Karl151k -"Robot Trouble"

Your film was very humorous. It made me laugh I liked it. But beware of the dialog snyc. At the beginning it seemed like you had some sync issues. I also thought you could have done without the gun. I think people rely on gun play too much and that can pull down the quality of your film.

Darkfader
 
Perhaps I should change the gun to a walkie talkie? ;) I do agree about guns being a crutch in movies, esp. sci fi movies. Our original ending (at the first location that we blew the fuses on) involved knocking him off the car with a rope strecthed out in front of him, then the scientist would beat him with a cricket bat (Which is a nod to Spinal Tap NOT Snatch). But the location we ended up actualy shooting at didn't allow it. So Alphie met his match with a gun. Also, note how it makes absolutley no sense that the guy with the gun (Fernando) shows up to help them. The original scene in the car had them calling him to come help them, but when the first location fell through, we had to reshoot the car scene as well. Fernando is a Deus Ex Machina in the purest sense.
 
I thought it was weird that the guy just apeared out of nowhere. Your ending was still more coherent that a lot of the other entries. At least the world didn't blow up ;0 .BTW, I thought the push-in on the robot at the end was a great way to finish it. Is there a sequel in the works?
 
No sequel, sorry. I don't think Sci-fi is really my genre. I was excited to test it out though, even if it's not true science fiction. Also, now that Alphie the robot has been in a movie, he's become a huge star. I doubt I could get him to come back for a sequel.
 
I really wanted to like this more than I did. It started out with some EXCELLENT camera work as we dolly past all the test tubes/science stuff, etc., and really throughout the film the framing was quite good.

The FX also worked, the best one I think being when the three #2 pencils cut into the brick wall by the guy's face.

As a gag film, this would be near spot on, but it just didn't have a committed feel to me for some reason, so it just seemed hokey in acting, the idea of the tiny little robot being any kind of thread, the idea that the bullet holes wouldn't actually go THROUGH the back of the plastic robot, etc.
 
I agree about the bullets not going through Alphie. It's always bugged me, but shooting out of sequence meant that we had to keep both Alphies looking pristine untill the everything was shot (I am bad about getting pickups. I always end up getting them at the last minute.) So I couldn't add an exit wound on him. As for the acting, I didn't want them to be too serious, even if they were in "danger". Hokey is good, cheesy is better. One thing I want to know, does anyone think the "Used Glasses" bin is at all funny? I put it in, but like I said, I never know what is actualy funny to anybody else.
 
Can I just say that I will never ever ever look at an Alphie the same way again. I had one of those things as a kid, and thought it was awesome. But now, I'm a little put off by it. I think my parents still have it in a box somewhere in their basement. Maybe I should warn them.

I totally enjoyed the overthetop prop/gag comedy that this film employed. I love it when films bend genres and try to push things in new and creative ways.
 
I agree about genre bending. I'm really not sure what to qualify this film as. On one hand, it's hillarious but on the other hand, it's actualy a pretty good little action/sci-fi movie. Alphies of the world unite!
 
I thought the 2 actors pulled this off , not to funny or serious , just right .
I laughed when she dropped the block of cheese onto his Spagetti ..and it was still there later on .lol
The car chase scene killed me , nice one !!
The ending was too familiar but hey I can live with that.
The audio was a little low near the end .
The little robot ..how much of a threat can he be ?? and we found out .
You did a nice job with this ..and you managed to put a smile on my face .
Ian
 
Alphie! I couldn't remember the darn things name, but I knew many of us had or wanted one ;) -- and a special word out to stunt Alphie, who sacrified his life in the making of this film :D

Sound was ok... The 1st gunshot and subsequent ones didn't quite match (sound wise). Dialogue was a little tough to hear in spots.

Music suited it.

The pencil effect was pretty neat... thanks for sharing your "how-to".

I liked the mad scientist opening to cut to "dinner's ready... I made spaghetti"... LOL. Lots of spots in your film made me laugh and I imagine you meant it to be a bit hokey... it was fun!

Loved the eyeglasses thing! Clever and silly funny!

The cinematography was really good... and yes, there SHOULD be an award for "Really freakign ingenious resourcefullness" with you psuedo-crane dolly shot. Your lighting could have been alittle more interesting in spots (was a bit flat, could have been more contrasty/dynamic).

Overall I enjoyed it!
 
Sound effects make this movie - good job. Sound overall was kind of subpar, though. You had some mixing issues.

Overall, it looked pretty good, although lighting seemed to be a problem with the outdoor shots. And the green screened car shots didn't turn out too well.

I loved the shots where the robot tipped up into frame. Very clever.

Good job!
 
I'm with Kaz. That gag with the glasses had me laughing so hard my girlfriend (wearing headphones) gave me a dirty look.

I was amused by the used glasses bin, yes. And I think it added to the joke above.

I also liked the bit where they get a flat tire.

I also liked the bit where the pencils fly into the wall.

I also like the unreasonably long timer on the bomb.

I also like--

Forget it. I really enjoyed this movie. :)

A few of the gags (the aforementioned tire blow out for one) would've had more impact if the sound had been consistently clear. And not every single joke actually made me laugh, but how often does a comedy bat 1.000? Really enjoyed it.

Oh, as for the guy showing up not making any sense, that kind of amused me. Nice comment on how, without fail, a guy with a gun always shoots the monster at the last minute.
 
Thanks a ton for all the great comments everybody! I agree about the actors audio being too low. This was a problem I was unable to fix in my 48 hour time constraint. My original (before-the-"blue-screen-of-death"-killed-my-computer-forever) cut of the movie was completley mixed with all the actors ADR. In my foolishness, I figured once the audio was captured on the computer I wouldn't need the source tapes again so I recorded over them. So when I re-cut the movie on my new Mac, I didn't have the ADR anymore nor did I have the time to record new ADR. Hence, the bad dialog audio.

The robot tipping into frame was just a matter of necesity. Just one single pixel out of frame is my hand tipping him. I left the shot with my hand in it in the cut for a while, but I decided that seeing a hand took people out of the movie too much. It was over the top, even for this movie.

Note: you never know what you are going to find at thrift stores. I was walking around one a few months ago and I saw this old-timey red LED calculator from the 70's. I had no idea what I would use it for, but I had to have it. So when it came time for me to shoot the countdown timer I decided to use it. I put a closeup diopter on my camera and shot the LED display at 10.00. Recorded a second, stopped it, changed the calculator to 09.59, recoreded a second, ect. This is why the timer reads 09.59 instead of 09:59. Sure it's possible to do the same effect in AE, but I think having a tangible unit to film adds to the movie a lot. All those little imperfections (like the slight aberations on the numbers) really add up.
 
[FONT=&quot] This got my goat as soon as the woman started having a go at the man re the fact he has a hobby.

The music was louder than the voices. The fringe covering the eye got my goat too although I did laugh when he put the glasses on to move it.

And the guy jumping out of nowhere to kill the robot. Excellent.
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The girl says that the scientist spends 23 and a half hours a day in his laboratory, I think that goes past "hobby" clasification. More like crippling obsession. BTW, that's cool about the calculator. Add another point to the catagory of "Freaking ingenious".
 
When I wrote it, I meant it to be litterally 23 and a half hours. He sleeps only a half hour a day. (He's a little obsessive about his work.)
 
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