SINAMON PRODUCTIONS present "NO AIR"

[Simon Höfer]

Hey Simon,

Very cool short. I loved the opening and how it became part of the film.

I must say I was let down with it by the end. At about 2 minutes in, I was expecting it to be a really great short... but then not much happened.

It looked great though and I loved the stylistic black/white thing you had going.

Ich liebe Deutsch, so fuer deine naechste Film, du sollst in Deutsch sprechen.

^this is all so incorrect. I've taken 2 years of German in high school. Also, I don't know how to use umlauts, so I had to use the 'e' which looks worse.

Thanks for your review Drew! To each his own. Some like it some not. Thats how its going.

It was kind of my intention that not much is going on. It's a waiting situation and out of bordem something happens.

Simon, you are my first film review of the late evening. Took a dinner break and relaxing break and right back at it. I have high expectations

Alright, the words you love to hear...rolling and reviewing.

Interesting graphic in the begining. I really love the contrast. The sound is working relly well together. The blank book is creept. Actually, in general the entire thing is creepy.

SOund design is great so far. Though you can see an electronic plug on the white wall. Once I noticed it, it sticks out. And I'm glad you weren't smoking. Smoking is bad for you. haha. I digress.

I am really curious to see where this is going. Did you go and paint your walls for this?

And loving the flip of the cig. My friends can do that with a pencil and it blows my mind every time. Thought the smoking thing was interesting. Great shot there. Okay 3:35...WTF?

Well, I guess that is a message for you. Haha. You did confuse me slightly with that ending. Not going to lie.

But over all, great short.

Nicely shot. It did seem to drag a little bit. Maybe the action could have been pushed a little closer together. Didn't find many things technically off. Aside from that damn wall socket. haha. Oh well. Minor. Exposure you nailed. Framing was good. Overall, nicely done.

Thank you very much for your detailed review!

Haha, yeah I am proud about the blank book

I didn't paint the walls. my walls are white and I used black sheets to make the other side.

Confusion sometimes is good At least makes you think about it, I hope.

The inner geek (ok, outer geek) wants to see that clock squarely in the middle of black and white, now it's a little cock-eyed. (not much, I'm a geek)

Dammned wall socket. Take it out in post!

Very tense and interesting considering nothing is happening. Good work!

The ending didn't sell me. Sorry. The build up was way better than the ending.

Good work on a very stylistic short.

Thanks,
-Joe

Thank you very much conrad!
You are correct about the clock centered. One of the compromises I made. If it was straight, there would have been reflections and you could have seen the camera mirroring in the glass.

Yeah, the wall socket. I had that in my mind to change. I wanted to do that, but somehow I forgot. After you've seen the film a million times, you don't recognize it anymore. So it stayed in. Now its bugging me

Very tense and interesting considering nothing is happening. Good work!

That line made my day conrad! Thats exactly what I tried to do

The ending, well up to everybodys mind. Some like it, some not. I am happy with it.

Very creative and risky to do a one room short with hardly any movement but you did most of it well. I agree with Joe that the build up was great but the ending seemed not to match.
Did the guy get undressed into all black and take the other guys place?
Didn't notice the socket but I noticed the chairs didn't match in color design. Opening graphic rocked with how it tied into the first shot.

Thanks Aram! The chair was insufficient preproduction.

About the ending. Ok, I think it is very much open for interpretation. There are a lot of possibilities. I will give a few thoughts about that at the end of this post.

Simon, this was a very brave short. Well done.

I'll post more after a second viewing. Hopefully you enjoyed the Match.

Cheers,

Mike

Looking forward to your in depth review

I liked this short....and I don't know why!

Loved it from the start and the way the opening graphic took us into the film (and out again in the end), very creative. The socket bugged me and could have been easily taken out. For a short short, it felt a little long, the pace was a bit slow. The audio was well done. Really liked the 'look' of it (MB?).

I'm still trying to figure-out what it meant...and the ending didn't make sense to me. I'll watch it a few more times though.

Great job!

Thank you zasa!

Socket: read above.

The slow pacing at the beginning. Well, I thought about that. It was also mentioned by some friends, but I still kept it. i wanted to have this feeling of a waiting situation, so I dragged it a little longer.

The look was no MB. Only using the curves.

The ending is up to you. i'll explain my thoughts at the end of this post a little.

This was very cool and abstract. One of my favorites. I really liked the way you transitioned from titles to the movie. Great work.

Thanks alot! I'm glad you liked it!

Hi Simon, I think this was pretty good overall. I liked the contrast of the characters, and the black revealed by the white guy in the was good, as well as the opening as others said.


Bumps, I didnt mind the POV shot of him looking at his hands, but then when the cam moved from his lap to the other character and back I was a bit thrown. A handheld OTS would have worked much more smoothly. The killing, I just wasnt 100% on.

Good job!

Thanks for your review Noel.

The POV was a bit awkward, but thats how I had envisioned it. I expected it even to be worse So I am happy with it.

The killing, as said before, to each his own

this was fantastic! I loved it. One of my only critiques is i wish you would have covered the ceiling with black/white as well as the carpet. It wouldn't have taken that much more time but it really would have solidified the whole concept.

I liked the ending and i think i understand what you were trying to convey. ie:

SPOILERS:

SPOILERS:

The guy in the white becomes the guy in the black and has to deal with the pressure of boredom and the desire to smoke. Addiction etc.

Yeah, carpet and ceiling. I really wanted to do that, but time and resources just didn't allow me to.

Ok, here are some of my thoughts about the film and its ending. You don't have to read it, if you want to keep your own interpretation.

SPOILERS
SPOILERS

In my mind this movies is more an abstract film. The black and white represents the good and the bad. At the beginning of the movie you see the good guy in white who sits in a bad black world. And the bad guy in black who sits in the same world, but compared to himself it is good, so he sits in a white world.

The cigarettes are just a symbol for something bad and while he smokes them he releases badness into the world.

The ending: I wanted to make you believe the white guy is good, because of his appearance, so that you are irritated that he murders the black guy. But then he opens his shirt and reveals his dark/bad core. Just because he looks good on the outside, it doesn't mean he is good on the inside.

These are my initial thoughts, but of course this film is open to a lot of interpretation.

Looking forward to more reviews! thanks alot guys

 

[Postmaster]

Verry nice idea to play with that White is Black and vice versa theme.

I love that kind of twist where you see that white is black and black can be white and leave the audience confused for a moment and with something to think about.

Cool Work Simon.

Frank

P.S. did someone mention that wall socket? :happy:

 

[Blaine]

Very interesting, Simon. It had something of a German Expressionism feel. The minute I saw you on screen, I was immediately reminded of the nihilists in The Big Lebowski, not necessarily by anything you did, but by your "look." Nice job.

Almost forgot, I loved the opening...

 

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

I said I would be back...
I loved the black and white opposite thing that you have going on. Very cool.
The opening titles were excellent.

The buildup was good and I wasn't sure what to expect. I just knew something was coming. I also liked the finger tapping and the blank pages.

Very good work!
Technically it was superb.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[Simon Höfer]

Verry nice idea to play with that White is Black and vice versa theme.

I love that kind of twist where you see that white is black and black can be white and leave the audience confused for a moment and with something to think about.

Cool Work Simon.

Frank

P.S. did someone mention that wall socket? :happy:

What wall socket?

Very interesting, Simon. It had something of a German Expressionism feel. The minute I saw you on screen, I was immediately reminded of the nihilists in The Big Lebowski, not necessarily by anything you did, but by your "look." Nice job.

Almost forgot, I loved the opening...

Thanks for watching Blaine!

I said I would be back...
I loved the black and white opposite thing that you have going on. Very cool.
The opening titles were excellent.

The buildup was good and I wasn't sure what to expect. I just knew something was coming. I also liked the finger tapping and the blank pages.

Very good work!
Technically it was superb.

Cheers,

Mike

Thanks Mike!

 

[Mark Johnson]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but there's a wall socket in your frame.

 

[Simon Höfer]

Don't worry Simon, I didn't recognize the wall socket at all! This was an amazing film young man.

Thanks alot for your kind words Mark!

 

[Mark Johnson]

ha ha ha!!! I haven't been able to watch your film yet, Simon. I have it and several others in a que for later this morning. I do admit that I am now interested to see this wall socket everybody is talking about!

 

[Maximus]

Very arty! I had no idea what was going on until I read your explanation. It all makes sense now! Good job. Look forward to more original work from you.

 

[Simon Höfer]

ha ha ha!!! I haven't been able to watch your film yet, Simon. I have it and several others in a que for later this morning. I do admit that I am now interested to see this wall socket everybody is talking about!

Looking forward to your review Mark

Very arty! I had no idea what was going on until I read your explanation. It all makes sense now! Good job. Look forward to more original work from you.

Thanks alot!

 

[pauly_the_hitman]

Very interesting. I love the book is empty pages.

 

[Susanne G.]

This is a very artistic work. I like the nervous mimic art, the simbolic use of black and white, the clock goes faster when he was smoking as a methapher for his live which goes faster to the end. Very good edeting. The only thing I didn't understood: the white man - was he something like a devil? I had the idea when he opened his shirt and his underware was black, but I didn't understood it really!?
Thank you Simon for have done this film.

Susanne

 

[sean90291]

Nice! Really good work Simon. I'm more impressed by what you did with so little than many of the films that try to do a lot more. Only thing I wish is that you hadn't tried to fill a full 6 minutes, because this could have been edited down to 3 really solid minutes very easily. But you have style. I see a lot of potential in this little film, and I bet you could accomplish a lot. I hope to see more from you!

p.s. You could have used the wall socket to your advantage. If you couldn't get rid of it, cover it with a black plate and have a white cord run out of it or vice versa. Please make more films! I'll watch them.

 

[Simon Höfer]

This is a very artistic work. I like the nervous mimic art, the simbolic use of black and white, the clock goes faster when he was smoking as a methapher for his live which goes faster to the end. Very good edeting. The only thing I didn't understood: the white man - was he something like a devil? I had the idea when he opened his shirt and his underware was black, but I didn't understood it really!?
Thank you Simon for have done this film.

Susanne

Thanks for your review Susanne! I didn't think of the white man as the devil. The black only shows that he is bad on the inside.

Nice! Really good work Simon. I'm more impressed by what you did with so little than many of the films that try to do a lot more. Only thing I wish is that you hadn't tried to fill a full 6 minutes, because this could have been edited down to 3 really solid minutes very easily. But you have style. I see a lot of potential in this little film, and I bet you could accomplish a lot. I hope to see more from you!

p.s. You could have used the wall socket to your advantage. If you couldn't get rid of it, cover it with a black plate and have a white cord run out of it or vice versa. Please make more films! I'll watch them.

Thank you very much for your review Sean! It really made my day just before going to bed.

I actually didn't try to fill the 6 minutes. It was clear from the beginning that it will be shorter, so I didn't cut for any specific time. But I have to agree with you, it could have been shorter. I think it's something that everybody goes through while becoming a better filmmaker. You learn to edit your movies tight. My first cut was about 30 seconds longer. Then I tried to tighten it up until I was happy with it.

Now that some time passed since the editing, I think it could have been cut down even more, like you said. I feel like it is a little bit slow in some places. But that's part of the game, you learn it while you do it

And the wall socket, yeah I guess I will just cover it in post. Should be quite easy to do.

Thank you very much for your kind words and your suggestions! Really appreciated! Expect to see more films from me, but I think the next will not be an art film like this one. Well, we will see

 

[Mark Johnson]

Simon! I finally got to watch your film! What a completely different experience this was. I'm so pleased you are here and have created this little jewel.

Opening title design is best of fest in my opinion. The score was awesome! The whole concept was brilliant. I tip my hat to you.

I do wish that you had laid down sheets or whatever to keep the white/black division for the shots that showed the floor. That carpet took me out a little bit.

You know what I would have loved to see? I would love to have seen you play both parts. It would have been pretty simple to do given the way you shot this and in many cases you had a static camera so that it would have been UBER cool to split the frame and have you play against yourself. Just my thought, but I would love to have seen that because I think you have one of those interesting looks about you (not to lessen your fellow-actor, but you really do have a more interesting appearance in my opinion).

I agree that it was a tad bit too long, but not much. You needed a decent length of time to be able to show the fidgeting with the cigarettes and have a sense that something is building.

Beautiful work, my friend. I am much impressed and I especially want to see you act again. I love you in front of the camera dude. There's a presence that really works for me and I want to see more.

 

[jpsheets]

Hah! Great Stuff Simon! Loved the opening title sequence, the best so far. I was waiting for them to start all over again, like they're Hell or something. But I really enjoyed it.

What were your camera settings by the way? Very clean nice images.

best,

JP

 

[Simon Höfer]

Simon! I finally got to watch your film! What a completely different experience this was. I'm so pleased you are here and have created this little jewel.

Opening title design is best of fest in my opinion. The score was awesome! The whole concept was brilliant. I tip my hat to you.

I do wish that you had laid down sheets or whatever to keep the white/black division for the shots that showed the floor. That carpet took me out a little bit.

You know what I would have loved to see? I would love to have seen you play both parts. It would have been pretty simple to do given the way you shot this and in many cases you had a static camera so that it would have been UBER cool to split the frame and have you play against yourself. Just my thought, but I would love to have seen that because I think you have one of those interesting looks about you (not to lessen your fellow-actor, but you really do have a more interesting appearance in my opinion).

I agree that it was a tad bit too long, but not much. You needed a decent length of time to be able to show the fidgeting with the cigarettes and have a sense that something is building.

Beautiful work, my friend. I am much impressed and I especially want to see you act again. I love you in front of the camera dude. There's a presence that really works for me and I want to see more.

Thank you very much for your kind words Mark! I was waiting for your review

Yeah, there were a few compromises I made. The carpet was one of them. And don't forget that damn wall socket :grin:

Funny that you mention me playing both parts. During the process of writing "No Air" I thought about this idea myself. But I didn't follow it so long, because of the action/POV shots I wanted to include and those are hard to accomplish with one actor. Not impossible, but really hard to accomplish. I think that would have been too much for my first entry

I definitely do want to act more. Gonna write a role for myself in my next short I guess Need to get a dedicated cameraman then. Shooting, directing and acting is kinda tough.

Yeah, maybe some serious talking/emotion role in a horror/zombie/vampire flick! Sounds like a good idea to me :evil:

Thanks again Dude! As mentioned somewhere in the Fat Monster thread, you guys are a big inspiration to me! Waiting for the feature now :thumbsup:

 

[Noel Evans]

You know what I would have loved to see? I would love to have seen you play both parts.

That really would have been great.

Simon I watched it again - enjoyed it more second time around as well.

 

[Matt Sconce]

I thought some of the relationship betwen the two guys was funny and I liked the opening. The short confused me as a whole and I did not understand the end, but hey...It still was cool.

 

[Chris Messineo]

I haven't read the whole thread and I'm sure this has been said a million times before, but I LOVED your title sequence. It was so clever and fun and connected to the rest of the story. Brilliant.