"The Fence Rider" - A Rod Thompson film

rodimus prime,

this was a really neat, but inconsistent film. I'll give you a break down of "Grind" factor.

Intro - 100% grind. very good emulation of the style.
Dock scene - 50% grind. probably too much grind effects here, would have liked to have seen some close-up profile shots instead of all the frontal shots.
Commercial Break - haha 95% grind - Mike is right, feels like it was just thrown in there, needs to interrupt the climax of a scene.
Torture sequence - 85% grind. Angles. Dialogue. Lighting. All well done for the style. The wire choking on the skinny guy didn't look nearly as cool as the fat guy.
Outside Ending - 10% grind. The only thing I liked about this part was the opening car mirror shot. His car, the neighborhood, didn't really work for me.

Regardless of all that, great job for your first time out, it's always fun to tackle such a specific style like this, love the "hey, i can do that" attitude.
 
this was good. grind is good. i mirror the above post for the end though - not enough grind - doesnt match the rest of the flick -

liked the twist though!

the music was great. so was the european dude. the lead was okay too though i thought he wasn't bad ass enough in the beginning or at the end.

congrats on your film!
 
Congrats Rod!

And while i am here i would like to say thanks for all the compliments on the "music" stuff. This was a fun project to work on.
 
[FONT=&quot]I didn’t really get into this film due to the subject matter and the grind look, but that's just me. Stylistically, the gradient color correction in the begining didn’t do anything for me. I will say you did do the grind well.
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A grindhouse/exploitative film is always a welcome addition to my collection of viewings. I find it to be a particularly intriguing genre socially, artistically, aesthetically, etc. Sure, some are just plain crude and offensive and I don't support their intentions, but I do support the study of such works.

The Fence Rider gets going very much in the slop-chop, beat-up temperament that one would expect from the genre. The editing work is done with quite a bit of authenticity, chiefly in the use of what appears on screen as a reel misaligned in the projector, rendering a floppy, blown out image. Combined with the textural torture the film has undergone and the sensationalized color grading, these elements make for, as mentioned, a fairly authentic viewing.

However, it's jarring to find stripes of discolor running past the margins of the cropped aspect ratio. If one is attempting to portray the whole piece as something running wildly through a projector or telecine, this sort of error would not occur. This is where works attempting to build a grindhouse visage tend to falter--the visual elements become a distraction. Considering that the story and performances are not stellar, these elements become all the more distracting as a result. However, the performances were by no means bad.

Now, the story does feel very much like a vendetta tale depicting a man torn between good and evil and having difficulty discerning the boundaries while another struggles with an odd job. This is quite natural to the genre. Aside from the story feeling just a little vague and derivitive, it doesn't really suffer from any gaping plot holes, but there are some loose ends. The final scene hits one with very little build-up or anticipation for the sort of twist element. It works, but it was jarring and not entirely conclusive. That's not to say that I don't enjoy ambiguity or ending on questions, but I just did not feel like the situation delivered much of an impact. I liked the juxtaposition of the two being interrogated. This cut well together.

The music was certainly well done for the genre. At times, it was mixed a little strong with the interrogation scene, but overall, I enjoyed it. It embodied a cool, swanky vibe.

Overall, I think it's a strong effort all-around, and a fine addition to the festival. Nice work. :thumbsup:
 
I think people are being too critical of this movie. A grindhouse is SUPPOSED to have a somewhat vague story line, not the best acting etc. but supplies you with those intense images burnt into your retina to take home with you, the likes of which you won't want to see again (or start craving for, depending on who you are). Years later, you'll sideways-refer to one of the scenes from that 'cheaply made grindhouse movie' in jest at a birthday party watching one of the kids take another one in a choke hold, and everyone chuckles - uncomfortably; knowing full well they will never forget...the shocking horror...

Anyway that's kind of what i got from this film so I think you hit the nail right on the head :D
 
The Intern said:
I think people are being too critical of this movie. A grindhouse is SUPPOSED to have a somewhat vague story line,
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This is only half true. Many of the "grindhouse" genre films from even a few decades back that I've seen were actually surprisingly well structured for the budget and talent involved. I agree that some degree of slack in the writing helps sell the genre, but by no means are they strictly "vague" every time.

However, with a six minute film, one does not have the luxury of leaving too many loose ends. As I said in my review, I think the story is simple and easy to follow, but it makes the viewer feel cheated at the end. This is why six minute film fests are so difficult. It's tough to really get an audience involved and into a film in six minutes while developing an entire story. As a past competitor, I understand the complexities. But even if someone is going to use the Grindhouse gimmick (not saying the film is a gimmick, but that the aesthetics of the genre are gimmicky now), there should be a certain degree of clarity and guidance. This film has it, but it's...vague.

Just because a film is part of a wild, destructive, and ocassionally "lazy" genre does not justify cruddy story telling (once again, more a reference to the actual genre, not this film).
 
Yep there's no excuse for mediocrity, that is not the quality that type of genre depiction is celebrated for Intern, with respect. I agree with lawsuits positive points :) more to come in my review!
 
Ok, so what about the latest tarrantino/rodriguez grindhouse tributes/homage pieces...they cut out part of the scenes on purpose, just to make the movies look and feel cheaper than they are! The cheesy lines are even obviously planted there to convince the audience that it's a cheap film! It's to add to the nostalgia of a time when flaws like these were accepted so all in all they do celebrate the mediocre nature along with the features of the genre that has spawned a following.
 
The Intern said:
Ok, so what about the latest tarrantino/rodriguez grindhouse tributes/homage pieces...they cut out part of the scenes on purpose, just to make the movies look and feel cheaper than they are! The cheesy lines are even obviously planted there to convince the audience that it's a cheap film! It's to add to the nostalgia of a time when flaws like these were accepted so all in all they do celebrate the mediocre nature along with the features of the genre that has spawned a following.
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But those scenes weren't integral to the story. They were superfluous. They were able to maintain the atmosphere of a grindhouse experience while still delivering interesting and complete stories that make great use of silly conventions and devices of the genre. I understand where you're coming from, but the fact is that even grindhouse films have stories. As I said and am saying once again, The Fence Rider HAS a story, but because of the time limit, it just doesn't quite hit the right notes. I appreciate it for the obvious effort and style points, but one cannot (in relation to the new obsession with "grindhouse" films) justify lesser story telling abilities simply by saying, "hey, it's a grindhouse film!" That makes it okay for stories to be written more poorly. And remember, all of this has nothing to do with The Fence Rider, but with people attempting to justify weaker scripts or direction by slapping the "grindhouse" patent on it. It limits the integrity of the film and the filmmakers tremendously.
 
I loved the old film look you gave to it although I felt the green scan lines were a bit to contrasting and distracted me. I liked the overall idea and while I thought it was funny to use the tasty treats promo to cut to later in the film it seemed like a cheap short cut as far as story telling is concerned. But again great treatment on the video to get the old film look!
 
Tasty Treat was pretty good, got a laugh out of that. Liked the look. Ummm, felt the hash scrapes and dust overlays were too sharp. Maybe in the future give those a slight pixel blur.

As much as I wanted to like this I didn't find it entertaining story wise.

Just a thought, the audio should maybe have blurps and hash in it also? As in, while the footage looked vintage the audio seemed clean.

Pretty close though. A lot of really good burns and other broken-tape goodies as well as playing with the CC. Grats on going for the vintage look.
It's not as easy as it looks. :)
 
I'm not even going to say where I placed, but apparently I have a lot to learn or improve on. Lol... :nads:

I appreciate all of the kind comments and encouragement throughout. Looking forward to taking on something new, sometime SOON.:kali::2vrolijk_08:
 
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