"LifeLine" - Krestofre

Blaine said:
I believe your screenplay (based of course on what's on the screen) does stand above the rest. It is my favorite of the festival.
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Wow! Thank you so much for that compliment.

The touch pad, though, seemed to have the colored shapes in different positions in different shots...was that on purpose?
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Yes, actually it was, but it still didn't really come across the way I intended it. The idea was to have an interface that was dynamic instead of just having the same buttons. Just changing the position of the colors didn't really get that across. Like I said earlier this is the thing I cringe at whenever I watch the short. I really wish I had done that desk effect differently. Oh well. In 25 years I'll replace all of my actors with digital creations, fix that effec, and call it "LifeLine: Special Edition." :)

Briceman said:
Some of the green screen stuff seemed keyed out poorly
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That is totally my fault, and I'm surpised that this hasn't come out more. The shots that we did with a greenscreen, we also had a fog machine on set. I'm pretty amature when it comes to greenscreen shooting, so it never crossed my mind that those two things wouldn't work well together. Turns out that greenscreen + fog = one completely unkeyable mess. So to salvage the shot as best as I could, I keyed it out, then supressed the green channel so that you don't see anything too too obvious. Instead you just see an uneven key (at best). I'm chalking that one up to a learning experience.
:D
 
Thanks for making this. I'm glad I watched it and have the following comments (in no particular order):

The main character's wardrobe was great - liked Alice's "The Prisoner/Patrick McGoohan" jacket.

The juxtaposition between the very white "sales room" and the saleman's office kinda threw me a little. I would have expected more of a tonal consistency between the locations.

The touch screen on the salesman's desk - I'm not sure if I liked that or not. Seemed a little too "inserty" (sorry) and seemed to move around a little between shots. But then again, it is entirely possible that was the effect you were after in which case you succeeded.

I really liked the entire effect of the shooting and Tom's impact on the wall. Really well done there (and a nice echo of the first Star Wars' bar scene). A little bit of movement on the entry wound initially, but I wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't looking for it.

I found the scrolling shot of the capsules/dresser drawers at the end a little distracting as the first element in the forground had a perspective problem and thus seemed (to me at least) to turn with the movement of the camera. No big deal but, again, to me just a little distracting.

I didn't like the OS female voice reacting to the discovery of the bodies. I just don't think that scene (just the voice, I suppose) matched the quality of the rest of the piece.

I liked the acting and particularly liked the two male leads. Underplayed and, in this case, that worked well for me. Hats off to them.

As for the story, I must confess I'm not entirely sure I got it. Why did the male "Alice" need to shoot the salesperson? I assume (uh oh, putting my pea-brain at risk of discovery here) that the male Alice wanted her original body back and didn't have the credit to go through the "normal" process (and presumably couldn't get a refund from her earlier body transfer). But if that's right and if the salesman clearly recalled that she was previously the only one to immediately make up her mind on a body selection, then wouldn't the salesman also have realized that he was dealing with the "male Alice body" that he had previously sold to Alice? Undoubtedly I'm missing something here.

Anyway, that's about the best I can do for now, and will watch it again over the next day or two to see if I can suss it out any better.

I really enjoyed this entry, and thanks again for your obvious efforts in putting it together.
 
Dahopafilms said:
The main character's wardrobe was great - liked Alice's "The Prisoner/Patrick McGoohan" jacket.
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And with that, my fourth and final film homage is discovered. :D

The juxtaposition between the very white "sales room" and the saleman's office kinda threw me a little. I would have expected more of a tonal consistency between the locations.
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I'm glad that it threw you. That was a very intentional part of the piece for me. As you go deeper into LifeLine you get a very different expereience. The salesroom is pristine, then you get a little deeper and it's suddenly not so nice. The lighting is a bit off, the walls are dark, and you start thinking "Woah, this isn't what I thought I was getting into." Then you find yourself in the storage facility and it's dirty and looks thrown together, and is populated with guys with strange glasses. So that part was very intentional.

As for the story, I must confess I'm not entirely sure I got it. Why did the male "Alice" need to shoot the salesperson? I assume (uh oh, putting my pea-brain at risk of discovery here) that the male Alice wanted her original body back and didn't have the credit to go through the "normal" process (and presumably couldn't get a refund from her earlier body transfer). But if that's right and if the salesman clearly recalled that she was previously the only one to immediately make up her mind on a body selection, then wouldn't the salesman also have realized that he was dealing with the "male Alice body" that he had previously sold to Alice? Undoubtedly I'm missing something here.
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I don't think that you're missing anything, rather I'm not giving everything. There's no way that I could tell the entire backstory in six minutes, so I wrote LifeLine to be intentionally vague. There are a few specific clues in the narrative (and you've caught most of them with your theory of Alice getting her original body back) but there are still some possibilities that are out there, but are simply not spelled out. For example, just because Tom brokered the deal for the female Alice, doesn't mean that she/he didn't visit another LifeLine salesman before the film begins. ;)

LifeLine as it is, is really the opening six minutes to a much larger story, but after doing the short there's no way I could film the rest of it without the backing of a major motion picture studio, and ILM, so if anyone out there reading this has connections.... :D

Thanks for watching the film and taking time to give feedback. I really, really appreciate it.
 
Hi - Nice work. The sound was really good, although some of the female dialogue wasn't so great (I'm thinking the woman speaking about the program at the beginning and the "help call police" at the end). Nice cohesive story. Lighting wasn't so good, and framing not great either. Keep up the good work.
 
Maybe it's just because I also felt like I didn't "get it", but I wasn't as thrilled with this as I wanted to be. I say wanted to be, because the *idea* is fantastic, and the salesman, sales room, and script carry that out really well for what's there. I have to say, though, that the lack of a real explanation of who Alice was, what was happening with him/her, and why really bothered me. The effects bugged me a bit too, because they ranged from very impressive (i.e. the shooting) to distractingly off (the on-table monitor--it just looked flat, and it definitely did change size and shape from shot to shot). I gotta say, in some ways you've made the most frustrating film I've seen yet, because you totally drew me in and then made me feel like I'd totally been left hanging. I'd love to see the rest of the idea played out.
 
Z B Brox said:
I gotta say, in some ways you've made the most frustrating film I've seen yet
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LOL. Too bad that's not a category. :D

Thanks for your thoughts. I understand and appreciate your take on the film, but to have shared all of the information you're looking for I would have needed to make a feature length film. Instead the film plays very much like a short story, where you're thrown into an unfamiliar situation and you just kind of have to go along for the ride.

As I spoke about earlier, there are, I feel, enough clues in the narrative that you can arrive at a satisfactory conclusion yourself, but at the same time I've been accused more than once of leaving too much interpretation to the audience. Perhaps this is another example.

I'm also glad that the premis of the film resonated with you. At least I'm on the right track, so to speak.

And to you and everyone who's critiqued the desk effect ... you're all right. :) It's the one thing in the film I wish I had done differently. Oh well, something to improve next time.

Thanks again for taking the time to watch and post.
 
Man I Liked This One Alot, The Story Was Dry, Actors Were Great Off Each Other Very Sterile Great Commercial Face And Demeanor.i Liked The Host And When He Got Shot Great! Shut Him Up! Pulled Me Into His World, Great Writing! Great Effects Bravo!
 
The picture was nice and clear. The acting reminded me of a local theatre. When the woman shouted for the police, it didn't sound very convincing. Was Alice, Alice before he was Alice?


 
May I say, being the unconvincing voice, that I didn't think I sounded convincing either? :) I really loved doing the sexy computer voice, trillan like from Hitchhikers. I almost made it our answering machine message and walked around the house all evening saying oddly romantic things.

I hated the second voice. Chris wanted me to scream... lol. It was really funny, not at all dramatic. He improvised. That is what he gets for not marrying an actress (even of local film caliber).

I really enjoyed painting the sets and keeping the space warm. He can hire me to coordinate all the set shots and cater next time instead of talk. :)

The wife
 
This one really did not impress me. I thought the acting, particularly on the part of the male "Alice," was very dull, flat, and uninspiring. The salesman on the other hand, was okay. I could totally see him selling me a used Dodge Neon...your choice whether to take that as a compliment.

I hate commenting on CG, since I am just beginning to teach myself the basics of it, but compared to many other films, the CGI on this one seemed a bit unimpressive....a little too 1970s sci-fi. Then again, perhaps that was your goal.

As for the story, I kind of saw the ending coming right off the bat. As soon as I saw that his name was Alice, and he was looking at a used female body, I had an inkling that used to be him.

All in all though, this one was kind of middle of the pack for me.
 
i liked your short chris. i wondered how you going to pull of some shots but you did it. did you do alot of rotoscoping or what? glad to be able to help out some,what little i did. are you ready for the next one yet?
 
The term "a lot of rotoscoping" doesn't even begin to cover it. :)

Most of the short turned out the way I wanted it. Some shots didn't. Oh well. Next time I'll know (all in unison) and knowing is half the battle.

Thanks for your help, Nathan. I couldn't have done it without you.

I think I'll sit the next one out. Or I'll just help you with yours and we'll keep doing this trade-off DVX Fest thing.
 
Didn't read other posts yet so . . .

Wow! I really liked all of your graphics in this one! I can see you're a huge Blade Runner fan--nice job on the homage scene! Really enjoyed this one, especially all the graphics work. I only had one HUGE problem! What's with that DESK? Could you have found a more modern, contemporary desk? The desk really blew it for me. Other than that, this one was a lot of fun!

Oh yeah, others have probably beat you to death on this one already, so I'll chime in . . . MANY "crossing the line" film grammar errors in the opening scene coverage. Also, your medium shots were so wide in the "desk" room. Maybe more ECUs, and better eyelines (too profiley)? Anyway, a fun short . . . I enjoyed it a lot!

Almost forgot . . . pretty darn good acting from all of your players!
 
EditPhish said:
For what it's worth Kres... I hope you won't sit out the next round... I really enjoyed your film!
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Thanks for the vote of confidence. I probably will sit the next fest out simply because I'm tired, and I've still got that feature-length comedy piece that I'm editing. See you in two-fests time. :)

NBCshooter said:
Oh yeah, others have probably beat you to death on this one already, so I'll chime in . . . MANY "crossing the line" film grammar errors in the opening scene coverage. Also, your medium shots were so wide in the "desk" room. Maybe more ECUs, and better eyelines (too profiley)? Anyway, a fun short . . . I enjoyed it a lot!
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Thanks for the critique. There we some ... er ... issues when I got to the editing room that would account for the crossing the line things. I would have prefered that scene went a little differently, but thanks so much for bringing it up. You're the first one. :thumbsup: This is only the second project I've tackeled, and I appreciate how much it taught me just from doing it, and from all of the comments here. (As for the desk, you'll have to read the whole thread to get the scoop on that one. :) )

Here's a big thank you to everyone who watched and commented on my film. :beer:
 
krestofre said:
(As for the desk, you'll have to read the whole thread to get the scoop on that one.)
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I looked, but I didn't see it. I wasn't talking about the graphics on the desk (which I thought were funny/fun). I was talking about the desk itself.
 
Oh. The desk itself. Well that's different. :)

I didn't personally have a problem with the desk itself. I liked the mix of clucky 70s desk with futuristic technology. Sorry it didn't work for you.
 
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