The Company of Memories

I'd love to find out more about the music. Nobody has used anything with music that is built from vocals like this. Beautiful.

Great camera and lighting as stated above.

The writing felt a little to sickly sentimental... But I don't think a room full of production geek guys is the place to test this film. I'd be curious to hear the reaction from women, 18 to 25 years of age... You may very well find an overwhelming admiration for your VO from this group.

E.P.
 
uh-yup

uh-yup

The music is from Fredo Viola (check him out at Fredo Viola.com) a friend of mine knows him and suggested the song after clearing it with Fredo. I instantly loved it and...
Female viewers have been all over the place in their reactions. The original letter caused quite a stir when read by zee weemen. The vo didn't do as much for them. Their responses to the film are typically guaged by what is going on in their lives.
I just cannot believe there hasn't been one comment about the "Catharsis Entertainment" credit.
 
What A beautifully shot film.. I put this in my learn how to move the camera folder:)
that couch shot with the camera moving was just awesome. That and the bedroom sceene.. for me the story was o.k. it didn't suck me in.. I was more like, hey nice shot..
 
Very Nice Job.

Very Nice Job.

I'm crawling my way through all these films... to the point I'm "over it" with tech and quality issues... yes, technology + passion means a tremendous amount of people can get amazingly close to a hollywood look (and my guess is that will have a massive, massive impact on film in the next couple decades... my money is on a real "golden age" of filmmaking in the near future). (That said, your couch-dolly looked almost motion-control. Dang, you nailed it!)

My big lesson (and yes, I'll get back to THIS short in a sec) from this fest is performance is the hardest thing to nail; you can't find it next to the work lights at home depot. That's why this short stood with the very best in the fest IMHO. Drama fest for me has been when did I get a bit "sucked in" vs. when did a performance make me cringe? (Take the "masked villain" in "fallen"... yikes!) (And talk about ponderous voiceovers... I thought it was a parody at first...)

At the female lead's first appearance, I was pulled "out" a bit, simply because she didn't have that sort of "name" hollywood "look"; but damn, her performance seems real and natural to me - and even the best actor can't pull that out without good direction and a sense of safety on the set, and she had a compelling presence for me. Good work, man.

Yeah, yeah, the voiceover. Few people can really write "love letters" that florid... (chicks seem to value that though!) For me, it got to be a little much. Were I your script-reading buddy, I would have begged -- BEGGED - you to try giving a sense he was searching for words, stumbling, trying to find the right metaphors. That's how most people talk and think; even if we don't 'write' that way, an audience hears the VO as "voice", not text, and my guess is it would have made your male lead more real & sympathetic; even possibly pushed more of the reason she left.


So many of these films try to get all their plot twists and backstories in; I applaud you for saying "it's 6 minutes, folks, deal with it" and still filling in a lot of feeling. I tried to write a 6-minute spy fest script last week... 21 pages. Guilty.

I haven't seen 'em all, but about a dozen-plus in, this is certainly in my top two. Nice, nice work.

Now, anyone want me to write up a "Jade Egg" script? I'm too floored to put a whole gig together, but damn, that's an intrigueing project!

Thanks & good luck--MC
 
Thanks for your comments...
The couch was really a lot easier than I had anticipated it being. The trick was making the pass the same speed each time. I built a three wheeled dolly and I love it. it tracks pretty true and so I was able to get the same arc each time. Lined up the shots in Vegas and bang.
The initial scene of her crying in the bathroom left all of the people on set exhausted and her pretty worn out as well. She wasn't faking the tears. Turns out she was remembering some really horrible relationship stuff. Made it really hard to shoot, I felt like I was prying into her life.
The vo lines are from a pretty over the top letter I wrote for a friend who loved it.(chicks dig it man) I tried to modify it for the short, but I couldn't really get in the letter writing mode versus technical mode. Too many hats.
There will be no vo in my Spyfest entry.
About the Jade Egg... PM me and we'll discuss what all is involved in a JE script.
 
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