New Short....

great work on this cliche masterpiece, it really doesn't resemble any of those saw movies, not to mention the exact blood cell effect from videocopilot.net, i never thought anyone would accualy copy that exactly and use it, what a waste of time.
 
I saw a little "Running Scared", "Saw" and "Resident Evil" in this. I think clown_shoes said it right when he called it a "cliche masterpiece".

None the less, very well done, the editing kept me glued to my monitor and I on the other hand, really enjoyed the use of the slo-mo, blur, etc.

A little foley will add to it's value and perhaps a tad bit more light next time...oh and the end song sounds a lot like the "Saw" overture.
 
Wow clown shoes... why are u even on the forum? Does it make you feel better to tear ppl down to make you look better? Thanks so much for the contructive critisim...

FYI:
1.I've never seen a single saw movie
2.I've never seen a single resident evil movie
3.I've never seen running scared
4.Since i went ahead and shot for the blood cell shot, i put it in there. That is a placeholder until a friend of mine named scott can make me a personalized one.

I do agree that it was edited a little dark. That seems to be a common theme so i plan on fixing that. I appreciate that Lightning :)

P.S. I will refrain from commenting on your work Clown...

I'm just looking for CONSTRUCTIVE critisism instead of calling my work "a waste of time"
 
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I concur. In fact, I've been thinking things over and I regret even quoting clown_shoes.

I really enjoyed your film Brock, in fact, I just showed it to my DP for a little inspiration for our shoot this Sunday. He loved it.
 
Here's my 2 cents:

Awesome job on the music. I can't compliment that even more, and if that's all original work then even better man. You nailed it. The sound effects are fantastic, especially when the quick flashbacks happen. I've been trying to find something like that for a long time now to do for myself.

The edting was superb. It was justified and kept my interest. I'm a fan of psychological movies like that which keep you guessing as to what's going on, that's also my style as well.

The lighting really needs some work. I think the best lit scene was the first holding scene. That was extremely well done, especially when you go through the wall. Everything was about a stop too dark, couldn't really see what was going on, especially when he dislocated his thumbs to get out of the handcuffs (which is not possible btw), I had to rewind it a bit to understand what was going on. The last scene was way too dark as well, really couldn't see wtf was going at all. The gun also looked like an airsoft gun. If you want something to look real, go get a realistic looking bbgun or something of the sort (I have a walther P99 that looks and feels realistic with blowback as well).

Other than that I think it's a fantastic piece of work, great job!

Also I'm curious as to what scene files you used. Any chance on posting those?
 
Thank you for your input lightning. It was much appreciated.

@Charlie,

Lighting is my weakest point in film. I am really really trying to work on it. I would die for a lighting workshop or class, but nobody ever teaches it these days. I really need to learn it cuz i want to be a DP someday. But as is I had to do everything from writing all the way to editing so my time was split. If anybody is in the LA area and knows of lighting workshops lemme know. I've only been here a week and don't know my way around.

About the handcuffs thing, i'm a minor escape artist and there is a way to get out of cuffs by "adjusting" your fingers but I didn't really show that exactly. I was going for more of a cringe factor than anything.

You were exactly right about the gun also, it is an airsoft gun, and looks it :) I need to get one and i really wanted to get a p99 blank gun actually but it was going to cost me a lot :( And that one was only $90 i think. It does distract from the film though..... lesson learned.

Last but not least, what do you mean by scene files?

Thanks for your all's input!!
 
future references brock.

there are multiple model blank firing guns on ebay for under $100. 1:1 scale. I picked up a 9mm Beretta and a glock for $200 with blanks. They are perfect replica's.
 
First, do not change the "darkness" at all. The first thing people do on these forums and other "internet filmmaking" is overlight. It's almost like they've never seen a real movie.

This is better than 99% of the shorts I've seen on this site.

Well done. Your's is a name to watch.
 
Yeah I think your short's lighting was really well done for the most part, cept for parts here and there where it just dipped too low - like the suit guy occasionally disappearing from screen.

My favourite scene by far was the fight scene. That was definitely one of the slickest and most well done indie fight scenes I've seen. Ever.
The cutting was very well done, and I definitely see alot of tony scott's influence there. (Not to mention the Man on Fire sounding song when he walks away after obliterating the first captor)

Unfortunately for my dislikes, I'm gonna have to cite the clichedness. I know from above you get a bit riled up about it, but I have to mention it. It's not overbearing though, and doesn't come across as a completely cliche piece of work. And after all almost nothing commercially appreciatable can be entirely free from cliche. However, I'm sure you realise that too many indie films nowadays sport the same 'guy being tortured in a chair while trying to get up and save someone' motif. That's just facts. Does it distract from your piece being technically brilliant? No. Does it have enough cliche in it to be noticeable? Yes.

But nonetheless you should be able to fare well in some film festivals, and it'll sure as hell look brilliant in your demo reel. I hope you don't take what I'm saying negatively - I'm just trying to state facts
 
I didnt mind the lighting either.

I really liked the style and the one fight seen where the guy went through the wall was really cool and really well done.

Overall a very good short VISUALLY

story wise it was confusing to me a little bit. I dont know if it was just me but i didnt really follow it that well, and i am the type of person that loves films that keep you the dark until the end but this one was a lil much for me. Also the actual story from what i understood of it was a little stale and i saw the twist ending coming.

But other then that technically i think this is excellent you definitely did a great job and i look forward to seeing your future work.
 
What NLE were you using to edit this? I'm a big fan of the kind of technique you used, how did you go about doing the quick flashes and such? More specifically the moment when the guy jabs him in the neck with the needle?

Good piece!
 
@ MalcomOng:
I only got pissed at clown_shoes because he just went out of his way to post something with the intention of nothing less than insult. I don't mind honesty, but calling my work "a waste of time" is too far unless he has earned my utmost respect with his work. But alas... he hasn't, and from the looks of it, isn't a respectable figurehead on this site either. So i'll brush it off...

BUT, I really appreciate your review, i do see ppl tied up and tortured way too much in films. And i will admit, cliche is suicide in films. Lesson learned.

I've gotten exactly a 50/50 concerning the ending with my friends so i dunno if it was ok, or too informative etc.

I've never been able to get a crew of ppl together that are really passionate about films and excel in different areas together. So I was stuck doing some things i really don't excel greatly in, but maybe with some practice I can get better :)

@YaBoyTopher
Thanks for your input sir :) Again, the ending thing might have been too obvious... any suggestions for a re-edit?

@comexback_kid
I (unfortunately) had to use the PC version of Premiere. I JUST received my mac a couple days ago and am SOOO relieved that i don't have to worry about crashes anymore. All my edits were done basically frame by frame by hand. I had in the end over 60 layers of audio, and up to 4 or 5 layers of video. Just experiment with flashes. Start out with taking a frame and inverting it for a flash. Then you can start mixing things up with different layers, opacities, motion blurs, colors, speed, etc. In my personal opinion audio is %51 of a film. For some reason sound effects really really really sell an image for me. There are plenty of mistakes audio wise in my film, but i ran out of time for the assignment and didn't have time to search for sound effects. All the sound effects are royalty free and were purchased or downloaded from a royalty free site. Then you can start using the little bit of source audio you have to mix up and cut to match. It's a fun but VERY tedious process :)
 
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Very nicely done! I especially like the sound track. The only thing that bothered me is that in the very last shot, all the bodies have identical wounds and bloodstain on their shirt, which makes it really obvious that it's a cloned FX shot.
 
I went to a couple places. I'll try to find them for you. One was european though. had some excellent car and knife effects. I'm not gunna lie though, it took A LOT of work for the car. Like pitch shifts, speed changes, layers of gears for the shifter, blowoff for the turbocharger etc. But put enough time in it and it comes across believable. But yeah lightning i'll try to find them for ya.

@Jade
Yeah, that's the shot that my main talent hates the most. He is like " dude... we need to resetup everything and put me in various body bags and conditions."

Basically I just ran out of time and couldn't go back to the room and the black table for him to lay on. Anywayz, yeah that is definitely a hole in it. Thanks for the positive input though!! :)
 
Hey Lightning, i found the other site too. This is all user uploaded stuff so you're going to get a mix of both good and bad. Most of it's acceptable though. You're going to find some sounds I used :)

www.soundsnap.com
 
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