The Odd Squad

jdanstan said:
thanks conrad -- the older Guy is DANE RHODES and he's a great guy in addition to being a great actor, look him up on IMDB though.

You can also see him in A Love Song for Bobby Long with John Travolta and Scarlet Johansen -- I hear that the movie is just OK but that the performances are good + Dane has a scene with Scarlet Johansen.
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I haven't seen it - will have to check it out. He was really great. I'll bet he blew Scarlet Johansen away. I just saw Match Point tonight. Eeeeh...She's a little flat. And I'm obviously not referring to her chest.
 
well jack it was good .i liked the actor he drew me in but the dialogue didn't do it for me and the a odds were a too colrful, i would have liked to see them in drab grey colorless faces to offset the mood of the cops and regular people wearing their colors. it was too comical and it took away the lead cops comical dryness to which i liked, good writing on his character. nicely shot
 
Blaine said:
I finally got back to this and watched it a couple of times. This is really good. Where'd you get that 70s cop show music?
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You had some great pictures, especially the outdoors stuff. I also loved the shot in the car. They were excellent. Perhaps you could talk a little about how you got them and if you used any special equipment.

This was a kick ass video. Dane Rhodes is a hell of an actor. I love his accent, too. The voice over worked great.
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sorry just getting to this ... glad you liked it

shot in the car was done with the stickypod and a century wide angle lens for teh establishing shot -- gonna see if I can blow that shot up a little so the car ext is not visible in the shot

inside I put window tint on the outside of all windows in the shot and left off all windows not in the shot -- so as much light bouncing around as possible without overexposeing the ext and under exopsing the int.

for closeups it was stock lens hand held, although to get the shots of the younger cop I had to hold the camera upside down so the LCD viewer would be on the right side of the camer rather than right, so I could get the camera further to my left / infront of the actor as I was really packed in there between he and the driving actor - then flipped the image in post

thanks man!
 
Pastaman said:
loved your soundtrack! at first I thought the older dective was John "spud" McConnell from WWL, he sounds just like him! very playful comic book like feel. Good Job.

your moving?? that sucks, N.O. losing another talented person.
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yeah wish I wasn't :crybaby: Brooklyn here I come though :kali:
 
CallaghanFilms said:
Jack,

NY will never be the same again.

I really thought yours was a fun film to watch.
I especially thought the editing was right on
the money (not that we should have expected
anything less from you.)

You had a strong concept that translated well.
The locations were top notch.
Good casting on your part...
especially for the role of the senior detective.

The younger cop had a strong resemblance to
someone that I couldn't quite place...
Now I'm thinking it's an older version of
Spencer Treat Clark (Lucius from Gladiator.)
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He just played Sean Penns son in the All the Kings Men (think spicolli vintage) he gets christian bale on occasion too.


CallaghanFilms said:
For me, the phenomenal opening scene was the
strongest, and the establising VO dialog really
opened the door to the "odd " world that you created.


Cheers
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Jack on a job well done.

Glad it worked well for you!

DAMNIT -- I HAVE TO GET IN A UHAUL AND DRIVE ANOTHER 15 HOURS TODAY -- SO I MIGHT NOT GET TO YOUR THREAD .... GRRRR
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Barry_S said:
After Shed, I was really looking forward to Jack's Sci-Fest entry and I wasn't disappointed. This is a fun little film that actually has a coherent story line. It's pure comic book, and for the most part it works. Overall, the acting is excellent except that there parts of the younger actor's dialogue in the car that I couldn't understand very well. I'm sorry we don't have an award for makeup, because the makeup job on the Odds is just effin' fantastic. If I have one issue, it's that the pacing seems jerky in some spots. Probably the result of trying to shoehorn the story into 6 minutes. The story was very clear, so you didn't need to show the tickets or the briefcase cutaway at the end--we know what happened. Jack--you've got entertainment DNA.
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thanks man that means a lot from you -- sorry I'm just getting to this!:dankk2:
 
Aram Bauman said:
I just watched this again...the shot with the little girl in it looking up... thats my favorite shot so far out of the few flicks I have seen. After monday I will be able to sit down and really watch everyones and write some thoughts.
Good job again Jack.


PS. Dude, if we were not so damn busy trying to get everything done for this meeting we have with Nickolodean Tuesday we would be there to help you guys move in. I have been sitting here editing, tweaking, fixing, breaking our promo and show for days straight. Cant wait to meet you guys!!!
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glad you liked it man -- we'll be in Brooklyn minana but we got movers hired dog -- no worries -- still haven't seen yours!!! -- tonight tonight then vote
 
abraham said:
Wow. Thank you guys for that, haha...god. Those special efffects must've been pretty fun. You guys knew your limits with the digital stuff and you have some really great props to combine your efforts. The home-grown special effects really translate well to the feel of the movie, and the actors performances do the same. What a voice on the big man.
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thanks guys -- yeah Dane has a great instrument so to speak
 
EditPhish said:
This film was excellent! SO enjoyable and fun, but had a "message" that didn't get lost.

The color was fantastic... and you totally captured that groovy 70's MOD-Squad feel in your shots, color and editing style. The effects were a bit "B rated" but that was FINE as it fit the whole piece well... it didn't take me out of the story, but was PART of the story.

The rear-view mirror shot at the end was awesome... loved the shot and transition out of it...

The only real nitpick I can say is the car scene... the inconsistency (to me) was noticebale with the windows open, then closed, then open. I realize you have to shoot from outside the car somehow, but because we could see the outside of the car it was just too noticeable to have windows open vs. closed in the opposing shots.

Thumbs up... enjoyed your film a lot! Thanks for sharing it!
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yeah --- I think I'm gonna try blowing that establishing car interior shot up a lttle to see if I can crop the frame of the car out and still have a decent shot.

Thanks for teh kudos and constructive comments!
 
MsManhattan said:
I've only gotten to watch a few of the films so far as I've been working on a major deadline, but, Jack, this blew me away. From the very first line... I welled up, then I laughed, then I got tense, then I welled up again. Really, really tight story and just a great job overall on the filming, editing, etc. And the actors were really great, totally believable all the way through, not one false move. The alien dude in the warehouse was hilarious, but not overplayed -- just right for the style of the film. I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this. Congrats!
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As I try to do a final catchup before i get in the uhual for god knows how long today -- I'm feeling so guilty that I haven't seen yours and Aram's - you know what tight driving schedule be damned - I'm gonna watch it right now if I can pick it off the old link ...

thanks for your support guys!
 
thartley said:
I have nothing but good things for this one! I want the VO man to read me to sleep everynight, though! :p The only jolt I had ws the music transition (or lack of) that has already been mentioned.

Very good movie. Looked good, great story, well done all around!
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Really glad you liked it ... I'm sure Dane would gladly oblige (wink wink)

anmd yeah the transition was a deadline induced boo boo -- fixed now :)
 
Ought2bCommitted said:
Hey Jack!
Nice to be seeing your work again!

I read through some of your posts because I was curious how you got the look you got, so I'll try not to repeat myself... but you know you're 30 seconds over??? ;-) bastard!
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inside joke follks

Ought2bCommitted said:
Anyway, I loved the vibe/feel of your film... You had it from the beginning and didn't lose it. Major kudos on sustaining that feel. I really just loved the 70s feel.

I really enjoyed your opening scene and my first thought was you had earlier footage for the before and after since I assumed it was your hood. GREAT use of that footage. Very effective and really nice use of NOLA footage. Not too much of it, just enough. Good call there.

I liked the acting in your piece a lot. Felt spot on almost all the time (the reveal at the end that the one officer is an Odd felt forced, but that was it).

My only real gripe was the effects during the fight at the warehouse. I felt the rest of your effects and scenes felt polished and that one was a little weak. The smoke effect in particular.
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yeah none of them are WETA qulaity -- are you talking about the gun smoke here? 'cuz I was using civil war muzzle flares -- I figured since it was sci fi the guns could have any sort of phyics that I wanted so I choose lots of exagerated smoke ... was that what especially didn't work for you you? any quick fixes for the DVD? its easy to make things brighter, darker, bigger, smaller, noisier, more opaque, less opaque, etc.

Ought2bCommitted said:
I love you humor and enjoy seeing it make its way into your work.

Sensational job, Jack. A great film to be lucky enough to watch. Thanks!

-Robert
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thanks - really glad youl liked it!
 
Z B Brox said:
Wow. This is amazing work. I'm not enough of a filmmaker (just a wannabe writer, as it says in my profile) to even begin to criticize. The acting was fantastic, the dialogue was wonderfully stylized, the effects and the makeup were all at least as convincing as your average big-budget sci-fi TV show. This is the kind of thing I'd pay to see for two hours. My only issue may be the slight predictability--but given the way you played with existing archetypes that was really a given. Really great stuff.
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if I ever have a feature -- you go free -- thanks a ton!

jack
 
Jack, once again a fine job. I've watched "Odd Squad" several times now, and it just keeps getting better. Your direction is top notch. I honestly wasn't sold on the younger "cop" in the beginning, but as the movie hit its stride, I was won over. I LOVED the over the top camp. Complete, engaging, and fun as hell. On a whole, "Odd Squad" may be my favorite of the contest. Sorry, as always, I don't have a credible critique. Just a bunch of congratulatory babble...
 
This film was awesome. I loved the comic book/70s cop style that you achieved. The acting was great, the score was incredible, and as a whole, this was probably the best complete film in the competition.

There may be one or two other films that rank with me as high as this one, but this one takes the cake for films that had a definitive beginning, middle, and end.

Your story was great, and very creative. I have seen this film many times, and each time gets a little better than the time before.

AWESOME!
 
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