New Short: "George Clooney"

Smettli

Smettli

Well-known member
Me and three other fellow students have now finished our second school project.

The short is about a danish George Clooney fanatic who hates his own looks and
is willing to risk his life in order to look like his big hero.
Unfortunately, time was against us this time and we were forced to film at another location than planned
and we couldn't get a hold of any lamps, so the lighting isn't the best :)
But any kind of feedback is highly appreciated :thumbsup:

It was shot with a DVX-100 camera and edited with Premiere.
The movie has english subtitles.


Clooney.jpg


The file is 50mb large, and is in quicktime-format.

Right click on this link to download the movie:
With english subs: http://www.rimeligok.no/Clooney-engelsk.mov

Without subs: http://www.rimeligok.no/Clooney.mov
 
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Smettli, that was really great, I enjoyed it very much. Nice cinematography. Also liked some of the less obvious details such as using the score from 28days later and dusk till dawn, i think i even heard some south park in there too.

I've downloaded the movie as it's a keeper.

(M)
 
Thanks for the quick response!

I'm not sure where you get 28 days later from, but the Dawson's creek theme is there :)
The other stuff in the background we have made in cubase with a recording mic. And yes, we are south park fans :laugh:
 
Very nice piece.

Music selection was great (loved the dawsons creek theme put in the mix, and the keyboard music is fantastc)! I think there is too much music in it, and the comic part is not very well integrated to the dramatic part, so when you get out of the TV commercial, it feels a little forced, with the change in music and such...

The cinematography was very good in some scenes, and not really good in others, but it overall, worked well.

I liked the ending, although I personally think that the ending shot is totally disposable, and to add to it, it's a forced transition from the show to the creepy "real world" of the film. Other than that, it's a cool short, man, congratulations!
 
Smettli, awesome short. I was hooked from beginning to end. Nice atmosphere. I'm not going to comment on the technical stuff because it's just not necessary. The story overpowered everything else and, in the end, that's all that matters.

Good work.
 
Smettli,

The natural lighting on the opening shot was great. I was surprised it was natural light. I really felt the mood of the piece with the music you chose. I think I would have chosen a different path for the story though. I really disliked the comedy mixed in.

I would have shown some scenes of the main actor in depressing settings getting teased by peers, or verbally abused by parents/co-workers. Maybe have him walking down a dark ally with his head hung low where he stumbles into a strange man wearing gold rings offering to solve all his problems. "I've got what you need." The main actor turns down the drugs and sex the man is offering. The man says, "Well, what do you want?" Main actor says, "I want a different face." The man says, "For a price that can be arranged", as he hands him a piece of paper containing an address. The man says, "meet me here in one week". Time speeds up to next week. Show the main actor looking at the piece of paper in front of a run down building in the slums of the ghetto. He knocks on the door and starts to change his mind and turn away as the door opens and he is greeted by the broken smile of the man with the gold rings. He is led down into the basement inhabited only by rats. He is led down a hall into a room with a make-shift operating table. From the shadows emerges a man dressed in a worn out black suit carrying a black leather bag. He throws down the bag and rolls out a set of shiny surgical tools. The surgeon says, "We don't have much time. We better get started." The boy hands him the picture of Clooney and reluctantly takes a seat on the table. The boy is looking up at the surgeon as his vision blurs and he hears the fading voice of the surgeon saying, "That's it, go to sleep."

While he is asleep on the operating table the building gets raided by the police. The surgery was never completed. He wakes up in a normal hospital bed hearing people faintly talking in the background. One sentence comes through more clearly than the others. "It's awful what they did to him." At this point he gets up and leaves the hospital. The next scene takes place in the house. I would just reverse the footage making it look like he is going to the bathroom instead of leaving it.

The only other part in the serious scenes I would have changed is the whole hand print in blood on the wall. It seems way too staged. The random splats of blood here and there look great.

The makeup was great.

I'm not much of a writer, but I think if you were to take a different route with the story you would have a very interesting piece to enter into some film festival contests.

-Kevin
 
Bravo

It has been awhile since someone has submitted something that really piqued my interest and this held on for the long haul. I loved it. You have a nice tight editing style and your choice of score material was eerily perfect.

I loved the blood throughout the apartment. Very creepy. The Dolly Pull as the young man shuts the bathroom door was great. I felt like there were almost 2 directors working this as the photography style seems to change at this moment; if this was a sytlized choice even better.

I liked the DUSK TILL DAWN play and the manic "Be Cool" sequence. Nice.
This short was off-beat with it's parody television commericial yet creepily real and in the moment. I was literally hooked thoughout. Great job. I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Liner Thread Jack

What ever happended to Clooney anyway? He used to be so ****ing cool. I suppose I liked Confessions but he hasn't done a good film since The Perfect Storm. Looks like he has a few interesting projects coming though.
 
Great work, your a natural storyteller. Are you the ones who did the short about the guy who was blinded by drinking some horrible chemical thinking it was booze? Because this piece reminded me of that one big time and that is one of my all-time favorites. Yeah I agree with Disjecta, hone your storytelling skills and the rest will fall into place. Without an interested audience, what's the point.
 
Wow, at first we had kinda mixed feelings about this project, as it seemed difficult
to make the story work as a whole. We were worried about the comical parts becoming
too silly and misplaced, ruining the overall mood.

It's really cool to get so much elaborated feedback from so many different people.
We're stoked that people get so much involved, like Kevin Briggs post. Unfortunately, we're on a zero
budget and wanted to do it as simple as possible due to a strict deadline. This was also our first experience
with make-up, and being only guys on the set we ended up spending/wasting way too much
time "modelling" our character. As John Hudson mentioned, the change
in photographic style after the "dolly pull" was planned, because we wanted to
emphasize the mental turning point of the main character.
And yes, Raptor, we are the same guys who made "Blind Hatred", the short
where one of the roommates has gone blind after drinking liquor containing methanol :)

Again, thank you all for putting so much time and thought into your replies, as it
inspires us to work even harder on our films.
 
I freaking loved that. The story kept me glued the entire time. The dolly in shot when the dude is bandaged looks fantastic. You said that this was shot with natural light? I remember seeing that other short that was posted with the posioning, and I was very impressed with that one too. You guys do some really good work, and I look foward to seeing more.
 
Yes, the dolly shot when the guy is in bandage is naturally lit.

And, does somebody know where the Brian Eno song is used in 28days later?
I've seen the film several times but can't remember the song :)
 
Overall quite nice, the very ambient raw music that stayed throughout [Silent Hill OST?] was constant enough that it fit well and never distracted you from the film. Most shots seemed un-film like...more like a very deep and quite good home video. But the CU of the phone, some more hand-heldish shots, and some angles I can't seem to remember now [maybe a CU of his cut-up face] are very well done.
 
I liked it. Nice concept, enjoyed the dark humor. I think you did a very admirable job of mixing in the comic moments... that can be very tricky. Quite atmospheric, look forward to seeing more from you...
 
Feed my back!

Feed my back!

Hey, thanks for all the great feedback, guys! With this being a school project, it's good to hear (or read, if you want) the opinions of people who are NOT our fellow students or teachers (who tend to have a lack of objectivity when they comment on our movies...)

I'm especially amazed about how you actually picked up on the comic scenes in the movie, with the humor being a bit scandinavish.

That said, we are well aware of the fact that there is room for improvement here, both concerning the storyline and some technical issues, so if any one of you have got any pointers, bring it on.
For example, I really liked that whole idea about the guy waking up in a hospital after surgical malpractice, and although making the film with such an approach was economically and time-wisely impossible for us, it's great to hear that people are inspired by our ideas!

To all of you, whatever you are doing: Keep up the good work, and we will do the same!

ps. if anyone's wondering, I played the swedish tv-shop salesman. So now you know what i look like in a suit... DAMN!!! :grin:
 
That pretty good. The dolly shots really added alot expecially the last one to the door. I loved that ending. With some lights and time I really wonder what you guys could do.

The music at the beginning and at the end was also used in the movie 28 days later, thats why theres such a hoopla about it.

If anyone really liked the music they should check out "godspeed black emporer" or to a lesser extent "Explosions in the Sky"
 
Wow, that was really good.

I was just wondering, where do you get short transitional sound effects, like the sound when it cut from the door to the table with the surgery package? Do you make them yourself or is there a website?
 
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