SINNERGY - Geoff Reisner

This was a good Film Noir attempt, I don't think it was executed at 100% in that style. The bar scene in the beginning was very good.

The exterior running, come on, no one was running, that was a jog for all three characters, no intensity there.

I would also have liked to seen an older part of town exterior shot and not seen people dressed so modern.

I didn't get the need to explain him shooting his partner, what did that have to do with the monster? I would have liked to have learned 'more' about the monster itself, it almost felt like a throw-a-way compared to how this guy talked about kid-killers, unless you are being metaphorical in saying that it's the 'spirit' within all who commit crimes.

A little over the top for the main character, he's not Clint Eastwood so it didn't quite work. Had you had him tone it down just a tad it would have worked better.

Film Noir, however was cool.
 
John, processing the B&W in camera on the GH1 is much easier on the in camera compression than going color.
Also, a lot of the bloomy softness in this is post work combined with some smoke machine. The lenses are pretty sharp from 5.6-11 (where we shot almost all of this film at)
 
Matty_g said:
John, processing the B&W in camera on the GH1 is much easier on the in camera compression than going color.
Also, a lot of the bloomy softness in this is post work combined with some smoke machine. The lenses are pretty sharp from 5.6-11 (where we shot almost all of this film at)
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Well, the GH1 is something I definitely have on the "need to check out" list. :thumbsup:

The stills posted earlier in the thread came out with a lot more contrast and felt more noir-esque. Were those stills from the final render or pre-processed or ???
 
cinealma said:
Well, the GH1 is something I definitely have on the "need to check out" list. :thumbsup:

The stills posted earlier in the thread came out with a lot more contrast and felt more noir-esque. Were those stills from the final render or pre-processed or ???
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The still from earlier in the thread was straight from the timeline, no modifications to it whatsoever. It should be literally identical to the uploaded Quicktime unless there was some gamma shift through the H.264 rendering.

Also, just to clarify because a lot of people are mentioning film noir... which is nice and expected :) but our intent with this was not to replicate and make a period set, film noir piece, but rather to lace it with noir-esque elements here and there. A blend of modern technique with older, traditional tones and aesthetics.
 
Hey Geoff. Some fest winning shots in here if you dont mind me saying so. There was some subtle lighting along the way I really appreciated. Nicely executed all 'round.

I felt though through the second half the protagonist was pulling us away from the story I wanted to follow - his history with and about the monster. I did feel distracted when he was waffling about taking down "insert name" sorry away from where I watched it atm. So the story overall had some filler IMO. But very well done. One shot in paticular would easily fit in my top 10 DVXfest shots of all time.
 
I really like this film, I have always wanted to do a Noir style film, and this just inspired me to do one. I really like the old fashion style, the narration and fx. The shadow killers where great! I had a lot of fun with this. The only bump I felt was it was a little to bright, lighting wise, on the external scenes in some shots, as a noir. Other than that, great! Super job. :)
 
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I liked the lighting inside the bar. The monster was interesting, wish I could have seen more of him. Overall good job!
 
Hey Geoff. I really enjoyed this one. Noir is always cool and I thought your casting was right on. Actors and look, pacing ect was right there for me.

Just one little note, and I dont mean to be a prick, I thought the V.O was ill casted. It was very well spoken and acted otherwise but I felt the pitch of the voice and the southern (?) accent took me out of the entire piece. When 'I' think of Noir, it's always grunge detective NYC.

An example of the kind of voice I'd expect to hear, tonal and character wise, apart from Sin City, would be something like Tom Waits which I'll post a link to below.
Again, no offense to the V.O actor, it was very well done. I don't think it was the right casting in this case is all.

Thanks. Very very good, if not excellent. Top 5 in my rating.

Here's the ideal voice (I know, I wish someone could hire him to do it, haha.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wfamPW3Eaw

//okay, maybe not the best link, but you get the idea with Tom's voice. Look around youtube. He's also quite a funny and witty guy in interviews. But a great classic voice as well. Perfect for Noir I would think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C49H3aWdiK8
also might be a better one but you know what I mean.

Anyways, again, great job. Good luck man.
 
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MrFluffy said:
Wow, I loved that. You get the first 10 I've given. It was perfect.
Well done.
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Awesome! Thanks so much for checking it out and glad you enjoyed it.

Edgen said:
Cool flick Geoff! Great to see you focusing on directing only. I did miss something in this film though that you naturally bring to the table. I'm sure you had lots of influences in the DP department and given that your film is B&W, it's hard to say what that is.
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It's probably the erratic, dutch tilt handheld insanity... looking back at my prior work, it appears to be a staple of how I shoot... when in reality it's such that it's a result of working with a crappy on-board monitor that doesn't tilt far enough.

I prefer this film cinematically over anything else I've done. From a pure visual standpoint (and technical lighting one as well), it's the best work I've produced IMO. I worked very closely with Matty in developing the shooting pattern/style... and we stuck to that plan hard while shooting. There's no way I could have made this movie (any good) without Matty as the DP.

Noel Evans said:
...I felt though through the second half the protagonist was pulling us away from the story ....
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Agree with you. Fixing that :)

Dauntless said:
I liked the lighting inside the bar.
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Props to Matty G on that one. Also... good locations = good opportunity to light and create shots. It's such an overlooked aspect when most people make films (I'm guilty as well with many past works).

Raptor365 said:
Just one little note, and I dont mean to be a prick, I thought the V.O was ill casted. It was very well spoken and acted otherwise but I felt the pitch of the voice and the southern (?) accent took me out of the entire piece. When 'I' think of Noir, it's always grunge detective NYC.
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I think VO is ultra tough in general and I've seen very few films ever pull it off well. It doesn't help that I'm referring to things outside the frame which makes it all the more confusing at times. Sin City works since it's very in the moment... whereas here it's more rumination. Other than that, the only person I like listening to is Morgan Freeman :)

I like how James delivered a lot of his lines but I'm very likely to pull the VO completely in the final cut just because I feel the film is better without it. It forces you to take the visuals in rather than digesting an external dialogue.
 
Very impressive guys. I loved watching the shots. Very pleasing to the eye. What were the lenses you used?
 
You get my email about that? It was awesome... but I work till 4 or 5am usually, so 11am is still groggy time.
 
Thanks for the info. Where did you rent from? Just curious what I should expect in rental price for an anamorphic lens that is good enough to do a rack focus.
 
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