Stow Lake - SF Bay Area

I seem to always get sucked into the found footage stuff. Story wise it was a neat legend with a lot of potential. I won't echo some of the technical stuff that's probably been said.

I was hoping it would maybe end with a fatal car crash instead, maybe the driver thought he saw the lady on the way home and swerved.

Good job!
 
Like the police opening. Didn't understand the spider or mouse though. Good opening acting. Film grain constantly changing like at 2:18. A lot of different haunts mentioned so far for lake. I'd stick to one so as not to confuse. I didn't go back and check, but I thought the one girl didn't know the place, then sites a legend at 2:40. The cut at 3:03 needed a transition - maybe showing the camera shutting down. All I know is suddenly they are driving again. Flash your headlights three times is a legend? Okay I have the opportunity to stop and backup. One minute elapsed since loss of power until camera goes back on. Totally lost me that they are now driving. Love the monster. Why her? Good bones for the story - just needs further fleshed out and refinements so as to not lose the audience. They can't rewind. Good job.
 
Glad to see you got a film done and in... congrats!
I only wish you developed the script some more as this had a ton of potential. For me the concept and poster are the best part of this one.
There seem to be a lot of 'found footage' films in this fest (or maybe I'm just catching them all tonight by chance) so the bar is set high.

Your cast did a good job with the acting and with this genre of film you don't have to worry much about the technical aspects. I don't
understand the opening at all (spider & dead mouse) and would love to know what you were going for there? Good job on the VFX
(ghost-lady). I look forwaard to your next film!
 
OY.

well, i'm not sure what to say about this one. reality docs just don't do nothing for me in terms of scary or thrills.

That being said I do have to say i was kinda entertained by the characters. I couldn't let myself believe the footaget to be real so I just had in my head, "this is just a couple friends with a camera and some software". luckily there was a VFX shot in there. however, it kind of fell flat too. I wished you just had a practical light or even another actor out in the field that stepped in between lights flashing on/off. That would have been flipping unexpected. Alas, there are always limitations and I encourage you to go beyond what's already been done and made millions upon millions of dollars of viewers who want to believe in ghosts.

let's see a narrative next time, get yourself a crew, a solid script, and good luck! I know you have it within you.
/j
 
SPOILER REVIEW: Don't read if you haven't seen the short.

The good: I gotta say this is one of my favorites so far. Seriously. Was it beautifully shot with an expensive camera and lighting? Not to my knowledge. Granted, there were a couple of off things (which I'll get to), but this one really worked for me. It looks like it was shot in 4:3, interlaced, grainy footage ... I think that worked well. The "cheap" scare of this guy hitting the side of the van got me. I liked the different personalities of the characters, and the build up at the end. Oh, good job motion tracking that figure at the end.

The not as good: Yeah, those first two shots need to go. There was no reason for them in my eyes. They added nothing. The "fuzzy cut" transition was too abrupt. I don't think it needs anything like that. If you stop recording, then start again, it'll pick right back up (unless you broke time code). I wasn't a fan of the clock / date on the corners. Also, was he driving at like 7 miles an hour? The figure you see in front of the car needed to be adjusted. It was to bright / clean for the footage.

Favorite part: The reaction of the passenger saying, "Ok, that wasn't me."

Take those corrections with stride, though. I think you did great.
 
Did you just make up this legend? Flash your headlights 3 times. :) I was really hoping to get a jump when he turned the lights on for the final time, but the guy screaming was alright. I did like the sound when the lights went out, it got creepy. I would've like to see the girl be a little more scary. Was the camera really that low a quality? I think the graininess was a little too much.
 
Hey guys thanks for the awesome suggestions, gave me lots to think about for the cut to upload to youtube lol. It was super grainy after the export. I followed some peoples directions for export but I still couldn't get it under 100mb. The cut I had at around 150mb was much better yet still grainy. Anything higher than that it was the same as the 150 one. People seemed to hate the dead mouse and spider part, so I will probably cut that to a blink for the youtube upload.

Thanks alot for all your comments and ideas, I will really take them in stride as we prep this for worldwide "youtube" release.

PS. awesome work for everyone else involved. I felt I am not yet at that caliber of filmmaking yet as everyone else, but maybe after a couple more shorts! Thanks again for letting me participate and for everyone who helped.
 
I'll give you props for having multiple actors to direct. I like to see interaction among actors. Though some of the lines fell flat, I did "feel" they were all friends. The story itself wasn't that intriguing, though urban legends (fake or real) can be interesting to do. I also didn't get the spider at the beginning. If this was police footage I would like to have heard some VO by cops throughout the entire footage to make me feel someone was watching this.

It was okay, but I give you props again for multiple actors.
 
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