"LifeLine" - Krestofre
- Thread starter krestofre
- Start date
Blaine
Mr. Hollywood
Chris,
I've been looking forward to seeing your piece since I saw your 1000th post video. I had no idea what to expect when it started but was drawn further into it as it went along. Really nice work. And something very different than everything else. Very original. (nice homage to Ridley Scott there, too, in that one scene. wink,wink,nudge,nudge) As I sit here writing this I am drawn to watch it again, so let me just say: Good Job!
I've been looking forward to seeing your piece since I saw your 1000th post video. I had no idea what to expect when it started but was drawn further into it as it went along. Really nice work. And something very different than everything else. Very original. (nice homage to Ridley Scott there, too, in that one scene. wink,wink,nudge,nudge) As I sit here writing this I am drawn to watch it again, so let me just say: Good Job!
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krestofre
Knight of the Holy Order
Thanks Blaine. I hope that Jarred and Barry don't count my 1,000 post video as a promotion. 
You know, it's funny you should say that. While I was putting it together, and have watched it for a grand total of 1,987,776 times during the process, I had convinced myself that I had hidden it better than that.
You know, it's funny you should say that. While I was putting it together, and have watched it for a grand total of 1,987,776 times during the process, I had convinced myself that I had hidden it better than that.
CallaghanFilms
Veteran
Ok - I've viewed enough to catch up on my critiquing.
And I couldn't start in a better thread, Chris...
Just screened it, and Wowzer! That was a straight shot of Science Fiction in its purist form. I can tell that you were Charlie Hustle during pre-production...that you did your previsualization homework. You started with a solid story, and was loyal to it throughout.
The upfront, but far from overdone effects were quite effective. The cinematography was sincere...technically every thing clicked for me. Overall a great little film that I will absolutely be keeping around long after Sci-Fest has returned to the mothership.
The only thing that I would like to have seen differently would've been a name change. Perhaps something a bit more ambiguous than Alice...like...I don't know Stacey or Joe, something that could lend itself to an even bigger payoff.
Regardless, without question "LifeLine" is one of my top three.
Edit: I got a Raiders of the Lost Ark homage vibe from the ending (pods instead of countless crates in a secret government warehouse.)
And I couldn't start in a better thread, Chris...
Just screened it, and Wowzer! That was a straight shot of Science Fiction in its purist form. I can tell that you were Charlie Hustle during pre-production...that you did your previsualization homework. You started with a solid story, and was loyal to it throughout.
The upfront, but far from overdone effects were quite effective. The cinematography was sincere...technically every thing clicked for me. Overall a great little film that I will absolutely be keeping around long after Sci-Fest has returned to the mothership.
The only thing that I would like to have seen differently would've been a name change. Perhaps something a bit more ambiguous than Alice...like...I don't know Stacey or Joe, something that could lend itself to an even bigger payoff.
Regardless, without question "LifeLine" is one of my top three.
Edit: I got a Raiders of the Lost Ark homage vibe from the ending (pods instead of countless crates in a secret government warehouse.)
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krestofre
Knight of the Holy Order
CallaghanFilms said:
Man, everyone is getting my homages.
I guess I should expect no less from this group.
Thanks for the kind words Callaghan. I may speak to the "Alice" thing a bit later, but I'd like to get some more reaction from the group before I launch too much into me "What's really going on here" speech.
mikkowilson
Steadi-Guru
Hmm.. the rows of pods animation didn't look so hot.
Ok, i'm done with the negative stuff.
Nice work! Actually broke the wall, cool!
And the white room and surounding CGs was very well done. did you shoot on white on greenscreen it?
good, very sci-fi work over all
- Mikko
Ok, i'm done with the negative stuff.
Nice work! Actually broke the wall, cool!
And the white room and surounding CGs was very well done. did you shoot on white on greenscreen it?
good, very sci-fi work over all
- Mikko
krestofre
Knight of the Holy Order
mikkowilson said:
Yeah. That's what we call "Got a really cool idea in post that we didn't shoot." So I kind of just comped it out by the skin of my teeth.
This one's called "Live and Learn." The set that I had built was all white, we used the glossiest paint money can buy, and we poored tons and tons of light onto the set. Surely that would get the look I was after right? Uh-huh. The color was completely uneven, so most of it was actually rotoscoped in. Believe it or not, for a couple of scenes I was actually able to key it based on white and it worked, so that saved some time. If I were going to shoot the whole thing again tomorrow I would have done it all the white room stuff against a greenscreen.
Shawn Murphy
Well-known member
Pretty cool, and more sci-fi than a lot so far (at least my idea of sci-fi). The only comment/question I have is whether or not that was ADR that was off or was my system lagging and making some of the dialogue look out of sync?
Norm Sanders
Script Wrangler
Nice job, and one of the ones I was looking forward to, based on the who the member was.
First thing that hit me, however, was the lead actor ... flat, very flat, in my opinion. The only time he seemed believable to me was when he leaned in saying "I hate this part" just before his eye gets zapped.
Cool concept, and way to see some challenging FX/compositing stuff through to the end ... you bit off a big chunk with that film, and with a little more work on the composite/lighting most of those FX would look dead on!
Two things I think you can benefit, from my limited experience & learning from my own lackings in the FX side:
1.) Get to know AE well, and it's motion tracking ... the bullet hole in the salesman's chest, and the very first shot of the LONG hallway were both in need of better tracking to the camera/object movement
2.) Also, a simple trick to really sell that monitor/screen that's built into the salesman's desk would be to take a section of that desk, place it on a track above everything else, set the composite level to screen, and then drop the opacity to taste ... it'll help the reflection of the chracter show up OVER the CG screen like it is the rest of the desk, selling the shot like it really belongs vs. looking painted in.
Otherwise, good job on your hard work!
First thing that hit me, however, was the lead actor ... flat, very flat, in my opinion. The only time he seemed believable to me was when he leaned in saying "I hate this part" just before his eye gets zapped.
Cool concept, and way to see some challenging FX/compositing stuff through to the end ... you bit off a big chunk with that film, and with a little more work on the composite/lighting most of those FX would look dead on!
Two things I think you can benefit, from my limited experience & learning from my own lackings in the FX side:
1.) Get to know AE well, and it's motion tracking ... the bullet hole in the salesman's chest, and the very first shot of the LONG hallway were both in need of better tracking to the camera/object movement
2.) Also, a simple trick to really sell that monitor/screen that's built into the salesman's desk would be to take a section of that desk, place it on a track above everything else, set the composite level to screen, and then drop the opacity to taste ... it'll help the reflection of the chracter show up OVER the CG screen like it is the rest of the desk, selling the shot like it really belongs vs. looking painted in.
Otherwise, good job on your hard work!
krestofre
Knight of the Holy Order
Honestly, I'm not sure. It looks like the encoded file that was uploaded has some framerate issues that the original MPEG did not. I PMed Barry about that and he said he'd check. So that could be contributing to the lag. Or it could be poorly synced ADR.Shawn Murphy said:
I prefer to think of him as calculating. He actually performed it per my instruction, and I've worked with him before and he has the acting chops. You might just have to count me off on this one. The only way I would be happier with his performance was if I could have cast Sean Bean in the roll.Envision said:
All of my actors did a great job, and I'd like to take this chance to publicly thank them for their hard work. My set designer too. The composer, on the other hand, I don't know what he was thinking.
But I use Combustion.
Just kidding. I know what you mean, and you're right. One of the greatest things about this fest is that it actually forced me to spend hours and hours and hours and hours working with my FX program. This is really the first time I've put Combustion through it's paces outside of tutorials and training videos, so I've come out of the experience with a lot more compositing knowledge then I had going in.Again, you're right, but the funny thing about LifeLine is that it ended up almost exactly the way I imagined it. The desk thing was supposed to look hokey and like an old Tron effect. The problem is that after I finished the film and I looked at it again I wish I had gone for a more convincing desk effect. Oh well, next time.
Brandon Rice
Distributed Producer
Hey dude!
Finally got a chance to watch your film! Really liked it overall... interesting lead character... very different (in a great way). I liked the story, but some of the effects kinda messed it up for me. Some of the effects were awesome, then others, not so great... anyway, I did enjoy it a lot, and it's on my short list. Good job dude!
Finally got a chance to watch your film! Really liked it overall... interesting lead character... very different (in a great way). I liked the story, but some of the effects kinda messed it up for me. Some of the effects were awesome, then others, not so great... anyway, I did enjoy it a lot, and it's on my short list. Good job dude!
Jeremy Ordan
Major Contributor
I haven't read anyone's posts in here yet, so if I repeat anything, well then you get to read something again...
Lifeline – The effect in the beginning worked and got me interested, but from that point the look just sort of pulled me out of it. I enjoyed the payoff of the project at the end, but it just didn’t work for me for some reason. I like the arch; it has a good beginning, middle and end. What sort of pulled me out of it was the sound. It seemed like complete ADR and just didn’t work for me. Once they were in the office I liked the look, and the keypad was a good twist. Great effect of him going into the wall. I think it was a good effort, congrats.
Lifeline – The effect in the beginning worked and got me interested, but from that point the look just sort of pulled me out of it. I enjoyed the payoff of the project at the end, but it just didn’t work for me for some reason. I like the arch; it has a good beginning, middle and end. What sort of pulled me out of it was the sound. It seemed like complete ADR and just didn’t work for me. Once they were in the office I liked the look, and the keypad was a good twist. Great effect of him going into the wall. I think it was a good effort, congrats.
EditPhish
Well-known member
Chris,
I was also looking forward to seeing your film after your 1,000th post video -- Gotta love a guy with a fish and a lava lamp
Anyway, I love your concept and story... very interesting. It was straight forward and well executed.
The acting was real good... I was interested in the characters and their story. They felt a little sterile, but that seemed okay given the plot line.
The lighting and cinematography were good... and editing very well done. When they were in the saleman's office it might have been lit a little better. There wasn't a lot of music, but what was there was good and added to the story. Loved the all-white settings.
I loved the line: "I hate this part." Your script was really good. Dialogue isn't always easy to make realistic, but I didn't find any part of yours to be forced or too artificial.
The FX and graphics did bother me a bit, and took away from an otherwise excellent piece (for me at least). The desk console really was a little too cheesie -- The type at the beginning, the logo, with the jaggy edges bugged me... but then I do graphics and typesetting for a living (art director) so little things like that are noticeable to me. I think our tendency in video is to make the type big, but sometimes it's TOO big to look right... comes across alittle amateurish. For example, the blinking "REC" at the beginning, and his profile should have been smaller, and more "tech" looking.
But with everything else being positive, your movie ends up in my top 10 without a doubt. Really really enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing and great job!
I was also looking forward to seeing your film after your 1,000th post video -- Gotta love a guy with a fish and a lava lamp
Anyway, I love your concept and story... very interesting. It was straight forward and well executed.
The acting was real good... I was interested in the characters and their story. They felt a little sterile, but that seemed okay given the plot line.
The lighting and cinematography were good... and editing very well done. When they were in the saleman's office it might have been lit a little better. There wasn't a lot of music, but what was there was good and added to the story. Loved the all-white settings.
I loved the line: "I hate this part." Your script was really good. Dialogue isn't always easy to make realistic, but I didn't find any part of yours to be forced or too artificial.
The FX and graphics did bother me a bit, and took away from an otherwise excellent piece (for me at least). The desk console really was a little too cheesie
-- The type at the beginning, the logo, with the jaggy edges bugged me... but then I do graphics and typesetting for a living (art director) so little things like that are noticeable to me. I think our tendency in video is to make the type big, but sometimes it's TOO big to look right... comes across alittle amateurish. For example, the blinking "REC" at the beginning, and his profile should have been smaller, and more "tech" looking. But with everything else being positive, your movie ends up in my top 10 without a doubt. Really really enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing and great job!
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Blaine
Mr. Hollywood
After several more viewings I'd like to add some things to my original posts. I originally said that nothing stood out above the rest. Upon further review 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. The only weak point for me (and not very weak) was the acting. Bryan (the Tom Masters character) was a little stiff in his delivery right at the beginning. He did settle in nicely though and did a fine job after that. When the secretary found the bodies and screamed, I didn't buy it. It seemed too restrained. The effects were okay with me. The first time through the rows of boxes were dazzling so I'm not going to nitpick on those. The touch pad, though, seemed to have the colored shapes in different positions in different shots...was that on purpose?...just felt a little off on subsequent viewings. After seeing everything this is one of my top five favorites.Blaine said:I just wanted to add that for me, this was a complete work. No one element stood out above the rest, it was just good across the board.
Brandon Rice
Distributed Producer
krestofre said:
So, I watched it again, and here's my one minor problem. Some of the green screen stuff seemed keyed out poorly, and I know from experience that it's sooooo hard to do with DV. (I even have two scenes in the extended cut of my film that are green screen and the keying isn't nearly as good. Also the effect at the end showing the other pods was kind of cheesy... I can overlook that though, and I like the concept and story enough to not let that one effect ruin the story. I dig it! Everything else totally worked for me!