INTERFACE by Dark Overlord Pictures

This was one with real ups and downs. I really didn't feel that the long first half of him recording his own monologue worked. I think this was a basic structural problem with the script. Then suddenly we are in the clinic and everything's much better. I loved the black and white colour scheme with all the writing on the walls and the broken mirror. Some great shots there. And the violent cutaways were great for creating the atmosphere of the clinic. Then the end of the world/nuclear war thing passed be by really. It was written on the wall, so your character had presumably seen it in the future, but it seemed to be a bit of an add-on at the end.
It was well worth it for the clinic scenes though. Those walls had a definite 80's graffiti feeling to them which I really liked.
 
Interesting concept. It would be scary to have something like the ending happen. I am still confused as to why that happened, but I applaud you for making this on your webcam. It is time to grab a 24p beauty of a camera and get crackin. I look forward to seeing what you do.
 
Yeah KUDOS for what you did with this and how you did it... I like the concept and it did kinda feel those errors that I get now and then where it is just cycling in a redundancy loop or something along those lines, but it seemed like there could be some clarification.
Overall... good job!
 
Hey,

Just caught the flick. Gotta say, I really really liked it. I like the elliptical nature of the whole thing (I just did a movie for LOVEfest with the same kinda structure) and commend you on writing and conceiving such a layered and intricate work.
This is a very interesting piece. I like that there are, overall, a lot of different ways of looking at it. Or maybe just one, but it's a bit of a maze to get there. I think you're right that the pieces are all there. For my money, I'd say work on making some of it a little more apparent. Not necessarily putting it in people's faces but kind of pushing us in the right direction. Best laid plans, right? As an audience member, I want a clue as to what I should be looking for. I know, it's all there but as the creator you see it much more vividly and directly then we could. It made a lot of sense to me the second go around but if I hadn't read some of the other posts, I wouldn't have had a second (third even) go around to try and piece it together. I think, if you downsized some of the layering (I know, it hurts) you could spend some time breathing some room into some of the scenes and maybe directing your audience too.
But I really like what you did here.


SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




The thing that gets me is the girl. I get the split personality stuff. I get that she's one of his personalities (I'm right there, right? Hence DJ and his own name) but where does it happen? It's hard cause when we see her in the, what I can only allude to as the present, it seems that she's physically there (I would have liked to have her only be in the mirror. I think that would have pushed it even more. Alas, she's in the web-cam shot). For me, I would have liked a how/why she is there/one of the personalities. If I missed something PM me and I'll watch it again.

I agree with the comments about the news reporter. It seemed a little silly. Pinning Obama to it hurts just because it gives it a name. We COULD fire nukes on China, but putting it Obama makes it seem.....fake. But I liked what you were doing and I got it. And I understand what you were going for (I read your earlier reply about being thrown in front of the camera, etc). I think he got that "I was just thrown in front of a camera and have no idea what these words are" down fine. I think it was missing the "damn, this is incredibly nerve racking as the end of the world is approaching and being in front of a camera unnerves me" would have tipped it more, for me, towards credibility.

Overall I think this is a great film that has an amazing attention to detail, subtlties, intricacies, and an interesting plot. I like that you took the idea, and the device, thought about how you wanted it to work, and then made it personal my investing it in a specific character. Love this piece, love your work. Congrats. Next time, slightly better equipment, eh?

Well done.
 
I like the idea of telling the story mostly through footage from his webcam and the other cam he has set up. I think it would have been cool if everything could have been done this way, in a Cloverfield way where you could pretend that this was all found footage.

I'm not quite sure if all the logistics work in your movie. He calls himself from the future, but it appears that he never makes the call that he recieves in the past. And even if he did, it seems unlikely he would be particularly excited, since he would already know that his device worked. Am I making any sense? I'm not sure I'm making sense to myself. All I've got to say is, time travel is a tricky *****.
 
Very intriguing concept, though I thought you cheaped out in making it a 'is he crazy?' sorta flick. Loved the creative reasons for using a webcam and handycam.

Also loved President Obama nuking the world :-)
 
Danielleus said:
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




The thing that gets me is the girl. I get the split personality stuff. I get that she's one of his personalities (I'm right there, right? Hence DJ and his own name) but where does it happen? It's hard cause when we see her in the, what I can only allude to as the present, it seems that she's physically there (I would have liked to have her only be in the mirror. I think that would have pushed it even more. Alas, she's in the web-cam shot). For me, I would have liked a how/why she is there/one of the personalities. If I missed something PM me and I'll watch it again.
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Well, the audience is suppose to make the determination if DJ is real or not. There are two ways to look at it. SERIOUS SPOILERS:

In the case that DJ is NOT real (the present timeline is 2008), she is shown in the mirror and on the webcam. She appears on the webcam b/c there's a screen open on the laptop that Davie sees and she's there b/c Davie sees it. And in the mirror b/c DJ and Davie play chess with each other through this mirror. Since DJ is a personality of Davie (think Fight Club) she knows exactly what is going to happen if he tests his 'time travel program', hence the initial conflict between the two (DJ knows what Davie knows). The fabric of this dorm room life will be destroyed and DJ will no longer exist, revealing the truth = Davie is crazy and living in this mental institute. Several of his multiple personalities are revealed to him and he throws the baseball disrupting his dorm room world. At the end of the short he does not accept the truth he slips back into his dorm room world again.

In the case that DJ IS real (the present timeline is 2005), then the time travel program works. He really does chat with himself. But it's too much information to know and ultimately trying to tell people of the end of the world in 2012. People think he is crazy and they lock him in a mental institute 3 years later. Since he is theoretically still testing his program, he sees a glimpse of his future in the mental institute and this doctor talking about his mental illness. But he really is not crazy. Also on his computer screen is the future nuclear war (the third window at the end is his future graduation from college).

In both scenarios the ending is open ended. "CONTINUE Y/N? N" So does he not continue down this crazy dorm room world and accept his mental illness OR does he not continue looking into the future saving himself but letting this future nuclear end of the world happen?


Danielleus said:
I agree with the comments about the news reporter. It seemed a little silly. Pinning Obama to it hurts just because it gives it a name. We COULD fire nukes on China, but putting it Obama makes it seem.....fake. But I liked what you were doing and I got it. And I understand what you were going for (I read your earlier reply about being thrown in front of the camera, etc). I think he got that "I was just thrown in front of a camera and have no idea what these words are" down fine. I think it was missing the "damn, this is incredibly nerve racking as the end of the world is approaching and being in front of a camera unnerves me" would have tipped it more, for me, towards credibility.

Overall I think this is a great film that has an amazing attention to detail, subtlties, intricacies, and an interesting plot. I like that you took the idea, and the device, thought about how you wanted it to work, and then made it personal my investing it in a specific character. Love this piece, love your work. Congrats. Next time, slightly better equipment, eh?

Well done.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the great feedback and taking the time to watch the short. Yes I was limited by equipment and lack of a crew so I focused completely on story and tried to shoot with the limitations I was given. But next time I'm raising the bar for myself and submitting an entry that is on par with some of the better entries.
 
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jasonthewho said:
I like the idea of telling the story mostly through footage from his webcam and the other cam he has set up. I think it would have been cool if everything could have been done this way, in a Cloverfield way where you could pretend that this was all found footage.

I'm not quite sure if all the logistics work in your movie. He calls himself from the future, but it appears that he never makes the call that he recieves in the past. And even if he did, it seems unlikely he would be particularly excited, since he would already know that his device worked. Am I making any sense? I'm not sure I'm making sense to myself. All I've got to say is, time travel is a tricky *****.
Click to expand...

Technically we are seeing the first iteration of his time travel test, so they are both excited. That's why Davie sat there and rub his head and eyes, he had to prepare his past self to know he was making the call back to himself. Now my head hurts from overthinking it.
 
haha this was a crazy film, cool concept and the clinic wall indeed looked great.
I liked the reality style that was going on in this. "i'm totally posting this on my myspace"
 
Cool concept for this one, Like Jasn said I got a little lost in the paradox portion, time travel is very tricky to pull off, you run into problems like prior knowledge and seeing yourself, but its all fun, good job,.
 
I really liked your story/concept. Good job.

I also liked seeing your DV REBEL book....maybe you should read it. lol...just kidding. I love that book as it has become a bible of sorts. One thing that bothered me (about your piece) was the interlacing. Fairly easy to de-interlace. Always remember that interlacing has no place on the web.....it's for TV/broadcast.

Nice job overall. Your skills seem to be in place. Heed some of the DVXuser comments, get yourself a 24p camera, work on the audio and you're good to go.

and BTW- the end will be in 2013 (the next snake year)....close though.
 
Excellent job! Could've used a better actor for the newscast. I know you said you were going for someone just thrown in front of a camera, but it failed for me. Not enough time to set that up to make it work. Use a REAL newsperson instead.

I have questions. What webcam do you use? Also, how did you get your screenshots to look so sharp and clear? I'm having a problem with that with my 'webcam' movie 'Tangled Web'.

All in all, great job!
 
Mobie540 said:
I was going by the Ancient Mayan Doomsday which is 2012. :dankk2:
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The ancient Mayan doomsday is based on the end of the Mayan calendar which is actually 21 December 2012. :thumbsup:

As far as the film goes, I liked the concept. I got a little lost/confused in the last third. I think this shows how any camera is usable, and I like how you integrated it into the story. One thing that didn't bode well with me was the fast cuts between angles. I think I would have either kept the shot in the webcam and the video camera behind the main actor. The third vantage point never really lasted that long and kind of took me out of the story. Overall, good work, and good luck!
 
chapelgrovefilms said:
Excellent job! Could've used a better actor for the newscast. I know you said you were going for someone just thrown in front of a camera, but it failed for me. Not enough time to set that up to make it work. Use a REAL newsperson instead.

I have questions. What webcam do you use? Also, how did you get your screenshots to look so sharp and clear? I'm having a problem with that with my 'webcam' movie 'Tangled Web'.

All in all, great job!
Click to expand...

Sorry to take this off topic, but I just remembered reading "Tangled Web" for you a while back. That was when I had trouble giving criticism, but I remember I liked it a lot. Best of luck with that!
 
chapelgrovefilms said:
Excellent job! Could've used a better actor for the newscast. I know you said you were going for someone just thrown in front of a camera, but it failed for me. Not enough time to set that up to make it work. Use a REAL newsperson instead.

I have questions. What webcam do you use? Also, how did you get your screenshots to look so sharp and clear? I'm having a problem with that with my 'webcam' movie 'Tangled Web'.

All in all, great job!
Click to expand...

Haha better actor, who says these folks were actors at all.

Well I used the webcam on my Macbook Pro and lit with a desklamp that had an opaque plastic cover.
 
ConspiracyPenguin said:
Sorry to take this off topic, but I just remembered reading "Tangled Web" for you a while back. That was when I had trouble giving criticism, but I remember I liked it a lot. Best of luck with that!
Click to expand...

Thanks man! It's cut together. If I can ever get the graphics of the simulated computer desktops figured out, it'll be ready for the composer.
 
Mobie540 said:
Haha better actor, who says these folks were actors at all.

Well I used the webcam on my Macbook Pro and lit with a desklamp that had an opaque plastic cover.
Click to expand...

And how did you do the screenshot images? Not the webcam video itself, but the shots of the computer desktop with the popup windows.
 
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