"THE AMBASSADOR" - Namelok

namelok said:
If by test audiences you mean me, yes :)

p.s.
We are having trouble telling the whole story in 6 minutes, we would need 10 minimum, so we might go for a 10-15 minute short.
I will see if we can cram it somehow to 6 minutes...
Click to expand...
I hope you can cram it, because I wanna' see this thing!
 
If the deadline is the 19th at 16:00pm gmt -7, that is 19th at 08:00am for gmt +1, right? :)

Only 2 more seconds to cut, 6:09 with a 7 sec leader :)
 
Namelok You always have multiple languages and cool ethnic characters, i dig that. I also love sniper rifles and first person shooters on PS3 so i felt right at home with your short, i really liked the action, the music and the cinematography and acting as well. I will have to rewatch and reread the intro text that sets up your short. I personally didn't think it needed all that exposition because you had 4 screens of text and after while I couldn't keep up with the backstory. But that's what multiple viewings are for I guess. I loved the spaceship and especially the wrist watch graphic. Overall I really liked this, good work! Oh and who is the guy who is talking to the sniper?
 
I really enjoyed this. The look, the costumes, the mood were all great and set an interesting tone that made me want to know more. It falls a bit into the realm of "small part of a larger story," which is hard to avoid in short films. I agree with Defcon - the long stretch of exposition at the beginning wasn't totally necessary, as I would've loved that time to be spent dealing with the characters.

That said, it was a terrific experience and really felt like another world. Very visceral. Going into westfest, the films I was looking forward to the most were the nontraditional ones, and this definitely satisfied. Nice work!
 
Well you proved you don't have to be in the U.S. to do a Western. Good job. Nice hat, btw. I thought you had a good story but I don't think it really needed all the V.O. I liked the intro putting us in the world of the 2330s. Your location was excellent and I really liked the look of your movie.

I was a bit put off by the shots through the scope being all over the place. It made it hard to believe that he actually hit the Arab guy. The weakest part of this is when the Ambassador looked up and saw the ship. The look of the ship didn't sell me. Perhaps it was just the composite but it didn't look real at all to me.

I loved the fact that your actors looked like they had been roughing it for quite a while. I bought their look completely.

Really good job on this. You told a complete AND an interesting story in 6 minutes. Bravo.

The music to this was excellent. Where did you get it?
 
Defcon said:
Oh and who is the guy who is talking to the sniper?
Click to expand...

Well the idea was that he hearing voices after all of those years waiting alone and killing other nations ambassadors, but we didn't accomplish that :)

Curugon said:
It falls a bit into the realm of "small part of a larger story," which is hard to avoid in short films. I agree with Defcon - the long stretch of exposition at the beginning wasn't totally necessary, as I would've loved that time to be spent dealing with the characters.
Click to expand...

Yes, I am in working on a 12 minutes "director's cut", and it will probably be longer then my estimate. Agree with both about the introduction text, but it in other hand, you guys wouldn't have the slightest idea what was going on if I didn't place that :)

Blaine said:
I was a bit put off by the shots through the scope being all over the place. It made it hard to believe that he actually hit the Arab guy. The weakest part of this is when the Ambassador looked up and saw the ship. The look of the ship didn't sell me. Perhaps it was just the composite but it didn't look real at all to me.

I loved the fact that your actors looked like they had been roughing it for quite a while. I bought their look completely.

Really good job on this. You told a complete AND an interesting story in 6 minutes. Bravo.

The music to this was excellent. Where did you get it?
Click to expand...

Yes, the sniper shots need to be more stabile, I agree.
Also agree about the ship, it looks awful. The only thing I can say is that it will need to be much more realistic in the final version.

(p.s. I did the editing, sfx & 3d animation alone, I know it's not an excuse but... :))

They look like that because they were, 14 hours on the sun :)

The music was done by Filip Dragovic & his guitarist friend. He did the score for Hero also.


Thank you all for taking time to watch & comment :)
 
Man, I really love your style. It just appeals to me. I liked the bass beat thing you had going on in here too. I agree with the others about the all the text at the beginning. I understand what you were trying to do, but if you could combine all that in some way I think it would help.

For those that don't know or have never shot a sniper rifle, the scope is always moving and it'll move from a little bit to alot. It'll especially move when a gun has to run really fast and then stop and shoot. The sight floats, because the gun is being held by human hands and the sight moves even more if you're holding the gun totally handheld. A la a camera versus a tripod. This is something you never see in Hollywood movies (the sight moving) and therefore I think the non-moving target sight is what people expect to see. I like that you put the realism in there like that and kept it real.

I thought you action was on point as was the acting. I like your cinematography and pacing and I was really into it. I think there was an earlier comment made about the ship flying overhead. I think with some more tweaking on that it'll look and work better.

Anyway, good, solid film! I enjoyed it alot. You're an excellent filmmaker!
 
For doing everything yourself, AWESOME. I liked the ship, not a problem for me. But i do agree you should stabilize the sniper scope, but thats easy. Also, I forgot you cut it down from 12 to 6, I can't wait to see you expand on this universe. Once last thing about the intro credits, instead of revealing them page by page you could have them scroll. Or it could be VO, which frees you to show more imagery underneath the VO. Just ideas, because I like this so much.
 
I think you know I love your work. Xepoj blew me away. :)

I really liked this one as well but I think rushing it in like you did and having to cut so much hurt it just a tad. I really wasn't sure who he was talking to and what was exactly going on. I got the just of it though and still really enjoyed it. I especially liked the sniper scenes, really well put together. Score was perfect!

Still a very solid entry that I think will do very well.

MAH
 
Yet another excellent film! I loved the style, the bass beats, the white washes, actors did a great jobe too!
It was a little slow getting started for me, but took right off. The spaceship looked a bit rough. The overall look & feel was perfect.

Really good film that I'm sure will do well in the fest. Congratulations.
 
Really enjoyed this one. Like in Hero, you really manage to pick a style and nail it. I concur with all the other posters about the intro being longer than I would like. I also wish I knew why the Arab fellow said to Gordislav - I feel a little cheated seeing him change his mind like that without knowing why. I loved the cinematography - your camerawork was great. The flashes on the beats were a nice touch too. Great job on this, I'm very interested in seeing the extended version.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top