Spies Girls

If we are to vote for the most entertaining, the most clever story, the one short that we are going to show off to all of our friends and family (once we catch them up to speed about the other short films to tie it all together), well, then, this has my vote for:

BEST PICTURE

in this crazy little fest. I love it when a story has meat to it, this was hilarious, just so freakin' entertaining. Daphy - my hats off to you. This was an amazing film and you got my vote! Absolutely.
 
Charli said:
If we are to vote for the most entertaining, the most clever story, the one short that we are going to show off to all of our friends and family (once we catch them up to speed about the other short films to tie it all together), well, then, this has my vote for:

BEST PICTURE

in this crazy little fest. I love it when a story has meat to it, this was hilarious, just so freakin' entertaining. Daphy - my hats off to you. This was an amazing film and you got my vote! Absolutely.
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Yeah, OK.

Following up on the numerous private messages from those select few who are "in the know", I now feel obliged to "come clean" as a result of Charli's gushing post, above.

You see, I've been a little busy lately and ... well ... you may recognize the tuxedo I'm wearing below (with the flowery cummerbund) from one of the scenes in Spies Girls (you think I'd just run out and invest in a tuxedo for one of my stupid DVXUser films?).

Yes, that's Charli on the left, although the photo really doesn't do her justice.

Please send any gifts to our little pad in Marina del Ray (PM Charli for the address - she tells me she's in charge of those things).

Thanks so much in advance.

(I'll be home soon, hon. And I've invited Norman and Jack Daniel somebody-or-other for drinks and dinner. Cool, huh?)

Cheers.

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OMG that's so funny. Sure, invite the farm, let's make sure Noah gets an invite,
he's back in Tokyo, but he'll be here in August. Uh, we're kidding folks, I have
no idea where Daphy lives. Probably up somewhere near where Norm and Becca
live is my guess. Good job on the short, Daph. I still like the bucketman, that
was one of my son's favorites.
 
I really enjoyed your film. I guess I'll repeat this once again, the part with Rebecca and Norm was freakin hillarious. Did you use a real squib for the gunshot in the conference room? That looked really good.
 
david jerome said:
I really enjoyed your film. I guess I'll repeat this once again, the part with Rebecca and Norm was freakin hillarious. Did you use a real squib for the gunshot in the conference room? That looked really good.
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Hey David, thanks again for your kind thoughts. Yeah - the bit with Rebecca and Norm is my favourite bit too. Very cool of them to have gone along with it - especially because at the time they were both in preproduction on Berlin and were really tight on time. They were both accomodating and very generous.

The conference room shot. Yeah. That's may favourite bit too. Yep, that's a real squib. We used a D80 full load. One shot. One take. That was Lacey's first time being rigged and ... let me just say that the out-takes leading up to the shot are hilarious - she was, shall we say, extremely nervous (smart girl - who wouldn't be with Craig's hands up your t-shirt?). And she would have been more so had she realized what was to come. The D80 full load makes a very loud bang. It also blew out such a hole in her t-shirt that miniscule t-shirt particles were drifting around the room for many minutes after the shot. And we had to wipe blood (synthetic this time, thank heavens) off the ceiling. Cool, huh?

But Lacey was amazing and the whole thing came together perfectly. Craig W. set the D80 up perfectly and had perfect timing on the trigger. Cody framed it perfectly. Mischa hit the focus point. Jodi hit her mark for the raising, firing and lowering of the gun perfectly. Brianna's reaction was perfect. And Lacey brought the whole thing home with a perfect reaction and follow-through.

Yeah, we had more D80s, but I think we would have been kicked out of the boardroom by management had we tried to do another take (I think the sound of the explosion must have carried about two floors up). Thanks to Kristine for smoothing the ruffled feathers.

So that's the scoop on the squib shot. I'll see if we have some stills I can post later.

By the way, if you want to see more of Lacey (a real talent and a pro) feel free to go here: Lacey Lee Elliott . Follow the links on that site and you can catch her hosting some great episodes of Driving Television.

EDIT FOR PHOTO:

Here's a pic of Lacey relaxing immediately before her squib shot:

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I couldn't get this one to play. I keep getting an error message.

It says, "Hey Aaron, you are a dumbie."

No, it actually says "-2048 not a valid movie format" or something close. Do you think this is the file, or my machine? Other films are playing ok.
 
Aaron Marshall said:
I couldn't get this one to play. I keep getting an error message.

It says, "Hey Aaron, you are a dumbie."

No, it actually says "-2048 not a valid movie format" or something close. Do you think this is the file, or my machine? Other films are playing ok.
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Oh sure, Aaron. I can help you.

Check to see if the tape has become unwound from the LEFT spindle and that your TV is set on channel 3.

Actually, no idea why it won't play. Try re-downloading and making sure that you have the latest Quicktime player with the most recent plugins. That's about the best I can do (maybe Larry could help?).
 
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Just in passing, I am truly appreciative of everyone who worked on this. We really did have fun.

But the music really blew me away - and I have Erik Paulsen (Texture) to thank for this. Every time he would send me a new cut, I would want to expand the piece to keep it all (hence a reason why the original is 9 minutes long). Obviously, I couldn't use all his tracks, and so cuts have been made, but I would encourage everyone to go to Erik's site and have a listen to the amazing stuff he did (which he's posted). And his photos (also on his site) are amazing.

If you want to listen (or just see what Erik looks like without his bucket head on), please go here: Visit Erik's Talent
 
Dahopafilms
lmao This was Great !!! I wonder how many got it , thats why you must watch these fest !!!
great job, a day later and I'm still laughing . Love Bucket man , glad he had a part ..lol But shooting Bucketman , man I felt so sad.
kudos to Norm & Rebeca for helping out .

Congrats and good luck on this short.

Ian
 
Haha Great fun here.

So glad you are here to comment and poke fun.
Loved the shirt bit with Norm, haha :grin:
I guess you kind of got me with the car hit, but I am still waiting for you to really take me to town. I would consider it my highest achievement on DVXuser, hee hee.
I loved shooting the girl with the VO bit.

WAS THAT A REAL SQUIB! I AM SO JEALOUS.

I might cut the 1st 2 frames when the shot appears in her chest. This is the actress reacting to the ouch and then throwing her self back. I think if you cut the 2st two frames it will look more like the bullet pushes her back than like she is throwing herself. But i was jealous that you had a real squib. Send me that shot and the shot where the chief agent picks up the briefcase and puts it on the table and I will put some blood spray / hit on the wall for you if you want.

The FBI / CIA joke seemed like a non-entity. Didn't get it at all ... was it just that the guy who guessed is goofy and wrong? Didn't get it and not up to the rest of your rapier wit. I'd cut it if possible.

The music served the piece really well. Great great job Erik.

Sound note. The V.O. is too soft, not present enough in the opening. The foley for cutting up the, whatever that is, is way too loud proportionally. I don't want to strain to hear that V.O. at the top while being tempted to turn down my volume due to cutting sounds.

Hilarious and lots of fun. I also think your productions are feeling more and more put together and polished :thumbsup:
 
Funny and terrific stuff. Yes, the music was great! I didn't care for the "video pop-up windows", made it look like a PowerPoint presentation somewhat. You could have just cut up the screen equally for the opening titles, and the "Spies Girls on the go" sequence could have just been cut together (I know, I know, the 6-minute time limit thing).

I, too, am a Bucket Man fan. Best part was after he was shot, he's on his knees, blood drooling out of his chest AND YOU GUYS PUT A SAD FACE ON HIM!!! HAAA!!!! I love that kind of stuff!!! Awesome!!

Anyway, fun film to watch. I enjoyed it. Thanks for screening.
 
I didn't get the Bucket Man reference... did get the "When Silence Falls" or (something like that) reference. And it took me two or three watches to finally understand Norm's "wemightneedtodoawardrobechangetoseemyincrediblysculptedchest" line. Ah good times. Thinking about this short made me laugh all the way home from work.
 
Hey Brian! Glad to see all the fun reviews you are getting for this! We had such a blast and I am glad to see it so well received.
 
I downloaded it again and it worked. Brian you rule! Bwahahaha this was an awesome film.

I love the part where the Eric character says "I need to change my shirt to see my semi sculpted chest." You're a master of mockery like the guys who did Airplane. The theme song was brilliant! I loved the lyrics and the performance.

If I had to change one thing it would be the laugh at the end. I'd ADR an alternate that's not clipped.
 
I think I missed responding to a bunch of posts a few pages back, so I'll try to regroup later on in the day and reply. I really appreciate everyone's posts and would not want my recent offline distractions to be interpreted otherwise.

arielman said:
Dahopafilms
lmao This was Great !!! I wonder how many got it , thats why you must watch these fest !!!
great job, a day later and I'm still laughing . Love Bucket man , glad he had a part ..lol But shooting Bucketman , man I felt so sad.
kudos to Norm & Rebeca for helping out .

Congrats and good luck on this short.

Ian
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Ian, thanks very much for your comments and I'm glad that you enjoyed it.

As for Bucketman, you will recall that he was shot in the end of the last one too. However, I seriously doubt we'll be seeing B-Man again. Time to move on.

And Rebecca and Norm were great. In passing, I don't think I've said too much about Miss D, and want to confirm that she was a classy pro who followed the suggestions of even this crappy director. She is very, very funny (I think there was a few posts earlier in this thread about talented dramatic actors being skilled at comedy - and I think Rebecca evidences this theory). And truly talented - so any other director out there who wants an actor with amazing range should sign her up. You won't be disappointed.

Or maybe she just looked so good in comparison to Norm. (Sorry. Couldn't resist:Drogar-Love(DBG):)
 
This was really funny. I enjoyed the reference to the guys in the tux. I thought the acting was spot on for what you were going for. Great humor (though I didn't "get" bucket man).

The one criticism I have for this is the rendering. Why variable frame rate??? I'd like to see this rendered at high quality and 24 or 30 fps. I was able to overlook the render issue though, so it must be a good production! Thanks so much for sharing!
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
Haha Great fun here.

So glad you are here to comment and poke fun.
Loved the shirt bit with Norm, haha :grin:
I guess you kind of got me with the car hit, but I am still waiting for you to really take me to town. I would consider it my highest achievement on DVXuser, hee hee.
I loved shooting the girl with the VO bit.

WAS THAT A REAL SQUIB! I AM SO JEALOUS.

I might cut the 1st 2 frames when the shot appears in her chest. This is the actress reacting to the ouch and then throwing her self back. I think if you cut the 2st two frames it will look more like the bullet pushes her back than like she is throwing herself. But i was jealous that you had a real squib. Send me that shot and the shot where the chief agent picks up the briefcase and puts it on the table and I will put some blood spray / hit on the wall for you if you want.

The FBI / CIA joke seemed like a non-entity. Didn't get it at all ... was it just that the guy who guessed is goofy and wrong? Didn't get it and not up to the rest of your rapier wit. I'd cut it if possible.

The music served the piece really well. Great great job Erik.

Sound note. The V.O. is too soft, not present enough in the opening. The foley for cutting up the, whatever that is, is way too loud proportionally. I don't want to strain to hear that V.O. at the top while being tempted to turn down my volume due to cutting sounds.

Hilarious and lots of fun. I also think your productions are feeling more and more put together and polished :thumbsup:
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I'm not sure who you are or what experience you may have in making films like these shorts (for example, I don't see a Spyest entry from you), but you do seem to have a couple of ideas worth commenting on.

Very interesting thought regarding cutting out a couple of the frames of the squib explosion. I'd like to try that. Good thought.

I agree - the FBI/CIA gag didn't come out as I had hoped and my reasons for including it were (a) I needed continuity between the point where Jodi enters and where she introduces the briefcase; (b) I'd already cut about two minutes of Jodi's lines and needed/wanted her to have more front-end screen time so the audience would be better able to figure out who she was for the ending; and (c) Sammy (playing the role of Agent Brandon) was so very good in this piece (and this clearly wasn't his best line) that I really wanted to include his reaction shot despite the weakness of the writing for the gag.

I'm rather surprised that you missed questioning why there was a sudden appearance of an MP-5 submachine gun on the table in front of Jodi when she pulls out the briefcase. The simple answer to this continuity error is that there was a long gag involving the MP-5, Jodi, Sammy and Kristine which simply was too long for the payoff (and the festival). But suffice to say that all of them were hilarious and really pulled off the gag.

As for the music, yes, Erik was/is awesome. And not just in relation to the music - he was a constant source of assistance, critiques, support and inspiration throughout the project. And he put me in touch with the very talented Gil Livne in Israel who jumped in and designed the Spies Girls logo. The best line from Erik during pre-production was when I sent him a clip for the suggested style of music the piece and he simply responded "But it's a WALTZ!". He never followed any of my suggestions - thank heavens. Again, you can listen to some of the cuts Erik did for Spies Girls on Erik's site.

The VO was indeed too soft. I was never happy with the VO either in the dit or in the delivery (even though Lacey was great in delivering absolutely everything I asked for - she's a real pro). Your suggestion about dropping down the sound of Brianna's chopping (they're BANANAS! Hence Nic's later unscripted line to Lauren "I like bananas, too.") is a great one. I knew there was something wrong with that part of the opening and it took you to put your finger on it (rather surprising coming from an unknown). Nice call.

Getting serious for just a sec, thanks for your comments, Jack. Your offer to throw some CGI blood on the wall for this epitomizes the spirit of support and assistance that Jarred has so carefully fostered around here. I'm now done with Spies Girls, so I won't take you up on your offer, but it is truly appreciated and I thank you.

And as for me doing something more focused on your shorts, I did have a few early scenes scripted that indeed took a little closer aim at your stuff. Frankly, I cut them because on the page they came off (at least to me) as tending to be interpreted as a little mean-spirited and I am not about that. And Jarred wouldn't give me 9 minutes, anyway. Who knows, I may do something one day entirely outside of these fests that takes a more pointed aim at your stuff. Who knows ...

And - oh yeah - there were a few other shorts last Fest that employed the CGI car-hit scene. So it's not all about you, Jack. Sheesh - you're starting to sound lke you've been hanging around with Norm.:Drogar-Love(DBG):

Cheers, my friend.
 
FiddlerMD said:
this was a really entertaining film. Love the callback to your previous movie. very funny!
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Thanks, Mike. I make these things for no other reason than entertainment. Glad you enjoyed it.

cinealma said:
Funny and terrific stuff. Yes, the music was great! I didn't care for the "video pop-up windows", made it look like a PowerPoint presentation somewhat. You could have just cut up the screen equally for the opening titles, and the "Spies Girls on the go" sequence could have just been cut together (I know, I know, the 6-minute time limit thing).

I, too, am a Bucket Man fan. Best part was after he was shot, he's on his knees, blood drooling out of his chest AND YOU GUYS PUT A SAD FACE ON HIM!!! HAAA!!!! I love that kind of stuff!!! Awesome!!

Anyway, fun film to watch. I enjoyed it. Thanks for screening.
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Jonh, thanks very much. I understand your comment about the pop-up windows. And you nailed the reason for using multiple windows for the walking/search sequence - I wanted to use the footage, but needed to cut to the time limit. The long version does not use the "window treatment".

Thanks for noticing Bucketman's face. Mischa (who is Bucketman) made sure we took the same approach as we did in the first one and were consistent. It is the little things like that that we have some fun with while filming.

Glad you enjoyed it.
 
kurtmo said:
This was really funny. I enjoyed the reference to the guys in the tux. I thought the acting was spot on for what you were going for. Great humor (though I didn't "get" bucket man).

The one criticism I have for this is the rendering. Why variable frame rate??? I'd like to see this rendered at high quality and 24 or 30 fps. I was able to overlook the render issue though, so it must be a good production! Thanks so much for sharing!
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Hey Kurt, thanks very much - very inciteful comments. Yeah - the tux gag was scripted from the get-go and I was very pleased with the acting. Any shortcomings from the actors are attributable solely to the crap director - but they delivered exactly what I wanted.

As for the render, you now get put into the "smarter than me" category (along with ... Norm). Yeah - I screwed up the render. Wrong settings on my part. It also apparently plays at 12 fps - not 24 fps. My excuse? I'm an idiot. But I'm pleased that only two people (you and ... Norm) picked up on it. Thanks, though - you're briliant.
 
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