Gray Days

I am totally in love with the look of the D90 footage. I love the colors and the grain.

It all went perfectly with the atmosphere and tone of your film.

Of the two, I liked them both, but I would say this one, was my favorite.

Well done.
 
Dang, having trouble opening this one. I'll get it figured out, no worries.

We compressed them as M4V. files to get them to around 50MB I'm able to watch them in I Tunes. If you have I Tunes it will be able to open the files.
 
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.... A part of me likes the dolly shot off from the car and then gunshot... but in some ways, it bothers me because I know what's going to happen prior to it happening. It looks cool but simultaneously detracts from the overall story IMO. I'd almost rather have seen a push in towards the guy which edged her out of frame while at the same time, his actions seemed as if he were humanizing the moment and going to let her live and then suddenly blew her away. Still perhaps predictable... I'm not sure... but its little things such as I'm describing that I notice in films and it can go a long way towards how I feel about it as a whole.

Interesting point you make there. Never really looked @ it like that before...

Many thanks

Ryan
 
First off, I must say that the dolly move before he pulls the trigger to put them out of frame was a great instinct. It reminded me of the dolly move that Scorsese did in Taxi Driver when a very awkward and sensitive conversation is about to occur on the phone and he tracks away to look down the hall.

Overall, I felt that this film exhibited a very strong sense of direction, style, and intention. The music was strong as well, and even though at times I felt the leads got a little off track and fell out of the moment, rendering them a little hesitant, they held very strong.

The lighting in the car around 2:30 is quite good! I feel that the green is just too saturated for realism, even with flouros, but since the whole piece is tinted/toned with green, it stays consistent and works. I guess I just worry about films falling too far into Tony Scott-ville (although you didn't chop the crap out of the film, so no problems there).

There were some issues with sound between cuts occasionally, though. It didn't take me out of the experience. I can stay focused and not let that disrupt the story. It just stays as a mental note for later. ;)

There were just a couple other things to point out, but it's nit-picky aesthetic mumbo jumbo, so don't worry about it.

Really strong entry! I enjoyed it. :beer:

P.S. The gun shots were very authentic! I was also impressed by the blood spatter at the beginning.
 
Just watched this and I must agree that the film was beautifully lit and got so many good shots... I'm so impressed with its look.
I got real confused on the story though as it goes by so fast, they look so similar with the facial hair and I can't tell their motives at times...
 
First off, I must say that the dolly move before he pulls the trigger to put them out of frame was a great instinct. It reminded me of the dolly move that Scorsese did in Taxi Driver when a very awkward and sensitive conversation is about to occur on the phone and he tracks away to look down the hall.

Overall, I felt that this film exhibited a very strong sense of direction, style, and intention. The music was strong as well, and even though at times I felt the leads got a little off track and fell out of the moment, rendering them a little hesitant, they held very strong.

The lighting in the car around 2:30 is quite good! I feel that the green is just too saturated for realism, even with flouros, but since the whole piece is tinted/toned with green, it stays consistent and works. I guess I just worry about films falling too far into Tony Scott-ville (although you didn't chop the crap out of the film, so no problems there).

There were some issues with sound between cuts occasionally, though. It didn't take me out of the experience. I can stay focused and not let that disrupt the story. It just stays as a mental note for later. ;)

There were just a couple other things to point out, but it's nit-picky aesthetic mumbo jumbo, so don't worry about it.

Really strong entry! I enjoyed it. :beer:

P.S. The gun shots were very authentic! I was also impressed by the blood spatter at the beginning.

Thanks Lawsuit Boy your comments are appreciated!
 
Just watched this and I must agree that the film was beautifully lit and got so many good shots... I'm so impressed with its look.
I got real confused on the story though as it goes by so fast, they look so similar with the facial hair and I can't tell their motives at times...

Thanks! I agree that the story is very convoluted and may be hard to follow the first time through.
 
Enjoyed all the movement in this. Well choreographed.

Never quite got who was killing who, or why. A few actors looked the same - or were they?

The Boss character was unconvincing. Cigar didn't help!

The mugging was definitely the weakest part of the film. That next to the guy running and firing is night and day in pulling off convincing action. The opening sequence was great stuff.

Some really beautiful shots here. Really enjoyed the watch.

alex
 
I really enjoyed the cinematography in gray days, really good stuff. Loved the lighting especially in the car, i really loved those one shots in the car as well. you really used the D90 to its potential. and how the hell did you not get any jello-cam? good stuff.

with that said i feel like the acting was one of the weakest points, like some others have said, it just didn't seem natural, and it felt over the top. This is probably one of the hardest things to get right on a no budget indie film, so i understand where you are coming from. The sound in Gray Days was decent, but in Stark Knights it was almost unbearable. It seemed to me that you almost always forgot to record room tone, to cover up the sound edits. its hard because i loved the picture but the awkward sound edits really took me out of the movie. Next time i would suggest just recording 30-40 seconds of room tone in every new location, this way you can lay the tone down under those edits and it will sound natural.


over all good attempt,

again, i loved the picture, but the sound was what detracted from it.
 
The sound in Gray Days was decent, but in Stark Knights it was almost unbearable. It seemed to me that you almost always forgot to record room tone, to cover up the sound edits. its hard because i loved the picture but the awkward sound edits really took me out of the movie. Next time i would suggest just recording 30-40 seconds of room tone in every new location, this way you can lay the tone down under those edits and it will sound natural.


over all good attempt,

again, i loved the picture, but the sound was what detracted from it.

That was my fault completely. I simply ran out of time to really do what was needed in the sound department (@ my pace) on Stark Nights... I was also spent mentally from the shooting every night, working a full time job in the day, and editing for hours on the night before the deadline. Not to make excuses, but it really was the reality of the situation.

Thanks for checking our movie

Ryan Jackson
 
Great, there's room for improvement but the grit and dirtiness of it really feels right.
Noir and some good action.

The beating looks bad and the acting was hit or miss. Overall good job.

On to... apparently the second part.
 
Liked the first half of your Grindhouse-style double feature. Crime is a genre indie filmmakers have to be careful with because it's real easy to step into cliche but this was good. Liked the dark grittiness of it all. Opening action shots were really well done and edited nicely. Most of the acting was good but the delivery of a few of the lines was flat. Oh, and one or two of these guys gotta shave because between the darkness and the beards I did get a little confused on who was who. Good film though. Off to watch the second half.
 
Hey,

The acting in this really struck out as bad in this film. The cuts/editing didn't help it either, felt really choppy.

I liked the cinematography though, although some lighting was to under exposed.

The audio was very good and it sounded professional, so good job on a job that's tough to do in films.

Robbie
 
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