Melody for Allyriane - A Cowboy Scene Film

Excellent, well rounded short film. Nice execution and I admire the simplicity of the piece as a whole. Love that you have very precise shots engineered to tell the story visually rather than rely on getting coverage of this, coverage of that, etc. Editing is on par and the piece flows well. Ron and Victoria did a great job; particularly Victoria considering how she has one shot (setup wise), one opportunity to really get our attention and make us care. Thanks for sharing.
 
I agree with Geoff. The work as a whole stands strong on its bare legs. Shot with a simple color palette and execution, the film pulls the audience into the intimacy between the man, guitar, and woman in a triangle of fading memories and stone-washed dreams.

I really like the simple lighting and texture of the film. It accompanied the performances and atmosphere well. The shot/reverse shot situation you set up between Ron and Victoria was very nice and made me think of older Jonathan Demme films (which is a VERY good thing).

I really enjoyed this one. I'm going to view it again before I vote, but it certainly grabbed me. Great work! :beer:

EDIT: You know, in a way, it began to remind me of Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett, at least until the third character was brought in (the guitar being the second).
 
Thanks everyone for the great response to this. I'm so happy that this film worked for you guys, and especially that it emotionally affected some of you.

Lawsuit Boy, I really like Krapp's Last Tape, and I can definitely see how the first half of my film is similar to it. Obscure connection, you must have a wealth of knowledge!
 
yuup, a very well done piece. wonderful composition. pacing is perfect...HVX looks great.

one question -- your compression looks amazing. if you don't mind me asking, what steps did you use to get it to look so damm good??
 
Thanks singleframe!

I used Final Cut Pro's Quicktime Conversion export. Chose the High quality export. Changed the size to 800x450, and changed the bitrate to something like 1100 kbits (writing this from memory).

I had some advantage because my film was close to 5:30 instead of taking up the whole 6:10.

If I had a longer film I would have probably dropped the size to 720x405 and dropped the bitrate some.
 
What can I say? You hung this on the wall and it looks beautiful. Sometimes, simple films with simple stories are more breath taking than any location or special FX can carry. Your cinematographer did an exceptional job and the editing was spot on. The music is perfectly melancholy and sets the mood. Your actors look great in the shots you composed. Those tight shots are wonderful. The only thing, and I'm digging really deep, there is an overhead shot of your actor moving out of frame with the guitar... he looks a little too careful, turning around and walking, to not disrupt the camera shooting overhead. Sorry to through that one at you. But, I had too, for making a very fine film.
 
Nice story. Nice story telling for the most part. Story had lots of heart, Cinematography and Acting both drastically lacked emotion
 
jasonthewho said:
Thanks singleframe!

I used Final Cut Pro's Quicktime Conversion export. Chose the High quality export. Changed the size to 800x450, and changed the bitrate to something like 1100 kbits (writing this from memory).

I had some advantage because my film was close to 5:30 instead of taking up the whole 6:10.

If I had a longer film I would have probably dropped the size to 720x405 and dropped the bitrate some.
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okay great, thanks for the tip. looked great!
 
I thought you did a pretty good job on this. It didn't resonate for me the way it has for others and I can't really explain why. I'll watch it again after I've seen the other films and see if I feel differently.
 
Very nice work. And gorgeous sound by the way. Because your audio is so good, I'm not afraid to point out my one critique, when the woman turned her head back to face the mirror, I could tell the placement of the microphone because of the shift in tone, maybe try getting the audio from both sides next time if you can. But again, I'm only giving that anal of a critique because I was very impressed with how clean and crystal clear your sound was.
 
Great job! I really enjoyed this film. The look & feel was perfect. Great sound. Every shot, every line of dialog, there to move the story along, it sucked me in.

The only thing I can mention is that there were only 6 strings on that 12-string guitar...Blasphemy!
 
ZazaCast said:
Great job! I really enjoyed this film. The look & feel was perfect. Great sound. Every shot, every line of dialog, there to move the story along, it sucked me in.

The only thing I can mention is that there were only 6 strings on that 12-string guitar...Blasphemy!
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Surprised in a way that you were the first person to mention the string thing. I loved the look of the guitar, but needed it to be a six string for the film. My explanation is that he had to sell all the other guitars he had at some point, but he couldn't part with this one. So whenever he wanted to play a six-string guitar, he would have to convert this one. Of course, that was all a long time ago, since he hasn't played it in quite a while.
 
armisiano said:
Very nice work. And gorgeous sound by the way. Because your audio is so good, I'm not afraid to point out my one critique, when the woman turned her head back to face the mirror, I could tell the placement of the microphone because of the shift in tone, maybe try getting the audio from both sides next time if you can. But again, I'm only giving that anal of a critique because I was very impressed with how clean and crystal clear your sound was.
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Thanks! Yeah, I think we all know how hard sound is. Someday I'd love to work with someone who is a professional audio guy. I wonder in retrospect if I laving her would have sounded better. I appreciate though that you thought the sound was good overall.
 
Well, I took some time out today and watched it again. I'm not sure what was going on before but I liked it this time. This is a solid effort. I think what was bugging me was your acting speaking directly into the camera was putting me off. I'm still not sure if I like that choice, but as a whole, I did enjoy the short.
 
Blaine, thank you so much for taking the time to give this a second chance. I'm really glad you liked it better this time. That choice was a scary one to make, but I felt it would best represent him reliving his memory. I definitely understand if it didn't work for you. Thanks again!
 
This one definitely landed well with me. I wasn't sure at first, but once the story got into gear I really liked it.
 
ZazaCast said:
The only thing I can mention is that there were only 6 strings on that 12-string guitar...Blasphemy!
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This is the first thing I noticed and it just ruined the film for me. :)

Actually this was better than I anticipated. Sweet and sad, not my kind of film but the simple style really worked well with it. I marked it to show my wife later, she will love it!
 
Thats dusty!

Zaza's right 12 does not equal 6! MATH! - I read your explanation, I'm ok with that.

You struck all the right chords (oh ho! pun!) it feels intimate and you've created a strong entry. How many times does this guy relive this only to forget? It was haunting almost. You took a simple idea but everything felt spot on in this, you really worked everything out and had some great visual detail that I dug. Fantastic work I really enjoyed it.
 
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