-The Things Between Us a film by Eric Meisner-

Wow, really pretty film. (except)...wtf was the deal with suddenly going b&w? That took me out of it.

As Zak mentioned, great lead actress....the dialogue tended to be on the nose and the lead male got a too, eh, much, at times.

I liked the pacing, though I wished something had happened, or did i miss something? It seems the first emotional notes hit: mom misses girl and won't get over it, dad misses girl but wants mom to get over it, never progressed, just a lot more of those same ideas until credits rolled.

But i'm just being picky, incredibly well shot sir, DP extraordinare!
 
shawneous said:
Wow, really pretty film. (except)...wtf was the deal with suddenly going b&w? That took me out of it.
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I'm Afraid, I've been watching too many B&W Zale's commercials and I couldn't let it be. There was a healthy debate in my head over turning it black and white or leaving it color the DP side won which was probably the wrong choice for the story, but what do you do.

Thanks for your spot on criticism.

E.
 
Zak Forsman said:
minor, minor, minor thought is that occasionally i wasn't convinced the emotion was totally earned and the dialogue a bit too on the nose, but the film was made in earnest and I respect that immensely. thanks for sharing.
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Thanks for the comments and Criticisms.... For most of the Film I was behind the camera, and lighting which is a natural default for me. I was very involved in the Rehearsal process with the actors, but on set I was a little more preoccupied with lighting and framing. I need to find myself a DP I can trust so my focus on the performance of the film.

This was my second film sans film school that I directed, because i'm mostly I DP so, I'm pretty happy with what I got and know I have lots to improve on.
 
BEAUTIFUL looking film. This was really nicely shot.
I didn't dig the cut to B&W but other than that I thought this was perfect visually.

I have a daughter but for some reason I became disconnected with this one. Not sure why?
Maybe you needed more scenes with them as a family to help sell the loss?
I can't quite put my finger on it.

The acting was quite good though, no qualms there.

MAH
 
Nice film. tragic to say the least.

I think there could have been more time with Gracie, and what exactly happened, instead of repeating the grief over. I feel the actors were hard pressed to keep it feeling fresh as the story moved forward.

I think the strongest scene is when the mother is in bed, virtually vacant. I would have liked to see that explored a little more.

Gracie was great, but don't think we get enough of her to really feel her being ripped out of their lives.

Overall this is a great, emotionally charged film. Solid acting. Nice location.

alex


www.alexwhitmer.wordpress.com


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The acting was exceptional as was the cinematography (yeah, except for that B+W part, didn't need it).

The problem as I see it, is the editing. Structurally it falls apart. It's a series of vignettes that don't seem to have any connection to what comes before or after. It feels random and disjointed, and that's why it is hard to have any emotional connection to these characters. Their incessant one note anguish becomes wearisome.

In simplest terms, it needs a beginning, middle and end (and not necessarily in that order to quote Godard :)). You seem to have all the material you need to make a fine film, I think it just needs to be rearranged in the correct order.

One small example: At 2:47 the father says he is going off to work, moments earlier he asked his wife to be strong. You cut directly from his stoic and brave face to him sobbing uncontrollably in the car. I laughed the first time I saw that, I'm sorry to say. The reason being it was set up like the old comedy trope, "I will not sit on that camel. There is no way I'm sitting on that camel! Not in a million years would I ever sit on that camel." CUT TO: Guy sitting on camel. The sudden juxtaposition usually gets a laugh. If on the other hand, we cut to the guy walking up to the camel, looking at it for a while, then finally climbing up on top of it... The joke is dead.

What does this have to do with your scene, well, it's the same set up and pay off except in reverse. It would have been more effective to cut from his stoic and brave face in the house to him sitting in the car, still looking stoic and brave. Then gradually, before our eyes, he breaks down and starts to cry. It's more dramatic to see the walls crumble than to see them already crumbled. Same footage, a few frames different.

Anyway, just some food for thought.
 
Great film.

First, I love the title and even the title sequence - that backwards shot was perfect.

Your cinematography is gorgeous - very well done. The actors were wonderful.

Lastly, Herman deserves some special award for all the music he created in this fest. This was beautiful and maybe even my favorite score of his in the contest.

Very well done.
 
Very poignant and beautiful. More so with the fact that your crew was so small- and your cast was incredible.

Herman's music is breathtaking.
 
Eric,

This is the dark horse in this fest IMO. GREAT short! I loved the acting, script, and cinematography, in fact, I really liked the B&W part! I see many here didn't, but I really dug that!

The things I have comments on....

The music... though it's beautiful, I think it's too minimal... and would have liked to have seen some music used on some of the transitions, would help the film IMO.

Sound design... could use some improvement in sweetening some of the dialog... but that's minor.

Overall this is my favorite of the competition pieces I've seen so far. Great work. It moved me emotionally at the end.
 
Your lead actress is great, felt real, but the actor uhhhh not so much - he went through too many changes to seem believable.

Great music choices and cinematography, it looked good, even the transition from color to b&w was seamless, although it felt entirely unneeded. Maybe show what happened or more time with the little girl so that we could really deepen that connection with the characters.
 
Beautiful cinematography! I love the dolly shot as she was sitting by the table to the door and he walks out grabs the knob to open... to a different scene... The acting was good, not the best but good enough to make it believable and I agreed with most on the male lead, he could do better.
 
Maximus said:
In simplest terms, it needs a beginning, middle and end (and not necessarily in that order to quote Godard :)). You seem to have all the material you need to make a fine film, I think it just needs to be rearranged in the correct order.
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Maximus,

Thank you for your strong criticism on my Film it is very much appreciated. I think I might go back and toy with the fact of going linear with the story structure of the film. I guess I'm too much a fan of the Limey edit... Where you are in someone's memory and it's disjointed and patchy in parts. In the commentary of the Limey Lem Dobbs (the Writer) comments about how Soderbergh (the director) F'ed up his great Linear story with his disjointed editing. It's seem that we are having that same discussion here. I must admit that my girlfriend and the lead actress watch this cut and were a little confused. Maybe I should make it more apparent that we are going in and out of here head in the course of one day....

Again thank you.
 
Alex, Chris, Lost skies, Brandon, vnguyen,

Thank you for all Comments and Suggestions... I'm really digging this feedback thing. It is so helpful on improving ones craft. I'm sure all of us have a lot to learn still and to have an area where others can critique your work is crucial.

Again, I thank everyone who has commented, complimented, and critiqued.

More PLEASE...
 
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First off, I find it funny that your last name is so similar to mine :) and while you did 'The Things Between Us', I did 'The Things We Carry'... Lastly, no joke, your avatar looks like a picture of my father. It's crazy how similar it is...

Onto your film!

I really loved it. I think this was an excellent film and there are many many things I enjoyed.

Story and Directing... real, sad, twisted and simultaneously beautiful. Thank you for making a movie about solution rather than twist. It's easy to decipher that something is going to be lost considering the nature of the fest... so it was nice to have the conflict presented soon and focus more on the characters dealing with the loss itself throughout the course of the film. Excellent pacing and shot choice in the beginning... love that backwards shot because that was the first moment I started thinking they lost the little girl... and just the look at 1:14 when he asks her to try again... you don't even have to say it, you can feel the raw emotion just seeping out in that scene. The next scene, the dramatic one is great... so real... your actors did such an amazing job here and it's dangerous territory... it's easy to go too far and push into that cheesy zone when doing hard core drama but you pulled it off really well; so excellent directing there, you had them in exactly the right spot.

Love the interweaving moments, overlapping conversation... it's mixed in with other visual moments which tremendously improves the speed and overall injection of story. I love how you hold on that long shot of the little girl... it's a good moment... and it's great that there's no true resolution, there can't be... they can't just 'forget' like she says... but then you transition back into this music which is perfectly fitting and we see them together and we get the sense that over time, in the end, this couple is going to be okay. So the ending definitely grabs me in a strong way.

I feel the directing and writing are the strongest elements in this piece. It's very evident that you can tell a strong, dramatic story.

Mallory and Justin are both incredible... I loved both their performances and think it's probably some of, perhaps even the best acting I've seen in the fest so far. I think her best stuff is at the end, when she starts talking round 4:45 and on... I don't have to see her, but I can totally feel her words, there's a naked truth there, a real sense of pain, and when we finally see her, that's a great little moment. Justin is so good throughout this... I seriously want to write and put him in something of my own :) It's a very tough role to play... men are more harshly critiqued when playing dramatic roles of this manner... I think it's easy for men to fall into that realm of cheesiness but he nails the ups and down here perfectly... it's a great blend of a man in control and one whom is bursting at the seams trying his best to hold the world together.

So really enjoyed this one, Eric. I'm excited to see more work from you in the future. Thanks for sharing.

*also... on a production side, the rest of the film is perfectly fine, editing, cinematography, sound, music, etc. Wouldn't change a thing :)
 
I love The Limey! It is probably my favorite Soderbergh movie. I also love Exotica, Citizen Kane, and many other non-linear films. If that's how you intended your film to work I think you should do just that. You've got great material to work with!

Eric Meisner said:
Maybe I should make it more apparent that we are going in and out of here head in the course of one day....
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This is an important point, and perhaps should be made clearer, as I didn't get that.

There's a great screenwriting book called Screenwriting Updated by Linda Aronson, and it's really focuses on "alternate narrative structures" ie. Flashbacks, Tandem and Sequential Narratives, Multiple Protagonists, etc... It might be helpful.

I'm happy that you took my comments in the spirit they were intended. You got mad skilz dawg!
 
Broke my heart! you did a very good job at keeping your audience pulled to the movie. the woman actor was amazing i felt all her pain, it even made me cry. great story!
 
I agree with most of the previous comments this was a great effort! The only thing I can add is that it seemed the color/ mood of the film was unstable, throwing in the B&W made it seem even more so. Was this a conscious choice?
Other than that, I really liked this film!
 
I'm not going to bother reading the other comments ... want to keep my thoughts fresh.

First, this was a strong piece. Started out a little slow to me, and I didn't really get it until they were having their 1st emotional break, where he's pleading to not lose her too. Then I got it. I felt he was a TAD off in his performance, but only slightly ... that is TOUGH ground to cover, so I don't want to be too critical. He still did a fine job. I think it would have added a complexity to the story/character, if he hadn't broken down in front of her like that, and had been strong because he felt he needed to. It would have made that moment when he cried in the car all the more powerful.

She did a nice job in this, and really dug the ending. She had some solid voice over performance as well. They both look good on screen, as well as together.

As far as EVERYTHING you did on this, that is a HUGE undertaking, and often times too much. In this case, I think it was too much. It is SOOOOO incredibly difficult to shoot AND direct at the same time, because both require 110% focus, yet is impossible to do when you have to split your attention between two things, making sure framing & focus are good, while still trying to really concentrate on performances? SO hard!

You're a MASTER at the camera, as far as I'm concerned, with what you did on PLACEBO. Amazing work, and I'm a huge fan of yours. If you had to sacrifice something between camera & directing on this short, I'm glad it was camera, as directing is truthfully more important for the characters, performances, story, etc. Don't get me wrong, there was still some solid cinematography here, but nothing in comparison to what you did with Daniel, when you could concentrate on camera only.

Also LOVED the transition you did to outside with the color grade change... crafty, and nicely done!

In the end, this actually made my eyes well up some, which is pretty amazing for a short to get that emotionally vested in it. NICE job! I've put it in my "worth watching again" folder, because I want to show this to my wife. It also rated high for me, whether my above comments reflect that or not. Hopefully they don't come across as harsh. I truly enjoyed this film, and thank you for making it, Eric!

Oh, and lastly, that little girl put an ear to ear smile on my face. She was AMAZING, and her moment with her mom, where she talks about butterflies, etc. absolutely stole the show!
 
Everyone, Thank you for all the Comments and Criticisms. I will return on Tuesday to further comment on everyones posts. I'm currently prepping and shooting two spot the next four days, so I can't stare at my beloved computer screen until then...

Again, I really appreciate all the feedback.

E.
 
Very poignant and personal story. Herman's music fit like a glove, less is better in a story like this. I think anything bigger would have been maudlin and cut against what you were trying to achieve. I thought the cinematography was very well done. Got pulled out a little by the B&W sequence, seemed to come out of nowhere. Mallory was very good in her portrayal of desperate hopelessness. (btw, I remember her from a movie I prescreened for a fest last year, Bloodwine.) Justin also did a good job. It's difficult to work with and get a performance out of child but you did it with Gracie, kudos.

The story was quite familiar. You told it well but didn't really offer anything new. This is the kind of story I certainly expected to see in a LossFest.

Other than the B&W and the lack of freshness with this story of loss, I think you hit on all cylinders. Good job.
 
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