Is it too much to ask for feedback?

I did feel that if I had given comments like say, Lawrie, I would not have won as I would have pissed off at least one guy just enough to duck me lower in the ratings.
I dont beleive that his comments are worth reading. As far as I'm concerned if I did not have a thicker skin his comments would have made me quit filmmaking. How many people will have read his comments and thought "Jeez thats pretty nasty, I'm not going there!"

e.g. " But it teeters as a form of self indulgent experimentation not quite ready to be unleashed to the discerning public."

I hope he never bothers to look at any of my films ever again!
 
I dont beleive that his comments are worth reading. As far as I'm concerned if I did not have a thicker skin his comments would have made me quit filmmaking. How many people will have read his comments and thought "Jeez thats pretty nasty, I'm not going there!"

e.g. " But it teeters as a form of self indulgent experimentation not quite ready to be unleashed to the discerning public."

I hope he never bothers to look at any of my films ever again!

You're going to get someone like this on every "contest" and they are usually somebody who has never made a film themselves. For them, the fest serves as an opportunity to lord it over the little people who stoop to actually create something rather than indulging in the more "sophisticated" art of tearing someone's work apart for the sheer joy of it.
 
Shawn Philips Nelson said:
I did feel that if I had given comments like say, Lawrie, I would not have won as I would have pissed off at least one guy just enough to duck me lower in the ratings.

I dont beleive that his comments are worth reading. As far as I'm concerned if I did not have a thicker skin his comments would have made me quit filmmaking. How many people will have read his comments and thought "Jeez thats pretty nasty, I'm not going there!"

e.g. " But it teeters as a form of self indulgent experimentation not quite ready to be unleashed to the discerning public."

I hope he never bothers to look at any of my films ever again!

If a film is going to get dissed, at least it's elloquently put! ;)

I like reading Lawrie's reviews.

If it's a negative review I'd much rather it be 2 pages than 2 senteces.
 
If a film is going to get dissed, at least it's elloquently put! ;)I like reading Lawrie's reviews.If it's a negative review I'd much rather it be 2 pages than 2 senteces.
But there's a difference between a negative review and just being unpleasant. A negative review with genuine feedback to help you is what we should get, 6 lines or so telling you that you should not have bothered is just being an .......
 
Admittedly, when there were 50-60 films i didn't review them all. And if a movie is so bad... my mother always said "if you don't have anything nice to say..."

But for this fest, i have watched all the films and they are all good, and all very worthy of reviews.
 
I'm working my way through slowly (got to wait ages for the files to download to the player as I cant download any of the files seperatly. I'm intending to comment on them all.
 
If a film is going to get dissed, at least it's elloquently put! ;)

I like reading Lawrie's reviews.

If it's a negative review I'd much rather it be 2 pages than 2 senteces.

+1... I hope Lawrie stops by for a look...Sarah too! We miss you guys around here.
:beer:
 
This is only the second fest i've participated in, but I review and comment on them all after I watch em.
I never know how to approach the review. Do I review as a director? Or as a pure movie goer?
There are films that are well made, well acted that I just don't like. Example Leaving Las Vegas, I hated that movie, but it won awards and praise. The subject was not entertaining for me so while as a Director I can praise the acting and directing, as a movie goer I want my money back.

I'm a photographer and I've also noticed that when you ask another photographer to critic your work they get very technical and are so hung up on being critical that they miss emotion. Example I asked a group of photographers what they thought of ten photos, they all agreed on which two were the worst of the group. Guess what? Those two photos, that were ranked "worst" were the two photos that the client LOVED the most. After that I stopped asking photographers what they think and really wondered if they have a disconnect from the client. They weren't over critical or mean or rude, but I fear that I would stress the technical and lose the emotional, which wins every time.


Maybe I'll take a structured format like some others have done. Hawk for example went with "The Good" and the "Not so good." I'll do "The Director Says" and "The movie goer says."
 
Yep thanks guys! My feedback is based simply on my own perspective on films, i tend to value ideas/ rather than technical accomplishment (which as films evolve is becoming both more sophisticated but also more varied.)

Sorry ive not been around as much! I have actually just watched the films, and intend to post feedback for all of them. I noticed your comments Mr. Fluffy btw, and its a shame you felt that way about the feedback I provided - its up to you whether to take it constructively or not, but its always provided with thes best of intention - like it or leave it ;)
 
All films watched and commented on! This was a great group of films guys... really good work all around.
Can't wait to see what the next one will be.

:thumbsup::beer::thumbsup:
 
Good thread to post here. I have been very busy the last two weeks, but I'm blocking out some time this weekend to watch and comment on Villainfest!
 
I think i watched everyone's entry 2 or 3 times and posted a review. Great films everyone, seriously, good bunch of work. Congrats to the newbies who carry on the torch, the old schoolers who continue the tradition., and the mod gods for giving us an outlet.
 
Going to get back to watching and commenting again tonight but I must say that the streaming is useless to me. Tried it on a Mac and a PC.
Downloading is also quite slowwww...

Can't we get Vimeo on board and open this fest wide up?

Maybe a DVXuser Vimeo group? I've suggested this before but no luck.
 
I agree. Downloading/Streaming was a big to do this time around (took me damn near 3 full days to get all of 'em).

I don't think it even has to be one of the "big boys" like youtube or vimeo...there are hundreds of streaming sites out there; & I've said before that we should partner with one of them.
Hell, they'd plotz over the exposure of a film fest exclusive.
I say stream, stream, stream - and lose the downloads outright.
 
Callaghan, why would you say stream and lose the downloads? I'd say the exact opposite and here's why:

My reviews goes like this - Larry puts up the zip files. I download them, it takes about 20-30 minutes to get a few gigs of movies.
I create a folder called Villainfest. I watch the movies and get my initial reactions. I watch the movies again and write my reviews by pausing and re-watching certain scenes.
Over the course of 2 weeks, i am often going back and forth re-watching movies and scenes as voting begins and people are discussing films.
When the fest is over I either dump the Villainfest folder or keep it as an archive.

Streaming allows none of the ease of enjoying the movies, it's a headache to go back and rewatch.
 
Agree with Matt. I like the downloaded zips. Although zip3 is giving me issues but again workaround is stream or individual download. Then again maybe outsourcing is the way to go to have best of both.
 
Back
Top