FLOWER a flyin' monkey films production

Damian did an excellent job finding the tone of each sequence within the film. There is no doubt about that.
 
one more week, still no passport. this sucks. But I now do have a kit of 5 Lowel Totas as a consolation. i would have preferred the passport though...
 
Rodney, first let me congratulate you on the unbelievable task of actually getting a movie completed and entered under extreme circumstances. Kudos to you, the cast and crew!

As always, I enjoy your films and appreciate your constant drive to push your productions to the next level. You are an inspiration and a positive influence to the entire DVXuser community (thank you!). That being said, I feel that sometimes you might over-think your scripts. You often express that you write & rewrite many times before lock…which is a good thing as long as you can keep a viewer perspective. When you get too close to it, you take for granted that the viewer will understand the story as deeply as you. This is what happened to me on this one. I really didn’t understand the complete story. I had to watch it a few times and fill in some blanks, although I still don’t understand who the guy is at the end beating her up? (I’ll go back and read this thread for answers)

I’m not saying spoon feed the audience; just make sure you give them enough so they can figure it out. I’m a little slow, so use me as an example and you’ll be set!

Please don’t get me wrong… I really enjoyed this flick! Good acting through good direction. Nice camera work, although a ZazaSlider never hurts (hint, hint). The score was fabulous as usual. Sound design was good too… but I feel the overall mix needed a little work. Score was too loud in spots and dialogue too soft making it tough to hear what was going on.

The opening credits, as epic as they were (LOVED them!), were too long for the short. I think you were trying to give us the back-story in-between, but I didn’t get enough out of it. Time could have been better used to set it up.

You already know my thoughts on CC and grading… I’m a “Less is More” kind of guy. I don’t know if it was just the compression or what, but seemed a little too dark and saturated for my taste. Weird thing is, I could only watch this file through the WD Media Player on the plasma, on the computer I just get a green screen and the audio only?

Despite the comments above, this was a very well done film (as usual) and I would expect nothing less from you. Cast and crew deserve a “hat’s off” for their performances. Great job all around! I’m looking forward to your next production.
 
i did an illadvised thing during production. I rewrote the ending 2 days before we were to shoot so ALL confusion comes from that last minute rewrite. I'd actually wished that I;d shot both endings since the first one was so poignant, but that was where monster envy started to play in to it. I should have stuck to my guns and it would have been a much more satisfying tale all around. Everything, including the opening credits would have made more sense, but what we have now is a slightly different creature.
 
Rodney,

The opening credits by themselves were worth the price of admission for this one. Yes, they were long but they were also great.

Now, for the rest of the movie. I haven't followed the thread but I understand there were some "issues" in shooting this. I liked the story and the way you built the tension. The foggy breath in the presence of the monster was a good device.

It seemed they got away from the monster and got home a little easily BUT if they'd be caught, that would have been a different story, right?

My biggest question, though, was: "Why did she leave the damned circle?"

Good job. I enjoyed it.
 
Rodney V. Smith said:
one more week, still no passport. this sucks. But I now do have a kit of 5 Lowel Totas as a consolation. i would have preferred the passport though...
Click to expand...

Sorry, I think I missed some of the drama w/ the passport. Would you mind getting me up to speed on the passport story? Sounds like an interesting tale.

BTW: I did like the music. Didn't have much of a problem with how it was mixed either.
 
Nice over all feel BUT I freaking loved the opening credits. The burning the names thing is really cool, I'll probably steal that in a few years when I think enough time has passed and no one will remember where it's from. Nice work bro.
 
Rodney -

First, sorry for getting The Tell stuck in your head. Oh, wait, no I'm not. Muhahaha !

Again I was excited to watch your film as you do an amazing job bringing us into the process and all the ups and downs. I think especially for people who don't work in the industry it is really important. For this film, I liked the underlying idea and the locations were really cool. The opening credit sequence was a bit long for me (although very creative and pretty) and I had a hard time following what exactly they were doing during the sequence. That was too bad as it was critical to the underlying story. I thought your framing and shot selection was real mix of very cool moody shots and some disjointed ones. My take away is that I think the story just wasn't clear enough and it took away from all the things you did well. I want to see a story from you that is more clear so that your production value and directing shine and are not lost in viewers (at least dense ones like me) saying "now, wait, who is that guy...what are they running from....etc. Hope this makes sense.
 
Rodney-

You have an ambitious film here, which is great. We should all keep challenging ourselves and not rest on our laurels. Trying to improve is the whole idea! As others have mentioned, I had trouble following the narrative that you wove into the opening credits. Visually, the credit sequence was sweet and maybe that is what distracted me and I didn't pay close enough attention to what the actors were telling me. So, starting off a little confused it was tough for me to catch up to the story on first watching.

Throwing a character in at the end also caught me off guard. Suddenly there is another person there, who is he? The monster keeper? Some evil spirit? The devil perhaps? I actually liked the idea of the character, so finding a way to allude to him or show him earlier would have been good. Maybe one of the scenes where they are running up the street he's seen in the distance?

Finally, I have to comment on one line of dialogue that made me laugh, though certainly it was unintentional. When they are crawling in the window after having been chased by a monster the woman stops and says "Sorry about Dave." And her delivery is really flat which for that line made me laugh. "Sorry your buddy Dave was eaten by a monster that almost caught and devoured us as well...." There just wasn't enough emotion from both actors in that moment.

I liked the handheld look as well as the grading/composition on most of the film, though there were a couple instances where it seemed off.
 
Alright, Saul Bass Jr., I love the ****ing opening credits. I think you could make a career just doing that kind of stuff.

I was able to go with the flow until the end when that other demon/monster/bad dude showed up. I wasn't sure who he was or why he was there. Almost like he was part of the film before it started, you know what I mean. (Unless I missed something.) Then I'm thinking maybe the monster was his pet or ???

I think you kept the tension up pretty well. I think you have to be careful in not giving the audience what they expect. For example, the guy and the gal go from talking about having to climb up the side of the place to the roof in order to get in and then, BAM, they're up on the roof. Audience expectation is that we are going to see them make the climb, and hopefully, all the tension and drama that would go along with that. Maybe the monster is following them up the side, too, etc. Time could have been an issue. If it was not possible to shoot "the climb", probably would have been better to just get them in the house throught the front door. Once in, they hear something upstairs, dude goes upstairs and sees the open window. Freaks. Turns around, BAM! It's the monster. and it gets him.

Hope I'm not rambling to much. Your film gets me thinking as a filmmaker, in a GOOD way, so I tend to ramble a bit when that happens.

So I liked the story idea. Thought your main actors did a good job. Maybe the execution of it all was a little sporadic I think.

Oh, and did I mention the opening credits were ****ing crazy good?!?!?!

Thanks for sharing!
 
opening credits were awesome, but as people say too long. i had some difficulty following the story, this felt like it was cut down from something longer. i like the style of it quite a bit, and i'm happy to see we both used a ring of candles for demon summoning! we obviously both have experience in that area.
 
I enjoyed this movie. Your camera work and pacing were great, and your actors do a good job. One thing I would have liked to have seen was different shots after Paul is pulled through the window. When Becky is running down the stairs and you cut back to the window, I would have liked to have seen what was happening to Paul.
 
I'll be back tomorrow to resume my reviews and to answer any queries. Trying to finish up a pre-production package here that involves rewrites and polishing... a LOT of it, so bear with me.
 
I'm not really sure what to think as I was fairly confused about what was happening. A lot of your setups look good and I thought your actors did well, if they had a narrative that was easier to understand it'd work cleaner.

The opening credits are super money, they just dont belong on a 6 min short, but they are very well done.

The image was rather soft on a lot of shots, were you trying to pull your own focus? I tried once and it's very difficult. I also think your images would work better with less grading, the vignetting got pretty intense at times.

A solid step for you, good strong pacing and great locations!
 
I watched this again a second time and it was easier to follow the story the second time around for whatever reason. As everyone's said, those opening credits were killer. I didn't think they took too long or were out of place since they tied into the story and you intercut them with the setup of what's going on. Although I do have to admit I might have skipped over them a little bit the first time I watched this and maybe that's why I couldn't follow it as much haha. Anyway, I also liked how their breath would get cold when the demon or whoever it was got near. One of the POV shots reminded me of that Denzel Washington movie where a demon keeps possessing people. Anyhow good job. The only things I really had a problem with were a couple of the segues seemed a little abrupt- like when they start running in the park to when they stop on the street, and when the monster comes through the window to when she's already running down the stairs. But I did like this one
 
Hey Rodney!

I haven't been giving any of the films my usual lengthy reviews this time around because I've been super pressed for time lately. Sorry man. :(

But, I did enjoy seeing a new work from you! I share most of the same concerns with the film that others have expressed. While I thought the film seemed a little disorienting in almost a detrimental way, I was still able to follow everything happening. However, I do feel that the film somehow exhausts most of its energy so quickly that by the time it's through, one isn't really sure how they felt about the atmosphere. The opening credits seem to emphasize a style that doesn't really come through in the film. The production design didn't seem to be as strong a supplement (or even compliment) to the story and genre of the film.

Anything else I had difficulty with has probably already been discussed. Anyway, I'm sorry I couldn't get more detailed. Regardless, keep shooting! :thumbsup:
 
Flower - features a very original title opening / credit sequence that is understandably long (because it looks so good) but it does intercut efficently with shots giving us a hint of these characters peril and predicament.

There is some nice colour and grading - and the music is effective too! The performances by the chap are effective (but our blonde is bordering on the edge of meh-ness!)

Nice little edge of suspense with the piano on the street, and having to sneak up into the house.

Some of the FX are overkill (smoke puff in the window is a bit unconvincing) i generally like the colour grading (pushed saturations) its a vivid look, not disimilar to 'Strange Days' in some regards.

Evil necromancer dude is amusing and brings in a nice end!

In all this is a competent step up from Strange Days, the story is more coherent, and while there are technical inconsistencies and performance inconsistencies, it is overall a solid entry.

My biggest criticism really would be that the film acts more like a promo for a prospective feature, and would not really be considered as a standalone short film in my book. Something to bear in mind, that you will be stuck making films that struggle with coherence if your continually attempting to fit 'bigger stories' features into short spaces like this. I think that is this films only drawback, the resulting compromise to story.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top