"MAnIC" a film By: KLIP IT PRODUTION

Good first entry!

The lead actor really helped carry this through. For the most part I bought his struggle.
A few more wide shots could have helped to establish a few scenes/locations.

Interesting take on the theme. Yes, it's been done but at least you put your own twist on it. Sound needed a little work in areas but it was pretty good overall.

MAH
 
thank you, i guess there is one thing i would have done differently and thats... starting this earlier, but i'm pleased with how it turned out, and again thank you :)
 
This is one of my favorite entries in the festival. I actually thought your lead actor was Donnie Walhberg at first. He was really great and vital to keeping your story going. Also I really enjoyed the ending
 
Dude you surprised the hell out of me with this film. Yes the idea has been done, but you've taken it and done an excellent job. The cyclic nature is always a fun one to watch, especially when well executed.

Only question that is raised in my head is this: when does he ever eat or go to the bathroom? (But that's coming from the guy who ponders the science of myths and why they can't work in the real world. You know like how it's impossible for a vampire to turn into bats.. stuff like that). Oh and the other thing, now that I remember: even for somethign as simple as a 911 call, do some research in reaction for stuff like that. All 911 calls are taken seriously and they have a response, especially when a call gets cut off. They would have been out to his house in minutes. That's just a nit-pick, but something that can be avoided with a little research.

His sense of loss is quite strong though and you communicate that well.

One thing that I would suggest you looking into is the hard cut in editing. You have a couple of fade to black transition shots that would have worked better with more crossover of sound and taking a hard cut to the next scene. You do not always have to show a character entering or exiting. It will help tremendously with the pacing.

it was a good reveal, but once we saw the video tape, we knew what was coming. Good job putting the supporting material together. Your actress who plays the reporter was very believable. Great reaction from your lead on his loss.

Good film. Kept on moving.
 
I liked the mood you created through the color grading, shot choice and editing style. It fit the story very well. Your lead did a good job carrying the story.
 
A good entry - I liked the color and your close-ups are really excellent. Nice color choices to set up the two different moods.

At times the shaky hand-held got to be a bit much and your fades bothered me, they just didn't transition well.

Great emotion out of your actor, he really kept me roped into the story.
 
I have to agree that there have been several similar movies made but i felt you really took this and made it your own, it pulled me in from the very beginning, you def. pulled off the frantic look of the film. emotions were running high for me at the end, your actor did an amazing job of pulling off such an intense part, and like say, having a good actor isnt enough, you need a good director to be able to pull out of the actor exactly what he/she needs, so good job!! i felt everything with him. this movie actually made me cry. a few audio drops but nothing too big. over all i think it was a great story. this is one of my top 3
 
to themad, besides those unexplainable scenes that didnt make the cutting room floor (going to the bathroom/eating) lol the 911 call, i myself was questioning throughout the making of the film, the idea behind is was that the police department would already know that his call had an absent purpose because they get the same call from the same man everyday. they're already aware that his call is coming and that there is nothing they can do for him. also, although debatable i thought that more of my time and effort should be spent following through with other scenes of the movie to make the effectivness of the story and emotions of the character run wild for the audience.

themad, I appreciate and thank you for your confidence and advice throughtout this entire fest. pretty much since i started up with dvxuser you have been giving me advice and leaving me feedback that you feel would be helpful in making me a little more aware and better paced.

To everyone that has commented on my movie, thank you for your time, not only for watching but for giving feedback. i hope that i have followed through with my movie in the sense that everyone is able to tell exacatly what my plot and story line was.

over all, i really had a great time making this film and cant wait to enter another festival through dvxuser. its kind of that at home feeling for us aspiring directors and producers to get the type of personal response and confidence we are looking for to pull out another "hopefully" good movie

to everyone that liked my actors i will def. let them know that they did an amazing job and that they had several positive comments on their performances. as for myself as the director of this film, i loved my crew and cant wait to involve them in another.
 
puckthemad said:
Your actress who plays the reporter was very believable.

Good film. Kept on moving.
Click to expand...
Great Job on the film! I guess all that time playing with a camera paid off! Let me know if you need help with the next one!

Personally I would have flipped the saturation to be desaturated for the flashbacks, but that is just personal taste. I'll have to keep Norma in mind for future projects!
 
Last edited:
WOW very powerful. I thought your male lead rocked it. I thought the flashbacks were well done, I thought most of the sound edit was great. I thought the edit was great. Very live feel that I thought suited your short. Everything felt hurried which was great, at a couple of points I thought ahhhh hes gonna slow it down and then it kicked back to overdrive. I thought this was really well done, the areas that need work, can be worked on and thats a positive.

If I am to critique something that I think could make it stronger its the sound. Lots of room echo, lots of superfluous noise for example the bottle banging on the bench when he put it down. I think you needed to record to some foley so you could tighten the sound a lot more.

Currently in my top few for sure. GREAT!
 
Excellent! Very moving story and the lead actor was great. I really liked the edit...the way you handled the flashbacks. The grading was cool too...really fit the story. Audio mix might need a little tweak, but nothing crazy.

One of my favs.....
 
KTOOFRESH said:
to themad, besides those unexplainable scenes that didnt make the cutting room floor (going to the bathroom/eating) lol the 911 call, i myself was questioning throughout the making of the film, the idea behind is was that the police department would already know that his call had an absent purpose because they get the same call from the same man everyday. they're already aware that his call is coming and that there is nothing they can do for him. also, although debatable i thought that more of my time and effort should be spent following through with other scenes of the movie to make the effectivness of the story and emotions of the character run wild for the audience.

themad, I appreciate and thank you for your confidence and advice throughtout this entire fest. pretty much since i started up with dvxuser you have been giving me advice and leaving me feedback that you feel would be helpful in making me a little more aware and better paced.

To everyone that has commented on my movie, thank you for your time, not only for watching but for giving feedback. i hope that i have followed through with my movie in the sense that everyone is able to tell exacatly what my plot and story line was.

over all, i really had a great time making this film and cant wait to enter another festival through dvxuser. its kind of that at home feeling for us aspiring directors and producers to get the type of personal response and confidence we are looking for to pull out another "hopefully" good movie

to everyone that liked my actors i will def. let them know that they did an amazing job and that they had several positive comments on their performances. as for myself as the director of this film, i loved my crew and cant wait to involve them in another.
Click to expand...




I cant agree more thanks too everyone with this project that helped out and for all of the constructive criticism and praise thank you all!!!!
 
Wow...pro stuff here. Cinematography, acting, color grading, score...nice job all around. I thought the story worked well and it was definately an intense one. I really don't have any complaints on this one. It really worked well. Good job!
 
KTOOFRESH said:
to themad, besides those unexplainable scenes that didnt make the cutting room floor (going to the bathroom/eating) lol the 911 call, i myself was questioning throughout the making of the film, the idea behind is was that the police department would already know that his call had an absent purpose because they get the same call from the same man everyday. they're already aware that his call is coming and that there is nothing they can do for him. also, although debatable i thought that more of my time and effort should be spent following through with other scenes of the movie to make the effectivness of the story and emotions of the character run wild for the audience.
Click to expand...

I had come to a similar conclusion about his many, many calls to 911, and just had to wonder: how many calls does it take before they stop responding? Not relevent to the story I know, I'm just one of those guys who wonders about stuff like that. I'm sure the sheriff's department loves this guy and some of them are properly ticked off with him by now.

You're completely right about spending your time and effort on the story points. You need to show what drives the story forward, and keep it moving forward. If you were to expand to a longer form, just keep things like that in mind to show more of the world, create a real environment where other people are affected by this guy's behaviour... and the possible consequences. For example, something really creepy and foreshadowing would be the 911 operator knowing him by name... Something like that would make me hang up in a hurry, I'll tell you that much, especially if I thought my kid was kidnapped. Absolute paranoia...

Anyway, the story as it stands is extremely strong and I really dig this film, You made all of the right choices for the medium, and your shot selection was great. All in all you told a great story.

And thanks dude. Don't go all weepy on me now. :grin: :beer:
 
You had me glued to the screen. You are really in control of this story and tell it with visual impact. You are definitely influenced by many contemporary filmmakers, because many of your storytelling techniques are familiar and used on many police dramas on TV. That's not wrong. Its great! The flashbacks in rich color and the main character's life in a desaturated tone are all good. There are one too many shots sometimes. Some shots don't tell me anything except its another insert shot. I would consider the importance of a shot before taking it. It could be that you were experimenting a little bit, especially in the earlier scene in the kitchen. Regardless of what little criticisms I throw your way, in the end, you turned out a film that is engaging. Kudos to your lead actor. Awesome performance.
 
Some questions arose from me while watching this powerful film..

Where was the wife? Who was the guy in the park? And who called at the end?

Nice acting, the guy did a good job.

I like the music and the use of flashback cuts.

The answering machine didn't soudn real. It sounded like the Reverbertion filter in FCP and you just used the wrong one.

Try the EQ effect and you can really tweak the sound with that to make it sound more realistic.

Also, GREAT job on the newds report. Not only did it look real, but she actually sounded like a news anchor!

Good film man,

Robbie
 
thanks robbie, let me clarify a little...

a) the answering machine: if you listen to the message the man says that he used to be really good friends with John (main actor) up until all this happened. acutally seeing and explaining the guy on the answering machine wasnt all that important, it was used for character development/ story development as in he had a normal life with friends and plans until his brain trama where he couldnt remember anything that happened after his accident.

b) The wife: there was no wife. adding a wife would have distracted from the events and drew out the movie where it didnt need to be. i guess all the viewers are safe to assume they divorced or he was never married.

*the movie is a lost connection between father and son*

c)the guy at the park: he is another old friend of johns from before the accident, this is why he uses his first name when he throws him against the tree. the impression i was giving off with the facial expressions and attitude of dave was that since the accident john has turned into another person that makes dave a bit uncomfortable, although he does feel sorrow for his loss. he just so happened to be at the park the same day, its of no real relevance to the actual story. it to add twist that he may be the man who kidnapped johns son, to make the viewer steer away from the fact that James (the son) is dead until the very end.

With the repeatative behavior of John (living the same day over and over) after his accident his friends (dave, and the man on the machine) have a different approach on how to handle John, more caution, sensitivity.. The stories main idea is the loss of a mans son, and the agony he lives through everyday as if it just happened.

I hope this helps a little :)

thank you for your compliments on my actors ive very pleased with their performances and i will be sure to let them know you enjoyed the film.
 
This one started off a bit rough for me. I see him wake up in his son's room, his son isn't there, he panics ends up on the kitchen and makes the leap of logic that his son has been kidnapped. It was starting to feel like some holes in the story. But I stayed with it and I'm glad I did. You pulled the story together in the end and I understood the beginning. His "remember" tape was a little reminiscent of Memento, which is a good thing.

There were a couple of sound issues but overall I thought you did a pretty good job with this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top