"No Soliciting" a film by Amy Beth O'Brien

"Spawned" a couple. Or at least a director and a cinematographer. Cheyenne can't keep her hands off my cameras (still and video) when I have them out.
 
Fine film amy. Loved the lighting!!!! convincing acting as well. I did think the effect shot you used could have been a little better but I still enjoyed it.
 
Yep, LOVED this one! :) Great job! I really liked when Lily does the little sing song "but you did" line. :) It's always the little things I appreciate the most about movies. Also the opening scene was visually outstanding as well (my favorite) but then again, there were a lot of great scenes.
 
Could see the quality from using a real cinematographer here. Very nice look and feel from start to finish. Your actors were solid and believable.
 
Yep I too was struck by the lovely cinematography, and the charming atmsophere of the film. Isn't it interesting to note the solidarity of females and in particular lesbian relationships we see featured in a few of the stories - however the supernatural element in your own was certainly different to that, and took me by surprise. I enjoyed this film and while I felt a greater reaction to the brothers death might have been more appropriate, (i mean he is a bit of a villain) i think if the reaction is meant to be more 'liberation' then his villainy may have benefited from being a little hardened. (That might just be because im used to my haaard life in Scotland - hehehe ;)

A great film Amy and it shows that you are unfolding those wings onto darker subject matter quite comfortably, I always enjoy your shorts - and a fest would be incomplete without an Amy entry :)
 
Big departure from what I've seen from you in the past. :)
This looked quite good, shot well, very nice lighting.

I too struggled with the ending just a tad. It was the (non)reaction.
That and just walking further into the house, leaving the body on the floor with the door wide open.
I always enjoy your work though and this was no exception. Very polished work, nice editing as well.

MAH
 
I enjoyed the film. The soul-sucking could have been a bit more spectacular, but overall a well-done piece.
 
What a clever and intrigues refreshing story! You are going in a new direction. I believe you are developing a new style. This seems very interesting. Unfortunately I am not very sure how good I found the acting, but I liked your ironical special effect, when she was blowing in his face - very funny! There also is a detail not edited very well. When she moved behind him, she probably run behind him, but I missed to see this part. In one moment she was in front of him and in the next moment she pushed him down. It felt a bit not believable. Nonetheless a funny entertaining movie. Good luck.

Susanne
 
An enjoyable and very professionally made piece - it must have been quite a shock working with all that crew!! The cinematography was great but then it has always been a very strong point of yours when you were behind the camera yourself too so I wonder how it felt?
I think your film had one problem though: when Diana and Lily are first in the house together you can't show their real relationship because that would give the game away to the audience, so they end up acting out a role for Diana's brother who is still outside (and for us the audience, so that we continue to believe that things are as they seem). In reality, as lovers who had set this plan up together I think they would have behaved very differently. I felt that this put in motion a certain awkwardness between them that remained for the rest of the film and maybe contributed to the rather flat feeling when the brother is killed. Maybe this was a problem with the script that could have been avoided by contriving to have the brother present (or watching from outside) to force them to act out this role. I know we see him outside the window for a second, but at the end of the scene, not the beginning and we don't have the feeling that Diana and Lily feel watched.
The special effects blue breath I took as being somewhat ironic/tongue in cheek, so it didn't worry me - I quite liked it actually.
Despite my point above, I thought this was one of the better entries and it's certainly good to see you challenging yourself with something completely different.
Jason
 
This short looked amazing, it was really well paced, and acted great too. I was so jealous of the lighting...lol I was really impressed right up to the point of the supernatural element. I watched it with a group of people here and pretty much everyone was confused and we had to rewind it. It was just that she suddenly appeared at the side of him, then at the back of him without seeming to move, and catch him off guard. But, it really wasn't clear whether she had super powers or it was just a couple of strange edits (because at that point we'd had no sign of these powers previously and no visual effect to indicate she was using some 'force'). Personally I missed the glowing hand on first viewing because I was still recoiling a little. Perhaps some whoosh/streak type effect, or some accompanying sound would have helped her apprehension of him. Of course, once she sucks his soul out you get that she is 'gifted', but I was still unsure whether she had moved like lightning, or just outfoxed him.


Sorry if that seems like Im picking, but I say it because I think it could be fixed and very much lift the short.

Apart from hat the rest of the piece is done extremely well and there's a lot to be proud of here.
 
Opening shot and music - stellar! Totally different from the Amy norm, much improved. Very high quality. One thing did notice and I'm picking here, when she knocked on the door her hair looked a mess. Some up front, some on back, look liked a frizzed hair nest. Those little things you have to watch out for. The acting better than most. I didn't get the need for the supernatural power. I also didn't feel this as a suspenseful thriller. Having said all that, the quality and production value of this one is right on up there. Very good job, Amy- OOOOOO!
 
Wow, Amy, totally not what I expected, not sure what I was expecting. The opening was dark enough to tell me I was going to get a normal Amy O story. I like the story and your craft. The special effects left something to be desired, but overall good job.
 
Hey Amy! This started off really great for me, but then it seemed to drift off course. As others have mentioned, the supernatural element came out of nowhere and the way she disarms him was quite confusing as well. The production value was definitely there though, you could really see that care was given to each shot. Good work!
 
This film was wonderful and top-notch all around except, sadly to say, the fx. Unfortunately it was not good and not convincing and takes away from the film. The rest of the film was absolutely excellent. I liked the lighting with the shadows, the acting and the cinematography. The audio, music and the script were also very good. I think if you fix the effects you'll really have something here. Very impressive!
 
Amy great work up until she gets to that house. I kind of lost touch with what was going on and the special effects / all-of-a-sudden supernatural element really pushed it too far for me. Your lighting and quality is impeccable though. You've done some great work here.
 
Thanks for the feedback, everyone! Sorry I've been a bit M.I.A. I put off way too much last week to finish this up and I've had to play catch up in the real world. I finally got a chance to sit down and watch the films in the past couple of days.

General notes: I hear you loud and clear on the VFX. Could use some tweaking. Maybe Matt will want another go at it. I take responsibility for it, though, as I was the one who signed off on it. As for the "here one second over there the next" moment people have a problem with, well, yeah, she's supernatural. Is it confusing at first? Yes, as it is for Donnie. Does it get explained shortly after? Yes. I will take a look at ways to hint that it's coming up, play with the edit a little more, but it is a 6 minute short. I can't really give it all away too soon.

But I am glad that overall people like it. So many talented people came out to help me on this, and I wanted to be sure the end result was something they could be proud of. I know I am. :)

Off to share my thoughts on the rest of the fest. . .
 
Cinematography was nicely done. Pacing was shored up nicely, something I felt you needed to address in your past pieces. I did miss some of the story line(like how the statue fit into it all). Overall, I thought this was very well executed and came off very professionally. Thanks!
 
Thanks, Kurt! I definitely had the echoes of past festival feedback in my head as I worked on this! Took a while for all that to get through my thick Aries skull, though.

The statue. Remind me when this is all over and I'll tell you my story of Lilith and her descendants. For now, I feel the film should stand on its own without explaining the backstory. I left clues in there, but if they weren't obvious enough, then that's my fault as a story teller and I should't get to add more to the story here.
 
AmyO just watched this short again and must say this is one of the highest quality looks of the fest. Who did your lighting?
 
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