PANDORA - Presented by Envision and Waltind

I didn't notice a problem with the mix like some people did. It seemed to me that that music was featured in appropriate moments, then was downplayed when the audience should be focused on other things. I didn't really notice the score beyond a "oh, nice music" thought.

Your acting was pretty good. I thought the best part was the encounter between the main character and his wife when she finds out about the lost child. Almost all of that scene was really well constructed, shot, and acted. There was a single moment that looked like it may have been an editing issue, or something. It was a really quick cut away to an odd camera angle. Maybe just me.

The pan of the guy when he's been "infected" and has funky eyes was fantastic! I saw that and immediatly thought "That's a great shot!" Not only in composition, but the effect was great too.

Take this next comment with a grain of salt: I would have enjoyed a little bit more explanation about what was going on in the lab. Maybe like more of a clue into what was unlocked, or what they found.

The infected female also had a little Gozer vide going on. The voice changing was a cool effect, but reminded me too much of Ghostbusters. It might have helped if I hadn't just watched Ghostbusters the day before. :)

Anyway, I enjoyed it. Good job. And I think that's all of the comments I had.
 
Yeah, I think the music was pretty good, although perhaps at times it overdramatized what wasn't a cinematically very dramatic film. But the music served its role quite well, and on the whole, the quality of the scores used in DVXFest has been quite high - one of the best parts of it, I think.
I think your weak link was definitely locations (and in a way, acting). That opening scene ,with the guy lougning in the easy chair...and the people drinking lattes in the background, I mean it just doesn't sell itself as a 'crisis' location. I wasn't concerned, I was just sorta laughing at these crazy guys in the Starbucks.
The final scene was pretty cohesive and tight - well shot, well edited, a bit flaky in the action sequences, but IMHO, that's totally understandable. I think that with a bit more attention to the beginning of the film, the ending would have carried more punch.
Good work, and keep on shooting.
 
Hey Krestofre and penfever, thanks for the feedback!

Krestofre, I think I know which shot you're talking about as being odd ... the one where we cut to a direct left side shot of Mitchell's face, just as he's saying "She lost the baby". It always felt odd to mee as well, so I'm really not sure why I put it in there, other than wanting an ECU, and not having another angle. Doesn't cross the line, but still feels out of place, which could have been a difference in lighting (was worse before I cc'd to try & balance it out). Regardless, as editor, that was my fault.

Any appreciation about the camera work goes to Ryan (waltind) as he was DP and was in charge of both A & B cameras. The ONLY shot I can take credit for is the dolly past Dan's eyes at the end ... we were tight on time, and no one really wanted to stop for it as we were in danger of being behind schedule (our 1st AD was a clock nazi, and GREAT at her job), but I knew it would be an important (can I say "money"?) shot. Ryan was still behind the camera on it, though.

Everything else was Ryan's planning & execution.

Gozer. Funny ... yep, I can see the comparison! :)

Flaky action ... I tend to agree. Our first project having any kind of action, so a learning experience. It would have been even worse had we not had Jerry Buxbaum show up to help us out for a couple of days for free. He supplied the guns, the Fear Factor harnesses for yanking us into the air/backwards, the spark explosion FX, etc. He's a professional stunt/FX coordinator, and we were extremely blessed to have him answer our Craig's List ad, and decide to play with us on his time off.
 
I liked the retro feel of it. It had a cool sci-fi channel feel to it.

Acting was a bit strained by the lead male. But it worked in the context of this film.

Voice slow down although cliche really gave a good feel to it.

I actually felt like i wanted to know more about what they released by the end.

I really liked the shot when she picks him up by the neck - very convincing.
 
Thanks, smelni!

Lead male - strained acting. I agree. The guy sucked hard core. He'll never work in town again, if I have anything to say about it.

There was no slowed down voice, but I did mess with the range with multiple pitch shifts.

Glad you got involved enough to want to know more ... that means we succeeded & kept you involved.

It took four men on the other end of the pulleys, to pull Jeff (who played Mike) up into the air while she was "raising him" by his neck. Glad it worked for you!
 
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Norm, my friend. OK I haven't read anyone else's posts in your thread because I didn't want to be swayed or anything, so here is my review after the second viewing...

Pandora – Norm, Norm, Norm. Well I was stoked to see the Letus put to use, and honestly you didn’t disappoint. You have my vote for best title and title showing. The acting throughout was good and I enjoyed it. I could point out everything that I thought really worked in this project, but I think most people have already pointed that out. Here is what I didn’t like, and actually the only thing that I wasn’t a fan of with this project: the effect at the end. It didn’t work for me for some reason. Ultimately though I really enjoyed this film. My favorite shot of the entire festival is actually in your film (5:07). Something about that works perfectly for me. You should be really proud, good submission and shows how much you have progressed as a filmmaker since the zombiefest. I was royally impressed.
 
Jiminy Christmas, Jeremy, thanks for the huge props! I was actually worried as heck when I saw you saying Norm, Norm, Norm ... I thought, oh-oh, here it comes.

On my player, 5:07 laps over two shots ... the OTS looking down on Dan with the crane, then the one from behind him & the orb in the BG ... which one was your favorite?

Eitherway, I little to nothing to do with those ... that's all waltind (Ryan Walters) to thank for those. He'll be pleased to read yours & other posts on here.

The effect at the end ... which one? As we pass by Dan's eyes or all the VFX in the warehouse in general? No hurt feelings either way, as I had to pull those off myself, learning how in three sleepless nights before deadline, and KNOW they aren't great and don't live up to the rest of the film.

Thanks again, Jeremy, and look forward to some clarification on a couple of those Q's.
 
Sorry I took so long to get back! What I said about the music "trampling" on the scenes, it was a little loud in the mix at times. What I was mostly referring to was the way the music overpowered the scenes. It really drew too much attention to itself and away from your actors and the dialouge. I've heard it said that if someone leaves a film and the thing they remember most is the music, then the score composer has not done his job well. All I'm saying is that the music was TOO POWERFUL at some points. I compare it to an actor who is screaming as loud as he can "SOMETHING BAD IS HAPPENING!!!" right in the middle of the scene. Maybe I don' know what I'm talking about, noone else has really mentioned it.

Friggin AWESOME look throughout. Very polished, SUPERB shots. I really got into the movie and was taken by how well it was shot.
 
I really liked this film overall... though on my first view I was a little confused about the story. It took a second viewing for me to get all the pieces together in my mind.

The sound started off really great... but after the coffee house scene, it wasn't as good... and by the warehouse scene it was at it's worst. Never really bad, just never as good as the opening scene.

Music was great... went along well with the story and played a nice role in pacing.

I thought the lighting and cinematography were also very good... very professional looking. Only gripe I'd have is the one outdoor scene seemed a little washed out compared to everything else.... but not terribly so. I really liked the framing in the first scene.

Acting was excellent... only part that bugged me was the 2nd scene with the woman in the yellow shirt... she seemed to overact a bit... forced it too much.

Only other gripe was that last gunshot. The editing on that seemed a bit weird as you weren't sure where the shot was coming from, or who was holding the gun once you saw it.

Liked the glowing eyes effect.

Nice job overall... Thanks for sharing it, and while I could sure learn a lot from you I hope my attempt at constructive criticism was helpful :)
 
EditPhish, thanks for the great feedback. Funny that the opening scene was the best, as that's the one that was entirely built from scratch for audio ... not a single sound was from the location. All ADR and post SFX ... so perhaps that's why it's the cleanest for you.

Any acting short-falls with any of the cast, I'll take the responsibility on myself. As director, it should have been caught & dealt with on the spot, but I was too worried about my own lines to be as effective as I should have been behind the camera as well.

But, it's also very subjective with some people loving the acting, others not.
 
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Hey Norm!

I just got started watching the films and I just watched yours for the first time. I have two gut reactions, interestingly one good and one not so good. I will go into more detail after I watch it for the seond time...

First, the good. I was very intrigued by your story and wanted to see what happened next, wanted to know what happened before. I wanted to klnow all about what they were doing in the lab and why. So, kudos on getting me into your world and your story. (I can creepily enough tell with 98% accuracy if I'm going to like something from its title sequence...loved your titles)

Second, the not so good. The acting. Way off. I'll tell you specifics more when I've watched it again, but the biggest thing pulling me out of the story was the "OMG, bad acting!" moments. It was really the only big negative that stood out for me. Other things were quiblles which I'll write more about later. Wanted to let you know I watched it and really really enjoyed it. Very nice work! I'm proud of you! You did a nice job and showed some real growth from Death march. way to go! Will write more later!

Robert
 
Hey there, unfortunately I think my reaction's a little more negative than some of the others. Hope you don't mind too much, but here it is.

I'll start with the good stuff quickly, and there *is* a lot of good stuff. You've heard several times by now how good your production values are, how well the effects work. All that stuff is spot on. The score was good (although I agree it was a little overpresent at times), and all the acting was pretty decent, save a few moments of melodrama. Really professional seeming work and, one thing that really stand sout to me, your colors came off great, while a lot of other people seemed to have trouble with them.

The bad is fairly simple, to me, and that's the story. Maybe it's just me, but I really felt like I'd seen, read, and watched this before. I think it's because what you have here is a very basic, very old, idea (scientists unlock something which is vastly powerful but also vastly evil) which doesn't have the time to be developed. Something like this, it's been done before and what sets it apart is the details, the themes, the characters, and you just didn't have time to get into them and make me care.

Don't take this as a negative review, you guys did a great job from a directorial and cinematic standpoint, and as a demo of your skills it's wonderful stuff. But as a film in of itself, or even an intro to a film, it just didn't grip me. But, then, I'm a writer, not a director, so take all this with a granule of your seasoning of choice.
 
NBCshooter said:
First of all, Chris Rojas of RMI is a GOD! I would KILL to have the chance to work with Chris on a project someday . . .
Click to expand...

NBC! You're way too kind, but thanks for the ego boost! PM me if you want to work on something...

Also, thanks to everyone who has been commenting on the music, wether positively or negatively. 'Pandora' is my first attempt at scoring to picture and I've learned a helluva lot in the process. I actually scored to the long edit of the movie (8:30) and then had to cut the additional cues out for the DVX Fest. If anyone wants to hear the full score in its entirety, send me a PM and I'll link you to the original extended audio file. And keep those score & mix comments coming, they're very helpful!

In terms of the balance between the music and the dialogue, I see some of you have taken issue and some haven't. I'd venture to say that it's mainly a monitoring question: as I listen through different sources (multiple computer speaker setups, powered studio mains, reference quality bookshelfs, mono speaker) I can discern shifts in the balance. Anyone listening in headphones? I'll admit I forgot to reference in headphones..


yours,

C.R.
http://www.rmistudios.com
 
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Norm and Walt -- Congrats are in order.

Norm - this film was not made by the same director as your zombie fest entry -- huge growth spurt.

This film was entertaining and I was sucked in by the smooth slick camera work.
Echo the dings on overpresent score that attempted to manufacture things that weren't always there, some rough acting moments, familiar story territory, anti tension of the choice of first setting (we go to coffe houses to relax and share a mocha moment with friends or get some work done on our laptops) junk yard with barbed wire fence, back alley, under a highway overpass, smoke filled office were the aveneues to explore there. I think you and Walt have a great eye and the eye sort shot for the sake of beauty or a cool location here rather than ins support of the story.

I did think it was well edited and shot, though I thought the lettus could have been utilized more to direct our eye and for beauty effect.

But again I felt the over all film worked and I did score the script higher than a lot of others for structural reasons, handling exposition in a non "on the nose" manner and approriateness for the time limit.

This is definatelt in my "good" folder - the ones I have my friends watch.

Congrats agian to both of you and your crew!

Jack
 
Robert, Z B Brox, and Jack ... thanks for the feedback guys. I think constructive criticism is a lot like being an effective leader ... you can dish out the bad & say you didn't like something, as long as you look for something postitive (there's ALWAYS something postitive, even if it just means the project was saw through to completion).

Everyone in this thread has done a great balance of pointing out both things they liked as well as things they believed needed to be changed or improved. While various things can be subjective, they're important to hear & you all have no idea how much WE value it. Thanks a ton!

Also, in defense of Chris Rojas, it DOES change from speaker source to speaker source ... which I had no idea (probably a lot like our images look better/worse on various monitors) ... so the guy had his hands full. Even when we were working on it, he was thinking the dialogue was actually too loud, I said I didn't believe it was, and once he heard it through a different speaker source, he was able to agree.

I'll also admit something else ... when Ryan & I first watched our captured footage, we HATED this film. We though, OMG, what have we done?! Everything just felt flat (colors, performances, story, etc.), but I kept telling myself (I'm sure Ryan did as well) that it can only get better through post. Even when we had it all edited together (save the FX which were last), we still weren't that impressed with it ...

Until Chris delivered the first five minutes of the score.

Then BAM! We had a film! His music brought it to life, for us anyway, in a way we never felt possible ... it truly was a character of it's own. Some have felt that that particular character (the score) stepped over the lines at times, while others feel it supported it beautifully. While I agree that in SOME spots the balance could be a little off (through the speaker set I'm listening through now), I wouldn't change a note of music ... it creates the moods that I can guarantee weren't there previously. I hated the Mitchell/Trisha scene in the kitchen, previously, and now it's grown on me. Before, when I thought there was an overlydramatic delivery of a line, it's now masked/supported by the score.

Chris helped save this film, in my opinion, or at the very least it wouldn't be what it is now without his involvement and talent. If this is his FIRST attempt at scoring a film, how insanely good do you think his FUTURE scores will be?! :)

Crap, I went long again. At least Larry R can appreciate long posts, can't you Larry! :) (inside joke)
 
Norm...

First off I gotta commend you on all of your hard work. It is obvious
that you took your time in pre-production, and overall I would say
the production value of the final product speaks for itself.

If you remember, I really liked "Death March" (a film that I still feel
was highly underrated the last go round.)

But back to the Fest at hand. Like I said, the production value on
this one was high. I am surprised that the acting is being criticized
as much as it is. I felt that, for the most part, the acting was on par
with the made for television features on Sci-Fi channel. If that isn't
appropriate for Sci-Fest, then what is?

I gotta ask a few questions about your casting yourself in the lead...
Do you fancy yourself an actor?
Did you want to test yourself in the Orson Welles mold of star/director?
Do you think a more seasoned actor could have brought more depth?
I ask because I really don't feel strongly one way or the other on your performance. I would just like to hear your own critique of yourself.

I must say that the factors that took me out of the story the most were the props/set design in the warehouse. I feel that cheating with what you have is crucial (especially so in the world of low/no budget films.) What was supposed to be conveyed was an important lab (where the Pandora energy source was discovered/harvested). What does come across IMHO is a table with a few computers on it and a "plasma ball" (not unlike the ones at Spencer's in any local mall.)

Like I said this was really the only nitpick I have, Norm. Otherwise I think that you did what you set out to do production value wise. I'll say it again...I liked the acting.

:beer: Cheers, my man

I didn't mention the fx either...very nice, not overdone:thumbup:
 
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Chad, thanks & glad you liked it, as well as giving the critiques ... again, appreciated.

To answer your questions, I do like to act & believe when I can get into it, I can do a convincing job. I really wanted to do one of the roles, but wasn't counting on doing the lead until I found people I thought would better fill the other roles (Steve who played Dan for his age diversity, Jeff who played Mike as he had more of a vulnerability to him) ... which only left the lead. We had Ashton Root (wrote/directed THE DURANGO KIDS) actually audition for the lead (he ended up being our sound guy) and were quite surprised at how well he did ... but the big thing for us on this is that we needed the flexibility to shoot the additional scenes (they're in the extended version), and since this was pro-bono we weren't convinced we could have someone else drop everything at a moments notice for us to go film a pick up shot, etc.

So flexibilty of being able to perform the additional scenes was the "key" reason why I took the lead, supported by the fact that I really wanted to act as well & the other roles were taken. Before committing myself to the role, I actually auditioned for Ryan, so we'd both know if I could do it or not ... it was the Trisha/Mitchell scene, which I may have nailed better in the audition than with the pressure of actual production.

In the future, I'll do smaller bit/supporting parts vs. lead ... just too tough otherwise at my current abilities. In fact, we're already starting to plan our next short story (20-25 minutes), which will likely cast Ashton Root as the lead.

Hope that answers your Q's. Yes, a more seasoned actor would have pulled it off better & brought more depth ... but there's the question of if they could have been flexible enough, for free, to finish all the later scenes (our additional scenes were shot 1 month later with almost zero notice due to a weather break). The one thing I disliked most about being the lead is I was afraid people would think I was an ego-maniac. I'm not really, no matter what Ryan may say about me. :)
 
CallaghanFilms said:
It is obvious
that you took your time in pre-production, and overall I would say
the production value of the final product speaks for itself.
Click to expand...

Oh, I forgot to comment ... the pre-production is where we feel we failed the most, as we were super pressed for scheduling due to the holidays, as was everyone I'm sure. The most time was put into the script with revisions (draft 4 is what we produced), and were still scrambling for locations, other than the warehouse I'd obtained ahead of time. However, even the warehouse we were unable to get into ahead of time to plan the shots, props, look/feel, etc.

So unfortunately everything had to be planned as we arrived to each location, and there were no rehearsals either. Our next project will have at least 2-3 months of pre-production.
 
The score drove me through most of it... even when some things crept up that normally would take me out of a movie, the score helped anchor me. Not to take away from the other members of the creative team, but the score definately helped me stay the course.

*thumbs uppers*
 
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