"On The Lot" tonight

spidey said:
From what I know I was the only to make it to the third round before being eliminated, Producers said, "too violent" but they said spielburg saw my work... neat.
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maybe if your movie had been about a tree you would have gotten in.
 
this show certainly has had trouble "finding itself." tried to be too much like american idol in the beginning and is still recovering from being brutally long and drawn out. I think all of the prehype about Spielburg and Burnett would have more impact if they would somehow participate on screen now rather than just a cameo at the end.

also think the series was made to be web friendly (short form content, built to "go viral") but as pointed out by others on this board, each week it is being weighed down by the inherent challenge of making quality short films on such a quick turn around.

Still, I find myself liking several of the filmmakers and watching. I hope it makes it to season 2 so they can iron out some of these flaws and make a great platform for aspiring filmmakers.
 
also must say I love watching the judges. Gary Marshall's love of his craft really shows. Getting to see someone as iconic as Carrie Fisher struggling with young egos, and guest directors who can be total asses (who I love to hate) or pretty cool.

the host, not so much. she still seems not quite uncomfortable in her role.
 
I find the girl from NYU and the guy form Kentucky the most irritating. Both very smart, but the girl seems lost in her own head and the guy too much of a persecution complex.
 
anybody catch the sarcastic comments Jason (Blood Born short) said after the judges said they didnt get his work? "So would it help if I turned my hat around frontwards too? Would that help?"

he was pissed.

i felt sorry for jessica because i knew it was so bad. i was hoping she wasnt going to cry. she's a cute chick.
 
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ya know, I think Jason isn't bad... of all those people last night.... first off, he took a risk and didn't make a feel good comedy.... And I think he made a decent flick... I think Jesicca's movie was AWFUL, but I also thought LOST was awful, and that Zack's movie was a letdown... the effects weren't even that great... I thought the glass eye movie was ok, but it dragged on and on....
 
i was shocked to hear carrie's response to Jess' film saying the only way it could be worse is if it went on any longer - ouch!

i thought jason's film woulda got more props then it did.

i thought LOST had some bad audio/technical issues and was nothing special (it felt like a straight to DVD flick) but not as bad as Jess's or the guy that did the crazy cab, lol.

what did the last judge say about Mateen shooting LOST too close up??? did he say he shouldve shot it wide so it felt like a movie? why did he say that?
 
FilmBoy77 said:
i felt sorry for jessica because i knew it was so bad. i was hoping she wasnt going to cry. she's a cute chick.
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Like the great comedian Artie Lange once said, you should never have to explain your joke. Same goes for these short films. They're trying to justify them to the panel. "Well, it was an experimental film... I took a chance." Whatever. You can't "force" someone to like or understand a piece of work, and there's no use getting mad when it gets negative reviews.

I'm not taking sides with the filmmakers or the judges. I just love ripping this show apart!
 
Deepfocus88 said:
Like the great comedian Artie Lange once said, you should never have to explain your joke. Same goes for these short films. They're trying to justify them to the panel. "Well, it was an experimental film... I took a chance." Whatever. You can't "force" someone to like or understand a piece of work, and there's no use getting mad when it gets negative reviews.

I'm not taking sides with the filmmakers or the judges. I just love ripping this show apart!
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deepfocus you're quick on the draw with those quotes man!!! hahahaha :)
 
FilmBoy77 said:
...what did the last judge say about Mateen shooting LOST too close up??? did he say he shouldve shot it wide so it felt like a movie? why did he say that?
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He said something like shoot it close and they will give you $1K to make a soap opera, shoot it wide and they will give you $1mil to make a movie.

TV since it has been traditionally shot for a smaller screen favors closeups and tighter shots.

Film since it is giant on a big screen need not go so tight to still see the actors eyes.

Also film, because of the aspect ratio and size, may emphasize shot composition more.

In Walter Murch's book The Blink of an Eye (required reading) he says one rule of thumb is to ask if you can see the actor's eyes or not. If you can there may be no reason to go tighter.

TV shows, especially soap operas and to a lesser degree situation comedies, because of the way they are shot and in the case of soap operas because of how fast they are turned around, may have no desire or time to think as compositionally as film so they have a kind by rote system of shots that, again favors closeups because of the small screen size.

He was saying the guy did not think about telling the story visually for the most part and just set up two close ups. I thought the handheld work was nice in the closeups but it was an astute observation on Marshall's part, IMO.

Also he may have been hurt by the location. Can't remember exactly, but I think the cafe seating area was very cramped - might not have been able to move back enough to get a wider or more composed shot.

Lastly, in film, again in contrast to televisions rote use of the closeup, you want the close up to be very motivated, only going to it for the most intimate part of the scene if you need to go to it.
 
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hehe... nice Jack... and Walter Murch's book is great! I've read it many times over...

And for the record... JDS could DESTROY anyone on that show...
 
i wish that they would found a way to fit in more info about the filmmaking process and tone down the emphasis on the elimination process. maybe this is something they will get into when their are fewer contestants, but it feels like it will be too late and that all those non filmmakers (ie not predisposed to watch the show unless it is actually interesting) will already have tuned out.
 
JY_Blue said:
i wish that they would found a way to fit in more info about the filmmaking process and tone down the emphasis on the elimination process. maybe this is something they will get into when their are fewer contestants, but it feels like it will be too late and that all those non filmmakers (ie not predisposed to watch the show unless it is actually interesting) will already have tuned out.
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Well, they didn't drag on the elimination process this week like they did the week before.

We found out who was going at the very beginning of the show.

This time we didn't have to hear about it before and after every commercial only to finally get the reveal at the end of the show. Maybe they are slowly improving things...

One can hope.

Mike
 
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