'Negative Image' - Darkline Entertainment

Yep - this is an excellent thriller, gave me a genuine jump too here and there! So this is certainly in my top 3 - and for all the reasons already aforementioned by other admirers of this film!

However I would - as Michael urges you to consider too - to be careful not to fall into the trap of repeating a particular style/setup even if its one that gains you particular credit - for fear of becoming entrapped by it. In no festival circuit does lightning strike twice, and so its good for any artist, any storyteller in fact, to arm themselves with a variety of tales.

That is my only caveat, but beyond that you are a damned accomplished filmmaker mon amie, and that note certainly won't effect my marking. Roll on your debut feature!
 
Clearly this film is going to win. In my opinion better than any film in any fest yet. Seemed for a moment that I had a feature film on and not a short contest entry.
 
Mike, Noel and Guerilla, thanks very much. I cant say too much in fear of just repeating myself but it means so much for the positive comments.

Lawrie, I agree with you, but I havent stuck with the one man alone idea, because of accolades. I think naturally on the story triangle I'm attracted to ideas which have little dialogue and revolve around 1 actor and an antagonist (possibly of the unnatural kind).

To bore you with the genesis. Negative Image was actually a film I made 10 years ago. It was my first ever short. But it was rubbish, awful... I stuck it on the shelf and consigned it to a failed experiment. I always wanted to reimagine it because I felt the core idea was creepy but it needed a complete rewrite. I tried hard to rewrite it from the ground up for Twilightfest, but failed.... So I wrote Broadcast (and another film 'The closet') with a similar antagonist in mind. The goal to keep it simple and managable and all in the same vibe. I wouldn't quite say a trilogy, but certainly linked on some level.

But this film has been a monkey on my back and i was determined to correct my first failed film (maybe thats some weird psychological thing!). So for this fest I stumbled upon the idea that would finally fix the script in my drawer, and I turned it into a ghost story. After the feedback I got of my vague ending of Broadcast, my time was spent largely figuring out how to deliver a concrete ending, while leaving the ending open. It was only after my first edit did I remember the connection between the films, and of course I see them as much as you all do.

However, Lynch has mostly been making the same film all his life ;-) But no fear I will be moving away from this template for sure (at least for now....lol) 'The closet' wont be getting made in the near future!
 
hehehe glad to hear it Darkline! And we should have coffee and meet sometime since we're UK dudes ourselves. Glad you took the positive nature of my feedback - because although its a little detached from the actual film, as one artist to another, (and while it is just a personal opinion of mine i expressed) i feel that your just on a tip of the iceburg for what you can achieve next.
 
robertwerden said:
Clearly this film is going to win. In my opinion better than any film in any fest yet. Seemed for a moment that I had a feature film on and not a short contest entry.
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Thanks Robert, pretty floored. There was a point where I got so fed up with my edit, I powered down, wrote an e-mail to a friend saying I'd made a failure and sulked for half a day. I can be such a drama queen...

Just goes to show that you can lose all perspective when in the thick of an edit. I was actually prepared for the worst when the films went live.
 
Dude your film was great and it had me jumping out of my seat! The effects were also fantastic! If you don't mind me being a nerd for a moment

What camera did you use?
What did you use to create the effects?

Seriously though man your film has inspired mean to up the quality of my own work. This being my first fest so hopefully I can get better :-Laugh(DBG):
 
This is absolutely one of my top two. With "Broadcast" together you developed your recognizable style - you have a fantastic view for details, dressing them up in fascinating special effects. There is an very likeable urban atmosphere conected with creepy feelings which gave the film a sophisticated high quality thrill. Actually, I am not really sure if I completely got the story (I had the same sensation with "Broadcast") - isn't the digital camera making real fotographs. So he couldn't see the ghost and the analog camera is something real - so he could on the foto paper see the ghost? There is something what didn't fall completely in place. However - the actor and the production quality were very professional and I enjoyed this one very much. Many compliments and much luck.

Susanne
 
robertwerden said:
Yes, BTS is desperately needed for this film
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johnhizzle said:
What camera did you use?
What did you use to create the effects?
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Yay, I love talking tech.

Shot with Canon 550D. 3dsmax was used for the leaves/particle creation. It took me about 4 days of playing around to get it to look the way I wanted. I don't think it shows on the mpg, but I had the leaves sticking and forming a figure as it walked into the particle field. I'll show a breakdown and test once fest is over (dont think I can show fx tests while fest is open can I?)
 
Regardless of how similar this piece is to your past works, it stands on its own 'sticks' very nicely. This winning formula is a winning formula for a reason. Its solid. Why stop? At times the film reminded me of The Happening with an element of horror. The film is fantastic. I would loved to have spent more time with the actor reacting to the situation(s) rather than be used as body/face/eyes/mouth in a pool of amazing, suspenseful sound design, editing, and cinematography- only because even the very little he was doing was very specific and I was really excited to see some truthful acting! ...just wanted more :) A very big congrats to this film. Great work.
 
Susanne G. said:
This is absolutely one of my top two. With "Broadcast" together you developed your recognizable style - you have a fantastic view for details, dressing them up in fascinating special effects. There is an very likeable urban atmosphere conected with creepy feelings which gave the film a sophisticated high quality thrill. Actually, I am not really sure if I completely got the story (I had the same sensation with "Broadcast") - isn't the digital camera making real fotographs. So he couldn't see the ghost and the analog camera is something real - so he could on the foto paper see the ghost? There is something what didn't fall completely in place. However - the actor and the production quality were very professional and I enjoyed this one very much. Many compliments and much luck.

Susanne
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Thanks for the props Susanne. The idea is paranormal photographers shoot on film because it's harder to fake, and negatives are taken as 'proof' of ghosts above digital pictures. They will often ask for copies of the negatives. (This was a way to get my main character to shoot film which is far more spooky than digital...lol). The opening narration 'negative is the only truth in a world of manipulation, everything else is a lie' gives you the idea that he lives by this ethos. A picture of a ghost on the negative is the holy grail.

The end of the film the V/O reprise takes on a slightly different meaning : the negative is not showing the ghost, but the prints are so you could say there are 2 conclusions either a) if the negative is the real truth, then he has imagined the whole thing. (lets face it, all proof this being existed has now gone, there is no record left of the ghost) or conclusion b) the ghost does exist and so he's betrayed by his own beliefs. The negative being the only truth is a lie. The ghost was real. Either way all evidence of it has been erased.

More importantly I think its about a man being consumed by his work, the photo wall becoming bigger, his drive to get the front page - the end irony being that he DOES get the front page but not in the way he had hoped - he is now the subject of the story. ooooh the irony...lol
 
Darkline said:
More importantly I think its about a man being consumed by his work, the photo wall becoming bigger, his drive to get the front page - the end irony being that he DOES get the front page but not in the way he had hoped - he is now the subject of the story. ooooh the irony...lol
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Actually, now where you say that - it came over at the beginning, but I had beeing a bit confused about the camera thing and I been to much concentrated, explaining myself the right answer. So I lost this important fact. Yourself are giving two possible answers, would is an interesting aspect to thinking about your film after had watched it and leave place for interpretation. In the same time it could create confusion. In my case there were both of them :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
I crammed a lot into 6 mins. There is an extra scene where he types 'Hold the front page' as an e-mail to his editor (as a reminder), but I chopped it for the 6 min runtime.

Be interested to hear if people picked up on that, or not.
 
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Sebastian Stenhøj said:
The film is fantastic. I would loved to have spent more time with the actor reacting to the situation(s) rather than be used as body/face/eyes/mouth in a pool of amazing, suspenseful sound design, editing, and cinematography- only because even the very little he was doing was very specific and I was really excited to see some truthful acting! ...just wanted more :) A very big congrats to this film. Great work.
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Thanks sebastian, I agree with you on this. Cheers for your comments and for making a great film yourself. I'll put the 10 min cut up after the fest.
 
Darkline said:
hehe. Too kind. Where the hell were you this fest. eh??? I want answers....
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Flying:
tim-helicam.jpg
 
Darkline you did the canon line proud. Story and execution was amazing, as well as the tension you built. Your are definitely owning this genre. Effects really helped drive this one home. Much respect to you and continue in the same vane, it works.
 
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