"Mahlen" by: Justin R. Durban

Always impressed with your work, especially how much you're able to do in these fests.

This one looks interesting. Good luck!
 
Just got done. My most anticipated film this fest. It looked great. The VFX was impressive. Who did you have work on it for you if you don't mind my asking?

I throughly enjoyed it. Relly well done. It looks though like you had to clip a few of the edits to make it fit timewise. The most jarring was when the dropships were coming down. Minor detail, like I said, really well done.
 
Dude I really wanted to like this film, and after a fashion I did like it. You have STUNNING Visual effects, AWESOME sound, SPECTACULAR score and BRILLIANT camera work. Everything was going great except for the thing that really drew me out of it: The dialog.

Nobody in this film actually talked. Everything they said was a speech.

It was good dialog that drove the story forward and explained a lot, but it was unnatural (lacking rhythm) and stripped the character right from the actors. That was sad to see considering how top notch everything else in the film is. the actors aren't even bad actors. It's just the speeches.

I like the film and your work and you always give us more than we expected. Once again you've done that, but you needed to hire a dialog writer for this one.

PS: please don't hate me too much.
 
Puck, now that you bring that up - I do feel as if the dialogue was a little long winded. And was the armor that we saw in the poster ever in the film itself?
 
Granted, the dialogue was forced and clunky, but I can kind of understand it when there’s so much to explain in such a short period of time. The FX were great…but probably the best part was that they seemed to make sense and weren’t just thrown in to show how well someone know how to do FX…nothing felt gratutitous. The score was great, the audio clean, and the story itself was compelling enough that I’d like to see more – it seemed almost like a loke promotion clip for a feature that I’d go see.
 
Man, I had a blast working on this film with you! The crew was great! The overall film turned out great as well! But dang the effects were flat out amazing! You really know some people. The music as always was great as well as camera, acting, editing, and story. Let me know if you need help on a short like this again and I'd be happy to help out again.
 
Excellent work Justin! SFX work was top notch, hats off to your 3D guys. It was a pleasure working with you on this one. Let's talk about the next one!

best
Jon
 
Nice work, you have come a long way in your craft. Very ambitious- and you did a nice job with the VFX. I especially like how you had the heat form the engines interact with the image- that really sells it IMO. Congrats on completing another film.
 
EPIC! Very cool VFX work.

There was one component in the story I didnt fully understand. It seemed to me she got in the capsule and escaped, whilst he was left behind. And then we see her in the hands of the bad guys, and they are still looking for him. I watched it a few times and keep coming back to that.

Have to agree with Ryan above completely, there were a lot of FX details in this that sold them and made them fit beautifully.
 
Really excellent production quality - cinematography, sound, score, VFX: all were top notch. I do think you probably had rather a lot to fit into six minutes, with the result that you were using dialogue to explain the story and even then it was a little difficult to follow. A great effort on an ambitious project though - not long ago I thought of you as a composer who also made films, now I'm beginning to think of you as a film maker who also composes music (very successfully I might add).
 
Noel Evans said:
EPIC! Very cool VFX work.

There was one component in the story I didnt fully understand. It seemed to me she got in the capsule and escaped, whilst he was left behind. And then we see her in the hands of the bad guys, and they are still looking for him. I watched it a few times and keep coming back to that.

Have to agree with Ryan above completely, there were a lot of FX details in this that sold them and made them fit beautifully.
Click to expand...

I think the little video note he left her, that she looks at at the end, said that she should go to the guy Mahlen, it'd be the only place she'd be safe - but he didn't know that Mahlen was actually the bad guy. I only watched it once, I'll have to double-check.

EDIT - Yeah, he does say that, but he kinda mumbles the name.
 
Beautiful ending shot! Most of the VFX were pretty solid though the door cutting scene looked a little off. Great lighting, very dramatic. The dialog was a little rigid, and I felt a lack of connection on some parts. The score is (of course) awesome.

It was kind of blurry in some parts... may want to tweak compression or check your export settings? (maybe is was a low shutter speed though)

Glad to see another entry with cinemascope framing!
Besides the melodramatic bits, it kept my attention till the end. :)
 
Thank you everyone for the kind words on the film and for watching...

If you guys have any specifics on the story, feel free to ask.

Keep them coming... :)

/j
 
Justin, all I can say is Wow, wow, wow. Very cool! It looks like you were able to execute this film to your vision!

I found the sfx very well done and motivated. Quite elaborate for this kind of fest! Great job!

The music... awesome! Costumes... awesome!

The story was a little difficult to follow, although I had the advantage of remembering the story from "Cristo". As a matter of fact, I pulled up the old SpyFest archive, and watched "Cristo" right after "Mahlen". It was pretty neat seeing one right after the other and how the stories connected.

The dialog was difficult to understand at times, but I thought the acting was very good.

Great job all around and this one is definitely on my list of top films (I've watched them all).

-Robert
 
Justin,
Pretty darned amazing! If I have to pick, I think it would be around what others have already said about the speeches. The one other thing that I though would have made Dr Mahlen more menacng was his entry into the kitchen. He did not seem to command that scene the way a master villain should. I'm no video guy, but maybe a tighter shot on him entering at an upward angle?
The entire production here is pretty phenomenal. I can't imagine the amount of work or creativity this must have entailed. Very exciting and it makes me want to know what happens and how it all turns out.
Congratulations and thanks,
Stephen
 
Justin,

Hats off bro! you got this entry in... when others (like me) did not! So first off... props for that! Now to the nitty gritty :)

I have seen Mahlen a few times now... and the last time I watched Cristo afterward... the two shorts connect beautifully by the way! So that's a definite plus!

I thought the score for Mahlen was terrific! Honestly, one of your best yet! A memorable theme, but very "Durban" :) You continue to get better and better! The VFX were very good as well! The ships looked awesome!

The acting was a bit unbalanced in spots... and IMO it is due to poorly written dialog. I think you (as a director) capture some terrific moments, but I think you would do really well to team up with someone as a scriptwriter, specifically for some of the dialog. Again, your stories are also terrific and compelling, but the dialog just wasn't there for me.

Overall Justin a very strong film, it will be highly ranked for me!
 
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