THE BOATSHED - Edited & Presented By Matt Harris

Spoiler:
SPOILER REVIEW:

I'm just going to go ahead and call you out right now. You, sir, are a buttface. This one scared the crap out of me. I can't watch scary movies. At all. Here's basically a play by play of me watching:

La la la, oh neat. This is pretty cool. I like this one. It's interesting how ... wait what? No. No don't go in there. DON'T GO IN THERE. Phew ... it's just the li- OHMYGAWDGETOUTGETOUTGETOUT! :::heart racing::: Phew ... That was a close ca-AAHH!! :::has to go change pants:::

I do not do well at ALL on scary movies, so kudos for getting me to watch this. I think you pulled it off well. It had a very blair witch effect to it, but much more cinematic than BW. Very good job.
 
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Matt, gotdang man, you did your thing!! This was a great, great idea and you had us going for sure. This was very engaging, creepy and scary and you pulled it off by yourself. This was TV worthy and I agree with Hawk, like "Blair Witch," but much more cinematic. Do your thing, man!! Do your thing!!!
 
A really suspenseful entry. This one had my heart racing. Good job.

Spoiler:
I really enjoyed this up until the reveal of the ghost (or vision) to me this felt a little weak. Once i saw it the suspense seemed to die for me. I concur on the like "Blair Witch" comment, up until we see the ghost. What might have made it a little more powerful would have been to not show the ghost, but show evidence of him, which is what made "Blair Witch" as successful as it was. Less is more and it would have remained a lot scarier (in my opinion).

Overall, a really nice entry and i really enjoyed it.
 
Nicely presented story. Good suspense build and nice use of self filming narrative.
The only thing that I think was less convincing was the
Spoiler:
ghost face right at the end.

You did a great job, well done.
 
Wow, this and "The Water's Edge" have to be the two best looking films in the fest. Really great photography and locations. Everything just clicked to set the right "creepy" mood. I loved the look of this from start to finish. The "actors" were also spot on.

Spoiler:
Funny, the terrific photography gave away the fact that this wasn't really a documentary! When Mike comments that he's not really a cameraman right when we are watching this beautiful slider shot on the front porch it kind of ruins the effect. Everything was just too good looking to pass as an ordinary guy with a camera. But everything looked so good I probably would have bitched if it HAD looked more realistic - crummy, in other words. Loved the shot walking down to the boatshed, the evening shade, the flashlight - really cool. And the interior of the boathouse really had me creeped, very effective.
Two complaints - I knew what was coming, but it's not a real ***** since part of the satisfaction of these things is knowing the asshole is going to get his in the end. The other has already been mentioned. That super over his shoulder at the end. Everything else was so real, so dead on, that that came off as a little hokey. The way the shot was set up I figured we'd actually see the dark form of his brother walk into the shot behind him. In my humble opinion it would have worked better.

Just a great film, one of my top three. Terrific job all around.
 
Great Job Matthew!

I'm guessing the ghost is the "villain"? no real complaints just the ghost at the end...

I don't scare easy so my pants are still dry unlike Hawks over there BWHAHA (jk Hawk)

Great stuff mang

Rogan
 
I totally agree fellas, I will axe the "end" ghost after this fest ends, for future viewings. I was down to the wire on this one and was afraid that if i left the end empty, it would have been a missed opportunity. In hindsight, leaving the end without a ghost should work fine. I was alone at the cabin when i shot this, if i had anyone else there i would have had them walk through the door at the end as a "real" ghost, which would have worked better. but it was just me. by myself. scaring the crap out of myself as i shot this.

Luckily I had a bottle of Beam.
 
Loved the opening on this. It came off completely believable to me. The editing and sound design was great. Especially during the interviews, I really loved that part.

The comment about not being a filmmaker and then showing those beautiful shots didn't quite go together but that's a super easy edit fix.

You had me on the edge of my seat once you went into the boatshed. What a simple but effective location!
More great sound design there.

As another guy who just takes his camera and does what he can I really admire you for all of your fest entries. No actors and you still pull it off! Your style always comes through and this is no exception.

Great job.
 
This was really well done Matt! As a rule I loath these types of shows that pollute TV these days...they make me crazy.
Have you seen the best new comedy on Animal Planet yet? It's called "Finding Bigfoot" and it's just a hoot! (and those people get paid...:huh:)

...but I digress

I always love your editing style and this one fit the mold perfectly. Nice shots all around and thank God the handheld style of shooting wasn't
as crazy as Cloverfield (I actually had to leave the theatre before I got sick). Beautiful location that makes for very pleasent images. Sound design
worked well too!

Spoiler:
I make you dig for it... Ha, Ha!
Spoiler:
As mentioned, I didn't need to see the ghost at the end, that little 'nerve-shocker' in the boathouse was all that was needed, but it by no means ruined the film. I felt the opening text might have been a little on the 'wordy' side and could have been tightened-up a bit. These are just my personal opinions (and you know what they say about opinions)...I just didn't want to say, "Great film!" and not offer you a critique of some kind.

That said... Great film! :thumbsup:
 
Spoilers//
Right this is a tricky one! There is so much thrown into this film - Banging text graphics, morpheous voices and pixelated faces and then whoosh we're thrust into the cabin for our breakneck ghost search. All in all it almost works - the most genuine sense of suspense experienced is during the search in the boathouse - this is where the film is most effective.

To clarify - its not when the most sophisticated motion graphics are in use - grading / over production or bombastic soundtrack. These elements detracted from the film - creating a weird kind of michael bay style blair witch. It smacks of an insecurity on the part of the filmmaker to let the story speak for itself. I say this (as an impression i had personally from it.)

I can't imagine such over-production if utilised in Blair Witch, paranormal activity, (or even better films such as Home Movie or Noroi the Curse) that it would have made them better... in this case it makes the film worse. While that criticism might seem harsh - i don't want my emphasis on it to suggest i didn't enjoy this film. I did and my viewing party too generally enjoyed it too!

It is a slick and accomplished film - but as a director i think you should consider removing yourself from these AE effects! Its a lot of noise - static noise that kinda covers real talent underneath.

Back to the film - the suspense (with the torch) was simple and effective, (i was going oooh yikes) the flash of the face (and the arrival of the new york philharmonic just wiped out the suspense. Less is more sometimes especially when you want to place us in the situation.

This 'lost video is found' film could really benefit from an experimental cut - without the interviews and bombastic graphics - I reckon that is the version that would delight horror fans more (incidentally.)

So a good bit of feedback - technically great but unnecessary and detractive, but full of promise imo.
 
This was really cool.

What a fantastic example of how to build tension and fear with little more than sound, lighting, and performance. Actually, now that I think about it, that's not so little. It's hard to do and you pull it off masterfully.

This felt really professional and polished. Excellent performance. I was with you the whole time and it made me feel uneasy. The camera work was great - smooth when it needed to be and rapid handheld for the climax.

Still, there were two things that didn't quite work for me:

- The dramatic reenactments felt unnecessary.

- The ending felt rushed and I'm not sure this should be a ghost story. I think you setup something much deeper and much cooler here. A story about truth, guilt, and revenge. I want to explore that more. I want to be in doubt about what has happened and what is really happening now. I hope that makes sense.

You have a truly awesome opening here and I really hope you continue to explore this. I think it could be phenomenal.
 
Well done suspense.

As other's and yourself have commented about cutting the "you know what" at the end, I think you should show some evidence of it, without seeing directly. Might be something to play around with rather than just cutting.

Another in my top picks.
 
Opening..effective use of music. How very 20/20 of you turned Blair Witch. Playing to the voyeur in all of us, very very effective!


Man I was intrigued, you had me with you hook, line and sinker until the 1st and 2nd scare. For some reason I didn't jump. I really wanted to, I sat and anticipated but no. I felt they both were not subtle enough. Not sure how to fix those. Maybe the second one, instead of fading in the back ground and coming forward. Your twin stands up straight behind you.


Overall, I really applaud your originality with this one! I've always wanted to do a found footage short myself.
 
Definitely one of my favorites for this fest. Really bought the acting, especially throughout the intro to why he was making this video. The entire thing felt polished and professional, obviously finding that great balance that this kind of film requires because its meant to be found raw footage. Location was great too. I really enjoyed this after watching some of the others because - although it may not be an entirely original genre - seemed to completely break the mold of what most others entered with. Congrats
 
Dude, I watched this at 11:30 in the morning, my room all nice and bright..... Yet I still got the damn creeps. Wish I would have watched this one in a dark room late at night.
The only part of the story I didn't understand is why the Mom and Dad had blocked faces and voices? I dunno, it doesn't really matter, cause this was cool anyway. The last bit maybe could have been fainter? Is that a word? Maybe turn the opacity down so I'm not sure if I even saw something or not.
Good job Matt.
 
Haha this was great. I have to admit that I laughed right at the beginning because you had these people's faces pixelated and voices masked, but you put their names up. Well there goes their anonymity. Most found footage films just bore the living flesh off me, I didn't find a dull moment in the whole piece. I was really hoping he would peek under the toilet lid and find some abomination in it.

The only bad thing is that I wasn't sure why he was so scared at the beginning or I didn't feel that he should be dreading the boat house so much.

Not quit sure what got him, but whatever it was he was a goner. Overall great job!

On a side note, can anyone read Lawrie's comments without hearing his accent in your head?
 
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