left me confused (yes I know I'm one to talk lol).

So did it turn out that the man in the dreams really didn't die and was invading the detectives dreams as well?

I think it just didn't leave me with a sense of satisfaction because I didn't care about the detective character. The story had been about the woman and your sympathy lay with her all the way up to the end; perhaps if he had been more antagonistic, or even sympathetic I'd have felt something. Still the change-up is the twist and in that respect adheres well to the twilight zone.

anyway, great cinematography, felt very pro. Loved the way you shot the whole interview sequence, all of it felt cinematic (except for the bit where she suffocated him, which lost some of the look you had created).

but i'm nit picking, certainly one of the few that stood out to me. very well done and nice fx too.
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Richie White said:
Maximus, incredible job! Everything about Dreamland screamed pro. The cinematography, grading, acting, score, hell, even the titles. ha ha

This was one of the best shot films in the fest. Really visually captivating. The story drew me. I did have to replay what the apparition said a couple times to understand him. I think it was "Believe".

I have to also agree with Darkline about the suffocation/hospital room shots. They kind of took me away from the visual landscape you created. Maybe a closer CC palette would help. I dunno. This is all just minor stuff that I'm searching hard to offer helpful critique points.

Overall, a really strong contender. A pleasure to watch. Huge production value. Good story. Bravo!
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Thank you for the great comments.

My take on the man in the dream was that in fact he did ask his girlfriend to kill him, to put him out of his misery. She does murder him, his physical self, but ironically, he is now in worse condition than before, neither dead or alive, stranded in limbo for all eternity. He does visit the detective, and says "Believe."

You're right about the true protagonist being the detective. This was a pretty sneaky trick, but it usually works. You give the audience a limited amount of information, and they will make assumptions based on this. You have not actually lied to them, but you have withheld vital information, to be revealed only when you deem appropriate. This is basically the technique used in "punchline" movies like Planet of the Apes, The Sixth Sense, Jacob's Ladder, etc...

To make a long story short about the different look of the hospital, we had about an hour to shoot everything, so it was "run 'n gun" to quote my dp. Basically we just had the camera and available light, so it was shot "doc style" (at least that's how I tried to justify it to myself). lol. If only...

Thanks again.
 
Solid acting, lighting, vfx! Nice film. Though, I’ll give some feedback I got last fest. Sometimes it’s better to see what’s going on instead of having it talked or explained away. I really felt like the film was spent explaining the twist at the end. I’d have liked to piece some of it together through events or something…. Though, the dreamlands concept was great! Wanted to see more!

Otherwise, the film was technically excellent. Keep it up!

p.s. nice comment responses, Maximus. informative!
 
good film. i like the idea of where you were going with the story, although it is not that clear.

great looking interrogation scene when you show both characters at the same time. nice coloring! that said, i guess i will repeat what others have said, too much was told by the woman to the cop. i didn't care that much, much of what she said didn't really add anything to the story.

creepy looking visuals when the woman morphed into her husband in the dream. good job!

acting wise, i thought she was okay, but the cop seemed off. why did he smile before he asked her for the truth? it looked out of place to me.

i do like how you twisted the ending. nice!
 
blindbuzta said:
Yo! Thanks for telling me to check yours out in that other thread. I hadn't watched this one and I'm glad I just did!

First of all, let me say how EXTREMELY jealous I am that you had a metal table and chairs for your interrogation scene... I WANTED THAT SO BADLY FOR MINE but could not find it...

You have a great eye - the cinematography is excellent- Great lighting and great score!

However, I think the acting is a little poor. Particularly from your female lead. The cop plays it pretty straight and it works.. but I think the woman is out of her league for the performance you were asking of her. When you find that the actor isn't giving what you need on set, try thinking of ways for them to re-approach/reinterpret the performance to get something they're more conformable giving.

As for the story, despite my qualms with having people wake up form a dream at the end, I think it worked. However, there's a lot of expositional sh*t you could have cut out and the story would have benefited greatly from it. Mainly, all the stuff about it him being a scientist experimenting with induced out of body experiences... i laughed when I heard that.... Essentially, what you have is a "Show don't tell" scenario. You're telling me all this crazy sh*t, but it means nothing to me unless I see it. If you take a look at my film (not that it's the end-all-be-al word on interrogation scenes), you'll see that there's no telling of things that we don't see. Every-time he's about to describe something, we just cut to it. Obviously, you didn't have the budget (or time) to get into showing us what induced out of body episodes are like - and what the laboratory looks like, etc. etc. WHich is why I suggest that it should have been nixed. Instead, you'd have a story where a woman's husband is in a coma and entering her dreams through some supernatural occurrence, and he's begging her to kill him. Everything else is the same, you're just killing all that expositional "He was a scientist who did this and this and this and this" you know?

Anyway man, great job! Again, thanks for reminding me to check it out! I'm glad I watched it.
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Thanks for watching and the thoughtful comments.

Re. the table and chairs, I hear you! I had a specific look in mind, so I spent a lot of time visiting used furniture stores trying to find what I wanted. I'm sure to some this was a waste of time, but to me little details like that are important, and all together they add up. BTW I got the table for $20 cash and I love it. Now my editing table. The chairs were also very cool, 70s chrome and black vinyl, got them for a $1 each!

I thought her acting was pretty darn good! It was a challenging role, and most people seem to think her performance was very believable. Interesting how different people react to the same thing.

Re. the "show don't tell" rule, in most case I think this a valid, however, not always. Like all rules, they are made to be broken. Basically, I wanted the audience to be in the same position as the detective, hearing this far out story for the first time. He obviously thinks she's nuts, all he wants is the confession. The audience is hopefully also questioning her story, but by adding the brief flashbacks to the hospital, we the audience are identifying more with her. We tend to believe this far fetched story of pseudo science "... induced out of body experience... " although we haven't SEEN any proof. Do we believe her story, based solely on her WORDS ALONE, just like the detective must decide. I wanted to raise a lot of questions before giving the answer to both the detective and audience simultaneously at the climax.

The science element was simply a plot device - a total McGuffin - in my opinion. That's why I didn't feel the need to give it any special attention. It's only purpose was to create the dilemna of euthanasia for Mary.

I appreciate your feedback.
 
Bryce A said:
Solid acting, lighting, vfx! Nice film. Though, I’ll give some feedback I got last fest. Sometimes it’s better to see what’s going on instead of having it talked or explained away. I really felt like the film was spent explaining the twist at the end. I’d have liked to piece some of it together through events or something…. Though, the dreamlands concept was great! Wanted to see more!

Otherwise, the film was technically excellent. Keep it up!

p.s. nice comment responses, Maximus. informative!
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Thanks for commenting. I address that "show don't tell" rule a couple of posts above. Hope you buy it. :)
 
hoz said:
good film. i like the idea of where you were going with the story, although it is not that clear.

great looking interrogation scene when you show both characters at the same time. nice coloring! that said, i guess i will repeat what others have said, too much was told by the woman to the cop. i didn't care that much, much of what she said didn't really add anything to the story.

creepy looking visuals when the woman morphed into her husband in the dream. good job!

acting wise, i thought she was okay, but the cop seemed off. why did he smile before he asked her for the truth? it looked out of place to me.

i do like how you twisted the ending. nice!
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Great comments! I love that the cop smiled. This can be interpreted several ways, but here's a few possibilities. 1. He's been trying to get a confession out of her for hours, and he feels that he's finally done it. His smile is for victory - goal achieved. 2. He's smiling because as a cynical, world weary cop who's heard every excuse in the book, her creativity was truly impressive. His smile is because he found her story amusing. Notice he doesn't smile in her face. He smiles to himself. 3. He smiles because he's a sadistic prick who enjoys seeing others suffer. Any of these, and perhaps a combination of them is a possibility. I loved it - it was subtle and added another dimension to the cop who was basically one dimensional up until then.

The idea that the woman morphed into the man never occured to me. Fantastic interpretation. Works for me! :beer:
 
I liked this film the first time, but second time I watched, I like it even more.
Now, 'Dreamland' in title is a land that the lady is reffering right? 'Entire world of awful, emtpy things'? I was hoping to see a shot of her husband in that world, surrounded by endless white ir something else by that matter. (that nebula thing at the end was cool).

Music is mostly great, but that peak kinda reminds me of some dark location in some fantasy film/game. Not that music is bad-it's great-it just doesn't fits here for me.

That camera shaking while characters are talking is a little to intensive, I believe you did that on purpose. I can't say I love it or not, but it definitly has effect on whole thing.
The story itself confused me, I guess it could be explained in numerous way.

I think this story needs a longer version, cause that twist reveal (?) comes way too quick, and actually, if we had more oportunity to see life of characters (AND that dreamland :evil:) then I may got it.

All in all, a very good job, considering the tech side (audio, lighting etc) I don't really have much to add here.

Well done!
 
Good Movie. It really should have been longer But 6 minutes means 6 minutes. The acting was pretty solid and the lighting was A+. Interrogation room looked authentic. I thought the "cop" should have gotten up and acted a little more scared, because If saw that sh!t, I would have stole the chick in the jaw and broke the hell up outta there. Good job, Fine film.
 
Mile Bozicevic said:
I liked this film the first time, but second time I watched, I like it even more.
Now, 'Dreamland' in title is a land that the lady is reffering right? 'Entire world of awful, emtpy things'? I was hoping to see a shot of her husband in that world, surrounded by endless white ir something else by that matter. (that nebula thing at the end was cool).

Music is mostly great, but that peak kinda reminds me of some dark location in some fantasy film/game. Not that music is bad-it's great-it just doesn't fits here for me.

That camera shaking while characters are talking is a little to intensive, I believe you did that on purpose. I can't say I love it or not, but it definitly has effect on whole thing.
The story itself confused me, I guess it could be explained in numerous way.

I think this story needs a longer version, cause that twist reveal (?) comes way too quick, and actually, if we had more oportunity to see life of characters (AND that dreamland :evil:) then I may got it.

All in all, a very good job, considering the tech side (audio, lighting etc) I don't really have much to add here.

Well done!
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Thanks Mile. Glad you liked it. That smoky environment we see at the end is supposed to be Dreamland. All the souls that are trapped there are smoke like creatures, and the one that materializes into a human form is Jeff, Mary's husband, the same person we saw in the hospital bed. So, you did get a brief glimpse of him in Dreamland after all. :)


filthrich said:
Good Movie. It really should have been longer But 6 minutes means 6 minutes. The acting was pretty solid and the lighting was A+. Interrogation room looked authentic. I thought the "cop" should have gotten up and acted a little more scared, because If saw that sh!t, I would have stole the chick in the jaw and broke the hell up outta there. Good job, Fine film.
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LOL. I have no doubt some people would "freak out" in that situation. I do think that we all react differently to stress, some people actually freeze up. I think the detective is the type who would remain calm and try to assess the situation logically, ie. "What the hell is happening here?" It also happens in a matter of seconds, so there's not much he could do.

You brought up some good points. Thanks for your comments.
 
test

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Hi

WOW that’s an amazing film, everything works so well from the acting to the filming to the special effects and music. Even the locations look great and fit perfectly. Please relay my "well done" to everyone involved. Thank you for the credit that was unexpected surprise.

Should you need a behind the scenes still photographer some day let me know.

Cheers

Barry
loft1489.com
 
barryt said:
Hi

WOW that’s an amazing film, everything works so well from the acting to the filming to the special effects and music. Even the locations look great and fit perfectly. Please relay my "well done" to everyone involved. Thank you for the credit that was unexpected surprise.

Should you need a behind the scenes still photographer some day let me know.

Cheers

Barry
loft1489.com
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Thanks for helping!
 
The interrogator was very "Smoking Man" from the X-Files.

Very cool movie. I love the story and the cinematography. Your actors did a spectacular job, especially your lead.

The jump from crying to "other worldly" kind of threw me but I cannot pinpoint why... if it comes to me, I'll revisit this post.

Great work!

:beer:
 
Hi Maximus,

I must reiterate the fact that it was a blast working with you and the cast and crew that you pulled together for this project. It's a shame that you had to cut scenes but rules are rules and I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for you to decide between which scenes to keep versus to cut. When I look at Mary's pic sitting on the top of the mountain (shown at the beginning of this thread) her blue toes and nails just keeps popping in my mind ... it was chilly but so worth it. What a beautiful place that is. The entire film came out great, the camera work, lighting, special effects and the music just brings everything together. Kudos to a job weel done!

Hope to work with you again soon!

Jeff from Dreamland and all of you should Believe!
(Michel)
 
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I kept waiting... kept waiting... and kept waiting to see that shot of the BTS footage from the mountain. I never got it. Why? So, the end of the movie, I was a little bummed and confused. "Where's the vast epic landscape?"

I really dug your male dr. lead. Dude was creepy and had a pretty solid performance. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of an arc with him, but that's ok... he's supposed to be dry. he's a doctor.

I'm not sure the green color grade worked, but made for an interesting look of the film. Felt I was still in the matrix.

Wonderful score. had many great musical adventures.

congrats on entering!
/j
 
stinkpot said:
The interrogator was very "Smoking Man" from the X-Files.

Very cool movie. I love the story and the cinematography. Your actors did a spectacular job, especially your lead.

The jump from crying to "other worldly" kind of threw me but I cannot pinpoint why... if it comes to me, I'll revisit this post.

Great work!

:beer:
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Thanks for commenting. If you can pinpoint what threw you off I'd love to hear it. I love getting kudos for the encouragement, but it's the critiques that teach. :beer:
 
Jeff's land said:
Hi Maximus,

I must reiterate the fact that it was a blast working with you and the cast and crew that you pulled together for this project. It's a shame that you had to cut scenes but rules are rules and I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for you to decide between which scenes to keep versus to cut. When I look at Mary's pic sitting on the top of the mountain (shown at the beginning of this thread) her blue toes and nails just keeps popping in my mind ... it was chilly but so worth it. What a beautiful place that is. The entire film came out great, the camera work, lighting, special effects and the music just brings everything together. Kudos to a job weel done!

Hope to work with you again soon!

Jeff from Dreamland and all of you should Believe!
(Michel)
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Thanks Michel! I do feel bad that I had to cut the opening scene considering how hard everyone worked on it. I'll never forget Sherry's blue toes! But once I was in the editing room I had to "kill some darlings" for the good of the film. Cutting room floors everywhere are littered with great scenes. Hope to work with you again too.


Edgen said:
I kept waiting... kept waiting... and kept waiting to see that shot of the BTS footage from the mountain. I never got it. Why? So, the end of the movie, I was a little bummed and confused. "Where's the vast epic landscape?"

I really dug your male dr. lead. Dude was creepy and had a pretty solid performance. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of an arc with him, but that's ok... he's supposed to be dry. he's a doctor.

I'm not sure the green color grade worked, but made for an interesting look of the film. Felt I was still in the matrix.

Wonderful score. had many great musical adventures.

congrats on entering!
/j
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You just taught me a valuable lesson. As I mention in the post above, we did shoot an opening scene (Mary's nightmare) on the mountain. It was cut from the movie for a variety of reasons, the main reason being the six minute time limit.

When I started my thread, the only BTS photos I had were of the mountain shoot. I shouldn't have posted that photo in my thread since it wasn't in the movie. You're the first person to mention it (after Michel, the actor who played Jeff) but I set up a false expectation that backfired. It sounds like you were looking forward to something that wasn't going to happen. I inadvertently distracted you from just watching the movie unfold. Lesson learned.

Hitchcock had a similar problem with his cameos. People expected to see him and were so focused on trying to spot him that they were missing the movie. That's why he eventually put his cameos very early in the picture to get it out of the way. :)

You're the second person to mention the Matrix. I honestly never thought of that movie. I thought we were ripping off Bourne Ultimatum. :evil:

Thanks for your comments.
 
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