Tarts Fools & The G-Men

Issue fixed, new upload in progress. We'll be compliant in about 20 minutes.

Definitely hoping to do an advanced writeup on compression for this project. Still have to do a little more research to better understand some of the details before I feel comfortable enough with them to write about it.
 
fixitinpost said:
Issue fixed, new upload in progress. We'll be compliant in about 20 minutes.

Definitely hoping to do an advanced writeup on compression for this project. Still have to do a little more research to better understand some of the details before I feel comfortable enough with them to write about it.
Click to expand...


Out of curiosity, what was the issue?
 
I'd left a custom universal counting leader on the front end (before the DVXfest logo animation), for audio sync purposes. Experienced some issues with audio sync when trimming it from the final muxed file in QT Pro. We missed the bit in the rules where the DVX fest logo had to be the first thing in the submitted file, though. Trimmed off the counting leader, and re-uploaded. Sync seems to be ok this time around.
 
Just initial thoughts here. Ryan this is fantastic cinematography. Top of the class for you. Really amazing stuff.
 
Awe, man this was good! Good action and good thrill. Loved the camera work, editing, acting, and color grading. My only concern is at the top of the roof when they begin to shoot. How come no one gets shot or hurt on the first shoot?
 
ramsaur said:
My only concern is at the top of the roof when they begin to shoot. How come no one gets shot or hurt on the first shoot?
Click to expand...

This was really my only concern as well. But I'll get to that.

To begin, I'm not necessarily a fan of the sort of "wild-and-out" assassins pitted against each other films unless they're done with enough style and strong use of film language to make it truly and uniquely compelling. This film conjures up images of things like Smokin' Aces and a number of Tony Scott films. To a lot of people, this is a good thing. To me, it's a detriment. But somehow, by the grace of the production and skill exhibited, it doesn't really bother me. The film moves effortlessly and keeps the viewer's interests.

Now, I'm not really sure what to make of the writing. In my opinion, it feels like an assassins/crooked FBI project that was constructed merely out of adoration for films like Smokin' Aces or Leon (The Professional), lacking any sort of motivation for the characters besides finding the box on the roof. How they all knew it would be there after being duped either wasn't available or went over my head. Some occasionally sparky dialogue was certainly available, but was rarely delivered with the confidence it requires to make that kind of syntax and semantics believable and "snappy."

I thought the performances were all fine throughout, but some of the felt a little dry and ineffective. It frequently a case of trying too hard or not trying hard enough. None of it was bad by any stretch, but it just wasn't compelling enough.

The cinematography really was quite excellent. I enjoyed the atmosphere created and the colors used (the rear-projection was used well, I thought). The movements were fluid and cut very well together. This is a testement to both the DP and the director. Strong vision all around.

Editing--I thought the split screen was a serviceable tool, but the completely arbitrary speed ramps scattered throughout the film are, in my opinion, always a gimmicky effect designed to heighten the experience for those who know little of film language and the history of good cinema. I'm not nailing this as a way to denigrate your film. It's just a general concern I have with the hyper-active, low attention span trickery that some action films have been falling into for the past decade.

Finally, the rooftop scene was a mixed bag. I loved that you set up a three-way situation like that with a mystery fourth party appearing at the end (I believe it was the man from the beginning, right?), but once the shots were fired, the scene lost all credibility. With more than six minutes to work with, this scene could have made for great dialogue and new dramatic beats. Instead, it falls into an extremely unbelievable shootout in which everyone misses, even from a few yards away, and the girls have time to sneak in and beat up a clown. If this sort of thing happens in a film, the actor should be choreographed well enough to really help sell the speed and grace. To me, it just feels like the story didn't have anywhere else to go but up to a roof for a meager shootout with a twist that doesn't really add up to much. Once again, this is a problem with the time limit. It works well enough because the audience understands the concept of double-crossing and the history in cinema that it has (and it is sprinkled through all of international cinema), but everything is completely unknown, which leaves a "tart" taste in the mouth.

Altogether, an interesting film with strong cinematography and direction. A very solid entry. :thumbsup:
 
First, thank you for a very well thought out, reasoned review of the short. This type of input is exactly why we decided to enter the fest for the first time.

The short film format is very, very challenging for many of the reasons you outlined below. With six minutes to tell a story the writer has a steep curve to bring the audience into the film quickly but in a meaningful way. This is tough.

I think one of the biggest challenges is actually the production time. Meaning, most people have very limited time to shoot these things (us included). So, not enough time is spent working each scene, working with the actors, really drawing out subtle performances...much less choreography...As the director it is always hard when you wish you could spend more time but need to get to the next shot. The challenge of the "balance". How much time can be put into a short film? How many shoot days do you ask actors who are doing it "for the art" to be present? How much budget can be raised to buy food, etc. I wish we had a little more time (production time) to work on the roof sequence more. Anyway, I am likely preaching to the choir.

Lawsuit_Boy said:
But somehow, by the grace of the production and skill exhibited, it doesn't really bother me. The film moves effortlessly and keeps the viewer's interests.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Noting everything above, I appreciate the comment.

Lawsuit_Boy said:
I thought the performances were all fine throughout, but some of the felt a little dry and ineffective. It frequently a case of trying too hard or not trying hard enough. None of it was bad by any stretch, but it just wasn't compelling enough.
Click to expand...

In my opinion the actors did well with what we gave them. Meaning, "go! go! go!" LOL. We had to quickly move from one shot to another. I know I would have liked to spend more time on certain shots/performances and I KNOW the actors would have as well. But that is the reality of the time.

Lawsuit_Boy said:
The cinematography really was quite excellent. I enjoyed the atmosphere created and the colors used (the rear-projection was used well, I thought). The movements were fluid and cut very well together. This is a testement to both the DP and the director. Strong vision all around.
Click to expand...

Thank you!

Lawsuit_Boy said:
If this sort of thing happens in a film, the actor should be choreographed well enough to really help sell the speed and grace. To me, it just feels like the story didn't have anywhere else to go but up to a roof for a meager shootout with a twist that doesn't really add up to much. Once again, this is a problem with the time limit.
Click to expand...

I agree. We all joked that these people need to go back to "criminal school". Horrible shots :)
 
Gentlemen, Tarts and respective Fools:

Excellent work. Stunning visuals (great cinematography there Ryan, not a false move anywhere), great lighting, excellent locations. Seriously good locations there. Music was absolutely top notch and carried the movie well... There was a hell of a lot of style to this movie and that rocked.

Loved the fact that the Fools weren't revealed until one of the Tart's lines. And that was the point where I went "huh?" The Blonde Tart's delivery was the only false note in the performances. Everybody else was rock solid. I just never believed the blonde.

Everything was set up for strong visuals, and the story suffered especially with so many characters to keep track of in such a short time. Still can't see how they all made the conclusion that the item was on the roof. The really mystifying thing is that the roof was the only place their paths crossed. How did they end up all going to a different empty room in the same building, but yet end up on the roof?

Choreography for the gun battle was interesting and very stylized. It was more to push story elements and one liners forward than anything else, and they were all such bad shots! Even with a shotgun. Never give a gun to a clown! First rule. Silly buggers.

Anyway, all of that setup and it seemed the only reason was to kill them all off. Why hire two gangs to do the same job?

Great music from Sid and a pretty good sound mix.

All in all a very stylish film, firing on all cylinders and engaging. Kept me well entertained all the way through and wishing I could shoot with as much style as Ryan.

Good job dudes.
 
puckthemad said:
Gentlemen, Tarts and respective Fools:

Excellent work. Stunning visuals (great cinematography there Ryan, not a false move anywhere), great lighting ... All in all a very stylish film, firing on all cylinders and engaging. Kept me well entertained all the way through and wishing I could shoot with as much style as Ryan.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words- this was a fun undertaking. I really enjoyed the opportunity to push things creatively. :)


puckthemad said:
excellent locations. Seriously good locations there.
Click to expand...

We really lucked out there- the location that we shot the roof scene at had all of the other interior locations as well. Everyone wished we could have shot there longer, as there were even more great parts of the building that could have been used. But as it was, we spent over 20 hours one that one day there shooting everything...
 
Ryan E. Walters said:
We really lucked out there- the location that we shot the roof scene at had all of the other interior locations as well. Everyone wished we could have shot there longer, as there were even more great parts of the building that could have been used. But as it was, we spent over 20 hours one that one day there shooting everything...
Click to expand...

Damn! And I thought I took a long time (6 hours) shooting my opening sequence. How long did the rooftop itself take to shoot?
 
I think we only had about 3 hours for the roof. What took sooooo long is that the elevator only went to the 5th floor and the roof was on the 8th floor. It just took forever that day to move around the building (alley, exterior building, basement, hallways and then up to the roof).

Also, because this was all volunteer we didn't exactly have grips and a bunch of PA's...it was the core team (me, Ryan, Jerry and Kevin) plus one grip/gaffer and one PA. A lot of time was just spent setting up and breaking down.

Plus - the location was 1 hour away from where we all live, so that time included packing up, driving down, unloading as well and then packing back up and driving home/office.

LOL - it was a crazy day!
 
Yeah, a 20+ hour day is not standard for us. A usual day would be 8 - 10 hours, with a long day being around 12 hours. Ideally, we would have shot there two days, but with all volunteer cast & crew and the location being an hour away everyone pushed through and got it done in one day.
 
Whats the trick to viewing this? I'm getting 'Error -2041: an invalid sample description found in the movie' message when I try to run the movie in Quick Time?
 
Interesting that people are having trouble viewing this one. I had no issues, but I downloaded all the films from the zip file ...

back to watching more films! :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top