The Common Man

[Gohanto]

A silent, B+W satire film.

Story of a homeless man who finds a "special" pair of jeans that alter his life forever and teach him an unforgettable lesson on the importance of love.

Writer, Director, DP, Editor - Alex Donkle
Composer - Brian Calvert
Cast - Matt Walsh
Kelsey Consalus
Matt Turk
Sean Tinlin
Chris Wacnik

Camera: Panasonic GS 500
Equipment Used: Kessler 8 ft Crane.
Homemade Dolly.
Sticky Pod Car Camera Mount.

Locations: Purdue University and Lafayette, IN.

Here are some grabs pre-CC (other than a quick saturation drop)

 

[Gohanto]

Reserved. BTS.

 

[Luis Caffesse]

Wow - another one shot already?
Way to go!

 

[Gohanto]

Better?

 

[Chris Messineo]

I've always wanted to try and shoot something black and white some day.

I'm looking forward to seeing your film.

 

[Luis Caffesse]

I've always wanted to try and shoot something black and white some day.

I'm looking forward to seeing your film.

Just take something you already did and desaturate it.
No need to shoot something new.
It's all post now-a-days Chris, don't you know that?



(yes, I am joking)

 

[Gohanto]

Thanks.

B+W made costumes soooo much easier when we didn't have to match colors. And not worrying about temp. variations on the lights is a blessing.

 

[Rangerman]

B+W made costumes soooo much easier when we didn't have to match colors. And not worrying about temp. variations on the lights is a blessing.

That's an interesting point to make about B&W. I'm liking the concept of your movie being silent too, hope it turns out good for you.

 

[Marlon Ladd]

Pics look really good. I'm diggin' the B&W thing too.

 

[Gohanto]

Poster up.

 

[Gohanto]

5 different render attempts to fit guidelines, last try, 6 hour render, finished at 46MB 30 minutes pre-deadline.

Yeah, I'm happy right now...

 

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS



I don't want to give too much away since it looks like I'm an early review.

I really liked this one. I was wondering if someone was going to do a film like this. It's amazing how much you can portray without the use of a spoken word. I loved the music in this, seemed to fit like an old glove.

I also really liked the camera use as well. The shot that approaches him after finding money in his pockets was really nice. The acting was quite good as well.

Really nice job on this one.

Cheers,

 

[Gohanto]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS



I don't want to give too much away since it looks like I'm an early review.

I really liked this one. I was wondering if someone was going to do a film like this. It's amazing how much you can portray without the use of a spoken word. I loved the music in this, seemed to fit like an old glove.

I also really liked the camera use as well. The shot that approaches him after finding money in his pockets was really nice. The acting was quite good as well.

Really nice job on this one.

Cheers,

Thanks for the comments, music was what scared me the most while I was filming since naturally the weight of the film rests strongly on it. Gladly the composer took the time to watch some old real silent films to get the style of it down and I was very proud with the results.

 

[Arrik]

Yo Gohanto, great job man.

I liked the main actor. Thought he did a good job. I also like the shot where he finds the money and runs off. Music was great; it worked well for the different scenes you had. A few of your angle choices I wouldnt agree on, but they still worked, like the pov shot of the 2nd sales guy calling him back. Now that I think of it, there were a decent amount of pov-like shots of peoples hands if I recall correctly. Not sure you needed them all, or any.

Oh, I didnt realize that those pants had bottomless pockets of money at first. At first, I thought he just found some money in his pocket. Ofcourse in the following scene I figured it out, but I think you could have shown him more surprised pulling out more and more cash hysterically to show that. Think it woulda made that "holy cow" moment even stronger. Oh, and how does his girl just happen to look in the exact place where he hid the pants? Maybe if she was shown peeking while he was hiding it?

Favorite scene was when he finds out that his pants were thrown out and he runs after the truck. It was executed well.

I thought it was a great job overall. I'd love to see what you can do with a talkie.

 

[Chris Messineo]

I think it's great that you did a silent film.

I love movies that rely on the visuals to tell the stories.

I think this could have been edited a little tighter, but overall I enjoyed the story.

 

[Gohanto]

Yo Gohanto, great job man.

I liked the main actor. Thought he did a good job. I also like the shot where he finds the money and runs off. Music was great; it worked well for the different scenes you had. A few of your angle choices I wouldnt agree on, but they still worked, like the pov shot of the 2nd sales guy calling him back. Now that I think of it, there were a decent amount of pov-like shots of peoples hands if I recall correctly. Not sure you needed them all, or any.

Oh, I didnt realize that those pants had bottomless pockets of money at first. At first, I thought he just found some money in his pocket. Ofcourse in the following scene I figured it out, but I think you could have shown him more surprised pulling out more and more cash hysterically to show that. Think it woulda made that "holy cow" moment even stronger. Oh, and how does his girl just happen to look in the exact place where he hid the pants? Maybe if she was shown peeking while he was hiding it?

Favorite scene was when he finds out that his pants were thrown out and he runs after the truck. It was executed well.

I thought it was a great job overall. I'd love to see what you can do with a talkie.

Thanks for the feedback. Honestly I never even noticed that the 2nd clerk calling him back was a POV shot. In the longer take of the scene, the camera starts further back, tracks with him as he leaves until the clerks hand pops into frame, and then tracks back again as he comes back to the counter. Seeing it as a POV I agree it does look a little odd.

And yeah, originally we were going to have him pulling out a lot more money. I agree it wasn't as clear as it should've been. Dumb mistakes happen though like getting everything setup and realizing, "wait, we're practically broke" so that's just all the money we had on us. It felt almost cliche, bunch of engineering students making a movie and realizing we're all broke, as always.

Thanks for taking the time to watch it.

 

[Gohanto]

I think it's great that you did a silent film.

I love movies that rely on the visuals to tell the stories.

I think this could have been edited a little tighter, but overall I enjoyed the story.

Thanks. The ending was actually the most work in this film as there were significant changes made to fit the time constraint (who would've thought a 5 page script would make a 9 minute film?). The director's cut ending is actually him meeting his girlfriend again, but then she's with a rich guy and leaves with him instead. The closing title card saying "Money isn't everything but it sure is something", then the ending shown in this version is actually used as a fantasy after seeing the "money isn't everything" sign. So the altered ending changed the film from a satire to a bit of an over-the-top morality tale. This is kinda why the running is a bit drawn out as i wanted to really build it up so the original ending could hit as hard as i could make it. The ending the way it is though, you do have a good point as it's less important of a build up the way it is now.

Thanks for checking it out.

 

[wcs]

Bunch of random thoughts (after watching so many films it's hard to have much cohesion).

I agree about the lead actor doing a good job.

When he was pulling the money out of his pockets the first time, I think the tinkling magic sound was a nice touch.

I think the section that didn't really work for me was the scene where the guy gave him the pants. It just didn't give the 'mystic giving the magic carpet to the peasant' vibe. You spend camera time following around the shopkeeper with a camera that bumps into things. I'd try to cut out the bump at minimum. I'd try to streamline it so that the focus stays on the tramp rather than shifting to the shopkeep, though I do think that last "you're welcome" moment is an important wink to the audience that the story is about to begin.

I don't think necessarily playing up the shopkeep as a character is bad, but his look isn't strong enough to compete with the tramp, so I struggled to put him intellectually in this stylized world.

Agree about the running after the garbage truck. It's one of those good shots that completely deserves to be in the final cut.

I was pretty impressed with your ability to keep things moving. I also thought the overall story was a good fit for the style.

I read your posts, and I think the original ending of "but it sure is something" would have really worked twisting an overly happy ending into a bitter laugh. But kudos on embracing your time limit and thinking outside of your normal script. Even if it wasn't exactly what you wanted you made sure to tell a story that made sense.

I definitely enjoyed your short, and I think it bodes well for future productions that you seem to have a good grasp of how to make a silent film.

 

[Gohanto]

Agree about the running after the garbage truck. It's one of those good shots that completely deserves to be in the final cut.

Thanks, glad people liked this shot, especially since it was the most dangerous for me to film. It involved my roommate driving the car and me halfway out the rear window (to keep the trunk from being in frame) with a camera in my hand yelling at the actor when to start running. Glad you enjoyed it and thank you for the feedback.

 

[Marlon Ladd]

Silent film. . .great! That freakin’ Broad!! LOL. Man, she mad me mad. This was a well written and executed story with a happy ending and a message. Very cool and creative.