"The Commitment" by jeans

OK so its 1:15 am and I see the commitment show up at the top of the forum.. i'm like did i see this yet..nope .. ok so peephole, knew it was coming got me anyway(nice one) mirror scene new it was coming got me again( nice).. last scene didn't see coming at all thought something was gonna come flying down the hallway.... now my kids are wondering why my pants are wet while I'm nailing a 2x4 over our peephole.. you owe me a new pair of shorts a bathrobe and a new chair(i'll be sending you a bill:) )

cheapshot sucker punch whatever ... it was effective..the biggest scare of horrorfest so far good work man...
 
OH MY GOD!!!!

I think I almost had a heart attack.

That was one of the best scares I've ever had in a horror film. Seriously.

whoo!!!!

Ben
 
I can't tell you all how much I enjoy reading everyones stories and jokes about how the movie scared them. It has made this whole process even more fun and rewarding. Thanks everybody.
 
jeans said:
I can't tell you all how much I enjoy reading everyones stories and jokes about how the movie scared them. It has made this whole process even more fun and rewarding. Thanks everybody.
Click to expand...


Just showed my wife this Priceless absoulutly priceless :)
 
Hi -

You have the most startling movie, for sure. So if that was totally what you were going for, you win. Okay - so here's my feedback. If everything you put into this movie (I haven't read in detail your entire thread) was a device to make the viewer distracted by the length, the weird editing, etc., only to scare the crap out of him/her at the end, then you can disregard my thoughts below because you pulled it all off quite well if that was indeed your motivation.

Otherwise, I think you have the bones for a good short here, but it still could use a lot of work. Would love some character development, so we get some sense of who these people are, so we have another level tacked on to the "holy crap that's scary" level.

Editing could use a lot of work overall. A lot of shots seemed unmotivated (like the girl reading in the chair, cut to shot of her head, then her legs, then her head). Same with the first shot of the staircase - why was that there? The editing also didn't flow well, yet the strange edits/shots didn't seem to have an artistic motivation, either.

First keyhole shot didn't look good - was that on purpose?

Sorry if you've already addressed this, but is the title a play on something in the story, or is it a reference to the movie itself (commit yourself to sitting through it, and it will scare the beejeezus out of you)? If it's the latter, then I suppose all the weird editing, lack of story, etc. were indeed devices to play us into the trap at the end?

Way to make a movie that has got me thinking about your motivations. Not many have done that thus far.
 
Lingothree said:
Hi -

You have the most startling movie, for sure. So if that was totally what you were going for, you win. Okay - so here's my feedback. If everything you put into this movie (I haven't read in detail your entire thread) was a device to make the viewer distracted by the length, the weird editing, etc., only to scare the crap out of him/her at the end, then you can disregard my thoughts below because you pulled it all off quite well if that was indeed your motivation.

Otherwise, I think you have the bones for a good short here, but it still could use a lot of work. Would love some character development, so we get some sense of who these people are, so we have another level tacked on to the "holy crap that's scary" level.

Editing could use a lot of work overall. A lot of shots seemed unmotivated (like the girl reading in the chair, cut to shot of her head, then her legs, then her head). Same with the first shot of the staircase - why was that there? The editing also didn't flow well, yet the strange edits/shots didn't seem to have an artistic motivation, either.

First keyhole shot didn't look good - was that on purpose?

Sorry if you've already addressed this, but is the title a play on something in the story, or is it a reference to the movie itself (commit yourself to sitting through it, and it will scare the beejeezus out of you)? If it's the latter, then I suppose all the weird editing, lack of story, etc. were indeed devices to play us into the trap at the end?

Way to make a movie that has got me thinking about your motivations. Not many have done that thus far.
Click to expand...

This is a very good review, other than the fact that yes some of this was covered earlier in the thread. The movie was made to scare you with the end. Everything is setting you up for that, the length, the low volume level, but not the weird editing. Nobody has called it that yet. It's an interesting comment though. There are a couple things that can account for that. One is that there were almost no real planned shots. Well they were planned in the sense that we knew what was going to happen and where it was going to take place, but as for setting up good shots in those places, I did not. Just shot from the hip for the most part. Tried a couple different things and picked between them for different reasons. I am used to doing things completely off the cuff. This movie was probably the most planned out thing I've ever done, and it was still very freeform. I pretty much subscribe to the post-modern ideas of everything being random and arbitrary. This is actually the first thing of any real substance that I've shot with my DVX since I got it around 4 months ago. I myself find the movie more awkward (shot to shot) than the first cut of it. But that was 8 min and like has been said before, it was slow enough at 6.
Another issue is that I tried to show as little of the apartment as possible, because, well, it's a wreck. The living room is a bedroom, some of a bed can be seen in the doorway shots. Also everything inside the apartment was just lit with room lights. Like the shot of her in the golden chair reading for instance, is only lit by the lamp showed in the frame. This was another way of showing less of the apartment, but it was also limiting. Overall I was pleased with the way it came out. I really wanted to shoot somewhere else though.

I guess I find your comment interesting because I'm wondering if you are actually picking up on all this stuff, or if it's just a case of taste.

There (was) supposed to be more development in it IE dialog between the girl and a friend, as well as the possibility of a flashback scene with her and her boyfriend. Me and my partner decided to cut those for, acting/post production/time constraint reasons. We thought it would still accomplish what it was set out to do.

The first shot of the staircase was put in to break up two shots that didn't cut together well. At first I thought it was odd, but eventually it seemed normal to me. That was a very astute observation. Really, no one else noticed, or at least didn't say anything.

Honestly I didn't notice the first peephole shot as being different from the second. They are actually from the same shot, but shooting through the keyhole was tricky. Just a slight difference in distance from the door drastically effected the light level seen through the peephole. It was the only place we tried to light well and it didn't make much difference. Earlier in this thread are shots of the real peephole and a fake one I made because of this. I just ended up going with the real one because the consensus was that it was creepier.

The title has to do with the story, what little there is. But someone else mentioned that in another thread, that it applies to the process of viewing the movie as well. I wish that was my intention, I like that a lot. It would have been clever, but it is just a coincidence.

Well thanks for the input. Sorry for the length, but this has been my favorite comment to respond to.
 
jeans, man, I am so sorry.... I have been following up on my "job" of critiquing and I seemed to have over-looked placing my review here! Which really bums me out because I could wait to come over here and yell at you for SCARING THE CRAP OUT OF ME!!!!!!!!!

Lord, oh mighty! What a great set-up. What a build! Man, I knew it was coming and I STILL didn't see it!

Man, hats off to you! Great job!

I LOVED IT!

Ted
 
jeans said:
Honestly I didn't notice the first peephole shot as being different from the second. They are actually from the same shot, but shooting through the keyhole was tricky. Just a slight difference in distance from the door drastically effected the light level seen through the peephole. It was the only place we tried to light well and it didn't make much difference. Earlier in this thread are shots of the real peephole and a fake one I made because of this. I just ended up going with the real one because the consensus was that it was creepier.

The title has to do with the story, what little there is. But someone else mentioned that in another thread, that it applies to the process of viewing the movie as well. I wish that was my intention, I like that a lot. It would have been clever, but it is just a coincidence.

Well thanks for the input. Sorry for the length, but this has been my favorite comment to respond to.
Click to expand...

I was one who voted for the real peephole - funny. The 2nd shot was fine, but I didn't get what was going on when I saw the first. Of course, viewing the 2nd shot cleared up the first for me.

Man - when someone else attributes a good idea to you, you have to say you had it all along!
 
I think doing a short with no dialog can be very tricky. You really pulled it off. The story was self explanatory. I liked the keyhole shot.

At the very end, I was waiting for something to happen. I looked down at the time and thought what could happen in 5 seconds? She's not gonna
make it. Sure enough, you totally lured me in looking at the door.
Scared the bejezzes out me.
That's twice today, and really, I should know by now, but NOPE.
You win. Good stuff. -gordo.
 
Lingothree said:
Man - when someone else attributes a good idea to you, you have to say you had it all along!
Click to expand...

Then I would feel like a fraud. At least admitting I didn't think of it first, I get to feel honest.
 
Hey jeans! CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR FILM!!!

You did a GRRRREAT JOB of scaring the pants off of me!!!!

Best of luck to you and want to see more of your work!

Been a fun time!

Ted
 
That last part scared me pretty good. Good setup. Good cinematography. That dude looked pretty scary.

Good job.
 
OMG! That was like one of the best amusement park rides I've ever been on!!! I, like so many others, was lured right into your trap, my friend. You set me up REAL good.

The film looked great and like a magician, you kept me looking one way while getting ready to scare the sh*t out of me with the other.

Honestly, I never saw it coming.

Good job.


John G.
 
Carli

Carli

I showed carli(the lead in betrayed) this movie and she screamed dude hard core I LMAO. You are in my top ten don't know where yet but there still doing the ballot :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top