PUSH - Directed by Matt Sconce

Norm, you believe the acting in Stricken was better than this?(that was the last movie I wrote and directed) Go back and watch it and let me know what you think, as I got blasted for the acting and direction (Actors looking into cameras) back in the day. I attempted to grow with this film and it is always dissapointing to hear someone think I took steps backwards. :crybaby:I have learned that some people love and get PUSH and others just don't. I remember that the Matrix was the same way, so hopefully that gives me a little encouragement (I am not at that level, but is nice to know that if someone doesn't like the movie, it doesn't neccesarily mean it sucks). What made you feel this was Pushed...no pun intended? I worked on this almost every day since it was announced, so whatever it was, I want to remedy in the future. Thank you for your review and taking the time to drop by.:dankk2:
 
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Okay, Matt, now I feel ike an ass. I'm sorry, truly. You know what, I was on meds last night as I watched it, so perhaps that impacted me. I'll watch it again today & get back to you. In the meantime, can you provide me with the link to STRICKEN again? If it's the one that had the cafe set up, etc .... yeah, I think I recall liking that one more, but need to watch it again to make sure.

And I got the same thing with WITHOUT PROVOCATION from people. Granted, I didn't spend NEARLY as much time on it as I had with WHERE SILENCE FALLS, but still some people loved it, some hated it. It was a hugely risky experiment to do that film, especially at the last minute, but I wanted to stretch my boundaries ... some people also felt I took a step backwards.

I don't think at ALL that you took a step backwards in your skills or filmmaking, just this particular film (in my meds induced state) didn't grab me as much as others have that you've done.

BTW, did you do a focus or test group viewing with this? I know for BERLIN, I had put the rough cut out for about 10 individuals to watch, who had never heard of the story or read the script ... based on the feedback I litterally created a new intro/beginning, made a few other SMALL tweaks throughout, and then changed the final images/edit of the ending. It nearly made it a different style of film, but MUCH.

That aside, I'll watch the film again today, as well as STRICKEN if you can provide me the link. Thanks, and sorry if I was too harsh initially.
 
Norm Sanders said:
Okay, Matt, now I feel ike an ass. I'm sorry, truly. You know what, I was on meds last night as I watched it, so perhaps that impacted me. I'll watch it again today & get back to you. In the meantime, can you provide me with the link to STRICKEN again? If it's the one that had the cafe set up, etc .... yeah, I think I recall liking that one more, but need to watch it again to make sure.

And I got the same thing with WITHOUT PROVOCATION from people. Granted, I didn't spend NEARLY as much time on it as I had with WHERE SILENCE FALLS, but still some people loved it, some hated it. It was a hugely risky experiment to do that film, especially at the last minute, but I wanted to stretch my boundaries ... some people also felt I took a step backwards.

I don't think at ALL that you took a step backwards in your skills or filmmaking, just this particular film (in my meds induced state) didn't grab me as much as others have that you've done.

BTW, did you do a focus or test group viewing with this? I know for BERLIN, I had put the rough cut out for about 10 individuals to watch, who had never heard of the story or read the script ... based on the feedback I litterally created a new intro/beginning, made a few other SMALL tweaks throughout, and then changed the final images/edit of the ending. It nearly made it a different style of film, but MUCH.

That aside, I'll watch the film again today, as well as STRICKEN if you can provide me the link. Thanks, and sorry if I was too harsh initially.
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no prob Norm, I just want to learn what stuck and impacted you and what didn't. The link to Stricken is www.strickenthemovie.com I definitely tried to stretch for PUSH. It was my first action attempt, first time shooting on RED, and an attempt to grow in production value and directing dialogue after the critique of Stricken. I hope you enjoy it in a non med induced state. Let me know what you think.
 
Okay, here we go.

Watched it again. Liked it better the second time. Also liked it better than STRICKEN, which I had never seen before (probably because of the running length, wasn't in actual competition last time, so I never watched it in the rush to watch everything else. Truth be told, I only got about half way through STRICKEN before I stopped watching it and wanted to compare to PUSH. I could give you input on STRICKEN, but I'm sure you've had your fair share of it, and have moved on by this point.

I will say, however, that I liked the camera WAY better in STRICKEN than I did in push, specifically with the color grading and the extremely shallow DOF. Image wise, that was a rock solid film.

Okay, back to PUSH. If I were to give the film a weakest moment, I'd probably say it's when he's in the white room. The man at the desk didn't seem as real to me, and our lead's reactions weren't working for me as well as they were in the rest of the film.

Otherwise, it was the meds that effected my judgement more last night. I liked it better this time, and will re-rate the film quite a bit higher accordingly. :) Some other minor things I thought of: When the wife first sees the gunman, she runs away ... I think in reality she would either be crippled in fear, or run TOWARDS her husband for protection.

I REALLY liked at the very end how he comes back up for the button. THAT was epic. Great job!
 
I really liked this one, concept and All, I'm really tired and at work otherwise I would go more in-depth, hah but you did a good job man
 
Congrats to the top 8 films! I wish PUSH was up there but oh well...it is what it is.

On another note, PUSH was just Nominated for Best Special Effects and Best Action Short of the year at Action On Film Festival so I am stoked!

Have fun guys! I will look forward to seeing who wins this as all the top films are excellent!
 
Congrats to you, Matt and Mark. I hope you win both awards for PUSH. Be sure and get the word out when you know your screening time. Pasadena is a good location for that festival and I know a lot of us will be attending.
 
msconce said:
Congrats to the top 8 films! I wish PUSH was up there but oh well...it is what it is.

On another note, PUSH was just Nominated for Best Special Effects and Best Action Short of the year at Action On Film Festival so I am stoked!

Have fun guys! I will look forward to seeing who wins this as all the top films are excellent!
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Thanks and congratulations to you! Sounds like you guys are well on your way.

Cheers!

Mike
 
Push, in my mind, was still the most ambitious film of the fest. I have a tendency to declare things "impossible" way too quickly. Push was one of the films this fest that makes me want to try something that will make people ask "how the hell did he manage to do that?" Keep us posted on how you do at Action on Film!
 
Zoidoid said:
Push, in my mind, was still the most ambitious film of the fest. I have a tendency to declare things "impossible" way too quickly. Push was one of the films this fest that makes me want to try something that will make people ask "how the hell did he manage to do that?" Keep us posted on how you do at Action on Film!
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Thanks! I am a very ambitious person and am always raising the bar for the next thing I do. I learn a ton from the process! I will always be the one asking, "Why the heck should we play it safe or tone down our epic-ness?" My philosophy is keep trying to make the movie you love in many different ways and you will get better at it the more you try that genre. My goal is to make movies that cause people to stand up and cheer. Some people actually did stand up and cheer here at the fest and that makes me happy. The parking garage scene was all about the emotional buildup and climax at the gun kick (Which was a last minute change to the script). I wanted to carry people on that little journey so when ENOCH stood into frame and hit the button, the watcher would say "Hooray!" Hopefully, it impacted some people that way.
 
I wasn't aware you had won the American Idol Music Video contest. Could you post a link to your video?

Also, what did you win?
 
Mark Johnson said:
I wasn't aware you had won the American Idol Music Video contest. Could you post a link to your video?

Also, what did you win?
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Sadly, I lost my idol videos several months ago when I had a friend format my computer and he accidently erased everything I had done by deep formatting the wrong drive. :cry:


The contest was a crazy experience. My wife and I were sitting at home living in a trailer due to no money after getting married, and we saw the contest advertised on TV. We had to sing and have ford placement in one of three songs in a video. We thought. lets try this! We did, and won by a large margin. We chose Get out of my dreams by Billy ocean. I sang the song and also storyboarded for the first time. I got my dad to rent a car as I was too young and we rented a ford mustang convertible. The premise was a guy in a coffee shop "Me" sees a beautiful woman "my wife" notice his car parked outside. She wonders who drives it and he tries to get out of the shop but trips and hits his head. he then dreams about cruising in the car with the girl, but wakes up and runs outside to find her gone. He is about to despair when he finds her number on a piece of paper left on the car for him. We shot it on a little low end mini dv camera, as that was all I had access to.

We won a new car "Ford Focus ST", a DVD video Camera, A 50 inch HD LCD TV "Sony Wega", 500.00 Cash, and my wife and I guest starred in the Final American Idol video shown at the finale and dined with the finalists and talked Idol and such. We also got driven around in a tricked out SUV, and a free suite at the hotel connected to the Kodak Theater, as well as Passes to the afterparty. We also got to go on the Ryan Seacrest Show. It was a surreal experience.

We got into the top three in 2005 (The year after) but did not win.

:cheesy:
 
Nice!!! What a bummer losing the drive. Surely you can get Ford or Idol to send you a tape???? You really should try and get a copy if only for the great memories.

Congrats on such a great win!

Why don't you guys come down for the screening next week? Fresno Represent!!!
 
Mark Johnson said:
Nice!!! What a bummer losing the drive. Surely you can get Ford or Idol to send you a tape???? You really should try and get a copy if only for the great memories.

Congrats on such a great win!

Why don't you guys come down for the screening next week? Fresno Represent!!!
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Wish I could but my job is not having it. I will have one sick day left as I take two vacation days for AOF. I have to save the day so I don't get fired next time I get sick. I will represent in Spirit, as you know I have a ton of that!:engel017:
 
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