First short film

That Det. chick is pretty hot! The story seemed OK. I had problems hearing some of the dialogue. The overall volume was kinda low, but that might be my computer here at work. Alot of the images were blown out, and that seemed to hurt the overall look of the piece. I think some CC could have helped it out alot. Good effort, keep it up.
 
I think the editing on this piece is very tight and proffesional. with some nice CC it could look very cool.

- Derrick
 
I think the story was pretty good. The only flaw I saw was the bb gun barrel. The music, acting, camera work, and editing were good. Keep up the good work :thumbsup:
 
yeah, i did, and i thought the shot selection and editing were its strong parts. acting was harsh, lighting wasn't great, and a lot of shots were out of focus.
 
Well done on time limit. Its not badly shot for a student film (shot selection/ scene transitions) only...

Umm.I've spoken to the D.A. about this one, its ok I know her well. I'll be honest and I get paid pretty well, a million pounds...hehe sorry...I thought the male cop was very lazy, he was hardly looking for the badguy-2 in that backyard forest and bagguy-1 was just too smooth with his brandy glass, (damm him for getting away!), nice of him to leave the video and fill us in, we will get you badguy-1.

I think what I'm trying to say is the story...err...was a bad choice/ route, sorry but if your using inexperienced actors, a verbose crime story will only show their shortcomings.
Also script was very tacky/ done before/ twists? / CSI/ Hard to pull off without turning into a comedy/ least planned?/ unrealistic.

None of us will learn unless were honest. This industry is built on rejection.
I offer my own opinions. 17:57 too long, its not strong enough to hold their attention.

No negative comments only constructive criticism.
J.P.
 
The Awful Truth

The Awful Truth

The Awful Truth :thumbup:

The Good:
1. Cool intro, descriptive, interesting to watch, necessary story setup.
2. Pretty good editing, nice flow and movement, interesting cuts. (The strong point of your film).
3. Edgy, in your face camerawork, works well for this film.
4. Overexposure of backgrounds works for some of the shots.
5. Pretty actors (except for the guys).
6. Some really cool shots (the bathroom mirror). (00:05:57)
7. Some good lighting choices in the house (refrigerator scene and just past it). (00:06:06)
8. Interesting story, a little wordy but still interesting (less is more with dialog sometimes).
9. Some cool transitions (what was that "thing" we panned in front of)? (00:06:42)
10. Some cool lighting in some scenes (the motivated blinds lighting the lawyer). (00:07:25)
11. Good use of tension building music in the standoff. (00:12:38)
12. Good compression quality (yes this technical aspect is important).
13. You didn't use a Magic Bullet Filter, bonus points for that!
14. Ambitious undertaking in a short amount of time. This doesn't appear to have been shot in only a few days, well done.

The Bad:
1. White titles on white backgrounds. (00:00:45)
2. Crossed the line a few times throughout the film. This leaves us spatially confused. (00:01:18)
3. Poor dialog delivery in some scenes, the main detective is your best actor.
4. Subjective camera angle when the detectives are talking to the lawyer (first encounter), but they aren't looking at the camera. There are a few shots like this where the cameraman appears to seated next to the seated lawyer. (00:02:18)
5. Sound quality is poor at times.
6. Overexposure of backgrounds doesn't work for some of the shots (try not to directly film an open window unless you get scrims/filters to lower their light emission -Expensive).
7. Lens flares from flashlights and the sun throughout the film.
8. Flat, uninteresting lighting in some scenes.
9. Some blurry shots. (00:02:10)
10. Some unnatural dialog, To person on phone after hearing knock foley: ".. oh there's someone at the door". Don't hit us over the head with it, we know there's someone at the door! Next time try "oh could you hang on a sec.." (00:08:50)

& The Ugly:
1. Twenty year old lawyers, detectives, and hitmen, what is this world coming to?
2. BB Guns might have been loaded, danger on set!
3. Evil villains that spill the beans. You had two of them, both bean spillers.
4. The old adage is true, good guys finish last, but he does get a date with Jr. Detective Monica Hotchick.
5. This isn't ugly but it's a classic, shameless attempt of "I put my sister/girlfriend/best friend in the movie in a scene that doesn't make sense" (00:05:51)
5. No gore.
6. No nudity.

Summary:
All in all it was an interesting little film. The run time was a bit too long, could have been say 12 minutes or so. The acting and dialog were weak at times, but interesting shots and story make for a fun watch. Some of the acting was redeemable. I usually watch student films & Star Wars fan films for the morbid curiosity of seeing just how bad they are. I didn't feel that way at all after watching your film, I felt it was a good effort. Keep at it, find what you do best and exploit it to it's full potential. I cited more goods than bads so I gave you a thumbs up, though some of the goods are a stretch!

Statistics:
This film has a total running time of about 17:40.
Of that total running time, about 3:00 minutes are credits, intros, and/or company logos.
The director's name appears 11 times throughout the film.
The film version viewed was a Quicktime file with a file size of 55mb.

DISCLAIMER
The Awful Truth is me being completely honest about what I think is good, bad, and just plain ugly (ugly items are merely items of which I poke fun). Please know that I point out these things to help you see what others might see. In other words, take it with a grain of salt, it's your film. I mean no offense by my random musings, nor will I defend my opinions because I could most certainly be wrong. However, I have experience in things such as this, so I'm entitled to have said opinion. This method of critique was born out of necessity. For years people were so constructively un-honest with me (i.e. not giving me The Awful Truth), that I couldn't seem to learn how to do things better. I grant the gift of one man's truth to you. Reader beware, for The Awful Truth will be told again.
 
it's alright but that one scene where they search is house...the establishing shot is of the outside of a big house, then they enter and his bedroom is right by the front door? that makes it too obvious both those locations weren't the same. also - fakest hair combing ever. and they live together? he's banging "his novice partner Detective Monica Patterson?" the story wants to be serious but needs to be tighter and darker to make the audience feel it.
pretty good overall thou for a first effort.

what eqipment did you use besides the dvx100a to make this, stabilizer, mic, editing program etc? i'm just curious
 
cshelton said:
The Awful Truth :thumbup:


13. You didn't use a Magic Bullet Filter, bonus points for that!
[/SIZE][/I]
Click to expand...
What's wrong with Magic Bullet? I would take just about any preset on Magic Bullet, over a bland looking image anyday.
 
I used a Shotgun mic, on a fishpole for audio, and some shop lights for lighting. That's it. And, a crappy tripod. Anyhow, thanks for the reviews, I am getting some more direction of where to improve on my next project....
 
The actors are way too young for the parts they are trying to play. Next time, hold auditions for actors and specify an age-range.

Not a bad job though, some smooth editing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top