Danielleus
Well-known member
Hey man,
Just caught the flick. I really liked this story and thought you told it in a very interesting and effective way. The production value was top notch. Maybe a little bit too much smoke for my taste (the interrogration scene before the VFX and the woman's bedroom looked to me like there was smoke pumped into the room to get the rays of light, etc.) but the lighting was exquisite. Very nice, very nice.
I'd have to agree with jojopop on the camerawork. I understand your point about creating emotional intensity but I thought it was a little much as well. I think there's a fine line between handheld (i.e. not the solid static stuff on a tripod) and shakey and while this wasn't "shakey" I do agree with that some of the shots do feel forced because of their instance on moving around. Like there were times where I was afriad the actor was going to drop out of frame, which is distracing for me.
The acting, for me (because I believe acting judgements are largely subjective) was not quite there. Or at least it was hard for me to "hear" what the actors where trying to get across. And I'm fully aware that this might be because the girl in the interrogration scene wasn't really her and was the guy in the dreams but it didn't feel to me like she beileved what she was saying. Does that make sense? I thought your actors looked right and the emotion comes across on their faces, but I'm not sure they sounded like they believed what they were saying. But again, subjective.
I'm also left wondering about how truthful the narrator is in this. I love that about this piece, whether intentional or not. How much of what we see is really what happens in the dream and what happened in the actual world of the story. For me it hurts the piece if the interrogrator just wakes up because you have not idea, at that point, where the story world ends. So we as the audience see that the girl wakes up distraught and then she's being interrograted. Then the interrogrator wakes and then the audience is left wondering if he dreamt it all? But how much DID he dream? Did he dream the girl waking up distraught? And what does that say about the story?
That might also just be a structural thing. I'm not sure if there needs to me clearly demarcations of where this ends or where it doesn't. Also, I guess it really boils down to whether you, the writer/director believe that what occurs in his dream actually took place and if you want us, the audience, to think so.
But then, I also really like the structure of the piece and wonder how intentional the ambiguity of all of that is. But I liked this piece and there is a lot of fine work here. Keep it up. I'll definetely be looking towards your next pieces. Thanks for sharing.
Oh yeah, and I really liked you titles and music. Very nice work there.
Just caught the flick. I really liked this story and thought you told it in a very interesting and effective way. The production value was top notch. Maybe a little bit too much smoke for my taste (the interrogration scene before the VFX and the woman's bedroom looked to me like there was smoke pumped into the room to get the rays of light, etc.) but the lighting was exquisite. Very nice, very nice.
I'd have to agree with jojopop on the camerawork. I understand your point about creating emotional intensity but I thought it was a little much as well. I think there's a fine line between handheld (i.e. not the solid static stuff on a tripod) and shakey and while this wasn't "shakey" I do agree with that some of the shots do feel forced because of their instance on moving around. Like there were times where I was afriad the actor was going to drop out of frame, which is distracing for me.
The acting, for me (because I believe acting judgements are largely subjective) was not quite there. Or at least it was hard for me to "hear" what the actors where trying to get across. And I'm fully aware that this might be because the girl in the interrogration scene wasn't really her and was the guy in the dreams but it didn't feel to me like she beileved what she was saying. Does that make sense? I thought your actors looked right and the emotion comes across on their faces, but I'm not sure they sounded like they believed what they were saying. But again, subjective.
I'm also left wondering about how truthful the narrator is in this. I love that about this piece, whether intentional or not. How much of what we see is really what happens in the dream and what happened in the actual world of the story. For me it hurts the piece if the interrogrator just wakes up because you have not idea, at that point, where the story world ends. So we as the audience see that the girl wakes up distraught and then she's being interrograted. Then the interrogrator wakes and then the audience is left wondering if he dreamt it all? But how much DID he dream? Did he dream the girl waking up distraught? And what does that say about the story?
That might also just be a structural thing. I'm not sure if there needs to me clearly demarcations of where this ends or where it doesn't. Also, I guess it really boils down to whether you, the writer/director believe that what occurs in his dream actually took place and if you want us, the audience, to think so.
But then, I also really like the structure of the piece and wonder how intentional the ambiguity of all of that is. But I liked this piece and there is a lot of fine work here. Keep it up. I'll definetely be looking towards your next pieces. Thanks for sharing.
Oh yeah, and I really liked you titles and music. Very nice work there.
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