-|- HOSTILE DESTINATION -|- a Film by MAH

Edgen said:
Very cool vfx breakdown.. Thank you for sharing. Was the 2d projection done in AE as well?
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It was done using Vanishing Point in Photoshop, then exported over into After Effects. Except for the ground plane, which was a white solid with a light projecting onto it through a shadow casting layer.

Every trick in the book. :)
 
conlanforever said:
As stated by Defcon, Blaine and MAH...I love the idea of Jacob the cowboy fighting his way out at the end. What then? Like Blaine stated it's a whole other movie.

Jacob hunts Doc down with revenge on his mind. Even though Doc betrayed him...can he kill his only real hope of getting back to his family?

Then there are the reprucussions of their actions. How does the government react to the Peace Beacon's destruction?

How do the citizens handle their new found freedom, freedom to commit physical acts of violence, even homicide? Do they remain in their usual patterns like cows or do they revel in it?
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A lot of great questions that we may entertain someday.


Blaine said:
Or a really interesting feature...:thumbsup:
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Definitely a lot of possibilities, that's for sure. :)

MAH
 
I liked what you did with the concept of the western. The film felt extremely claustrophic, which by their nature, westerns are not, even the other sci-fi westerns didn't have that intense immediacy. The outside world is cold, barren, unlivable, you have to be slammed inside the close quarters. Visually, it was great. The story moved well. I felt the sound design (sound thru the gas masks, etc) got in the way of the dialogue at points. I like hearing 100% of the dialogue even if the distortion is an important part.

Overall: Impressive. Well-done. Congrats on making it really work, and I hope you do more with the story (and then show it to us, b/c I'm intrigued and want to hear more)!
 
Farnsworth said:
It was done using Vanishing Point in Photoshop, then exported over into After Effects. Except for the ground plane, which was a white solid with a light projecting onto it through a shadow casting layer.

Every trick in the book. :)
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Aha. I figured there was some camera projection going on in those shots. Looks great and thanks for the breakdown on Vimeo.
 
I had high hopes for this one after seeing all the grabs throughout the process. And the look and vibe of the film did not disappoint. The contrast of teh light in the masksm with the overall darkness of the world was great and the FX shots were pretty damn cool.

So while I enjoyed it, and it looked fantastic, I was left wanting more - and not just because the ending is a bit open ended. It felt to me like a story beat was missing, like we got to the end without having really worked to get there. (does that make sense!?)

Again, I really liked it, I think I was just a bit disappointed by the story, or lack thereof.
 
MAH, I can't say anything bad after going through scifi short myself :)
Great job! I just didn't quite get what happened at the end, the cowboy went on a shooting rampage, trying to fight his way out, never giving up, right? But is the scientist dead or he is just watching the monitor go to blank (mission accomplished)?
 
namelok said:
MAH, I can't say anything bad after going through scifi short myself :)
Great job! I just didn't quite get what happened at the end, the cowboy went on a shooting rampage, trying to fight his way out, never giving up, right? But is the scientist dead or he is just watching the monitor go to blank (mission accomplished)?
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You got it. As established in the opening scene, Doc is in the Bunker, an entirely different location. It's mission accomplished.
If he was dead he wouldn't have been able to switch off the TV after the explosion. :)

You nailed the rest.

I really enjoyed your entry as well. Nice to see a couple of Science Fiction approaches to the theme. :)

MAH
 
I thought there was a great story here and just really big. I think this does feel like a scene out of a feature, because it is so big. To me, the back story told at the beginning explains the setup for this entire world and then the rest of the film shows you how it ends. . .for now. Great job on this one MAH. You really stepped out of the box.
 
Hi Mike,

It was a pleasure to see this high quality production. The beautiful VFX at the beginning of the short, the photography and your view for great details are exceptional. The score matched it perfectly. Unfortunately I couldn't hear very well the dialog and I couldn't take a position for one ore another character throughout the film - it was for me the same if one or another died.
However - Compliments and good luck for the rating!

Susanne
 
Mike/Doug, I just saw the VFX breakdown - SICK! The outdoor plates really had a nice organic feel. I love the shaky effect as the beacon explodes when the camera pans up. I also love the torch on the intro shot. All the elements are moving very slowly and its so subtle; i keep re-watching it.
 
I like the plastic hanging around the actor and the monitors. I also like the lights in the masks. I also like the idea of making a little short that is in a totally created world. I'm a sci-fi/horror lover and this looks good. I'd say the only thing that would have bothered me doing this would have been the way the cowboy hat looks with the rest of the costume. It needed something but not sure what. Maybe it was the only hat you could obtain, (I wasn't able to get my hands on one in time so good on you) but it didn't fit asa well as the other costumes. Maybe it was too small or something, just seemed to fit too high up on his head. I understand that getting it to fit with that mask was probably a pain to begin with. Dunno just a minor thing. I liked it though. Got a high rating out of me.
 
Defcon said:
Mike/Doug, I just saw the VFX breakdown - SICK! The outdoor plates really had a nice organic feel. I love the shaky effect as the beacon explodes when the camera pans up. I also love the torch on the intro shot. All the elements are moving very slowly and its so subtle; i keep re-watching it.
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Thanks!

It's funny, I kept trying to push that opening shot further, move the camera faster and farther. But it started to stand out because Mike never shoots like that. It always worked better when it was slow and subtle.
 
I just wanted to thank everyone for posting their feedback. I'm taking notes in case I decide to expand this idea further. It has been a really useful tool.

This will probably be my last Fest for quite some time. DVXuser has been a great asset in helping me get off my butt and shoot something. The feedback has also been very constructive as to what I may be doing correctly and where I may have gone wrong. It's taught me a lot.

I'll still be around the forum and checking out the next Festivals as they come so I'm not going anywhere.
But in the meantime I'll be working hard on developing a Feature and coming back here for plenty of help.

It's been a blast! This really is a wicked forum to be a part of and I will miss these festivals. I'll miss the competition.
You guys really set the bar high around here.

Hopefully everything I've learned will help me out as I tackle my first Feature.

Cheers,

MAH
 
Michael Anthony Horrigan said:
I just wanted to thank everyone for posting their feedback. I'm taking notes in case I decide to expand this idea further. It has been a really useful tool.

This will probably be my last Fest for quite some time. DVXuser has been a great asset in helping me get off my butt and shoot something. The feedback has also been very constructive as to what I may be doing correctly and where I may have gone wrong. It's taught me a lot.

I'll still be around the forum and checking out the next Festivals as they come so I'm not going anywhere.
But in the meantime I'll be working hard on developing a Feature and coming back here for plenty of help.

It's been a blast! This really is a wicked forum to be a part of and I will miss these festivals. I'll miss the competition.
You guys really set the bar high around here.

Hopefully everything I've learned will help me out as I tackle my first Feature.

Cheers,

MAH
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Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! sorry.............Noooooooooooooooooo!
 
Michael Anthony Horrigan said:
I just wanted to thank everyone for posting their feedback. I'm taking notes in case I decide to expand this idea further. It has been a really useful tool.

This will probably be my last Fest for quite some time. DVXuser has been a great asset in helping me get off my butt and shoot something. The feedback has also been very constructive as to what I may be doing correctly and where I may have gone wrong. It's taught me a lot.

I'll still be around the forum and checking out the next Festivals as they come so I'm not going anywhere.
But in the meantime I'll be working hard on developing a Feature and coming back here for plenty of help.

It's been a blast! This really is a wicked forum to be a part of and I will miss these festivals. I'll miss the competition.
You guys really set the bar high around here.

Hopefully everything I've learned will help me out as I tackle my first Feature.

Cheers,

MAH
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Oh... I see... now we're going for the sympathy vote! :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
So did I tell you about my Grandmother and what a strain it's been keeping her in the
home while running back & forth to prison to visit my pregnant daughter all the time worried about being pulled over for
driving on a suspended license in an uninspected car?:cry:

Best of luck on the feature... that's great news! ...and it's about time. You know where to find me if there's anything I can help with.

Can't WAIT to see what you do with a feature! :thumbsup:
 
I'm assuming most of the voting is over, this forum has been dead for days. What will be, will be.

Just thought I would share my thoughts as this Fest has given me a lot to think about and I think I'm ready for something else. You can knock me down a star or two if you feel the need. :)

Cheers,

MAH
 
Farnsworth said:
Thanks!

It's funny, I kept trying to push that opening shot further, move the camera faster and farther. But it started to stand out because Mike never shoots like that. It always worked better when it was slow and subtle.
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You did some amazing work, Doug. Hope to work with you again real soon.

Mike
 
I know this is long overdue but here it is:

Starting off, I wish this opening text was segmented into smaller chunks. Just presenting each of the two blocks of text one at a time would probably fix the problem for me.
Fabulous opening shot.
Like the buzzing sound of the light.
The beacon shot is also epic. I wonder if the beacon of light could be just a little brighter/more prominent. Looks great already though.
Ian's accent/character voice seems to shift a decent amount.
Hard to believe the guy with the big gun is much of a threat. He seems more nervous than intimidating, shifting his weight back and forth.
Why do they wear masks? Seems a little unnecessary to hide their faces, when we have no plot reason for them to.
The big emotional moments of this don't work too well for me. It's part line delivery, part pacing. They might work better if we were watching the person who wasn't speaking. I'd rather see Ian's reaction to the line, "I'm sorry, I don't have enough power to transport you back." I think you can linger a lot more on those last moments with Ian. Let us get inside his head, and really feel what he's feeling. The picture idea is beautiful, and I'd like to see you really milk it. If he has to wear a mask, maybe this is the moment where he thinks screw it, and ditches the mask. That alone would be an emotional moment, plus we'd get to see him, which would be powerful.
I do start to get some good emotion from Ian breathing heavily while looking at the picture, before he draws his gun. But then he draws his gun, and it's unclear if he's going to shoot himself, or go out shooting. I'm guessing he wants to go out shooting, so a different shot that shows the gun's angle better would be nice.
Some of the filtered dialogue is difficult to understand.
Stylistically the whole film is beautiful.
The camera moves well, in a way that supports the story.
The very end is difficult to understand, I get that this is largely intentional, but that doesn't necessarily mean I like it.
You're definitely a brilliant filmmaker Mike, and I'm sure your entry will do great. I was way more critical of your entry than others because I want to push you, and see you continually grow. And now that you've got the tools to compete technically with the DSLRs, I want to see you continue to push the emotions and story points of your films.

Oh, and by the way, Russ, I'm glad to see you FINALLY got some of your work produced here. About freaking time.
 
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