Prey - A Film by JTyner & EditPhish

[EditPhish]

Nice camerawork overall! I'll second the sound fx comment. But rather than more sound fx, I think there needed to be a larger distinction in volume to the ones you had which may have made the whole film just pop more... if that makes any sense. When the sound is mixed that close to the music, it's not very jarring. But, regardless, I ain't no master mixer guy thing. Just something to consider. Still good job!

Thanks... and whether you yourself are a master mixer or not, the feedback is still appreciated! We're always looking to grow and learn and I think we sort of knew we needed to mix the sound a bit better... so we'll definitely give it some extra attention next time.

Pretty good! I love the DVX, so it was great to see it used here. I thought the makeup effects on the werewolf head looked great, almost like Thriller!

I have to say, I really personally appreciate this comment since I was responsible for the monster makeup. We've never worked with a prosthetic before, nor had I ever painted one before, so it was a totally new experience. We all thought it looked pretty good especially for a first try, but of course we're too close to the project to be objective, so I'm glad to hear you liked it!

I agree with others, the blood definately looked store-bought. Next time, try to make your own (there are some great recipes online). I would have also enjoyed a bit more storyline... maybe of the night before, to get to know the characters a little etc. It would have made a bit more of an impact when the action happened in the end.

We considered making our own... I guess we were torn whether stage blood would look better than trying to make it ourselves for the first time... and we were almost changed the script because of weather at the last minute, so we decided on store-bought. Agree, it was too red in spots.

I also can't disagree about the story... we ever talked about that ourselves afterwards... that it might have been cool to have some footage of the actual camping trip before all went awry. Of course, knowing our time schedule now we wouldn't have had time at our location... but it's something we should think about in the future when story telling, so I appreciate your input on it!

Loved the jib shots! I always want one when i see them. Good job!

Oh, JTyner could tell you a whole store about the jib... so I'll let him if he wants

Thanks for your great feedback!

 

[Blaine]

It's been awhile since I've seen anything from you guys. I enjoyed this one.

My absolute favorite shot was the blood dripping off the tent. The blood on the dead bodies looked quite fresh and I didn't particularly care for the way the blood looked on the lead actor's face...it looked rubbed on.

I didn't really have a problem with the werewolf transformation. It was nice to see you didn't use a corny wolf head. Too bad you ran out of time at the end and weren't able to make a more seamless transition to werewolf.

When I saw the kid wake up I knew right away that he was the monster that had attacked Claire. After I finished watching the whole movie, I had to go back to the 1:08 point and look at it again. I was surprised to find that I really hadn't seen the hooded jacket as much as I thought I had, so I'm not sure how come it was such an instant recognition when the kid woke up. Perhaps the fact that he was the only one alive may have played into to it, too. No biggy.

I enjoyed it, thanks for sharing.

 

[EditPhish]

It's been awhile since I've seen anything from you guys. I enjoyed this one.

Hey! Thanks for remembering us... it has been a while, and our goal was to improve since the last time, so I hope we accomplished that

My absolute favorite shot was the blood dripping off the tent. The blood on the dead bodies looked quite fresh and I didn't particularly care for the way the blood looked on the lead actor's face...it looked rubbed on.

Oh the blood... was our first time working with it, so yeah, any issues that came up for some of your reviewers isn't unexpected... we'll keep notes for next time around. We almost didn't do the tent cutaway shots, so I'm glad we did! We were battling rain that day too and it made the blood more watery than it should have been, but glad you liked those shots.

I didn't really have a problem with the werewolf transformation. It was nice to see you didn't use a corny wolf head. Too bad you ran out of time at the end and weren't able to make a more seamless transition to werewolf.

Thanks! I actually put a lot of work into it (painted the prosthetic myself) and it was our first time with any kind of "advanced" makeup, so I'm glad you liked it. I really do see where we faltered though and some of that is attributable to time, while some was just inexperience. Appreciate your thoughts!

When I saw the kid wake up I knew right away that he was the monster that had attacked Claire. After I finished watching the whole movie, I had to go back to the 1:08 point and look at it again. I was surprised to find that I really hadn't seen the hooded jacket as much as I thought I had, so I'm not sure how come it was such an instant recognition when the kid woke up. Perhaps the fact that he was the only one alive may have played into to it, too. No biggy.

We figured some would guess and hoped most would not -- We did some test screenings with people we knew didn't have any idea of the story, and most of the time they were surprised... but I'm like you, I tend to guess things like that, so we expected some here would. We did try to "cover our tracks" in filming and editing, so it's good you say when you went back nothing was glaringly obvious despite your knowing.

I enjoyed it, thanks for sharing.

Thank YOU for the great feedback!

 

[TMerry]

Nice Nice Nice!
Soundtrack was a perfect fit, loved the rain type of piano melody that was the underpinning the tent dripping blood. Great composition. Super job on the monster transformation goes to your effects makeup artist. Can find anything to pick on. Good pacing.
You guys did a great job!!

Looking forward to your next production

 

[EditPhish]

Nice Nice Nice!
Soundtrack was a perfect fit, loved the rain type of piano melody that was the underpinning the tent dripping blood. Great composition. Super job on the monster transformation goes to your effects makeup artist. Can find anything to pick on. Good pacing.
You guys did a great job!!

Looking forward to your next production

Ha! I'm sitting here hitting reading other reviews and hitting refresh HOPING you'll reply... I really wanted to hear your feedback

THANKS so much! I'm really glad you liked it... and MUCHO thanks about the makeup artist comment (since it was me - LOL).

Objectively though, I know there IS stuff to pick on, but I'm glad nothing was too obvious to you on your viewing of it. I really appreciate your kind words T!

Looking forward to your film on black friday

 

[Edgen]

I loved the fact you had a true transformation of your monster in this film. I would have liked to see the film start with him waking up.. I never really got the flashback feel?

But, cool creature and effects. Simple and effective.

me and my cheap bones rattling, i couldn't imagine what you were feeling when you had to rip up all those nice tents! ahhhh.. the love and dedication of filmmaking.

thanks for sharing!
/j

 

[Geoff_R]

Cool concept. Really thought you guys did a great job on the makeup/effects of the monster. I got the hook of the story pretty early on but that didn't distract me too much. Good tension with the editing. I echo some of the thoughts on the sound design/mix... could have been a little more extreme at some times... and then also the blood looking too fresh. I wonder if you CC'd this project differently, a little more extreme, or even as far as going black and white, would it make the blood look more real? Just a thought. Thanks for sharing.

 

[EditPhish]

I loved the fact you had a true transformation of your monster in this film. I would have liked to see the film start with him waking up.. I never really got the flashback feel?

But, cool creature and effects. Simple and effective.

me and my cheap bones rattling, i couldn't imagine what you were feeling when you had to rip up all those nice tents! ahhhh.. the love and dedication of filmmaking.

thanks for sharing!
/j

Thanks J...
There were parts we definitely struggled with. Find the right spots for the flashbacks and the look of them was one area we thought a lot about. I leave it up to the viewers to decide if we got it right or not... for you, not so much obviously!

Thanks for the comments on our monster.

And yes, the whole tent thing seemed bizarre ... we bought them just to destroy them (we are NOT the camping type, LOL). Thank god for sales at Walmart!

Cool concept. Really thought you guys did a great job on the makeup/effects of the monster. I got the hook of the story pretty early on but that didn't distract me too much. Good tension with the editing. I echo some of the thoughts on the sound design/mix... could have been a little more extreme at some times... and then also the blood looking too fresh. I wonder if you CC'd this project differently, a little more extreme, or even as far as going black and white, would it make the blood look more real? Just a thought. Thanks for sharing.

Geoff... also thanks about the monster... was our first time doing such things, so it's nice to hear from others that we pulled it off okay.

We'll definitely be working on the sound mix stuff in the future... JTyner and I have already been discussing where we think we went wrong (from a software-how-we-use-it standpoint). We start with Final Cut Express for all the sound FX/Foley stuff... the soundtrack is done in Logic, and then the finished music goes back to FCE where we mix... not sure if that's the best way. We also understand that FCP actually had more faders and mixing control, so it might be worth the upgrade for us. NONE of that is an excuse...we could still have adjusted in FCE and thought we had the levels all pretty good... but obviously it's been an issue for some... so we're going to keep working at it. The sound was a lot of work since we shot silent and did all the sound in post, so maybe some of it was just that we lost perspective along the way.

As for color correction - well this is where we have the LEAST experience, and not the best environment. I'd love to sit with some of you and learn more about it, or take a class or something. I really struggled with the color correction and find the right "look" and then keeping it consistent. Some of that has to do with our lighting (or lack of) as well, and we've talked about that too.

Trust me, I know we have a lot to learn!

Thanks so much for your great feedback! It's all helpful!

 

[hoz]

i liked it! you didnt use enough blood. should've been dripping all over the ten--- oh you did ! i did like that look. the story is simple and it works. and i liked that you showed the monster becoming a monster. not easy i am sure. good work! the sound was good too.

nice job!

 

[hoz]

... or even as far as going black and white, would it make the blood look more real? Just a thought. Thanks for sharing.

what if the story remained at night like soon after the original attacks took place? it would be far creepier.

 

[Om Nom Nom]

As a cast member, I also wanted to thank everyone for the feedback! It's real exciting to read other's reactions to it. I can't wait to work with EditPhish and JTyner again for the next fest! (with more preparation and shoot time!)

 

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Nice opening shot. This was quite enjoyable. If you could have shot this at night or darkened it up a bit I think it would have been much scarier. Very nice music as well. Pacing was great there.

Nice wide reveal of all the bodies but his puke looked like he was coughing up alphagetties.
The monster was great, BTW.

The night shots were definitely the best. Nice work.

MAH

 

[EditPhish]

i liked it! you didnt use enough blood. should've been dripping all over the ten--- oh you did ! i did like that look. the story is simple and it works. and i liked that you showed the monster becoming a monster. not easy i am sure. good work! the sound was good too.

nice job!

Thanks Hoz...
and I can't at all dismiss the idea of placing the whole story in a darker setting. I showed some coworkers today and one said the same thing, that he would have liked it more had it been set at night. I'm not sure we could have successfully pulled it off (at least this time), but it's certainly a valid suggestion.

Nice opening shot. This was quite enjoyable. If you could have shot this at night or darkened it up a bit I think it would have been much scarier. Very nice music as well. Pacing was great there.

See above about night
Thanks for your other comments. We really worked on pacing this time around since we didn't do as well with it in our last entry (many fests ago). Glad you liked the music... JTyner really did a good job on it (I thought, but I'm biased, haha), so it's nice to hear you liked it.

Nice wide reveal of all the bodies but his puke looked like he was coughing up alphagetties.

LOL! Cambells Savory Vegetable actually.

The monster was great, BTW.

Thanks for this too... was my first time doing advanced makeup like this (I know I'm repeating myself, but not sure if you read previous replies), so it's an especially nice compliment for me personally.

The night shots were definitely the best. Nice work.

Well... I'll say thanks, but then you're complimenting the color correction, not the shooting, because we shot nothing at night -- I'm glad those shots were convincing!

Thanks so much for the great feedback Hoz and Michael!

 

[Sprocketboy]

I like the gradual transformation of the werewolf through the use of cross cutting to another action. Very nice. It would be creepier if the transformation occurred as it became darker (magic hour) outside, just before he attacks the girl. The blood looked smeared onto the wolfman's face. You can see finger prints. Our makeup person used a straw and a toothbrush to flick blood drench bristles onto the face of the actor to get the splatter effect. It works. Cool film. Thanks.

 

[lyonfilms]

Great makeup effects and the transitions between the stages of his "becoming". Good stuff. Some of my favorite shots, at least for the "scare factor" were the dude's flashbacks. Especially the girl crouched in the corner of the tent and then the monster grabs her from behind and outside the tent making it sort of envelope her - cool! Good sound effects for the broken smashed leg as well as the monster's breathing.

I thought the blood was graded way too RED. I think blood on film should look much darker and less technicolor. Personal preference, but really red blood just looks off to me for some reason. It wasn't bad on the tent, especially the drippy bits, but the spatters on the actors was too red. Okay - enough about the red blood LOL.

I enjoyed the movie and it kept my attention throughout as I wondered how you were going to tie the girl and the tackle back in at the end. Monster wins! They always do...they always do.

 

[EditPhish]

I like the gradual transformation of the werewolf through the use of cross cutting to another action. Very nice. It would be creepier if the transformation occurred as it became darker (magic hour) outside, just before he attacks the girl. The blood looked smeared onto the wolfman's face. You can see finger prints. Our makeup person used a straw and a toothbrush to flick blood drench bristles onto the face of the actor to get the splatter effect. It works. Cool film. Thanks.

Thanks for the feedback Sprocketboy! I like your thoughts on magic hour, and had we had more experience with lighting, and better access to electricity at our location, it might have been something we tried (and the timing was right as we were starting to lose light when filming those scenes anyway). For the next fest we are definitely going to work on our lighting skills

The straw is a great idea. I did a lot of the blood smearing and man that stuff is sticky... I tried to avoid too much finger painting, but it was tough... and of course the actors being in it so long it was hard for them not to touch it themselves over time. I kinda doubt my actors will be willing to do all this blood in our next movie (they hated us for it), but I'll keep your thoughts in mind for the distant future - LOL

Great makeup effects and the transitions between the stages of his "becoming". Good stuff. Some of my favorite shots, at least for the "scare factor" were the dude's flashbacks. Especially the girl crouched in the corner of the tent and then the monster grabs her from behind and outside the tent making it sort of envelope her - cool! Good sound effects for the broken smashed leg as well as the monster's breathing.

Thanks Lyon! Glad to hear you (and others) liked the transition since it was certainly one of our challenges. If I'm self-critical, I would have liked more blood in some of the flashbacks, just because that was the type of film it was. Thanks for the comments on the sound too!

I thought the blood was graded way too RED. I think blood on film should look much darker and less technicolor. Personal preference, but really red blood just looks off to me for some reason. It wasn't bad on the tent, especially the drippy bits, but the spatters on the actors was too red. Okay - enough about the red blood LOL.

Totally hear ya. You should see the original footage (you can see some in the original screen caps). Grading was a challenge for me since it where we have the least experience. Do you live in NY and want to come over and give me some tips?

Seriously, we agree with you (and everyone else) who thinks the blood was a bit too red, especially when it appears on skin. We learned a lot by working with this much blood first time out. We should have darkened it on-set and I should have focused a bit more on it in the grading process.

I enjoyed the movie and it kept my attention throughout as I wondered how you were going to tie the girl and the tackle back in at the end. Monster wins! They always do...they always do.

Thanks again for the great feedback! Glad you enjoyed it

 

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Responded below in red...

LOL! Cambells Savory Vegetable actually.

Close enough. Less chunky next time.




Well... I'll say thanks, but then you're complimenting the color correction, not the shooting, because we shot nothing at night -- I'm glad those shots were convincing!

I would have went with more of it then. Maybe a bit like dusk in some scenes if you wanted to change it up. It looked great!

 

[EditPhish]

Close enough. Less chunky next time

LOL! Will do (where's the vomiting smilie?)

I would have went with more of it then. Maybe a bit like dusk in some scenes if you wanted to change it up. It looked great!

More color correction practice needed - and thanks again!

 

[EditPhish]

Just thought I'd post some fun behind-the-scenes photos... we had a lot of fun (other than the complaining about blood) on set...

 

[EditPhish]

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