"Learning to Prey" - a Nelson / Double Decher Productions

nice film!!!

havent read the thread before so forgive if i repeat...

open was super! the music and colors and people all moved just the right way. i felt right there at the party, too cool. sort of what i went for in my own flick. you nailed it. congrats.

then the girls show up and speak. and it gets kinda thrown into another movie. at the very least i'm no longer there at the party as a viewer. the girls were good too, but i don't know, the movie lost a lot of its momentum for me. it started as a freight train and then simmered off considerably. i almost wished they didn't speak at all. physical acting here would have been much stronger almost.

the dude victim was ok. he looked overmatched though by his girl. and then also overmatched by the vamps, but that's fine, he is a victim.

the kill scene is cool. although i almost hoped for the girlfriend to walk into the mess. she seemed set up for something much more than just a fight.

anyways! you got the best look and intro!!! it's almost so good it sets the bar too high for what comes next?

congrats.
 
solid shtuff

edit: whoops, sorry for giving such a brief review- just trying to up my post count so I can actually vote on these lol. I didn't have a problem figuring out it was a house party but maybe because I've seen those before. I liked the ramping and the production value- obviously it looked nice being shot on the red. I only had one problem with the acting, I think when the girl held her hand up to her mouth in shock, it seemed a little forced or fake. but overall great job.
 
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Awesome movie - i've watched the intro too many times already. I love the jumps from slow to fast, it fits really well with the music.
Lead vampire girl is stunning!
The acting was good but as people have said, the boyfriend/girlfriend thing seems forced, its not really natural and detracts after the intro.
 
hoz said:
nice film!!!

havent read the thread before so forgive if i repeat...

open was super! the music and colors and people all moved just the right way. i felt right there at the party, too cool. sort of what i went for in my own flick. you nailed it. congrats.

then the girls show up and speak. and it gets kinda thrown into another movie. at the very least i'm no longer there at the party as a viewer. the girls were good too, but i don't know, the movie lost a lot of its momentum for me. it started as a freight train and then simmered off considerably. i almost wished they didn't speak at all. physical acting here would have been much stronger almost.

the dude victim was ok. he looked overmatched though by his girl. and then also overmatched by the vamps, but that's fine, he is a victim.

the kill scene is cool. although i almost hoped for the girlfriend to walk into the mess. she seemed set up for something much more than just a fight.

anyways! you got the best look and intro!!! it's almost so good it sets the bar too high for what comes next?

congrats.
Click to expand...

I think most of what this guy said was pretty on point. The intro shot is top notch, and then once the dialog begins it tanks. A lot of that may simply have to do with the fact that we're led to believe that the music is LOUD with THUMPING BASS, and then the girl's begin talking at a normal voice level.. as if the music suddenly turned down for them... oh wait, it did! You know what I mean? They should be shouting or at least speaking a little louder...

I also think that the boyfriend/girlfriend conflict doesn't help the story. The boyfriend's acting is pretty unconvincing, and while the girlfriend is out of line for not believing him, she's still way to hot for him to outright dump her on the spot over a misunderstanding. And as others have said, that whole episode leaves a false expectation that somehow the girlfriend will return in someway and she doesn't.

But anyway, good job over all. Some solid production value, great makeup effects, and hot girls all around! Here's to the next one!
-M
 
Hi Shawn. Very nice intro and great track. Started on a really cool journey, then as soon as they speak aka act with some slightly off ADR I was pulled out of it.

I didnt see a great deal here in story other than what a vampire usually goes through when they "FIRST" feed. So on that side I thought it was a bit thin. Was there a little ad lib in the dialogue?

On cinematography, I felt in the club there were times things went a touch too dark, and there were a few cut off heads around that were clearly due to framing being a touch off by the op.

A highly stylised piece which it to be highly commended, which looked and sounded pretty darn cool.
 
Nice film. thought the setup suffered from it being in Monsterfest bc the expectation is there is going to be a monster and the misdirection didn't work because of that. I liked the opening sequence a lot and am a sucker for the changes in camera speeds as the camera walks through to set up the environment (reminded me a little of RPDM), I would have liked to see you keep the sensual nature of the piece consistent with that.

There was a missed opportunity IMO to have the male character be more seduced by the vamp rather than have it be a reaction to the the argument. The dialogue was a bit awkward during the argument as well and I think it's partially due to the performance of the male character. He doesn't seem present and is not reacting well of Theresa (who I think is a good actress). The argument does set the story up though for a satisfying morality play.

I thought the bedroom scene was well shot, I would have like to see you up the ante a bit sexually to sell it. The POV ending was a nice touch. Good work.
 
(SPOILER ALERT)

This was the same story as the werewolf segment of Trick R' Treat with Anna Paquin as the werewolf learning to prey! I don't know if this was your intent but there were too many similarities to not think that you borrowed heavily from it. I'm not accusing you of this, it is just my impression I hope.
That being said, I liked the acting and shots in the party sequence, it was very active and felt like an onscreen party should. Great job!
 
MOVIE STUNTS said:
(SPOILER ALERT)

This was the same story as the werewolf segment of Trick R' Treat with Anna Paquin as the werewolf learning to prey! I don't know if this was your intent but there were too many similarities to not think that you borrowed heavily from it. I'm not accusing you of this, it is just my impression I hope.
That being said, I liked the acting and shots in the party sequence, it was very active and felt like an onscreen party should. Great job!
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Whoa, seriously? I solely wrote Learning to Prey and I've never seen that flick. Now I'm curious :). I feel flattered that my idea was already commercialized!
 
I thought this film was good, ( it did remind me of RPDM, but this was still fun. Great camera moves, love the color, and acting was pretty good. Great job.
 
Nice performances - again. Some recognizable faces.

Maybe a little common as concerns the motivation for the victim to wander away, and from a chick's point of view, he deserved what he got. Maybe too much airtime on the contentious repartee. I wanted more suffering.

Always like your works, Shawn.

a
 
Shawn and Teresa,

I loved the opening scenes for this film. Really nice club vibe and energy. The frame rate ramping was a great effect. When we first see the main character, she has a great look, and from the title, we know that she is the 'bad girl', the monster.

So far, so good. At about TC 2:28, when the guy and girl are having the argument, the lighting changes, brighter/warmer, and that took me out of the film. I wasn't sure at that point, where they were, and the argument seemed contrived. I don't know how else you would have presented that though?

The weakest part for me was the acting from the young guy and his motivation. Teresa's acting was good and emotional, but was diminished by the other actor. The actress that played the 'monster', played that character very well.

My favorite shot was probably the push in on the 'monster' girl at about TC 1:03. There was something about the color and softness and camera movement that I really liked.

The title of the film kind of gives away the premise, but I think that's a good thing in this case, because I was looking forward to seeing how the characters would 'learn to prey'.

Very nice piece. Good job! :)
 
I loved the way the opening played out, but once the characters started talking, I became less interested. I thought the actors were kind of flat(but very attractive!) and I think some of the conversation may have went on too long. The ending scene with the attack is really well done too. Good cinematography, and some good visual storytelling.
 
Troy Ruff said:
I thought this film was good, ( it did remind me of RPDM, but this was still fun. Great camera moves, love the color, and acting was pretty good. Great job.
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Sheesh, does RPDM have a claim on frame ramping at a party? :) Just teasing ya. Now if RPDM had two girls doing a body shot then there'd be more of a reason to suggest I lifted anything. But I really love RPDM, lost to it with Aetas.

alex whitmer said:
Nice performances - again. Some recognizable faces.

Maybe a little common as concerns the motivation for the victim to wander away, and from a chick's point of view, he deserved what he got. Maybe too much airtime on the contentious repartee. I wanted more suffering.

Always like your works, Shawn.

a
Click to expand...

Thanks! Yeah i'm still debating what I should have done differently with him.

Robert Eldon said:
Shawn and Teresa,

I loved the opening scenes for this film. Really nice club vibe and energy. The frame rate ramping was a great effect. When we first see the main character, she has a great look, and from the title, we know that she is the 'bad girl', the monster.

So far, so good. At about TC 2:28, when the guy and girl are having the argument, the lighting changes, brighter/warmer, and that took me out of the film. I wasn't sure at that point, where they were, and the argument seemed contrived. I don't know how else you would have presented that though?

The weakest part for me was the acting from the young guy and his motivation. Teresa's acting was good and emotional, but was diminished by the other actor. The actress that played the 'monster', played that character very well.

My favorite shot was probably the push in on the 'monster' girl at about TC 1:03. There was something about the color and softness and camera movement that I really liked.

The title of the film kind of gives away the premise, but I think that's a good thing in this case, because I was looking forward to seeing how the characters would 'learn to prey'.

Very nice piece. Good job! :)
Click to expand...

Thanks! As per my last comment, I should have adjusted Chase's lines as I now realize what I wrote didnt come across as I intended it to.

morbidodyssey said:
I loved the way the opening played out, but once the characters started talking, I became less interested. I thought the actors were kind of flat(but very attractive!) and I think some of the conversation may have went on too long. The ending scene with the attack is really well done too. Good cinematography, and some good visual storytelling.
Click to expand...

Thanks! My crew did an awesome job bringing those visuals to life. I agree that my dialogue is my weak point, definitely on the improvement list.
 
Righto well the film establishes a great mood for adolescent parties borne from the miasma of American popular culture *blurgh* this is the highschool party of models, of beauties and multi-coloured decadence.

You know my high school disco's were never like that - we had the campest euro pop electro music, and i ended up snogging a girl with one eye and a wooden leg, (she was borrowing my wooden leg.)

So anyway the start is glossy and superficial - it does however lend to the idea of attraction and the physical nature of the adolescent perspective of sexuality (in the softest senses anyway.) The lady for our vamp looks great for the part, there maybe a little stiff on there lines, but not terrible, in terms of performance, the weedy guy is genuinely annoying so is setup to suffer his fate quite deservedly. I understand there's some crit for performance here and there, well really i only found our blonde would be student a little stiff - now and again - particularly from her peekaboo shots.

The saxaphone... come on.... please.

I'm fed up saxaphones in sex scenes... everytime i put on my leapord skin cat suit (made from genuine miows) and Sarah's reclined over a bed of bubble paper - then suddenly.... there's Baker Street emanating from the cupboard!

Then of course our dude is murdered... in the land of softcore sexuality. Its just a bit glossy and soft and wimpy in some regards.

Compare to Lovers - as an examination of the vampire myth and sexuality and our insipid fears, and while Shawn has produced an excellent technical production, its about as brave as my scottish thermal underwear!

So i say kudos for a decent production shot beautifully, and i think acceptably acted - a professional film, just not a very exciting one!
 
Lawrie,
Thank you! I do so enjoy your reviews, even if it's a bit of a British skewering :).

Come now, you didn't enjoy the bodyshot? :) As per your review, that sort of party is precisely the sort of thing I wanted, a party of fantasy. For one I had an incredible lighting system rigged into that room. So yes, it's supposed to be the party that everyone wants to go to but never actually exists.

Usually it's the girls getting preyed upon at these parties, so I thought I was flipping convention by making it the beautiful "innocent" that are instead having all the power in every sense. Granted it's not a new statement, thousands of years of tales of sirens and so forth (as your own Rusalka is about), but parties such as this depicted the girls are usually pawns and at the receiving end (quite literally). I was attempting to mislead the audience but my title was ill-chosen in that regard.

Thank you sir!
 
Yep just to clarify i was DoP / editor for Rusalka - (Sarah was the boss) You certainly achieved what your telling me there you set out to do. (Yeah the bodyshot was okay!)

Phwoar and theres nothing like a British skewering er... well done mate on the film :)
 
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