OASIS - An I.A.N. Production

Aaaaand it's back in!

Many thanks to Larry, Noel and all the other mods. You have a thankless job and the issues you deal with have the potential for very significant consequences. Please keep up the great work.

That said, to whom do I send the bill for my heart attack?
 
I really like the concept of the Oasis cemetery. Very cool twist.

Your actors were both good, but I kept getting distracted by all the modern things in the background of what I presume was supposed to be a period piece. Some clever framing could have hidden a lot of those things, and with a locked off shot you could easily remove some of that stuff in post. Or just find a different location.

Keep it up, you accomplished a lot. Speaking from my experience with this fest, it was not easy to make a western, and it's definitely awesome you completed one.
 
Thanks Jason

The background elements were the achilles heel that I just couldn't get fixed in time. You're right in that there were lots of ways I could have avoided it - better framing being the key one, so chalk this up to straight inexperience on my part. We are planning a local screening of the film later this summer here, I hope to have it all cleaned up by then.
 
Oasis

I liked that you used the good ol' DVX. Some nice images here. Could have used to have some more stabilization in your shots, a good tripod would help that. Also echo comments on the modern stuff in the background. At first I thought it was intentional, but as I watched I realized it wasn't. Good effort, and great work just getting a film made! Keep on doing it!
 
I really didn't understand the story, so I'll have to go back and watch it again. I did enjoy the film, but two things I noticed right off the bat were that the sound design could be tweaked (sound effects - even little things like the sound of the kid zipping up his pants) and the gun that the older guy pulled on the kid did not look real and looked like it was the same gun the kid used on him at the end. The older guy's voice seemed forced as well. Other than that, you had some nice shots in here and the big reveal at the end was very, very nice. This genre isn't an easy thing to do, so I definitely applaud you for getting something done. Keep at it and keep up the good work!
 
I loved the idea of the Oasis Cemetery and those buried oil drums. Great idea. It's also nice to have a DVX in the DVXfest.

Now, to the short. Right away I was very distracted by your choice of color grading. Pushed to the blue like that was just the wrong choice in my opinion. You have a long running drought, make things feel hotter, not cooler.

THere were a lot of things happening here that I wasn't really following. Perhaps, the story was longer and had to be cut in editing. Either way, I think this one could have benefited from more work on the script.

I past fests I've seen a lot worse 'first entries' and I think you tackled a tough category for your first one, so kudos on that. Keep plugging away and you're sure to learn and improve from your mistakes.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys.

Marlon, Blaine - sorry you guys weren't able to fully follow the story the first time through. There was a bit more dialogue that was supposed to help explain the setting and the characters' intentions, but it got cut out due to it not flowing well. I might have gone too far with it.

The colouring was something I struggled with. I totally agree with you Blaine, it needs to be a lot warmer. Next time I think I'm just going to get some help with it, as it's not a strong suit of mine.

Keep plugging away and you're sure to learn and improve from your mistakes.
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That's the problem with your first film - you haven't had a chance to make any mistakes before it! However, I think I made enough in this to cover for three or four films, so I'm expecting much better for my next one.
 
Great first entry. I will echo what blaine said about the grading and some of the audio felt a little off, but this is a hell of a lot better than my first film. Glad to see the DVX still kicking and you had some really good shots.
 
Dialogues shifting from left to right are confusing in this case.

Is this 100% boomed, it's boomed very welll.
 
I'm a little late so I won't point out everything that's been touched on. I did like the way this ended. Really nicely done for a first film, I'm impressed. I bet you learned a lot on this one and it was a tough Fest to jump into.

Again, I liked the idea behind the story. Especially the oacis cemetery. Very cool.

MAH
 
Richard - thank you, I hope to be hitting closer to your level of execution next time I do this.

Dre - Yeah, I crossed the line a few times. It's funny, I had read that rule so many times and thought it was so ingrained in my head it wouldn't be a problem. Turns out it's a lot easier to do than I thought. I was able to salvage most of it through flipping, but there's one I couldn't change, and it stands out pretty clear.

The audio was all ADR for two reasons. One, the location audio was pretty bad with all kinds of extraneous noises, and two - I lost all the original audio :(

MAH - thanks for your comments. You're right, I learned a lot. Mainly by screwing things up, but we got a couple things right too. I'm glad you liked the idea.
 
4100xpb said:
Richard - thank you, I hope to be hitting closer to your level of execution next time I do this.

Dre - Yeah, I crossed the line a few times. It's funny, I had read that rule so many times and thought it was so ingrained in my head it wouldn't be a problem. Turns out it's a lot easier to do than I thought. I was able to salvage most of it through flipping, but there's one I couldn't change, and it stands out pretty clear.

The audio was all ADR for two reasons. One, the location audio was pretty bad with all kinds of extraneous noises, and two - I lost all the original audio :(

MAH - thanks for your comments. You're right, I learned a lot. Mainly by screwing things up, but we got a couple things right too. I'm glad you liked the idea.
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Wel the ADR was not bad then :-Dum(DBG)::-Laugh(DBG)-1

But when I look at it again (being more awake etc), I indeed have some "ADR feelings". Or that I know are not easy to boom. Or sound to "clean" to be boomed.
But just minor... I think you have done it well.

Then about left right ... I think you made it a little to hard left (or righ).
 
4100xpb said:
MAH - thanks for your comments. You're right, I learned a lot. Mainly by screwing things up, but we got a couple things right too. I'm glad you liked the idea.
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No problem. You did more than a couple of things right! This was a great first effort. Just learn from the mistakes you did make and keep moving forward. Nobody here is perfect. We're all learning.

Cheers,

MAH
 
Wow, so I'm seeing that this is your first film and I have to hand it to you....all things considered you did pretty good. I'm not going to repeat what's already been said but I just wanted to tell you that you had an interesting concept here and give you kudos for making it into a film. Congrats!
 
Excellent first effort... good story...acting worked. There's always room for improvement, but that's what's great about being here
in DVXLand, tons to learn. Really good job by cast & crew... you should all be proud.:thumbsup:
 
Hey guys, I'm sure by now you've heard a lot of the same reviews, but I'm not reading the reviews first, just tell you what affected me most.

First off, you had a pretty good story and it played out well. Your actors were decent and they put their best foot forward. Good editing all around.

But the Locations absolutely killed you. It's the one thing that constantly took me out of the film and had me shaking my head wonderign why you simply didn;t frame it better... or better yet, drive a few miles out of town to a deserted area where it's dry, and shoot there. Instead we have a story that's trying to present itself as a place where water is so scarce unrine comes at a premium price. Without that "reality" imposed, what we have is a bizarre film where the actions don;t make any sense especially given the surroundings. I won't beat you up on this point, and I can see it's your first time (took a peek up above), so it's good you came out and created something. Next time, choose locations more carefully or have a backup script that IS written for the locations you do have access to.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys.

Rodney, you won't get any arguments for me. All the places I scouted, inluding some a fair ways from town, had background issues. I figured if I'm going to have background problems, I might as well have them close to town.

My intention was to frame around it as best as possible, and was willing to put in a certain amount of wire removal and roto if necessary to clean things up. But as you can see in the heat of the day, I royally bunged that up. Sucks, but the lesson has been learned. Next time we'll get it.
 
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