The Captive

Love the concept -- I think its a perfect arc for a 6 minute film. The majority of the cinematography was great too -- had a very consistent gritty feel, and really worked for the story. For the amount of time it sounds like you had for producton design, the set looked really nice. I liked some of the acting, but thought that some of it was overacted and didn't quite fit the gritty-ness. The cast definitely had the right look though, and that did a lot. Oh and very small thing here -- the font used for the title looks like a very standard font from FCP or something, and I think if you used another one it would have set the film up better moving on from the title sequence.
 
I enjoyed watching this film. The gritty atmosphere and sound design created a great backdrop to the short. My only critique right now was at certain points in the film the dialog and action sequence seemed out of sync. When the women first spoke to the man I was just lacking depth to me. Overall it was a great piece and I enjoyed watching it.
 
This hasn't a little bit of that xfactor thing going on, can't quite place it, but I assume it's all the little touches that overall deliver something interesting.
Good work on this.
 
zucked said:
Oh and very small thing here -- the font used for the title looks like a very standard font from FCP or something, and I think if you used another one it would have set the film up better moving on from the title sequence.
Click to expand...

The font was standard unfortunately, titling was the very last thing to be done, and I really didn't have time create or look for something good. However I have a very good design friend working on that and will be putting in a much better looking title! I have to take the blame for the acting. My actors are very good and well trained, however it was the strain of directing, keeping track of shots, and managing a lot of little things at the end of a 16 hour long shoot that just caused me to start loosing steam and get sloppy with when to say "yes... that's it let's move on."
 
Very nicely done, the gritty feel was well executed but the thing that got me about this was who was fighting who, I don't think I understood what was going on. Maybe it was just me.
 
Nice idea, but the execution left a bit to be desired. The lighting was inconsistant and the previously mentioned white walls didn't help. I think the story needed to be tighter. The guy and the woman said all they had to say the first time around. The second and third time got very repetitive. The ending let me hanging. Was there a point to this? The woman was begging for a little humanity and the guy wasn't going along. Then the prisoner proved him right by trying to escape and the woman ended up with a hole in her leg apparently as punishment for being stupid enough to believe in the goodness of man. The acting varied from very good to okay, partially because some of the dialog was a little flat. The over-the-shoulder shot where the guy is supposed to be diliberating and you can see the woman's mouth moving bothered me.

A nice effort. With a little more story and some tighter editing I think you could riase the level of this short quite a bit.
 
I really dug the story here. You kept it simple which I like. Does this man deserve to die or not?

The film did have a cool gritty look to it. I love that opening shot, but I would do something else with the title - it's tough to read.

Well done and best of luck in the Fest!
 
I am ok with ambiguity, but I needed a little more clarity to the story to really enjoy it. What was the significance of the references to the guy "changing"? I didn't have a good understanding of what was going on and that hurt the film in my opinion.

I thought most of the lighting was good and stylized, but during the big dialog scene between your main actor and actress I would have liked a little fill light or at least a bounce on his face to illuminate him a bit more.

Good job. Costumes and location were great and there were a lot of nicely composed shots.
 
I really liked the tone and look of this film. The acting was good for me, the dialogue was a bit repetitive during their discussion on what to do with the captive.
Didn't see the twist coming which is always a good surprise.

Well done, gritty realistic short.
 
Loved the slightly Tony Scott opening there. The camera work in the initial scene was great along with some of the suttle moves in the middle such as when she discovers that he has a gun now.....that shot was nice (but you already knew that judging by the frame grab you posted:)

I liked the sound throughout.

I have to echo the white wall gripe and thought the hostage didnt do anything to sell that struggle...but overall really well done short
 
Nice opening shot and I liked the coloration throughout. A little more tention could have been build during the hostage scenerio towards the end that may have added a little more impact.

Good work though.
 
(As I wait on this render, I thought I would post)

Spoiler-y review:

What I liked: The treatment. I looked good. I also liked how dirty and worn the characters were. The two leads were pretty solid. Audio seemed very clean (though her breathing at the end was all in my left ear). Good opening of just throwing us in the fray instead of "25 years into the future, life as we know it [insert long intro paragraph]."

What I didn't like as much: The title was hard to read. Black on parts of black with no depth made it tough. This seemed like a part of a bigger piece. I know the saying is to get in late and leave early, but I think you left too early. I wanted to see more, but not in the sense of "I can't wait for the sequel." More in the sense of, "That didn't feel finished." The guy at the computer seemed pointless. The conversation (aside) seemed a little redundant, too. The audio was a few frames off in places, which was throwing me. The lighting was a little inconsistent, too.

Overall good piece, but a few small tweaks would really ramp this up.
 
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Too slow to give my comments... they just got taken above!! Still I'll say it: loved the grungy feel/look of the whole thing and your main actress. The film had a grittiness that lent an authenticity to the situation which was neat. Would've liked to have had the stakes a little higher for the audience -- that is, I knew this was a big deal for THEM, but I wasn't quite connected enough to them for me to understand/get behind that, and really really CARE what happened to them.
 
Great sound and bright light with the opening of the door at the beginning. The sound cuts off with a slight pop between some of the dialog cuts, a crossfade or fade in would take care of those. I thought the lighting was pretty good, good shadows on the faces. At the end I did like that the guy and girl were talking back and forth about what the captive would do but it didn't feel real. It seems like the guy would have tried to talk down the captive to try to work something out. I enjoyed the simplicity of the story. We got it. The dialog wasn't there for filler, it seemed like it was only there if it was telling us something that we wouldn't be able to know by what we were seeing. Good work!
 
Black font for a title, I almost missed it. Opening images, solid. Fact everyone looked worn from battle, good. Dialogue and storyline however I found lacking. There just wasn't enough. It was predictable. It wasn't as entertaining because the bulk of the story - two people in a hallway arguing. Gritty, good. Story, not so much.
 
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