"RED AND THE WOLF" -- a film by AJ Brooks...

This was really well done with a nice twist on the story. Production quality was very high with the exception of the first shot which changed in brightness with a loud click. Did you miss that?

One of the best in the fest, well done.
 
This was awesome A.J. !

What a great take; you took something that's been done, too death, and made it fresh. Very solid in all areas.

Only minor remark is Red's character; she seemed a bit one dimensional in her execution. It's a minor issue for me, but would have liked a wider arc of emotions.

No less,this rocked; one of my fav's so far !

Question ?

When homeboy see's 'The Wolf' under the bridge and then 'everything's all good' and they go skipping across the bridge ? Seems he would have been concerned ?

Anyway

I loved it
 
J.R. Hudson said:
Question ?

When homeboy see's 'The Wolf' under the bridge and then 'everything's all good' and they go skipping across the bridge ? Seems he would have been concerned ?

Anyway

I loved it
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I kind of interpreted that part as him putting on a "Brave" face for her... and, from their side, the wolf makes himself visible under the bridge to help encourage the "heroes" to bring her across that bridge, and to pick up the pace so that she can work her way ahead of him, setting up the trap for later on. bring in a bit of urgency... make it across the bridge, hear what you thought you just saw.... runnnn
 
I think it turned out rather well AJ!

If anything, i think the audio/dialog could have been improved. There was some inconsistency in the levels from scene to scene. I'm sure more time and sweeting could knock that out easily.

Congrats on a very clever rendition of childhood story.

Cheers!
/j
 
Nice job AJ. I really liked the look of this movie. You did exceptional work with wardrobe, makeup, etc. You and Ryan obviously worked together well, visually the film rocked and your direction was solid. I felt the acting was a bit stiff, but not bad and not distracting at all. Great end. I am going to watch again later today to see what I most likely missed on my first viewing.
 
MrFluffy said:
Production quality was very high with the exception of the first shot which changed in brightness with a loud click. Did you miss that?
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It's actually the second shot in, and it is a post issue, as the exposure does not change, but it looks like a color grade was not applied to the whole shot. My guess is that it is a rendering issue. The only shot where there is an actual iris rack is the opening shot from the sun to the Long shot- which was a tricky shot to pull off. I was operating the camera and racking the iris while Jerry was pulling focus ...
 
AJ,

Nice work on this- I'm glad that it made it into the fest. (This was my first viewing of the final film.) I think it all came together well. And as I said on set, I love how the Wolf came together- great job on making that happen. Congrats again!

BTW- now that there is some time, and I have some openings in my schedule, I'd be open to figuring out how to get the final edit over to my system and grade it for you.
 
WOW WOW WOW! I love it!

AJ...HUGE step for you man, I freakin loved it. Ryan, really good job on cinematography! Not sure which of you was picking angles, but I loved shot choice here, especially the running through the grass scenes, the angels on the bridge and the crane reveal. Jerry, great job on focus given the circumstances, only one buzz that caught me :)

Ken, I could understand every word, score! :)

Shout out to my Angenieux, she looks great!
 
This film looked great! I also like the twist on the story. It was well shot, directed and the score was on point. I thought the dialogue was good and the acting was pretty good as well. The monster looked really good and menacing.
SPOILERS:
There was only one shot where the wolf didn't look perfect and that was when you showed a CU of his right leg. That looked like fur coat material to me and it may not be an issue at all - because nobody else may notice it. I think when they begin to run that you could use some more and quicker edits to make it seem a little faster paced, but again, this is just my opinion and it may be a nitpick.

The film was very well done and top-notch all around. An excellent production!
 
Nice job! Very well executed. I think you really took advantage of the beautiful exteriors available in your area. I think this was one of the strongest entries I've seen so far. It had a nice twist at the end that I didn't see coming. I agree with John, this is a fresh take on a classic story. My only critiques would be the with the color grading. It seemed to change 3 or 4 times throughout but this is an easy fix. The first time I watched it I wasn't sure if I liked the wolf but after reviewing it again I think it works fine with the other elements. Sort of gave me a "Village" vibe.

Nice job
 
Very well done!!! I was super impressed with everything. Best film of the fest I've watched thus far. Give's me inspiration to be a better cinematographer. Well done.
 
Shawn Philip Nelson said:
Shout out to my Angenieux, she looks great!
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Thanks again for the lens. I think it works very well for this film, as it helps give it that nostalgic look and feel which is appropriate for the story.

Also, a big thanks needs to go to Jerry, who rocked as the 1st AC on this- the lens was too stiff for the Redrock follow focus that I had, so he was focusing via his hand on the lens- very tricky and tough to do, but he did great!
 
I loved the story twist. I actually had an idea similar after reading a couple grimms (sp?) fairy tales. My biggest gripe in this film was the lighting continuity. It would go from an actor being in the shade to them suddenly in the sun, and back. If you have problems dealing with the sun, use a silk, a bedsheet, whatever, but maintain the continuity! The blowouts were a little distracting as well. I would have stopped down a stop since you had all that lattitude to play with, and brought the mids up in post, but that's me being a picky DP! Over all a top 10 film for me so I wont pick it to death! :)
 
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Great Story

Great Story

I thought this was a cool twist on an old classic. I thought the setting, filming, acting, was all great and very professional. I wasn't too sure about the wolf's costume- when you saw the shot with the feet at the bottom it seemed a little cheesy, but this was defintely in my top 3 favorites!
 
To me this is one of the best entries. It was executed very well. It could have done better without the color grading problem in the first shot. Some continuity things I saw that might have made it just a little better. When the man reaches out his hand to her then cuts to a wider shot doesn't match and the night shots seemed to lose continuity. The wolf leg was a little unbelievable like others pointed out. Other than those minor things it was one of my favorites in the fest. Good job to you and to the cast and crew.
 
sfoster said:
I loved the story twist. I actually had an idea similar after reading a couple grimms (sp?) fairy tales. My biggest gripe in this film was the lighting continuity. It would go from an actor being in the shade to them suddenly in the sun, and back. If you have problems dealing with the sun, use a silk, a bedsheet, whatever, but maintain the continuity! The blowouts were a little distracting as well. I would have stopped down a stop since you had all that lattitude to play with, and brought the mids up in post, but that's me being a picky DP! Over all a top 10 film for me so I wont pick it to death! :)
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Point well taken. There could have been more attention paid to the lighting continuity. However, with that said we really didn't have much in the way of people / hands for the lighting- none in fact. The make up lady and the 1st AD were even enlisted at times to help with the few modifiers that we did have. (A small silk 24" x 36", an 8' x 4' white card, and an 8' x 4' silver card.) And we repositioned the actors as much as possible between each take to compensate for the moving sun and shade. I think some of the variances in light are exacerbated by the grade- as when I was shooting it I made sure that we did not clip anything- so there is a lot of data to play with as nothing was blown. Ideally it would have been great to have multiple days to shoot this over, but we had one day, and about 3 - 4 hours one evening. But even still, I am happy with what we produced. It was a fun production to be involved with, and I look forward to working with AJ in the future.

BTW- great idea / suggestion on the bed sheet- I'll have to throw one of those in my kit for just these situations. (But I guess I'd still need the people / stands to hold it.)
 
Thank you everyone for the compliments and critiques! It's very encouraging to be getting this feedback.

I am still learning my strengths and weaknesses as a filmmaker and color grading is definitely a weakness. I'm going to get the EDL to Ryan and have him do a proper color grade of the film.

And yes, the grade layer did not start until a few seconds into that second shot. At 9:45am I uploaded an early version of the film just in case I couldn't get the final render done in time. So the second version (the one you watched) finished rendering at 10:50AM and was literally submitted at the last second. I didn't even have a chance to watch before it uploaded lol! Talk about fingers crossed.

Ryan (DP) was absolutely amazing. I have to give credit where it's due and he is responsible for so much of what worked well in the film. I cannot speak more highly of him. He did an incredible job with the limited crew and adjusted to starting way behind schedule (my doings).

Jerry also did a fantastic job and had a great attitude even though he had to take on the extra work since we had so little help.

And I should defend Ryan for the blowouts which were not an oversight on his part. We had scouted and planned to shoot that scene at an earlier time in the day but come shooting we had gotten a very late start. I am amazed he was able to do what he did given the constraints this put him under.

J.R. Hudson said:
This was awesome A.J. !

Question ?

When homeboy see's 'The Wolf' under the bridge and then 'everything's all good' and they go skipping across the bridge ? Seems he would have been concerned ?
Click to expand...

Yes. My intention was to have him be "brave" for her as Jason said. This was one of those things I thought came across at the shoot, but it wasn't until editing that I realize it was very unclear. We needed a shot of him "putting on his tough face" if he were to stick with his choice of not showing his fear of the wolf to her. Something like that for his choice to work.

lol, "homeboy"

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I will be watching several films tonight so I will return the favor.
 
Nice look to your film!!! When the girl at the start was running there was an odd color shift, not sure if that was due to the compression.

Solid recording on the dialog, and that's an important one for me. Gorgeous cinematography!! Well fitted music. Was this shot on red? Solid beginning middle and end.

Well done, Well Done!
 
I really enjoyed your take on the Red Riding Hood story.

There were a couple of issues with the grading that you've already addressed but I loved the saturation on those exteriors. You were working with some great locations.

I thought Jesse did a very good job delivering his lines. Serah seemed a bit less comfortable but in the end the great take on the story won out for me.

Good job.
 
Just read through about the grading. I was going to mention how it actually changes midshot but it seems like it's been covered.

Overall the cinematography was great! The story was very well told and I loved the 'Monsters' face. Very well done. The sound was also pretty good, as was the acting.

Good work, guys.

MAH
 
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