THE DEVIL'S TOY - a Sprocketboy production

Sprocketboy said:
Rodney- thanks for taking the time to rewrite your comments. Much of what you wrote are already corrected.
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I'd already written my first review and I was going to get my comments in dammit! Regardless of everyone else sharing my opinions.

Dude you did a great job with this especially given the budget and the level of detail you had to get into. I;d love to see what changes you made to it that adds that special level of mood...
 
I have not read any of the other reviews. But this looked and sounded amazing. I thought the Nazi flashback should have have been graded differently to look a little older but other than that everything was effing spot-on! congrats one of my favs easily.
 
Loved the flies! Didn't like the gunshot sounds. Loved the blood splatter.

This looked like a huge undertaking! Very ambitious. Sure to be a favorite among the membership.
 
Robert Eldon said:
Real good camera work and motivated camera angles. Great cinematography. I liked how you showed different periods of time. It's always a challenge to do a 'period' piece of do flashbacks, but you pulled it off very well.

Favorite shots were the boys running in the rain to the barn, and of the lights as the army men were entering the building, about TC 1:27.

Great job and good story telling! :thumbsup:
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Many people have expressed that shot in the tunnel to be their favorite as well. It was something we pre-planned with antique lighting on a dimmer. The bulbs were randomly spray painted with flat black paint to fractalize the lighting. The dimmer allowed us to control the brightness and color temp. Thanks for watching.

Chris Messineo said:
I thought this film was great. I liked the story a lot and I thought the performances were excellent. Well done.
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Thanks Chris. Your compliments are much appreciated. I'm glad you had a chance to check out the film.

Rodney V. Smith said:
Dude you did a great job with this especially given the budget and the level of detail you had to get into. I;d love to see what changes you made to it that adds that special level of mood...
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The film feels and looks completely different. Its closer to what I and the DP discussed from day one. If you make it out to the Hell Gate Social... you'll see for yourself. I look forward to meeting you as well, so don't be a stranger.

Richard J. Johnson said:
I have not read any of the other reviews. But this looked and sounded amazing. I thought the Nazi flashback should have have been graded differently to look a little older but other than that everything was effing spot-on! congrats one of my favs easily.
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That is the reaction I'm looking for... to bad you are watching the bastard brother of The Devil's Toy. The cut we have now is down and out creepy. I just have a few more things to do before I get it right.

John LaBonney said:
Loved the flies! Didn't like the gunshot sounds. Loved the blood splatter.

This looked like a huge undertaking! Very ambitious. Sure to be a favorite among the membership.
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The music track overwhelmed that shootout scene and knocked the gunfire sndfx down too much. The gunfire is actually 100% accurate. The sounds are taken from the actual weapons (Grease Gun MP40 and a Thompson M1A1) indoors.

It was "very ambitious." I don't plan on doing that again, any time soon, on a meager budget. You end up spreading yourself a little too thin.
 
Here are some BTS shots of the tunnel scene. It shows our rigged lighting. Simple but effective.

tdt_tunnel01.jpg
tdt_tunnel02.jpg
tdt_tunnel03.jpg
 
Love the BTS photos... I'd love to sneak around on set with some of you guys and watch you all work! You (and some of the other "heavy hitters") really got some very cool locations (and the details you focused on were outrageously good).
 
EditPhish said:
Love the BTS photos... I'd love to sneak around on set with some of you guys and watch you all work! You (and some of the other "heavy hitters") really got some very cool locations (and the details you focused on were outrageously good).
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Thanks for the kind words. I'm certainly no "heavy hitter."

I just want to get one thing straight, there is no sneaking around my set. You better be helping out. :thumbsup:
 
Sprocketboy said:
Thanks for the kind words. I'm certainly no "heavy hitter."
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Ah, but the masses disagree Mr. Finalist! :)
Congrats!

Sprocketboy said:
I just want to get one thing straight, there is no sneaking around my set. You better be helping out. :thumbsup:
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*sneak sneak sneak* ;)

BTW, I saw you mention the "Hell's Gate Social"... I was just down at Hell's Gate Bridge recently taking pictures (another expensive hobby of mine, LOL)... when JTyner first got the DVX a few years ago we also went down there to test out the camera. We look forward to meeting you and being part of your social!

I'd love to hear some of your "tricks of the trade" in finding these cool locations... It's an area in which we need to up our own game and I'm trying to accumulate tri-state resources for that kind of thing...
 
Alex Lugones - director, has presented a very competently shot and told 'yarn' - written by my NEMESIS *shakes fist* Chris Keaton.

Chris has written a great and simple story, that im sure more depth (for a prospective feature) just itching to be revealed in a feature.

I love the concept, (albeit its a little cute though quite feasible from the kid narrator) when the boy suggests the nazis put all there evil into that box! (We all know its a miss kitty lunch box the nazis really put there evil inside!)

the boys do a decent acting job, the flashback is pretty (for ww2) but a little inconsistent and too modern looking for ol' pops in the beach. I wasn't totally convinced by the nazi in the black hoody (unless he was asking for spare change to catch a bus...) so they say!

However, this is a well executed, rounded little story, with perhaps too glossy an atmosphere to let genuine tension and suspense build. There is perhaps a preoccupation with how this film appears nad looks - and keeping it all together - rather than pushing the envelope in drama, the disturbed.

That said, this is a well crafted film, a delicious form of monstrous moderation.
 
EditPhish said:
Ah, but the masses disagree Mr. Finalist! :)
Congrats!

BTW, I saw you mention the "Hell's Gate Social"... I was just down at Hell's Gate Bridge recently taking pictures (another expensive hobby of mine, LOL)... when JTyner first got the DVX a few years ago we also went down there to test out the camera. We look forward to meeting you and being part of your social!
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I got the OK from the owner last night to have the showing on Sunday Nov 22nd between 8 pm and 9:30 pm. I hope to have East Coast DVXUsers come on over and show some of their work. More details to come...

I will be announcing more details here, and on THE DEVIL'S TOY Fan page on Facebook during this week.

It will be 2 days after the winners are announced here, so no harm done. Keaton would kill me if I had us disqualified prematurely.
 
Sprocketboy said:
I got the OK from the owner last night to have the showing on Sunday Nov 22nd between 8 pm and 9:30 pm. I hope to have East Coast DVXUsers come on over and show some of their work. More details to come...

I will be announcing more details here, and on THE DEVIL'S TOY Fan page on Facebook during this week.

It will be 2 days after the winners are announced here, so no harm done. Keaton would kill me if I had us disqualified prematurely.
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Cool... I just became a fan on FB and November 22nd sounds great. Look forward to it!
 
lawriejaffa said:
...Chris has written a great and simple story, that im sure more depth (for a prospective feature) just itching to be revealed in a feature...

...this is a well crafted film, a delicious form of monstrous moderation.
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Lawrie, I've been reading your reviews with delight. Many are pretty accurate in their assessment for better or worse. In the last three fests, I sense you were a bit soft on the reviews, but this time there is a 'no knocks' colloquial tone that resonated. Your sensibilities are pretty good too. Your mention about a 'feature' is not too far off.

I'm glad you got a kick out of it... hopefully the next film will leave you speechless.
 
Really well done all round.

Great, simple story Chris.

I thought all the scenes historical and present were quite good, with some shots just excellent. I did however find some shots a little sterile in the lighting choice, as in the shadows just didnt feel deep enough, and as another example the barn scene, the boys were overly lit IMO. Youve got some light streaks going on which look ok albeit a touch out of place, the central bulb here is a touch bright. I would have use the windows as a bit more of the motivation. Just think that could have help set your tone a little better overall.

Again, really well done!
 
Hey Chris, I am making my way around these slowly.

I love how we don't see the monster, but are just left to wonder what the heck could have come out of there, done all that damage and went back in. You can never show us anything as scary as we make up in our own heads. So excellent choice.

I also loved the old photo look when grandpa was trying to get rid of the box. I might have played with some of that in entire WWII sequence. Or maybe shoot it on a smaller camera, a super-8 camera, or just something to give it another tone. But this is all just a choice and idea, really.

Kudos on landing the great locations. The bicycle factory is so timeless, it really helped sell WWII stuff. I WANT IT! :)

Wanted to say I'd agree with Noel. I think this could have really benefited from not feeling so "lit." Like when the soldiers found the box, I might have rolled with the choice to light that whole place with just those yellow lights, and a shaft of light here and there. Or when the boys are in the barn.

Also, I know this is tough with costumes, but I had the feeling that the one thing that worked against the soldiers was that they were entirely too clean and their uniforms not really lived in.

I would have made those guys go roll around in the mud for a while, then lived in those duds for at least a day, get them nice and ripe. Or at the very least had the costumer really run them through the mud and let that cake on there.

One last suggestion. I might have made those kids a little more specific in their characters to differentiate them some and provide some tension between them.

Anyway, just suggestions for the next one.

Nice work!!!
 
Thanks for your reviews - Noel and Mark. I'm not one to make excuses but I'll make some anyway. The file I uploaded is a premature version without a lick of color correction or grading. Going in... I had a color scheme in mind and the we lit the scenes for it. More light is better than no light, using the proper ratio and color temp. In post, I have a lot more latitude. Not exactly a David Fincher approach but it works when you have a competent DIT on set. Currently, I have the version I intended to show, but too late in the game. That's how the cookie crumbles.

Dirty soldiers. What can I say? The uniforms could use more wear and tear that's for sure. I did have them roll around on the ground. I have dirty seats in my car after transporting them between locations. I assure you they look a lot cleaner in the overlit version you are watching.

I did have an idea of having kid in the red sweatshirt smoking a cigarette in the barn and offering it to his pal. It would make him more of a bad boy... sort of like the boy with the cigar in Pinocchio and Pinocchio follows his lead. This went out the window as soon as we realize hay and fire don't go well together. Also, fake cigarettes look really fake, even the battery operated ones.

I'm glad you had a chance to watch.
 
Hmm...where to begin. I LOVED IT!
Great choice in lead. Super shots. Effects were fun to watch. I really really enjoyed your film.
 
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