IN EXTREMIS by JOHNSON and HYTEN

Not your best work, but, you got another one under your belt. It felt rushed, and having read your thread, I know it was. Hope you have more time on the next one, as I know you can do much better. Look forward to it.
 
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Hey Mark, quite an achievement technically and I admire that. I like the effects you pulled off. Very ambitious given your time issues. Obviously you could have made a better film with more time. The one glaring thing at the end was the sound of your phone conversation. Good work. Hope to grab a beer next time I am in LA.

Jim
 
Jim,

That would be wonderful to grab a beer or four when you're out here.

Regarding the sound and lighting at the end, we truly grabbed that scene in the final hours before we started uploading. Tim was assembling the damn thing in FCP and Blaine and I ran upstairs and quickly grabbed a wineglass and tripod to shoot the thing completely ad lib and off the cuff. We slapped the footage into FCP and rendered it out before we realized you couldn't hear squat! Too late! We had to upload!
 
Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about. Always the best in B T S.

It only means more time equals better product. I know what you're sayin, I did the SAME THING. Next time we'll just have to get the spark or start earlier, yeah?
 
Kholi, you are exactly right. Next time we are going to definitely front-weight ourselves so that we don't end up having to make the Sophie's choice between work and fest. Truth is, that even though we were really tied up, we could and should have used more time to plan and pre-produce.

But that's what makes this all such a good proving ground.
 
Another "writer in pain" theme. Funny how writers resort to that theme so often. Maybe another example of "write what you know"?

Nice opening titles, but I must have failed my Evelyn Wood speed reading course, because I couldn't get through them all in time. But they looked good and served to quickly establish the main character's angst. From a story persepctive, I would have liked to establish the alter ego role a little better (even later on in the piece) so we knew that it was the main character's alter ego and not some lookalike buddy simply enjoying the view with him.

I wasn't too sure about the need for the bridge security guy. Did we really need him for the story? I don't think so. Make him do something next time - like running towards him to try and keep the guy from jumping.

Something odd with the tighter green screen shots. Some shaking and shimmering? But the wider shots greescreen were better.

And I really asked myself - did they really throw a dummy off a bridge - and how much poo are they going to get in for that? But - unfortunately - I was wondering whether you threw a dummy off a bridge - not "did the guy really jump".

Audio on the final telephone call was hard to hear.

In the end, this was an interesting concept, but I'm not sure it was really pulled off. But it was good to see and reflect on and I thank you making it.

Now I have to go and check the mail for rejection letters ...
 
I have some mixed feelings about this film

Storywise, I felt it was just right. A sad story ending in darkness and despair. Not a single shot was wasted and the film was tight. I had some reservations with the technical aspects though

The Audio really didn't shine on this one and in the last scene it really hurt it. Another thing I see in these fests are filmmakers that seemto be afraid to pull the camera back and reveal a world to the audience

When characters are speaking, it does not always have to be Close Up, Extreme Close up, Medium ....

I feel the frame gets muddled quite a bit from this approach. At 1:15 in, we finally pull back a bit and are given a glimpse into the films world; knowing already they are on a bridge.

Another thing that distracted me was the 'habitual beheadings' on every shot. Head room in the frame is paramount I think; and this film just went Jihad on that concept.

The score was very nice and worked very well for me but the audio of the dialogue did not seem well matched; whether it be from peaking levels or the final cut playing the track to loud.

The opening credits, for once in this fest, were worth the time it took to show them. Not only do we get some credits, but we get imagery that supports the short film; the rejection letters and the great use of title montage 'REJECTED!' 'WE REGRET!'

One shot I did enjoy was the POV of the dude getting ready to jump; I think that really worked well.

A lot of familiar names on this project and I am surprised at how many elements didn't come together.

Overall ? I still enjoyed it. Perfectly timed, simple and effective story. Sad. Fits Hallowfest perfectly.

The compositing was a great use of creativty !
 
I wasn't too sure about the need for the bridge security guy. Did we really need him for the story? I don't think so. Make him do something next time - like running towards him to try and keep the guy from jumping.
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Yeah, we actually shot that but simply didn't have the time to include it. We have a whole scene where the officer is trying to engage Patrick and his alter ego is making snide comments including my favorite line when the alter ego sarcastically says "Patrick! Don't go into the light! Don't go into the light!"

Mssrs Bailey and Hudson both offer some extremely valid comments and critiques and we are VERY grateful for such thoughtful comments. John, your discussion regarding camera framing is very much appreciated and worth considering.

We're happy with what we could do given the little time we had and I, for one, am very confident the VFX could all be dialed in with a little more time. I hope to be able to re-key the scenes and add the missing ones at some point.

Again, I can't thank all of you enough for the very thoughtful comments.
 
Hey mark, that video looks pro. I really like the color and the shots are cut well. Nice camera movement as well. I saw you post a few grabs from this and I though it was your Hallows fest entry at the time. Nice work.
 
Hey mark, that video looks pro. I really like the color and the shots are cut well. Nice camera movement as well.
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We appreciate it so much when people who shoot so well themselves see something they like in our stuff. In this case our choice of hiring Steve Parker to DP the project was one of the best decisions we made.

Today we learned the band is getting decent airplay on KROQ so hopefully they'll take off and hire us to produce the next single with a bigger budget!
 
Mark Johnson said:
We appreciate it so much when people who shoot so well themselves see something they like in our stuff. In this case our choice of hiring Steve Parker to DP the project was one of the best decisions we made.

Today we learned the band is getting decent airplay on KROQ so hopefully they'll take off and hire us to produce the next single with a bigger budget!
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Awesome! :beer:
 
Hi Mark and Tim,

sorry it's taken me a while to get to this one.

I just read your BTS page and I thought the guy falling off the bridge was someone doing a bunjie jump so you totally had me fooled on that final shot. Never knew it was cg. Thats inspiring because I've got a similar shot I want to do for another short. Was that rag doll physics or something on your jumper? True some of the final compositing looked rushed, but you can see the potential it had to be a convincing and polished looking piece.

Get in early next time! because you've got the chops to pull off some ambitious stuff :)

It's much braver to do what do did than sit on the sidelines like I did.

Hope you're in the next frst, and I hope I can be too!
 
Was that rag doll physics or something on your jumper?
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I used Endorphin by NaturalMotion. Although ragdoll physics would have certainly worked, Endorphin allows you to apply true behaviors that can look more realistic. Here's how the motion was generated in Endorphin:



Note that the 3D render shown there is without the proper lighting or the cloth simulation on the shirt that would have sold it much more than you see there. As always, the only thing that stands in the way of realism is time and, unfortunately, we just didn't have that much of it for this project.

I have a whole bunch of halfway finished effects for this project so I hope to work on it in my spare time along with some of the other still-unfinished effects in past productions.
 
Hey MarkJohnson,

I thought the story was okay. It was shot pretty well, and the green screen looked decent but I guess I never felt anything for the character and the ending was pretty easy to see coming?

I think you probably could show the story better if there was more shots of the guy maybe before he goes to the bridge to kill himself.

Or you could start the film with him jumping and then we find out later why.

The main actor was pretty good and the dialogue was solid. Good Job with that.

Laters,
Ando
 
Hey Mark & Tim, I finally got around to commenting. I really enjoyed the film. It really had a nice feeling of suspense. The bridge jump was very believable. I'm intriqued by the subject. I wrote a short story awhile back about a jumper on the Sunshine Skyway where I live. I think it ranks about number 4 in suicides. Your movie got me interested in the Goden Gate. I didn't realize there was a documentary recently done on the bridge showing the actual jumpers and interviewing their families. That is bizarre and I will have to check it out. I went back and looked at the film after watching it and couldn't believe without the opening and the last shot it was only 1:13 long. You showed alot and told alot with very little screen time. Your energy is unstoppable. Looking forward to see what you guys do next.
 
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