"Stopgap" - An IENCE Production

Nice film guys! I really liked a lot of your cinematography and a lot of the acting was well done, especially the lead. The audio was a little muffled in the first conversation. As I watched I thought that there was no way I would let my sister go towards that guy. She'd have been knocked out and over my shoulder as I ran in the opposite direction of him. When the film finished though, it mades sense. Nice concepts and homage here. I enjoyed the ride. Good job!
 
I really dug the concept of this film. The end still sticks in my head even days after viewing.

Thank you for submitting.

/j
 
Edgen... thanks! That was one of the crucial moments for Jarrard and myself in the film – the end. We didn't want a ton of credits clouding the viewers mind. We basically just wanted the abrupt finish that left an echoing chill down your spine. Thanks for watching!
 
jstunzi said:
Edgen... thanks! That was one of the crucial moments for Jarrard and myself in the film – the end. We didn't want a ton of credits clouding the viewers mind. We basically just wanted the abrupt finish that left an echoing chill down your spine. Thanks for watching!
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:) Yup... it worked! the spine is still tingly.
 
really strong story!

spoiler




frenetic pace is terrific. the boy's acting is good. and i loved the concept!

only thing that sort of bothered me was the music, i'd have loved to hear a heart pounding thump throughout the movie, especially when you blacked out the screen. make it match the boy's adrenaline spike. small small point.

this is really well thought though, great use of the color white too, especially on the mom. awesome short!! looking forward to your next film....
 
Noel Evans said:
Im late, so not a lot of detail here for you.

I thought visually you constructed the story well. Your focus pulls had purpose that also served the story and I think on that front you got it. I thought all the things that occurred did help, again, drive the story forward. Personally I think youve got the hard part fairly well figured out and whilst theres some shorts in the comp with more beautifully engaging shots etc the story was hard to follow. Not everyones going to always like your story, thats often down to perception, but if I were you I would separate that from your ability to construct it through images. I liked it.
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Noel,
Thanks so much for your comment and for watching Stopgap. I really appreciate it.

JC
 
Neil Rowe said:
Well done here. It was fun to watch and I enjoyed it. great job on this guys. although I do have to agree with an ealrier poster that its basically a "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"remake which strays very little from the original. I actually made this correlation as soon as he made his move to escape and then basically watched the rest waiting to see it all play out. I watched the original way back when i was in grade school and the power of that film stuck with me until now and likely always will. it was part of what made me realise the power of film and storytelling and make me get into it. but not to say that all that somehow takes away from what youve achieved here. its a great short and you guys should be proud of a job well done.
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Neil,
Thanks for watching and the comment. In the version with credits, we will definitely thank Mr. Bierce, because this was a very intentional update of "Occurrence." I loved the TZ episode as well, and I was going for a modernization. We debated putting a pre-roll credit with the story, but we were hoping to surprise people who didn't catch on. I had hoped that it would work whether you know what's coming at the end or not, but it certainly loses some of its power if you know what's going on. Again, thanks for the feedback!

JC
 
Marlon Ladd said:
I enjoyed this film. I thought there was too much fade to black, but I thought it kept a pretty good pace, had good action and the lead actor did a pretty good job.
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Marlon,
Thanks for watching and for commenting. I wasn't excessively happy with the cuts to black in the running sequence- we'd planned for something else that didn't quite work in the edit room. It's a very stylized editing that works for some and not for others, and I understand how it feels a bit much. Thanks for the feedback.

JC
 
Dick Campbell said:
Good production. Had seen something similar to this so before, I figured this one pretty early, but you pulled it off well.
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Thanks Dick. We based it off of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" which you may have seen as a Twilight Zone episode.

Thanks for commenting.

JC
 
The second he let his sister go, I just knew he was already dead. No one in their right mind would have let her walk off like that. It had that dream logic feel. Anyhow, the film is competently made and I believed your achieved the aesthetic you were going for with the action sequences and rapid dolly shots. I felt the film was a bit roughly made, but not in a bad way. In an up and comer way. You got the story across without much effort. That’s the most important aspect. Good work.
 
Bryce A said:
The second he let his sister go, I just knew he was already dead. No one in their right mind would have let her walk off like that. It had that dream logic feel. Anyhow, the film is competently made and I believed your achieved the aesthetic you were going for with the action sequences and rapid dolly shots. I felt the film was a bit roughly made, but not in a bad way. In an up and comer way. You got the story across without much effort. That’s the most important aspect. Good work.
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Thanks so much Bryce. Glad you liked it. Almost glad you could see it coming. Way to recognize the dream logic feel!
 
Carrying on the tradition from Timefest, the AIM sessions have returned, a live stream of whatever may come out of our heads as we watch your films. Here are Ben Sliker and Brad Mates thoughts on "STOPGAP."

9:02:03 PM Ben Sliker: STOPGAP
9:02:39 PM Ben Sliker: rdy?
9:02:57 PM Brad Mate: yep
9:03:00 PM Ben Sliker: 3
9:03:01 PM Ben Sliker: 2
9:03:02 PM Ben Sliker: 1
9:03:04 PM Ben Sliker: go
9:03:22 PM Ben Sliker: this guy has a llama for an avatar
9:03:25 PM Ben Sliker: it's sweet.
9:03:31 PM Brad Mate: im glad they made a movie about this. I've been pissed about gaps for years, and want them stopped now.
9:03:41 PM Ben Sliker: lol
9:04:30 PM Ben Sliker: one more shot from his laserbeam and i'm done for, and guess what he starts doing?
9:04:38 PM Ben Sliker: HE STARTS MONOLOGUING
9:04:51 PM Ben Sliker: about how im so feeble
9:05:03 PM Ben Sliker: how my defeat is inenvitable
9:05:11 PM Brad Mate: yeah get your rifle...you lazy bastard. if you ran you could have been in range with the pistol
9:05:27 PM Ben Sliker: i wonder what happened in the story during all those black spots
9:05:35 PM Ben Sliker: HEY BRO
9:05:38 PM Ben Sliker: WASSUP ... you walking down a random road too? cool.
9:06:25 PM Ben Sliker: OH SHE GETS IT
9:06:27 PM Ben Sliker: YOU CRAZY
9:06:28 PM Brad Mate: lol
9:07:03 PM Ben Sliker: why does everything in this movie look out of focus ...
9:07:09 PM Brad Mate: (cause it is)
9:07:33 PM Ben Sliker: this is why i hate 35mm adapters
9:07:49 PM Brad Mate: lol. is 911 busy?
9:07:51 PM Ben Sliker: i wonder if that hourglass is going to come into play ...
9:08:05 PM Ben Sliker: or if it was just a metaphor ...
9:08:21 PM Brad Mate: this guy is such a quitter
9:08:24 PM Ben Sliker: hey, it's out of breath 90's running guy LINK
9:08:33 PM Ben Sliker: WAIT ... A WHITE HORSE? WTH?
9:09:21 PM Brad Mate: i would have imagined a better story for myself
9:09:34 PM Ben Sliker: man, if i was going to dream up something right before i took one in the noggin, i would have thought about something cooler
9:09:38 PM Ben Sliker: DAMN
9:09:41 PM Ben Sliker: NINJAD
9:09:42 PM Brad Mate: NINJA
9:09:54 PM Ben Sliker: I JUST NINJA'D YOUR NINJA
9:10:02 PM Brad Mate: how bout instead of imagining it you dont just stand there and let someone kill you
9:10:39 PM Brad Mate: i dont get taht. if you are being robbed you are complacent so they just take your stuff and dont kill you. when they monologue about how they are gonna kill you....time to do something
9:11:08 PM Ben Sliker: CAUSE ITS A MONOLOGUE ... DUN
9:11:10 PM Ben Sliker: *DUH
9:11:24 PM Ben Sliker: ben not soo good typing in da dark ...
9:11:31 PM Brad Mate: i should do something...but i'd really like to hear the conclusion of what he's saying....
9:12:17 PM Ben Sliker: next?
9:12:22 PM Ben Sliker: or more thoughts?
9:12:27 PM Brad Mate: hold on buckaroo
9:12:30 PM Brad Mate: jeez
9:13:38 PM Ben Sliker: all i know is that I'd happen to stumble upon a naked kate beckinsale on a white horse in my pre-death dream.
9:14:17 PM Brad Mate: i like the twist. its definitely more believeable than some we've been seeing. but i hate the circumstances as he just takes getting killed. and what he imagines is lame. if you had those last moments you wouldnt think about what you would do, if you really could do nothing you'd think about your family and your life perhaps, or something else fantastical. its like...im gonna stand here and get shot...but im gonna imagine that im actually gonna try to live.
9:14:46 PM Brad Mate: HOW BOUT TRYING TO LIVE
9:15:53 PM Ben Sliker: normally i'd fight for my llife...but its just too damn hot out. and this bandana covering my eyes..do i just lift that or do i untie it....poo poo, ill just think about escaping
9:16:28 PM Brad Mate: yeah, take the easy way out.

This was a solid entry. As far as the look, I'm not a fan of the everything's out of focus 35mm look, it looks good for the closeups, but just made your wides look blurry. it was also a bit blown out at times, which was a little distracting. As far as story goes, I think our criticism is well laid out in the session, we'd like to see a more fight or flight response out of him. But then again, that's not what WE would be thinking, it doesn't make what this character was thinking wrong. Thanks for sharing guys. Cheers! :beer:
 
Appreciate the AIM comments. The llama, well the llama has been with me from quite some time. Hopefully one day it will be integrated into a custom user status for me! *WINK* moderators!

It's not really supposed to make logical sense. Flight or fight... well that's logical but not necessarily applicable. I'm sure Jarrard, the director, will chime in here too and give his 2 (or 5) cents.
 
i hear ya! that's really the logical nature of how Brad and I think. Like, for instance, horror movies kill us cause we're like "turn the light ON, grab GUN, THEN look in closet. DUH." it's hard for us to process something that's not the next logical step sometimes. :)

ps - i'm glad it was a llama, i'd look like a douche if it was a goat...
 
Sorry for re-life the topic two years after the last post but, i just do it for asking where can i view your short. I searched everywhere but not found anything, just this topic.

I found this topic searching info of Amy Bruckner and have noticed, that so far, this is her last work i think, so as a fan of her of Phil of the future i wanted to see new stuff of her.

Thanks so much for answering in advance and sorry for my english.
 
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