"The Fence Rider" - A Rod Thompson film

Just got back in town from an internetless In-Laws excursion! Looking forward to some late night viewing tomorrow when I'm done BBQing, fireworking, boating, and overall badassedness.
 
Interesting title. I couldn't figure out what it meant at first, but after reading the tagline, I get it.

Good luck to ya' I like the look of those grabs. Pretty gritty.
 
O.K. Rod... I guess I'm the first.

Nice job! Overall, I'm really diggin' the whole idea of the film. The camera work pulled me into it and helped set the mood. I LOVE the opening dock shot...MONEY! What I didn't like was the 1 minute intro. I think you could have used that time (or a portion there of) to develop the story a little more. I know I'm thick, but I didn't really understand what had happened the first time I watched it...I had questions. Miguel is a very strong actor and believable, so great job directing him. I think you could have left the Russian accent back on the bridge of the Star Ship Enterprize. (LOL) The car ride in the end dragged a bit for me too. The music and sound design worked too, although sometimes it just sounded like you added 'scratch' sounds over the top instead of actually distorting the audio...there is a difference.

As far as the Grindhouse treatment... you nailed the feel. I really liked the CC & grading. The torture scenes were nice and dark, nice. It's ALWAYS nice to go get a taste treat...but by the time I got back, the movie had ended!

Congratulations on a job well done. This one gets my highest style marks to date.
 
Rod. You. Are. An. Insane. Person.

No seriously. You are insane. "Tasty Treats" were very tasty indeed though, but like Zaza said, when I got back the movie had like 3 minutes remaining! Damn I missed so much of it.

You COMPLETELY embraced Grindcore and that's what makes this movie cool. Or adds to the cool factor involved. For your first time out... hell for any time out at all, it was a really solid film.

The choice of grindcore did make we wonder if you were using the effect to cover up some flaw with the editing, or the story, but that's the filmnmaker in me trying to look behind the scenes. What you did with what you habe however and the artistic choice you made with the Grindhouse look is exactly that. It's not some guy making a movie that it's bad by any standards and would only fit in during that era. This is style through and through and I loved it!

Gonna watch it again now so I can give you more direct notes.
 
Wow, Puck and ZaZa! Thanks!

I'm taking ZaZa's earlier advice and not divulging anything, or overexplaining my decisions until after all of the reviews are in and everything is closed out. :beer:


EDIT: Oh...and as for my Russian accent...pfft...I'm 2/17 Eastern European...it's in my blood. Who are you to judge me!? Never judge art by it's defects...a flamboyant, crossdressing circus clown with fratricidal tendencies told me that once...but it makes a little sense. My horrible Russian is art...thus, cannot be judged.
 
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Rod, as for the Grindhouse appearance, seems there were a lot of little touches to make that complete, seems like a lot of post work to get it right and the right shots were used to help that look.

Pretty cool, well done.
 
Thanks. And yes...One day of shooting = 3 weeks of post work, at about 6-12 hours a night. But most of that was learning how to use After Effects after I installed it. Lol. Seriously though, thanks. I'm just waiting for that "kick in the nuts" review. I know it's coming. Lol.
 
Cool flick. I felt that the candy break should have come in the middle of the torture scenes but that's just me. :)

That was done well and suited the look. I'm not sure the music fit at the end of the torture though. Didn't seem to suit the grind style. Took me a minute to figure out exactly what was going on at the end.

You lose marks for no kick ass girls. :nads:

Editing this must have been fun and challenging at the same time.

MAH
 
Thanks, MAH!

The music selection was a bout between me and Steve (Who did my score). I wanted to go more in the direction of Robert Rodriguez' score for Planet Terror, while Steve disagreed. He felt that based on the fact that everything took place in the present, we should focus on a more relative score. In the end, I agreed and really loved what he did with it. Hope that kind of explains where we were coming from with the music.


No girls? You put a wig on Miguel and that's one sexy *****! :)
 
Wow...Nice job recreating the Grindhouse experience Rod. Very solid acting. Great lighting and locations My only issue was that sometimes the music overpowered the dialogue, particularly during the torture scene. Other than that, I enjoyed it. Nice job!
 
RodThompson said:
Thanks, MAH!

The music selection was a bout between me and Steve (Who did my score). I wanted to go more in the direction of Robert Rodriguez' score for Planet Terror, while Steve disagreed. He felt that based on the fact that everything took place in the present, we should focus on a more relative score. In the end, I agreed and really loved what he did with it. Hope that kind of explains where we were coming from with the music.
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Not knocking the score, it was quite good. It was just the section at the climax of the torture scene. I don't want to give it away but it just seemed very different from the rest.

MAH
 
The Grindhouse style is done pretty well. Although it's not 100% perfectly emulated here, it's dang close, and it's considerably more authentic than other attempts than I've seen in other shorts. I appreciate the time and work it must have taken to do all of this and I imagine that render times must have been a nightmare.

But there's too much Gringhouse effect in my opinion. WAY too much. It's overly distracting and I get to a point where I'm like, "hey, can I just watch the film please?"

Tin-foil on the dental fillings---surpised we haven't used that as a torture technique instead of waterboarding.

I always like a good twist in the storyline of a short film and you measured up here. Nice job.
 
You guys kick way too much ass. Really! I appreciate your comments. Makes me feel warm and bubbly. :bath:


filthrich said:
I thought it was damn cool personally. I loved those odd color changes that seemed to happen at random. I thought the score was kick ass.
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THANKS! After watching your LossFest entry, that means a lot. Yeah, those were just solids with odd shaped masked, feathered about 30% with opacity at around 40. As far as my composer, Steve Graeff is actually a sailor in the Navy. I served with him on my last ship and he's totally wasting his talent, don't ya think?


John LaBonney said:
The Grindhouse style is done pretty well. Although it's not 100% perfectly emulated here, it's dang close, and it's considerably more authentic than other attempts than I've seen in other shorts. I appreciate the time and work it must have taken to do all of this and I imagine that render times must have been a nightmare.

But there's too much Gringhouse effect in my opinion. WAY too much. It's overly distracting and I get to a point where I'm like, "hey, can I just watch the film please?"

Tin-foil on the dental fillings---surpised we haven't used that as a torture technique instead of waterboarding.

I always like a good twist in the storyline of a short film and you measured up here. Nice job.
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Yes, render times stayed around an hour from After Effects, running on my simple little HP Desktop. I'm sorry that the effects were distracting. At some points, I actually went back and removed some of the blurs and jitters because I didn't want to overdo it.

The tin-foil thing just came to me, and if you've never tried it...DON'T.
 
Hey .... Great Grindhouse Effect / Recreation ... good story ... touching a lot of the basic / essential elements in a Grindhouse story ... Obviously the Story / Effects aren't for everyone ... but other than that ... you should try a longer version ... It would be nice... (not commercial though)
 
Thanks, George! Yeah, it's not for everyone, and until I started cutting, I had never really gotten into it. I tell ya, you spend 3 hours on YouTube watching old Grindhouse trailers and horribly cut modern short films that try for Grind and you pick up a few things. Lol.
 
Nice job on the The Fence Rider. Good cast and locations. Love that first dock shot. Being a short i could have lived with out the commercial break. Instead, I wanted to see more of what You could do, and that is a compliment. Good luck!
 
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