"North" a lost production

Thanks for the feedback guys!

The audio for the most part was ADR, but I still think of this as a whole as incomplete. Audio is still unprocessed and yeah, no room tone / ambient was added at all. I still plan on finishing up a lot of the VFX work and taking care of the sound...

Thanks again for checking it out... this one's definitely still a work in progress so any feedback you guys give is super appreciated!
 
Sets built from scratch? Great work then.

Definitely post the final version once you get some little things smoothed out. I really liked the short.
 
I like the feel of your movie. Nice music and FX. The acting is good also. I just can't relate the use of Chinese language to the overall story of the movie. The actors seem to be able to speak English :) and I guess your movie was made in the US and one of the actors doesn't look like he's from China. I think it might make the viewers feel more involved with the movie if the actors speak English. Sorry I don't mean to be racist here but it's just my observation :). I know there are many films in this fest that are not from the US and I feel totally fine watching the actors in those films speaking in their native language. Maybe it's just me that expect different thing from your movie ;-). Nice job though.
 
totitefilms said:
I just can't relate the use of Chinese language to the overall story of the movie.
Click to expand...

totite: Well, i'm glad you liked the feel of the flick. I'd be interested in knowing what you think of the original cut of the movie. There is a lot of subtext as to why they are speaking mandarin (which is a completely natural and fluent second language for both our actors) in a movie shot in the US. Unfortunately most of these hints got cut to make the 6 min mark. What we have here is (hopefully) the heart of the story minus of lot of the minor details. The original version is about twice as long and has at least one other language... er, involved.

Drew Ott: Thanks. We'll def be posting the final. One thing: the interior introduced at 1:11 was a trailer secured and decorated. So i guess that wasn't technically "built."

Thanks for the feedback!
 
Think FIREFLY or Serenity and the way Mandarin is worked in there. Bryce can go into detail about how the world he's conceptualized works in regards to them speaking mandarin. But to his credit, it's definetely not JUST so they can be speaking mandarin. And, like he said, much of that probably got lost in the time frame.
 
FIRST OFF and MOST IMPORTANTLY... Great Film guys!


SPOILERS:

The white guy speaking Chinese... sold it for me. It immediately brought me to the thought that this is a subculture that has evolved or sometihng like that. I too thought Firefly... and if you are going to be compared to something that is not a bad something to be compared to!

like PUSH, I feel the CG/composites were note complete. They looked great, but I could see that you may have some tweaking to do. The whole Magnetic twist was awesome... I wasn't sold at all until that point and then you had me. The markings on the guys hands and hologram... very cool. In my mind it was a great success due to the fact that when I think about it now, I want to know about the person that stopped/caused it... I need to watch it again, but didn't it suggest that the guy in the end still has a way to go and that he needs to find his purpose in all of this... That is what I got out of it! GREAT JOB GUYS and if this is not complete... I can't wait to see what COMPLETE IS! Put me on the list to see/get a finished copy!
 
Excellent film. I question whether those two were native speakers of manadrin but it didn't bother me b/c I guess the one guy was a foreigner. I absolutely loved your elevator effect! Some of the cgi with the mountain took from the experience but you said it's rough form right now. Maybe a way to fix that is have a friend near the rocky mountains or other mountain range shoot footage of a stand in from behind.

At around 4:49 you're subtitle drops too quickly to read it all. I liked the mood of the film, the lighting, the shots, the whole thing general. I felt the manadrin gave it an authentic feel.

WO XI HUAN!!!
 
Last edited:
Good film! I liked the 'darkness' of it and thought the CG's were cool. I did get lost a bit and had to watch a second time to understand the story (I think?).

Spoilers------
*subtitles - I know it's just me, but they always pull my attention away from the visuals
* audio could use some work, but you already know that

Excellent job!
 
Mark T. Aro said:
FIRST OFF and MOST IMPORTANTLY... Great Film guys!
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Mark T. Aro said:
...but didn't it suggest that the guy in the end still has a way to go and that he needs to find his purpose in all of this... That is what I got out of it!
Click to expand...

That actually makes me really happy -- it's exactly what we were going for!

In regards to the comments about the Mandarin and our actors -- these two are actually brothers (white/Chinese mix).. the idea behind the "diversity" being that we were attempting to create a world & culture that indeed had evolved... and to try and create a place where you weren't entirely certain where/when it was. A hard sell, I know, but sounds like it worked for some, not for others!

Thanks all for checking the flick out....
 
Hey guys this is actually one of my favorite shorts in the competition. Loved the SFX and the shots are clean and well thought out. Good actors and great locations. Great Job.
 
I liked the tone. I loved the use of Chinese. It made the whole film feel very distinctive. Some really cool shots and cool style. I didn't follow the story at all though.
 
I didn't understood the whole story, but I like the atmosphere and the special effects in the film. I like also the use of Chinese, because it gave the film more authentic. The photography and the music were great.

Susanne
 
I share what Susanne said; i need to re-watch it, but i really liked it. For me is a sorta of Mad-max/Serenity but with a more epic and dramatic tone. Great!
 
In the past few days, DVXusers Ben Sliker and Justin Kuhn sat down and chatted over AIM while simultaneously watching the same TIMEFEST films. We call them, "The AIM sessions". Here's their thoughts on "NORTH"

spesliker (12:36:42 PM): north
happygobo (12:36:57 PM): count down
spesliker (12:37:00 PM): 3
spesliker (12:37:01 PM): 2
spesliker (12:37:02 PM): 1
spesliker (12:37:05 PM): go
happygobo (12:37:43 PM): where are they?
spesliker (12:37:50 PM): is this a giant elavator?
spesliker (12:38:13 PM): this is kinda neat, don't really know what's goin' on tho.
happygobo (12:38:40 PM): nice costumes
happygobo (12:39:04 PM): what is it with foreign languages that adds instant credibility to acting?
spesliker (12:39:12 PM): lol
happygobo (12:39:32 PM): that key needs a little work.
spesliker (12:40:05 PM): are they trying to restart the earth? that's badass.
happygobo (12:40:10 PM): word.
happygobo (12:40:31 PM): it IS an elevator
spesliker (12:40:48 PM): it's JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
spesliker (12:41:44 PM): nice 3d
happygobo (12:42:51 PM): heh
spesliker (12:43:28 PM): man, saving the world and trying to find himself, that's deep.
spesliker (12:43:38 PM): nice effort. like to see it finished.
happygobo (12:43:53 PM): huh?
spesliker (12:44:14 PM): apparently it's a "work in progress"
happygobo (12:44:30 PM): ah ...
spesliker (12:45:58 PM): alright off to shower.*

Keep us up to date guys, like to see this one polished off, if not expanded. Great work. :thumbsup:
 
Last edited:
I really liked this rough cut. It really felt like a long trailer to a really cool movie length Chinese Sci Fi film, which it looks like it's supposed to be. I really dug it! It feels like something I could potentially see with IFC as a distributor.

best,
JP
 
Did I read correctly that you built all the sets from the ground up?

Great flick. I might not fully understand it, but I got a very solid "feeling" from it, definitely that it's part of a bigger story that I'd love to see in more detail.
 
Huge Ass Post

Huge Ass Post

Hey all, we’re really grateful for the feedback. It’s exciting that film is resonating or at least evoking a response amongst the truly talented community here at dvx. The positive feedback is blowing our minds here. ESPECIALLY since we were emotionally crushed at entering a unfinished piece.

I’m gonna touch on a few common posting trends. As I stated before, a lot of this subtext had to get cut.

BUT PLEASE DON’T READ ON, if you plan to write a review and have yet to formulate your initial opinions of the film!

SPOILERS!!!

Language:
I wrote this film specifically for these two actors. It’s supposed to serve as, of course, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi, as well as an exploration of brotherhood. …with an emphasis on how far we follow on older sibling’s tracks (I know it was not clear at all they were brothers… but that was kiiiinda the point). Knowing these actors for so long, I knew it had to be in mandarin, because there is something more intimate and almost tactile about how they speak their language within their family. Like it represented a bond of sorts. So that was the origin of it. I wanted to to pull on something real and immediate and translate it into the world of the film.

In the context of the story, the Mandarin serves as a character/world trait and plot device. As Jojopop put it
jojopop said:
we were attempting to create a world & culture that indeed had evolved... and to try and create a place where you weren't entirely certain where/when it was.
Click to expand...
We wanted to get across the sense these characters having traveled to a foreign place... and to give the audience the view of them as foreigners... being the primary audience is in the US. On the surface level, the fact that the character of Younger was unable to read a book he’d found was meant to convey the idea that they had traveled into a land far from home. This also plays in with the location being named “Joshua.”

There are also larger ideas of how and why... for example it was better they not be interpreted as native speakers as Mobie pointed out
Mobie540 said:
I question whether those two were native speakers of mandarin but it didn't bother me b/c I guess the one guy was a foreigner.
Click to expand...
and the fact that the actors are half white haf chinese helps. But that's neither here nor there, if it's not expressed in the film.

ALSO,
Ben Sliker said:
happygobo (12:39:04 PM): what is it with foreign languages that adds instant credibility to acting?
spesliker (12:39:12 PM): lol
Click to expand...
Yes, I DID think of that. I knew we had to up the "authenticity" and "credibility" of our no budget sci-fi flick somehow. We thought it would be distinctive. But the decision was made on a story and character basis.


Story:
This was our BIGGEST concern. It seems like it can go either way: understanding or confusion! But yes, on the surface the story is about restarting the earth after an alluded catastrophe. Something caused an electromagnetic pulse that has stopped everything making our Earth function (whatever those things may be). Rotation stops, communication stops, our socially accepted construct of time stops. Everything we've used to keep our lives going... stops. The Calender is based on earth's orbit, months the lunar cycle, a day is based the rotation of the earth, seasons are gone.....

Under that is the story of Younger trying to find his own way/meaning in life and the larger mechanics of the world around him. As the character Older said, “ I know my reasons, find yours.” The nearing of task completion and the earth's standstill are suppose to be a metaphor for that moment of standstill and fear before we press on in life. In this case, the younger of the two finding his way without his brother to guide him. :violin:


Unfinished:
The original cut of the film was linear. We’ll eventually have two cuts and see which or both work best. We'll def be posting them. I’m glad that the unfinished aspect has snuck under some noses! Heh… :D


Thanks again! We’re definitely digesting the feedback.
 
Last edited:
dopeyname101 said:
Did I read correctly that you built all the sets from the ground up?

Great flick. I might not fully understand it, but I got a very solid "feeling" from it, definitely that it's part of a bigger story that I'd love to see in more detail.
Click to expand...

Hey, dopeyname101 (think yer names clever don't ya),
Thanks! More detail is something I'd love too.

Yes, the sets were built from the ground up. It involved a lot of scrap, junk and tinkering. Bleeding fingers too. Oh and production delays!! Who could forget those? Definitely not the dearest and endlessly patient co-director!

I have a shamefully large amount of pride about it all (minus the production delays).

:D Thanks for noticing!:D
 
Last edited:
Yeah, I should probably scrap this name... but I like how nobody ever gets what it refers to.

And hella good work on the sets, top-notch production quality.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top