Noa/Rice Digital Presents: "Into the Darkness"

Brandon:

Firstly, I think your little bro' looked good on the screen. I don't know why, but I kept flashing back to River Phoenix in Stand By Me. He has a very natural presence.

The film, for me, was all right. I know you put this together quickly and I feel that what's there ain't bad for the amount of time that went into it as a whole. The sound was EXCELLENT. Sounds like a pro mix. If you guys mixed it yourself on the desktop, well, kudos to you, my friend. The music sounded like classic 80's tv, like I was watching Columbo or something. Not in a bad way, in a very good way.

Overall, the film was just ok for what it was. But there is definitely some very good craft there.


John G.
 
Hey Brandon! Nicely done! Pretty incredible what you can do in such short time.

I really liked the simplicity of your film. It says a lot without saying anything.

Great effects. Especially that opening title!

And the music is awesome!

Will be watching this again!

Ted

PS - I am glad that you clarified with Mark what that object was in the upper right hand corner in that one shot. Caught my eye, too and was wondering what that was! Thought it was you at first!
 
glad you guys liked it. Yeah, Spurgeon did a GREAT job. I did go simple Ted. I felt it a better idea than trying to do too much (as I did with my sci-fest entry last time out) Thanks for watching!
 
Hey Brandon, great little short. Simple and to the point. The only thing that bothered me was the music and that he looked around about one to many times when he steps into the shadows. Other than that, everything was clear story wise without any dialog. Congrats.
 
Aram Bauman said:
Hey Brandon, great little short. Simple and to the point. The only thing that bothered me was the music and that he looked around about one to many times when he steps into the shadows. Other than that, everything was clear story wise without any dialog. Congrats.
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Thanks for watching Aram. I still gotta take a look at yours... tonight :)

Surprised you didn't like the music. That's one of my favorite parts of the film.

I understand what you're saying about him looking around. I cut it that way as I wanted to build the tension of the unknown before he made a move.

Thanks again for watching, and for the comments!
 
great effort in such little time, a true guerilla filmmaker.

VFX
Cool effect at the end, it got a little "sparkly" i guess you could say, but well done nonetheless.

Cinematography
Some great shots. there was a little too much difference in color saturation for me between the first shots and "darkness" but not enough to be distracting.

Editing
Solid. Doesn't draw attention to itself, which in a lot of shorts, it tends to do.

Sound
Give Herman the thumbs up for me.

Score
Ditto as Sound.

Screenplay
I think this is the area in which your "quick shoot" suffered the most, not enough development. Boy gets sucked into mysterious hole ... that's about it.

Acting
Your little bro gives one hell of a blank/concerned stare. Give him some lines next time and I'll be convinced.

Overall
Solid showing, you do alot more in 3 min than some can do in 6, I'd be proud of this little ditty, it's amazing what you can pull together in little time when you are surrounded by talented people.
 
What an awesome little movie. props to your brother! I enjoyed everything about it. From the colors, and lighting, to the Effect. It was well put together and leaves you wondering what the crap happened to him?? Good work!
 
THanks both for watching....

hybrid, on your note about the color saturation, I intentionally upped the saturation in the first part WAY UP! Like cranked that sucker. I wanted the HUGE contrast between the two places... I sort of did want it to be jolting.

Thanks for the notes, and detailed review, and for watching!
 
Acting: Little brother rock’s, keep it in the family!
Script: Creepy but a little sparse if I may say.
Direction: Nice shot choice. Wanted more action.
Music: Very funky.
Editing: Tight my man.
Lighting: My fav bit, love the saturated first shots and the muted later stuff, you getting ace at CC Brandon!
Loved: Titles, End F.X. shot.
Hated: No dialogue!
Overall: Brandon you’re really getting there, top notch for such a short shoot.

Brandon I look forward to your future work.
May I say thanks to HorrorFest, you and I hooked up a little and became mates.
Top job.

J.P.
 
Review | POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT! I watch the movies first time around strictly for enjoyment, second and third for review.

At least one of us made it into the fest!!! GAHD! just kidding. Good one duuude.

Script - Was there a script? I can't even remember. So busy. But even if there was, it was probably more the skeletal structure.

Direction - One thing I do know is that you've got your own style. When dealing with kids, you pick shots that tend to amplify their youth. That might come from doing similar works for a living. One shot that I honestly thought as interesting was the brick wall shot. There's a this huge empty space behind it and your brother on the other side. I almost expected someone to leap over it and tackle him into two halves.

Acting - Your brother's first time out seemed fun. He's a little dirty... tell him to take more showers.

Cine/Lighting - Did you just use bounce on it? It all looked like natural light to me. Nothing to complain about. And I shouldn't be given it was shot on a day out.

Editing - Always top notch. I'll always say that this is your strongest point in anything you do. Again, it's probably because you spend your days cutting.

Sound - Herman did well. A different take on the soundtrack and though it's not my favorite, it's definitely interesting. It sounded a bit "boy in the jungle", which doubles for curiousity so it works.

Special Effects - I dunno what else you could've done in regards to a boy getting devoured by a black rock. I just hope I don't end up like that if a rock eats me.

Scariest Moments - That wall. You could almost re-shoot the entire thing in another day based on just that one shot. That was pretty neat.

Overall consensus - Looks like a Halloween PBS special, which means it worked on a lot of levels. It's not easy getting distinct qualities into a short. Glad ya made it B-Man. Now get back to work.
 
Thanks for checking out the film MM, I'll have a review for yours tonight! :) Got a bit of catching up to do, been working on admin. stuff, and having dinner... back at it!
 
The score really made this. It would have been a little boring without it.

I'm a little disappointed that you didn't do one of your original projects. You've obviously got a good sense for things, especially for editing, so it would have been nice to see it employed on one of those projects.

Question for you - the cop dude in A Price Too High - is he a commercial actor? Swear I saw him on TV the other day.
 
Lingothree said:
The score really made this. It would have been a little boring without it.

I'm a little disappointed that you didn't do one of your original projects. You've obviously got a good sense for things, especially for editing, so it would have been nice to see it employed on one of those projects.

Question for you - the cop dude in A Price Too High - is he a commercial actor? Swear I saw him on TV the other day.
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Thanks for the comments, yeah, I WISH I could have done one of the other projects, but as you know, I've been slammed with work on Smuggler's Ransom, and I just barely squeezed this thing in.

The dude on A Price Too High does do many commercials, you may have indeed seen him.

Thanks for checking it out!

I'll try to get back to responding to some of these other comments as soon as I can. Thanks!
 
jpbankesmercer said:
Acting: Little brother rock’s, keep it in the family!
Script: Creepy but a little sparse if I may say.
Direction: Nice shot choice. Wanted more action.
Music: Very funky.
Editing: Tight my man.
Lighting: My fav bit, love the saturated first shots and the muted later stuff, you getting ace at CC Brandon!
Loved: Titles, End F.X. shot.
Hated: No dialogue!
Overall: Brandon you’re really getting there, top notch for such a short shoot.

Brandon I look forward to your future work.
May I say thanks to HorrorFest, you and I hooked up a little and became mates.
Top job.

J.P.
Click to expand...

Hey buddy! Thanks for the review! I know, I know! No dialogue. Sorry man, I didn't want to stretch my lil' bro too far, plus I didn't have a mic! Anyway, glad you enjoyed the film. I need to get to watching yours as well! Thanks again!
 
Kholi said:
Review | POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT! I watch the movies first time around strictly for enjoyment, second and third for review.

At least one of us made it into the fest!!! GAHD! just kidding. Good one duuude.

Script - Was there a script? I can't even remember. So busy. But even if there was, it was probably more the skeletal structure.

Direction - One thing I do know is that you've got your own style. When dealing with kids, you pick shots that tend to amplify their youth. That might come from doing similar works for a living. One shot that I honestly thought as interesting was the brick wall shot. There's a this huge empty space behind it and your brother on the other side. I almost expected someone to leap over it and tackle him into two halves.

Acting - Your brother's first time out seemed fun. He's a little dirty... tell him to take more showers.

Cine/Lighting - Did you just use bounce on it? It all looked like natural light to me. Nothing to complain about. And I shouldn't be given it was shot on a day out.

Editing - Always top notch. I'll always say that this is your strongest point in anything you do. Again, it's probably because you spend your days cutting.

Sound - Herman did well. A different take on the soundtrack and though it's not my favorite, it's definitely interesting. It sounded a bit "boy in the jungle", which doubles for curiousity so it works.

Special Effects - I dunno what else you could've done in regards to a boy getting devoured by a black rock. I just hope I don't end up like that if a rock eats me.

Scariest Moments - That wall. You could almost re-shoot the entire thing in another day based on just that one shot. That was pretty neat.

Overall consensus - Looks like a Halloween PBS special, which means it worked on a lot of levels. It's not easy getting distinct qualities into a short. Glad ya made it B-Man. Now get back to work.
Click to expand...

Wow Kholi, you're rockin it with these great reviews. Thanks for taking the time my friend! Thanks for all your comments, and I did employ some styles from some of the other children's film work I've done... I wanted people to sort of be sad when he gets engulfed by the darkness. Might have worked, might not have... Anyways, thanks for the review dude, and I better get a breakdown like this on Smuggler's Ransom! :thumbsup:
 
All right B-Man, I'm back.

I was watching and trying to figure out what bugged me about this. I thought the shooting was nice, the edits nice, your bro was nice, as I said. Herman's counter-intuitive music was great. Then it struck me.

This is a SCENE from a larger movie. It works very well as a scene, for instance, in a larger piece about a boy who is too curious - okay, that's stupid, but you get the idea. "They moved the headstones, but they didn't move the bodies!!!" Okay, I'm getting whacked.

I said this in another thread, but this might be a nice addition to a reel, and maybe a scene to build up to if you ever decided to make a longer short out of it.

But I thought the work was all solid.
 
desperatecomfort said:
All right B-Man, I'm back.

I was watching and trying to figure out what bugged me about this. I thought the shooting was nice, the edits nice, your bro was nice, as I said. Herman's counter-intuitive music was great. Then it struck me.

This is a SCENE from a larger movie. It works very well as a scene, for instance, in a larger piece about a boy who is too curious - okay, that's stupid, but you get the idea. "They moved the headstones, but they didn't move the bodies!!!" Okay, I'm getting whacked.

I said this in another thread, but this might be a nice addition to a reel, and maybe a scene to build up to if you ever decided to make a longer short out of it.

But I thought the work was all solid.
Click to expand...

Thanks for comin' back! :)

Not sure I'd agree with it being part of a larger movie. When I shot and edited I intended on it being a stand-alone short, moreso than even my sci-fest film... interesting... Aren't some shorts simply scenes?

I will for sure be adding this to my reel though, no doubt. I've got all sortsa crap to make a reel with, I need to get on it...

Thanks again for watching my short.
 
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