Matt Sconce- Stricken

msconce said:
Thanks dude for the constructive critique. :) I wanted to pimp this movie externally as well to get it ready for the festival circuit, and cannot fathom cutting it to the 6 minute mark. I would have to cut 4 minutes of movie as the actual movie without credits is 10 minutes long, and I think it would kill the story. If I had entered it, it would be a much different movie than you saw, because of the missing 4 minutes.
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:shocked:

That....that was 10 minutes long?

Well done!
 
Well, I believe I have commented on everyone's thread, and I hope I said some helpful things! I look forward to your comments and critiques as well. Enjoy watching Stricken!!!
 
:) Well, I am back to my editing of stuff I wish I didn't have to edit...wedding and plays....BLECH! I will check back to see what people thought of my movie. Let me know what you think and I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it. :thumbup: :beer:
 
very nice matt

this looked and felt very slick indeed! Nice choice of shots. Lighting was fantastic.

I didnt really get into the story that much, but that might be becasue I've spent the last 2 days watching soley horror films....lol

You certainly know your stuff.
 
Darkline said:
very nice matt

this looked and felt very slick indeed! Nice choice of shots. Lighting was fantastic.

I didnt really get into the story that much, but that might be becasue I've spent the last 2 days watching soley horror films....lol

You certainly know your stuff.
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Thanks for watching and giving some feedback!! I appreciate it greatly!
 
Well, here is an offer for those of you who want to take it. I have a copy of my movie STRICKEN in high res Quicktime 720x480 online on my xdrive. It is 1 gig in size. If you want to download it, I will provide the link and password to you. It makes a HUGE difference when watching it like that and it still is not even close to the quality of the 23gb uncompressed file. :-)

Send me a PM and I will let you know how to get the file.

-Mark Harris, your comments about Stricken, here and on other threads, have really made my year. Thanks for taking the time to watch it and I am so glad you enjoyed it.
 
oh and i loved your opening title in the bed. It's little things like that which make you go 'arrrr here we go' from the opening shot.

I think probably the best cinematography in the competiton this year. You have a real eye for what looks good.

Take my criticism with a pinch of salt but one thing that I noticed was that your build-ups were good but I felt the actions sequences were a little undramtic - almost theatrical in the way they played out. Of course this could have been intentional, but it was something that stood out comapred to the flow of the rest of it.
 
Darkline said:
oh and i loved your opening title in the bed. It's little things like that which make you go 'arrrr hee we go' from the opening shot.

I think probably the best cinematography in the competiton this year. You have a real eye for what looks good.

Take my criticism with a pinch of salt but one thing that I noticed was that your build-ups were good but I felt the actions sequences were a little undramtic - almost theatrical in the way they played out. Of course this could have been intentional, but it was something that stood out comapred to the flow of the rest of it.
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I could totally see this being true about the action scenes. I am working on directing for a more natural feel, and I am improving from Nine to Five Ninja, but I do have a ways to go. :) Thanks!
 
Flawless, a master-class.
Why you hanging around with us dude???
Can't believe the look and feel you achieved, mixing up the shot's, DOF, tension, story, sound, acting, locations, you got it all going on. Thank god you didn't cut this down, I would have wept onto my keyboard.
Fantastic job mate!!! :thumbup: :thumbup:
 
jpbankesmercer said:
Flawless, a master-class.
Why you hanging around with us dude???
Can't believe the look and feel you achieved, mixing up the shot's, DOF, tension, story, sound, acting, locations, you got it all going on. Thank god you didn't cut this down, I would have wept onto my keyboard.
Fantastic job mate!!! :thumbup: :thumbup:
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WOW! I am flattered and blown away by this review. I worked SOOO hard to make this movie...The bills are past due, the wifey needs some quality time, the dogs forgot who I was because I was gone so much, people thought I was insane for spending this much time and money to create a "home movie" in their opinion, and would not take me seriously. The whole time, I had the vision for the movie, and pressed on, and now am sooo happy it is done and that people are enjoying it. I am going to premiere it in a theatre up here by Fresno, so the people who didn't understand what I was dong, will ge to see it. Thank you for watching and I hope others do as well. :) :) :thumbup: :beer: :dankk2:
 
dude, this is one of the best looking films I've seen around here. bravo! what did u shoot this on and did you use a 35mm adapter for that DOF?
 
coffee said:
dude, this is one of the best looking films I've seen around here. bravo! what did u shoot this on and did you use a 35mm adapter for that DOF?
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Indeed, I used an M2 Redrock Adapter with a 50mm Nikon Lens. I shot this on a DVX100b. I am glad you thought it looked great! I used Magic Bullet for CC and then Removed some grain with After Effects to get my smooth look. Check out the tutorial on the first page. :) By the way, the reason I am soooo excited about the reactions I am getting is this is my second movie I have ever made. :cheesy:
 
:beer:
deedive said:
Stricken looks great! Has a real texture.
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Thank You I had to work hard for that texture. I exported and processed 50 clips from Stricken before I realized I was doing the noise reduction incorrectly. I had to go back to the first one and then do all 100 again. Days and Days of work, but the end result worked for a different, and interesting feel. :dankk2:

I look forward to hearing from more of you as you wade through these awesome movies and get to see Stricken. Remember to download from this link so you get the right copy of the movie! :thumbup:
 
I'm going to express the minority view that I think you could and SHOULD have made a 6-minute cut for HorrorFest. Put the credits in a text file and edit a nifty little short that substitutes a lot of flashback imagery for the beginning and, voila, I think you'd have a very watchable and cool little piece. Although it wouldn't be the same movie in any sense, you could have given the short version a different title and would have walked away with an HVX while having some feedback to assist your edit of the "real" movie.

This is a wonderful piece of artistry. I'm still downloading the full-res version and can't wait to see it. However, I did watch the "good sound" version and it is a marvel indeed. Oh, there does seem to be a bad cut when the shrink says "Have you stopped taking your med ..."

What a great job your lead Stephanie did, as did the actress who played her younger self. Wonderful casting. Oh, and the other waitress was great. She's a natural and I'd love to see her in a substantial role sometime.

I could rave on and on about so many aspects of this gem. The restaurant scene is beautiful. Amazing. Wonderful. ... as is the great stuff with the waitresses and the car. Best looking DVX footage I've seen I think.

Because I feel obligated to give some critiques, here's a few items that are minor:

a) Lighting in the psychiatrist's office is a bit too artificial and contrived for my taste. Reminds me of THX 1138 or similar oblique-lighting-in-the-white-room scenes. Its artistic taste,of course, but I find such scenes work better as the leather/oak style of the traditional counselor's office.

b) Mario Montagna has a wonderful look for the part but his acting hit a false note for me. Particularly the "we all have to face our demons sometime ..." and "I know ..." dialog with Sarah. Seemed almost teleprompterish to me. However, Stephanie was superb and totally made up for that weakness in those scenes.

c) I would love to see you revisit the "super grampa" scene. The ease with which he overpowers Sarah's dad just totally sucks so much power from the film. I mean, that scene where the dad turns around with the hacksaw is almost Nicholsonian! Then he wimps out and caves in to a guy 30 years his senior? Hey, man, c'mon!

Having said that, however, the film is my favorite and I will watch it again and again. I'll take you at your word that you have no regrets passing on the festival, but I really think you could have won and that there IS a really cool 6-minute short in this footage. Nevertheless, you're the artist and you sure made me happy by bringing this marvelous creation to life.

Mark
 
Mark Johnson said:
I'm going to express the minority view that I think you could and SHOULD have made a 6-minute cut for HorrorFest. Put the credits in a text file and edit a nifty little short that substitutes a lot of flashback imagery for the beginning and, voila, I think you'd have a very watchable and cool little piece. Although it wouldn't be the same movie in any sense, you could have given the short version a different title and would have walked away with an HVX while having some feedback to assist your edit of the "real" movie.

This is a wonderful piece of artistry. I'm still downloading the full-res version and can't wait to see it. However, I did watch the "good sound" version and it is a marvel indeed. Oh, there does seem to be a bad cut when the shrink says "Have you stopped taking your med ..."

What a great job your lead Stephanie did, as did the actress who played her younger self. Wonderful casting. Oh, and the other waitress was great. She's a natural and I'd love to see her in a substantial role sometime.

I could rave on and on about so many aspects of this gem. The restaurant scene is beautiful. Amazing. Wonderful. ... as is the great stuff with the waitresses and the car. Best looking DVX footage I've seen I think.

Because I feel obligated to give some critiques, here's a few items that are minor:

a) Lighting in the psychiatrist's office is a bit too artificial and contrived for my taste. Reminds me of THX 1138 or similar oblique-lighting-in-the-white-room scenes. Its artistic taste,of course, but I find such scenes work better as the leather/oak style of the traditional counselor's office.

b) Mario Montagna has a wonderful look for the part but his acting hit a false note for me. Particularly the "we all have to face our demons sometime ..." and "I know ..." dialog with Sarah. Seemed almost teleprompterish to me. However, Stephanie was superb and totally made up for that weakness in those scenes.

c) I would love to see you revisit the "super grampa" scene. The ease with which he overpowers Sarah's dad just totally sucks so much power from the film. I mean, that scene where the dad turns around with the hacksaw is almost Nicholsonian! Then he wimps out and caves in to a guy 30 years his senior? Hey, man, c'mon!

Having said that, however, the film is my favorite and I will watch it again and again. I'll take you at your word that you have no regrets passing on the festival, but I really think you could have won and that there IS a really cool 6-minute short in this footage. Nevertheless, you're the artist and you sure made me happy by bringing this marvelous creation to life.

Mark
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I appreciate this so much Mark Thanks! I wish I had had a different location for the Psychiatrist scene also. After filming it I realized it worked but would have been amazing in the armchair study type office. The thing I did like about it was that it left all the focus on the characters and the whiteish walls brought out the colors of the characters well.

I understand about super grandpa scene. he originally was going to fall on his own knife by accident, I don't know how it ended up this way, but I like it regardless. Live and learn eh?

Thank you for your critique and comments and I look forward to more. :)

Hooray!!!:dankk2:
 
Geoff, thanks you so much for the compliments as well the other ones...I think there are plenty of place to be improved in the score and it will be...the sound quality of the movie still not the same as I was used to to work and there still a lot of things lost in there, but I appreciate Matt´s effort puting a better one for us...as always, a single sound effect put most of the composer´s work out of the movie but this is something that there´s no guilty because this is the way things have to be worked...as I was working with a version of the movie that have only some sound effects this current one is giving me an impression of to much sounds in there, but maybe it´s just me...I´l be opening a thread with the file of the soundtrack soon!!!
 
leogardini said:
Geoff, thanks you so much for the compliments as well the other ones...I think there are plenty of place to be improved in the score and it will be...the sound quality of the movie still not the same as I was used to to work and there still a lot of things lost in there, but I appreciate Matt´s effort puting a better one for us...as always, a single sound effect put most of the composer´s work out of the movie but this is something that there´s no guilty because this is the way things have to be worked...as I was working with a version of the movie that have only some sound effects this current one is giving me an impression of to much sounds in there, but maybe it´s just me...I´l be opening a thread with the file of the soundtrack soon!!!
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I am trying to figure out the sound effect that "put most of the composer's work out of the movie"? Is it the heartbeat? I didn't mean to step on the score. I want the score to work with the sound effects and I believe it does. Everyone I show this movie to says the soundtrack is absolutely phenomenal, so I think it works very well. :)
Anyone else watch this yet? I appreciate the feedback! :thumbup: :beer:
 
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