Overall impression

M

Mike@AF

Veteran
I finished watching all the films at about 3am this morning. Great work and tremendous effort by everyone. I would like to commend the team working on Sleeper for going to the extreme with their film. I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of it when it's done.

As someone who entered into the On The Lot competition and was disappointed by some of the filmmakers they selected and their films, not to mention the number of unbearable films on that site, I must say I am proud to be a part of this community. The quality of filmmaking this site has garnered with this festival in just a few months is outstanding. All of these films are far and away much better and everyone should be proud of themselves.

Thanks to all and especially DVXuser.com! I'm really looking forward to working on the next DVXfest!... btw, what's the topic going to be for that?
 
I too entered 'On the Lot', and I hear it didn't do to well in the ratings...so its now a "filler show"...but I agree with you I'm very new to film making/DVXuser.com and I feel welcome already. you guys are like the brothers (so to speak) that I never had :Drogar-Happy(DBG):
 
flmmkr said:
I finished watching all the films at about 3am this morning. Great work and tremendous effort by everyone. I would like to commend the team working on Sleeper for going to the extreme with their film. I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of it when it's done.
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Thanks for the shoutout!


I am amazed by the level of these films. I thought for sure we would have at least one I would say awe man...that is pretty bad, but I have not thought that on ANY of them. They all have great qualities and creative twists and turns. I think the people here on dvxuser are slowly evolving into some pretty amazing film makers. I am excited to be one of them. When Sleeper is finished watch nine to five ninja and compare the two. It is amazing the distance that has been created between that first film and now. This is my third film.

I have seen people's films from Zombie fest to now and it is so fun to watch the progression. Congrats to all the film makers in this fest. You got up and did something instead of merely talking about it. That is the first step to the dream!
 
I'm also very surprised the despite the fest being open to all cameras this time around the vast majority of the submissions were still shot using DVX and HVX. Only three or four films were done using other cameras, and none from the A1, which was quite a shocker.
 
I'm surprised as well that there wasn't other cameras used that much. I was even expecting some mixed-camera use and it didn't seem to really show up. I was almost sure we would see some camera-phone shots in at least one of these.
 
I just finished watching them all as well.

I have watched all the films in all the contests and I agree, this one had the highest quality level throughout.

I have 4 favorites at the moment and I'm having a hell of a time, narrowing it down to my top 3.
 
I had planned to enter and had written something before the HVX arrived. The two weeks left was sort of hectic. I think the script is still pretty good, it wasn't a spy genre film so much a movie with a spy in it. Maybe I'll post the script or shoot it some other time.
 
I for one am disappointed in the overall quality of the movies. There were three that I felt were really good. They were my 1, 2 and 3 picks for best movie. There were another 3 or 4 that were pretty good. But beyond that, it was much more of the same as previous fests.

I applaud everyone that entered that you actually went out and did something. Take a look at what you've done and look at the critiques you've received. Take them to heart and use them to up your game next time around. Story and Acting...the two things that will kill a story faster than anything.

One improvement I have noticed, is that the character have become more 'age appropriate' as the fests continue. By this I mean, the age of the actors tends to match the perceived age of the characters. If all you can get are young actors, build your story around that...don't try to use Corey Feldman to play a Morgan Freeman character.
 
I think I would agree with Blaine. I felt the biggest obstacle in the way of greatness with a lot of these films was the writing. Specifically, dialogue. Some of the dialogue was very....inappropriate to come from certain characters. One filmmaker asked me if I thought the casting was off. And I didn't think it was. I felt the actor was embodying the character well and playing very natural, but there was just some dialogue that he was being asked to say that I don't believe could be delivered in a way that didn't come across as "Who says that?" I understand that characters are the creation of the writer, but they have to be believable in some respects....and if the actors can't portray the characters, then a rewrite is in order. Now then, if you are working with super amateur actors, then no matter of dialogue will come across naturally but the more specific and well written the dialogue is the better chance they will have of achieving success.

I have only been on this board since just before the SpyFest films were posted and I have to say it is impressive. As a newb to the board I don't know how many of you have done any networking with writers or if there is a way to get writers added to the mix with some of these projects. It seems to me that writer/directors are pretty rare and there is probably a reason for that. They are very diverse skill sets. I know that I am excited about what the next festival is going to be so I can throw my hat in the ring. (By the way Matt.....I'm gonna need your camera....and you to run the camera....and your editing equipment....and you to edit......hrm...yeah)

So I suppose to tie it back to the thread name, my overall impression was "Wow, there are a lot of people making really good movies out there. I wish these semi-pro filmmakers could hook up with some semi-pro writers out there to get a great, well thought out concept and dialogue that they could execute with the kind of precision I've seen here" That may have been paraphrased.
 
Hootzie said:
I know that I am excited about what the next festival is going to be so I can throw my hat in the ring. (By the way Matt.....I'm gonna need your camera....and you to run the camera....and your editing equipment....and you to edit......hrm...yeah)
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Haha! You know I got your back! I am interested to see what the fest is as well. I believe people have made a huge jump in quality from Zombie fest, but it is dificult to write an engaging story with amazing characters, cast amazing actors, and shoot an amazing movie, in 3 months. It would be great to have some excellent stories to shoot! But there are just as many director/writers that are not the greatest writers as there are writers who are terrible. It is difficult to find a well thought out, character rich script that doesn't cost a fortune.:crybaby:
 
True.....but it may bear looking into for this group, as a whole, to seek out screenwriting message boards and bring them into the process. I don't know if I buy that there are just as many terrible director/writers as there are terrible writers. Probably more terrible writers because there aren't very many director/writers, but seeking out the same kinds of people who are looking to make their break may benefit all involved.
 
Hootzie said:
True.....but it may bear looking into for this group, as a whole, to seek out screenwriting message boards and bring them into the process. I don't know if I buy that there are just as many terrible director/writers as there are terrible writers. Probably more terrible writers because there aren't very many director/writers, but seeking out the same kinds of people who are looking to make their break may benefit all involved.
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True Dat
 
Hootzie said:
True.....but it may bear looking into for this group, as a whole, to seek out screenwriting message boards and bring them into the process. I don't know if I buy that there are just as many terrible director/writers as there are terrible writers. Probably more terrible writers because there aren't very many director/writers, but seeking out the same kinds of people who are looking to make their break may benefit all involved.
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It's a lot easier to sit down and bang out a script... whether it be for a short or a feature... than it is to actually make a film...
 
I feel that was probably the problem...."banging out a script" is pretty easy. Crafting a script is difficult. You can't honestly believe that all writers are just hacks that have fooled people into thinking they have skills.
 
Yeah, that's what I meant... it's not that hard to fill up 6 pages (for a short) with stuff... it can all be crap with bad dialog, action, and no story arc, but it's still a script...

Just about anyone can sit down and fill pages with words, but to gather all the necessary elements to put together a film (camera, crew, actors) is a much more difficult thing to do.
 
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Hootzie said:
I feel that was probably the problem...."banging out a script" is pretty easy. Crafting a script is difficult. You can't honestly believe that all writers are just hacks that have fooled people into thinking they have skills.
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I bet there are some great ones but the question is if they can write screenplays. Can they create character arcs that fit in to a Master plot with subplots branching from that, maintain character depth while making people want to see what happens next and building the correct momentum. Those writers are hard to find. I talked to many writers as I looked for something to make after Sleeper. Many of them sent me full length feature scripts or their short scripts. Most of them (in my opinion) were absolutely dreadful. It would be refreshing to find some amazing gem out there that can do the above well.

Anthony, I bet you could write some awesome stuff.
 
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