"Silence is Golden" - a ZazaCast Film

Zaza, you've come so far. I like this as much as anything you've ever done. The only thing I didn't like about it was the music at the end was too melodramatic for my taste. Because of the music I was expecting to see the woman raise back up, as if she were just resting. Too bad you couldn't get it in the competition, I think you'd have done very well. Two thumbs up. :thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
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Chris- Your review means the world to me... I'm so glad you liked it. It really didn't turn out as planned, as Charli said, the actress (Kate Hans) couldn't stand or sit for longer then 5 minutes at a time on the hard kitchen chairs (I didn't know this ahead of time). I had a ton of cinematic motion in my shot list...something I really want to work on in future films...so, I had to 'wing' it as I only had the location for 4.5 hours. I also lost the natural light, the weather was terrible that day and the kitchen was too tight for proper lighting, but you do what you can. Charli did an excellent job writing this one and I just hope I did it justice.

Blaine- Thanks! I ALWAYS look forward to your reviews and your insight has helped me more then you know. I tried to cut it down to the 6 minute mark, but it just wasn't the same and would have butchered Charli's script. Again, thanks for taking the time to watch and comment. Maybe one day I can get you to produce a film for me! ;-)
 
The actors' performances were very strong. Nothing like seeing an old couple tearing into each other to make you feel all warm and fuzzy about marriage...ugh.

The house setting and opening score is good. Maybe it could have been edited further to allow it to make the 6 minutes running time requirement? Or would that have deviated too far from the screenplay?
 
heavy stuff joe, very poignant. the end was pretty powerful, and touching. nice lighting, good acting, tons of dialogue... i think this is your best yet!
 
My criticisms: Just in some spots, the acting was a little off, but I think it's more a criticism of the dialog rather than the performances. There were some potentially really special moments, but some awkward wording in the dialog got in the way. I also felt like it didn't need to be so long... you could have told this story, and told it well in under 6 minutes. I think it could have been more poignant with some good script editing.

My compliments: For most of it, the acting was strong and believable. It was a very interesting story, and the way you shot it was very intimate. It looked really good and the I thought the music fit really well. Had you come in under six minutes, you could have placed very high in the rankings.
 
Wow Zaza!!! A big step up man. Incredible performances and really nice cinematic imagery.

I strongly feel you could have done a 6 minute version of this.

Also, I think you might have been able to do more with less. That is, to not be so on the nose and let them talk around the issues instead of them talking about the issues and to do less talking in general.

Cinematically, I love the lighting on him, wish she had been equally dynamic.

Great performances!
 
Man... You are getting good!
Shawn Philip Nelson pretty much nailed it with the comments.

The lighting was a big come up from the previous one! wow!
His lighting was so on point I wish hers would have made it as well.
Awesome, awesome job....
congrats!
 
It took about 7 attempts to download, then I had to watch on the flow player, but hey-
Great job on the lighting, Zaza. Some nice cinematography all around. The opening shot was wicked smooth.. Zaza slider perhaps? :)
I think the combination of acting and script, and slightly stale editing during the "big middle part" kept me at a distance from the story, but I liked the beginning and end.
Cheers.
 
I really liked the opening shot, well lit, nice slow motion to build the tension, and the music was spot on. The lighting for the whole thing was overall good, I do have to agree that he (Steve) was lit more dynamic than her (Kate), but as a whole I think you did good. The sound was good and so was the acting.

Where I think this began falling off was in the middle. It kept jumping back and forth to the same closeups and started drawing my attention to the cutting as my mind began to look for more interesting stuff to look at. I was reading that Kate had Arthritis and that limited you. My suggestion would be to pull out to a master shot, cutaways, or maybe go handheld and have the camera get more jarring as the tension built between the actors to assist in unsettling the scene.

All in all I think this was very well done, too bad you couldn't get it under 6 minutes, this I think would have gotten good ratings.
 
Thanks to all for the comments... keep them coming. I agree with all of them and that's just one of the reasons it's an exhibition entry. There were so many problems on this shoot, I was lucky to be able to even get a complete film out of it. Originally I had a bunch of cinematic motion in this piece, but because of the actress and her illness, she couldn't move (stand or sit for more then 5 minutes at a time). This made me have to re-think the whole film on the spot. Then there was the time factor as I only had the location for 4.5 hours. This is mostly natural light as the kitchen is very tight and early in the shoot the weather was nice, overcase but bright and that's when I was able to get all the male parts shot thus the nice lighting. By the time I got to the female parts (that sounds funny) the weather changed and I lost the natural light. Had to use the very yellow ceiling light in the kitchen and add a 350w from another room through the hallway just to get a little more in the kitchen.

I realize how hard it's going to be to get any better without a crew of any kind (this one-man-band thing is VERY tiring)...or even one other person to help out...so did the best I could. I wanted to be sure to get the film finished for the writer and my Craiglist actors. I did try to get it cut down to 6 minutes (really wasn't working at all), but it wouldn't have mattered as I didn't have any BTS stuff either.

That said... Please rate the film, I'd still love to see what you all thought on average.

These fests and DVXUser community in general is THE SINGLE best learning experience you can get!
Thank you all for taking the time to watch & comment.

...now, back to watching & commenting on all these great films!

Best,
-Zaza
 
MAH - you'd be the first to have problems with downloading this one. Maybe your server has a lot of traffic.
 
I still haven't been able to watch it yet, because when I tried it wouldn't play. Will try again tonight, Zaza. BTW - you know yours was one of the first ones on my list.
 
On the technical issue thread there is a mirror site with a link. Try that one. There were two here I couldn't get audio for.
 
I have to give a shout out for this actress. If dvxuser has an award for most outstanding actress in a short film , here's my vote.
Joe, where did you find her? She is brilliant. She deserves to be in the big features. I love her. I wish her the best.

Image5.jpg

;'
 
Gord - When Joe told me she could turn on the waterworks in a *snap* he wasn't kidding. She was completely amazing!
 
Yeah, I just love her performance. I wish I could give her something in the way of saying thanks. It really struck me as a standout performance. Wow, great job.
 
I will relay the message...thanks Gord! Kate did a great job...and she gets extra points for putting up with my direction too. ;-)

Oh... and I found her in the same place I find all my actors...Craigslist.
 
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