GHOST FISHER - A Film by Jace Brownlow

Hawk Teflon said:
You had me at Evil Dead 2. No pressure or anything, but I'm REALLY looking forward to this!
Click to expand...
Oh no! lol… Well we did our best for a 4 man crew and an incredibly little budget. Its kind of a mix of elements from evil dead, mainly the cinematography/ quirkiness. No blood in this one.
 
SPOILER REVIEW: Do not read further if you have not watched the short!

I could definitely see some Evil Dead 2 influence in this. Great job!

The good: The concept! It's very different from everything else I've seen, and I like that! Even though it's mostly shot outside, I like the lighting on the fisherman. I like how it's not harsh on the face. Very nice! The special effects of the green goo ghost were well done as well! Tracked nicely, and I believed it was there. I also liked how the ghost jar fell. He hit the chair that shook the pole that hit the jar that fell over. Multiple things happening, not one.

The not as good: The shot of the guy getting out of the truck was almost a luma matte it was so black OR white. Kinda confused me. Also, watch reflections of lighting off of glasses (indoors with the ghost behind him). And, I don't know the going rate for a ghost, but $4? Seems kinda low. The main guy breaks the 4th wall to say, "They're ghosts." I don't think it worked as well as if he was just telling the kid. Also, how did the fisherman get outside if the ghost wasn't there yet?

Favorite part: I actually said, "What is he watching?!" There have been a couple of tv shots with weird halloween movies in this fest. Yours made me laugh.
 
Hawk Teflon said:
SPOILER REVIEW: Do not read further if you have not watched the short!

I could definitely see some Evil Dead 2 influence in this. Great job!

The good: The concept! It's very different from everything else I've seen, and I like that! Even though it's mostly shot outside, I like the lighting on the fisherman. I like how it's not harsh on the face. Very nice! The special effects of the green goo ghost were well done as well! Tracked nicely, and I believed it was there. I also liked how the ghost jar fell. He hit the chair that shook the pole that hit the jar that fell over. Multiple things happening, not one.

The not as good: The shot of the guy getting out of the truck was almost a luma matte it was so black OR white. Kinda confused me. Also, watch reflections of lighting off of glasses (indoors with the ghost behind him). And, I don't know the going rate for a ghost, but $4? Seems kinda low. The main guy breaks the 4th wall to say, "They're ghosts." I don't think it worked as well as if he was just telling the kid. Also, how did the fisherman get outside if the ghost wasn't there yet?

Favorite part: I actually said, "What is he watching?!" There have been a couple of tv shots with weird halloween movies in this fest. Yours made me laugh.
Click to expand...

thanks for the feedback! Yeah the shot with the black was supposed to be a silhouette because I didnt want anyone to see the fisher's face until we walked into frame with the title appearing. But it just ended up looking messy :p. as for what was playing on the tv http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPZZW3ERIjQ this is a short fake trailer I made over the summer. I grabbed a piece out of it and put it on the tv.
 
Alright just watched this one and on a whole I liked it, though there were some places to improve.

What I loved - As stated by others the concept of a ghost fisher is just awesome, very unique and creative. Also if there was a man who made a living or even had a hobby of fishing for ghosts, you casted him. Though some of the dialogue did not feel genuine here or there, the man seemed like the character. I liked a couple shots, the one where he is making his catch and he puts his goggles on, and a few others. Also, I liked that you added what he was watching on tv, its fun to show that and to put some of your other content in there.

What could be improved - I didn't like some of your camera angles/cuts, specifically in the scene where he is selling the ghosts to the kids, and the exchange between him and the ghost at the end outside. I also was not a fan of the silhouetted car shot. If had just been the fisher that would be one thing but we essentially went from seeing a white car to now seeing a black car and I was confused as to if we were still at the same scene or not. Also, when the ghost is taking over/becoming the fisherman, I would do away with the shot of the flower and the shot of the mushroom cloud, they seemed irrelevant.

All in all it was still entertaining to watch and again a great concept.
 
Spoiler: Review
Great unique story. Nice tracking. Main thing I would change is probably remove the selling of the ghosts. Doesn't move the story a long and is strange that he is selling them for $4.
 
thanks all for the feedback! :) In the words of Ed Wood "Worst movie you ever saw? Hm… Well my next one will be better!" :D
 
thetvirus513 said:
Alright just watched this one and on a whole I liked it, though there were some places to improve.

What I loved - As stated by others the concept of a ghost fisher is just awesome, very unique and creative. Also if there was a man who made a living or even had a hobby of fishing for ghosts, you casted him. Though some of the dialogue did not feel genuine here or there, the man seemed like the character. I liked a couple shots, the one where he is making his catch and he puts his goggles on, and a few others. Also, I liked that you added what he was watching on tv, its fun to show that and to put some of your other content in there.

What could be improved - I didn't like some of your camera angles/cuts, specifically in the scene where he is selling the ghosts to the kids, and the exchange between him and the ghost at the end outside. I also was not a fan of the silhouetted car shot. If had just been the fisher that would be one thing but we essentially went from seeing a white car to now seeing a black car and I was confused as to if we were still at the same scene or not. Also, when the ghost is taking over/becoming the fisherman, I would do away with the shot of the flower and the shot of the mushroom cloud, they seemed irrelevant.

All in all it was still entertaining to watch and again a great concept.
Click to expand...

thanks for the feedback! :D Seems to be a consistent theme with my films. Always a good idea, but if only it were in the hands of an expert :p ah well we did our best. Next time we hopefully will have a bigger crew/budget.
 
SOME SPOILERS AND DETAILS AHEAD
I think the first place you really have to start looking at this is the story. You had a few good things going on in terms of concept and your composition. You had some really nice shots going on, especially at the start of the film with a nice dolly movement. If you had really wanted to avoid seeing the Ghost Fisher's face, you should have lit for that or just shown his feet, so see if you can edit around that. The point where he steps into close up was pretty nice though and it would have been a good story point to actually see him use his goggles in the search instead of just costuming. It would have been nice and dramatic to introduce him that way. Great shot in any case. And you had my interest. You kept it well and built some tension with catching the ghost... that was when it turned into a wacky comedy with the sped up camera and the selling of the ghosts, and you kind of lost me.

I had actually committed up to that point and I was maybe willing to go with it a little further, but storywise the selling of the ghosts (and at $4 what a bargain!) just didn't go anywhere and felt like needless exposition that wasn't delivered well. Him explaining what ghosts are to little kids... unless you have a comedic genius actor on your hands, it doesn't sell very well. If you take that entire part out, since we're actually expecting something to result from this scene, either conflict, adversity or character defining, it doesn't affect the movie at all.

Your Foley work distracts from the film since none of the footsteps actually match. If you're going to do Foley, it must match what's happening onscreen. You can do it yourself instead of using clips you find on the internet.

Now here's the thing: I actually enjoyed the rest of it. It was just that one scene that threw me out of it. The shots you had when the ghost appeared and chased him were pretty good, well lit and effective. It was nicely edited together and shows what you can really do. I just kept imagining what a better actor could have brought to the performance, but at this point I didn't mind the actor so much.

Overall better dialog and better choice in actors (and killing the sale scene) would vastly improve the film. You got out and you made it and brought your vision to us effectively. It was a little trippy at times but as a result was a little uneven. Once you find the correct balance of comedy and horror you'll be an extremely effective filmmaker. I hope this review helps.
 
I laughed out loud when he walked into the graveyard and the title name clicked. No fair - I think he should use lighter test line and give them a fighting chase. Should have lost the first one that bit, no green ghost give away, build suspense. Didn't see what he used for bait - of course it's important! Wish you milked the fishing a bit catching more than one ghost, maybe catch a small one, and throw it back. Agree the sfx footsteps and clunk of the camp stool didn't work. Odd there wasn't any sfx footsteps when he left. When he was selling the ghost, he said "ya don't eat them", but didn't explain what ya could do with them. Even if it was just colored smoke in jars with lights that were pretty to look at then say so, but don't open them. The "Time to go line" was priceless. Loved it! Wish you'd knocked the lighting down once the ghost got out - more scary. Didn't care for the red ghost - normal old dead guy would have worked. "I'll kill ya. You know I will." Said to a ghost? Maybe something else in the ole tackle box might pose a threat? When he woke up - again wish more time had past and it was night. The audio track was off at 4:54. All in all, unique - brilliant! Just needs a bit of polish on a spinner bait to sell.
 
It looks like the tech issues were addressed. You had a good concept which could've been good a couple ways, but you went campy which is fine, but this is a scare fest and there are just too many funny films. But I did like it for the odd humor and the ghost's ridiculous side burns. :)
 
You did some fun techniques i appreciated here: good dolly shots, nice muted color correction,
1:38 the fast motion, in fact 1:25 to 1:38 is pure raimi goodness... am i right? Cool shots and edits.
i think the guy selling the spirits is needed because it shows what he does with the souls once he gets them.
3:00 - when the fishing pole knocks over the glass container, this is confident directing. I wasn't a huge fan
of the overall story, but I think you're a pretty cool director and I'd like to see what you do next!
 
Holy ghostbusters, man.

I'm not sure what to feel about this one. Interesting premise, but technical flaws throughout. Swapped axis, subpar sound design, strange cartoonish audio fx, and a pure unpleasant bliss of strangeness. I do give you that. This film is strange in an odd other yearly way.

It would be nice to see a little backstory to the fisherman and the hippie and why he picked him out of all people in the cemetary. I understand he was a creepy perv selling souls to kids, but why the hippie? Was there a contrast between the two? a connection?

lots of questions unanswered and the film just left me hanging.

I applaud the efforts and looking forward to your next round.
/j
 
Radical, Dude!

Way left field on this one, and I love your effort on doing something that sticks out!

Best line: "That's a sweet deal!" She delivers it with such an attitude :)
 
Edgen said:
Holy ghostbusters, man.

I'm not sure what to feel about this one. Interesting premise, but technical flaws throughout. Swapped axis, subpar sound design, strange cartoonish audio fx, and a pure unpleasant bliss of strangeness. I do give you that. This film is strange in an odd other yearly way.

It would be nice to see a little backstory to the fisherman and the hippie and why he picked him out of all people in the cemetary. I understand he was a creepy perv selling souls to kids, but why the hippie? Was there a contrast between the two? a connection?

lots of questions unanswered and the film just left me hanging.

I applaud the efforts and looking forward to your next round.
/j
Click to expand...

just remember this is an evil dead homage, if you have ever seen that movie you will see that weird/cartooniness is what makes that movie a horror classic. And yes it would have been very nice to have developed the character a little better. Its just that with such a short timeframe to tell the whole story, I had to cut literally 5 mins of footage. Their were loads of other details that I removed for various reason. Either way I knew from the first day of shooting this wasn't going to be my best film. But it sure was a heck of a lot of fun to film :) probably the most fun in fact
Oh also, the only reason we had the dude a hippy was the fact that… you never see ghosts from the 70s :p their always from the 1800s or sometime around then. I am all about changing the norm. Doesnt make it any better of a film, its just the fact I like things to be vastly different from anything else. Some understand, others dont. Ah well, but hey thanks for the feedback!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top