From the Future: A Musical

kudos. Great Job. Fun, lighthearted and funny. & a catchy song.

My favorite bit was the watermelon that barely fit into the picnic basket (well, that and the loaf of bread). Really good comic bits.

My only knock would be the framing. It's certainly not easy to run around a grassy hill and keep the actors in frame, but (as I think someone mentioned) a stedi-cam would've been nice for those shots. A few other minor technical things to address....which have been mentioned.

Again great job and I'm glad someone not only made a musical, but they made one very well. Congrats!
 
WOW. WOW WOW. You said musical and you sure as hell delivered. I sat there slack-jawed at the whole thing. Really, really amazing.

I agree with the guy above that the framing might have been a little better set, but man-o-man was this fun.
 
Very well done. I was excited when I found out you were doing a musical, and you didn't leave me disappointed.

I love the whole pre-musical bit. I would have changed a bit of the dialogue around, but I love how you played with the concept of time-travel. Some great lines in here. I love the concept of a "future-self" coming back in time with a completely irrational story. The "date" is awesome. Hilariously ridiculous.

I almost feel like you shouldn't have advertised the film as a musical. Because it's a six minute short and has a long build-up to the song itself, calling it a musical has everyone waiting for the music to start. What if you had presented it as a normal short, then busted out in song and dance out of nowhere to everyone's surprise? Just a thought.

I also think the musical portion could have been more over the top. Although it was great, it seemed almost mild in comparison with the ridiculousness of the intro. I felt it could have used more jokes and ridiculous lines.

As a whole, I really liked it. I'd love to see what you could do with more time.
 
Lots of fun. I liked the girl imagining getting murdered all those different ways. Nice editing in that scene.

My fiancee and I have been singing the song for days.

There's room for improvement in the acting and camerawork, but good job.

Oh, and best last line of all time.
 
Brad and Ari, do you have more songs?

...not to take away from the rest of the cast and crew because you guys did a great job...

I know a little about musical theater (or theatre...whatever)...words and music come from someplace rare.
 
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Where are you guys from anyway? I'd really love to work with you. Oh and I thought the female lead was perfect for the role. Really great acting on her part!
 
We're in northern VA for the summer, but we go to school all over. I go to USC, Kate goes to Northwestern, and Ari goes to William & Mary.

Ari and I had cobbled together a really odd musical before that was the start of a series called Otto's Magic World. The movie was really poorly and cheaply made, but eh... it was fun. I'll PM you a link, Indy.
 
Dude, this was frickin funny. There are a ton of ways things can go wrong trying to pull off a musical, but I can truly say you have delivered here. I thought the song was funny as hell, but even more so, the stabbing at the beginning was frickin hilarious. Great job. People should definitely check this out.
 
Wow, that was extremely entertaining! I loved when she kept picturing Chris killing her, I actually laughed at that point. Then the singing came in and it turned into a party and a half. Very unique, and very well done. I only had two minor beefs:

1) Would someone really let a total (and seemingly crazy) stranger in just like that?

2) Matt's line was a little cliche "You won't believe this, but I am from the future..."

At any rate, those things are small. Great job and good luck!
 
Holy crap, two amazing films in a row (just watched RPDM, which I love). Some of the entries in this fest are outstanding, and this is one of them.

This film is totally different than the others, and in a very, very good way. It's so totally original and funny to boot. No one seems to attempt true comedy in these fests, and this is comedy done exceedingly well. It maxmizes the basic raw materials you had available (a few totally solid actors, a video camera, and musical+directing talent) to make my "other" favorite film in this festival.

I have no criticisms of the film. Okay...only one little one. The song goes on just a smidge too long for me, but this is true of almost every musical I've ever seen, so you're being true to the genre! ;-) So much of the film is unexpected and funny, I felt like I was in the hands of a real entertainer.

I do have a criticism of Conspiracy Penguin's criticisms though:

1) Would someone really let a total (and seemingly crazy) stranger in just like that? Yes, they would in a world where people time travel and sing out loud in the middle of a public park with full piano accompaniment. Would they sing harmony, though?! Now that's really pushing the credibility factor.

2) Matt's line was a little cliche "You won't believe this, but I am from the future..." The line is the funniest line in any DVXuser film I've seen, because it's actually "This is gonna sound crazy, but I'm you from the future." It's funny because it's a total play on the cliche...and uh, he's a guy!!! I frickin' died. This filmmaker should be writing network comedies and making big dollars. Brilliant. If someone can't catch that this is spot-on parody then...I can't imagine how you find anything funny ever.
 
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I really wish you had more production time because I think this is amazing for what it is and what it needs to punch it up to a great level is production value. Which means dragging HMI's and a tighter choreography and better costume design... these things take time. But for what it is it's a top 6 piece just for trying and what you've accomplished.

Congrats and thanks for this.
 
Hey Sean, even though I agree with a lot of what you're saying, you don't need to give Nick a hard time because he didn't find some lines as funny as you found them.

Everybody appreciates different styles of humor differently. If somebody doesn't find a line funny, that doesn't mean they aren't smart enough to see the humor in it. It could mean that, but it's a little presumptuous to think that is the case in all circumstances.
 
Not keen on musicals, and was kinda enjoying it up til they started singing, having said that, i did, to a certain extent, enjoy this short.
well done!
 
Holy smokes. I can’t believe I just watched the entire thing. Boy, I feel so happy and gay right now.

Man, way to go and balls'ing out on doing a musical about future and whimsy theater cats prancing around on a lush green lawn by a lake. Man. That was just weird.

Random Guy walks up to girls house. Girl lets random guy in house. Girl leaves random guy at house whilst going out on a date that he deemed to be a mistake. Girl daydreams of death and random guy dances around her like happily and merry. Guy has been stalking girl from the future in which he repeatedly lies to her. Girl accepts the guy and they fall happily in love.

If I had friends who did that around me I’d punch them in the face.

Again, congrats on finishing your film and going all out on this one.
 
Musicals never make sense. Even the forest animals in Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer join in musical numbers for no reason at all. That's just the nature of the "musical" beast.

I really liked this entry. There have been a few other shorts that were technically superior, but this one was one of the more entertaining flicks. This film needs some sort of prize.
 
Duff said:
I almost feel like you shouldn't have advertised the film as a musical. Because it's a six minute short and has a long build-up to the song itself, calling it a musical has everyone waiting for the music to start. What if you had presented it as a normal short, then busted out in song and dance out of nowhere to everyone's surprise? Just a thought.
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Actually it's interesting you say that, because it was a tough decision whether to advertise it as a musical or not. Ideally I would have liked to do as you said and have it be a total surprise when the music kicked in. But since I'm a nobody on this board and this is my first fest, I decided to sell out and include the ": A Musical" in the title so that more people would want to watch it.
 
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