Ecclesiastes

as much as it's killing me to admit, i am really doubting that my entry will be finished for the deadline. in pre-production i got carried away and wrote a 15 minute film, but kept the spyfest rules in mind and came up with a story within the film that i could focus on and film an alternate ending for. however, after spending 20 hrs or so of editing over the past week i'm coming to the painful realization that it's next to impossible to create a coherent 6 minute film out of what i've shot. even with the shorter alternate edit i can't fit all the necessary scenes into a 6 minute structure. so unless a miraculous 6 minute edit of the storyline comes to me in my sleep tonight, i won't make this fest. after i get some sleep i'll most some more screen grabs or maybe even a scene of the film and ramble on about the experience and what i learned

on a positive note i am still 100% committed to finishing the 15minute version of the film and already have a local premiere planned in July
 
Chris, hopefully you can find that 6 minute cut ... would be a shame not to see you enter after all of this hard work. That said, I understand the trials & tribulations of trying to get a solid cut out of something that was created to be much longer. Best to you on that.

With regards to your Letus issue, on the first page, I'd suggest setting your zoom/focus on the camera while CONNECTED to your computer. Your computer is showing the full overscan, which is what is also seen on other people's computers and/or when you do projection onto a screen, etc. ... so it's best to just set it for those, then you're safe for TV as well. What you'll need to do is zoom further into the ground glass ... you'll lose a little bit of your field of view, but at least you'll get into the sweet spot of the ground glass, and lose the vignetting you currently have.
 
im back! amazing what a night's sleep will do for some creativity. i've still got some editing to do, but with a few new cuts I've got a version of the film right under 6 min. sorry for the false alarm!
 
like how this was shot. story didn't do much for me but i still thought it was good overall.
 
thanks, the story is better in the longer cut of the film, but I'm happy with what I could fit into 6 minutes. your comments are appreciated
 
yeah, I thought it was quite a cool little short film.
I'd be interested to see what the 'extended' version looks like.

The lighting was great. I really enjoyed the colors in the film.

Enjoyed the music as well. Love piano themes.

Where did you shoot the scenes with all the gun action going on?

I was wondering if you had any reservations or any problems shooting because of the whole Virginia Tech thing? We were going to shoot part of our film on a college campus, but after what happened at VT, we decided against it.
 
I shot the exterior part of the gun scene at my apartment complex. I went into the office and told them about the shoot and they were suprsingly very cool about it. I told them I would post a sign and I also posted flyers at the door of every apartment in the adjacent buildings saying what was happening. My apartment complex is across the street from my college so I used the old "Student Film" title to get more leeway. The shoot went really smooth and everyone who walked by was very nice and respectful of our shoot.

I was a little worried about the whole Virginia Tech thing, especially since my main actor was asian too, but luckily had no problems and so far no one has taken offense to it.
 
Wow, I really liked the mood of the film. The shooter and his wife did a realy good job with the acting, very natural. There is something very dramatic when someone can achieve a stillness.

The pacing of the piece was well executed. I wanted the speech given in front of congress to be a bit more sophisticated, but that is a minor point. All and all a strong film.
 
that speech was actually the "press conference" the day before her presentation to congress (I knew that would get mixed up having two seperate presentations written into a short script, but if you pay close attention to the newscasts I believe it's clear), that's also why it wasn't as sophisticated (plus there was no way I could realistically recreate the look of congress)

thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it
 
One thing I liked: the beginning scenes, the lead looks very convincing.

One thing I disliked: the speaker's acting skills.
 
realistic congress or not, it was well made for the given premise. the look of this short is right up my alley and I will like it ALOT just for that. (performances were fairly good too). great stuff.
 
that scene wasn't supposed to be congress (see my post above), we never actually make it to the congress scene, that was the press conference the day before. thanks for the compliments
 
Wow.... really enjoyed your film dude... some comments

The Positives:

Look and Pace. The look of your film was real nice natural, and gritty. It reminded me of the Bourne films. Nice look! The pacing was also really well done... moved just right... didn't feel long, or too short...

Performances. All real spot on and natural, great job throughout!

Storyline. I really liked the twist at the end... it really worked for me, and played as believable.

Some Negatives

Sound. Some of the sound was unbalanced.


Wow, not a lot to say negative here... I really liked your film! Thanks for showing!
 
Question: the scene cutting between your protagonist and his intended victim was obviously shot on opposite ends of the same couch (with same picture frame on wall). Was this intentional or simply the result of having a limited set to work with?
 
Enjoyed this movie...liked the cuts where she can't sleep. Loved the concept!
Couple of things that bothered me a bit...I loved the acting, but I would have liked the pace of the conversation between the husband and wife in the beginning to be quicker....it felt a little pause speak pause speak. The face wash cut.....it felt like she was setting it up almost. Something like that I wouldn't even let her know that the cut is going to happen in editing and just have her wash her face...may have felt more natural. I loved them sitting on the same couch.......I suppose it's because they are in the same hotel....but I would have liked less landmarks like the coffee table, frame and side table so that it didn't seem like a limited set issue.
 
Good job. This film kept me engaged. Looked good and sounded fine. I liked the sequence in the hotel rooms with the assassin and the lady. I agree with the point that you could have changed the rooms up a little bit, or even have changed the lighting a little bit, maybe making the guy's room darker.

One thing I really like is the political aspect of the story. I feel maybe you should have turned that up a couple notches.

I enjoyed it. Thanks for screening.
 
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