The Visitor - by JTyner & EditPhish

[EditPhish]

Shot entirely on DVX100a

Edited on Final Cut Express

Directed by: Tony Media

Screenplay by: Tony & Amy Media

Scoring & Sound: Tony Media

FX: Amy Media

Edited by: Amy Media

Cinematography: Tony & Amy Media

Starring: Tony Media, Summer Rose and Creeton Zan Villean


We're open to any comments and constructive criticism as we're always looking to learn and improve.

Thanks!

(ps. hoping our film gets uploaded soon!)

 

[penfever]

I'm sorry no one has commented on your film so far. I think it's not very fair. I liked the acting quite a lot - the young girl was really pretty fun.
I think the weak link in this film was production values, like locations, lighting, things of that variety. I guess that's not all that surprising - not everyone has $1000s to spend on pro crew and sweet toys to play with, not to mention the time. So I'd say it was a fun view, and that's probably all you expected anyhow, so nice work.

 

[ProfD]

Looks like you guys had a ton of fun creating this. The last clip with the dancing alien and the soundtrack was hilarious...I wish that soundtrack and feel could've been captured earlier. Maybe start the clip with it or something. heh...I can't stop laughing about that last clip...

I agree with Penfever...I'm starting to notice that all things are not equal with some of the shorts. Obviously some folks have larger budgets, and apparent access to some serious editing and CGI effects capabilities.

I hope that in the future, limiting the creative tools allowed would make the playing field a little more equal. Perhaps that would put the focus on the individual's creativity and originality.

Cool. You guys rocked.

 

[Shaun Patrick]

Overall I enjoyed it. It was a neat, simple concept that delivered some good laughs--especially whenever the father character opened his mouth. The CG worked for me (the news report looked good) and I think you did a great job with the tools you had at your disposal. I also like the little nice touches throughout the film (the "Filmmaking for Dummies Book" and "Lame Magazine")...some nice attention to detail as far as production value goes.

My one critique is the framing of the Shot-Reverse-Shots throughout the piece. The eyeline was wrong because the characters were framed on the same side of the frame throughout. The shots need to be broken up so the daughter is on one side of the frame and the father is on the opposite when cutting back and forth--otherwise it can be disorienting.

 

[Blaine]

I had a lot of fun watching this one. Looking back over it, I see you set up the ending but it still caught me a little off guard. Good one.

 

[Brandon Rice]

Fun film... I liked the acting of the girl. The dad was pretty awful. I did like the whole twist at the end... although I thought the dad might be involved somehow, just didn't know how... Loved the MIB reference HAHA! Nice work, fun movie to watch, enjoyed it!

 

[EditPhish]

Let me start off by saying that the WMV conversion wasn't so great... my mp4 looks MUCH better... less washed out, and not jittery... like the WMV -- dunno if I did something wrong, but I was really diligent in how I converted to mpeg2.

Thanks so much for the comments so far everyone...

Penfever... appreciate your sentiment, though I do think we were in the last batch uploaded, so we have to give time for everone to comment -- I do agree with you on our "weak link" and it's something we need to challenge ourselves more to work on (and be willing to take more chances). Glad you enjoyed it though

ProfD... we always have a ton of fun doing our films... it's part of the goal for us. If it's feels too much like work, then there wouldn't be a high-enough payoff. We love this stuff... and just HAVE to have fun. Lots of laughs... LOTS! We, like you, were cracking up ourselves over the last clips and sequence!... and if we made others laugh, great! Humor is harder to pull off than you think... without it being... too... cheesie, or too much of an "inside joke" for others to get. Thanks so much for the kind comments, and I'm really glad you had fun watching it. We were pretty proud of our limited CGI with our limited access/equipment/capabilities -- it was really our first attempt at it.

Shaun... Thanks for noticing our attention to details... it was important to us to bring people into the story, and details seemed important. There was even more we could have done, and just ran out of time trying to execute it all. Thanks for your comments on the reverse shots and editing... I was really challenging myself to take it up a notch with this film, and admittedly was feeling pretty proud of the editing... but I KNOW it still needs works, so I appreciate your thoughts. I'll keep it in mind next time when shooting and editing. I know about the whole disorienting thing, and was trying to avoid that as much as possible, but I haven't quite got it "down" yet (obviously).

Blain... thanks for noticing that too! You wonder sometimes when you're creating a story if you're filling in enough blanks for others to get it (and not just you as the filmmaker). I think it's where some of the other entries lost me... THEY knew what they were talking about, but I didn't always "get it". I'm glad to see you realized the set-up, even if it took a second watch.

Briceman... thanks for the comments... you notice the difference between someone who goes to acting school and is serious about drama vs. someone who just kinda wings it -- LOL

Looking forward to others' comments and crits!

Amy (and Tony too)
aka. EditPhish and JTyner

 

[JimtheJib]

i think that the little girls acting was what ruined the film for me. it has potential but casting is crucial (as it has also been told to me...) its really difficult to find decent actors. Another inconsistency that buged me was that she ways she lost her ipod scarf and hat but you didn't show two of them and for some reason something as trivial as a scarf seems odd for someone to notice right away. the shots at night with the girl seems repetitive and her eyes rolling around seemed random as if you had said to her roll you eyes around for this shot.

What it did really like was the cj effect blowing up walmart and the opening zoom in. nice work... i liked the ending. The fathers acting shaped up towards the end.

 

[EditPhish]

Thanks for the comments Jim... funny how these things are so subjective, eh? Interesting how you didn't like the girl, but others did (don't mean that sarcastic, I do find it interesting). I'm not sure I agree with you on the inconsitency completely, but for the sake of time we just couldn't show everything disappearing without losing other parts of the story -- maybe a minute more we could have got into it more -- After several viewings and viewing again, I did question myself the night scene being too long... and another friend made a similar comment, so I can't disagree with you on that

Glad you liked the CG... as it was our first attempt at it...

Amy (and Tony too)
aka. EditPhish and JTyner

 

[Shawn Murphy]

Perhaps not the greatest acting or slick production values, but I was definitely entertained and really dug all the clever funny stuff..

now I gotta get me some of those fuzzy pink slippers!

 

[Norm Sanders]

I've not read the others' posts in here, as I don't want to skew what I'm stating in here.

The acting, especially in the beginning was weak, I felt ... more so by the girl ... just felt flat. But who cares ... once she comes out with her hair whacked, and he's trying to talk with his mouth full, I was in stitches laughing. Hilarious from that point forward and I LOVED the music & alien dancing at the end. Classic stuff.

I'm still laughing now, thinking about the lead yelling with his mouth full, trying to keep the milk from spilling over his lips, etc.

I was actually pretty impressed with the VFX, considering what you had to work with. The laser coming out of the gun looked perfect, BTW.

Lighting is an area that can use a lot of attention/improvement in the future. I also could have done without the 45 degree angle shots that kept reversing as we drove down the neighborhood streets at the beginning.

Oh, also dug (if I'm right) that Tony played all of the male characters (the news anchor, farmer, etc.).

On a totally different note, I think it's awesome that you two do this together, and both have the same passion ... very, very cool. And, is your last name REALLY Media, or did you change it for business reasons? Stage name(s)?

Anyway, thanks for making me laugh so hard. By far, more than I've laughed in any other to date.

 

[arielman]

Nice!!
The Ship crashing didn't do it for me BUT crashing into Wal Mart did .
I liked the girl , thought she did a nice job,the Father I felt was a little weak BUT I also felt the Father and Daughter roles worked well together .
The night scene of the girl in bed was great . Loved the shots of her eyes moving back and forth . I didn't like the Quick flash or 2 that kind of threw me off just a little .
Some how I didn't feel sorry for the Father in the end when the Alien Zapped him . Maybe it was because he didn't care when his Daughter hasn't slept for days .
I had to laugh when I saw those Alien hands ..WHY? ...Because I'm sure I have the same ones ..lol.
Really like the bit with the Alien dancing at the end and who comes home .
Before I forget ...Laughed when I saw the Father wearing PINK slippers and the Father reading Filmmaking for Dummies...lol nice touch.
Ian

 

[BrianV]

Gotta say I dug the pink slippers.

It was fun. *shrug* Which is all it really has to be.

[edit: realized that may have sounded condescending... didn't mean it to be sincerity over here]

 

[EditPhish]

I want to reply to everyone, but will probably only get to two of them tonight... still have some critiques to leave

Perhaps not the greatest acting or slick production values, but I was definitely entertained and really dug all the clever funny stuff..

now I gotta get me some of those fuzzy pink slippers!

Shawn... thanks so much for taking the time to comment. We DO have to take it up a notch for the next "fest" or even film we make on our own, but I'm glad you were entertained... that's ultimately the goal, right?

As for the slippers... I believe I got them at Target -- LOL

I've not read the others' posts in here, as I don't want to skew what I'm stating in here.

The acting, especially in the beginning was weak, I felt ... more so by the girl ... just felt flat. But who cares ... once she comes out with her hair whacked, and he's trying to talk with his mouth full, I was in stitches laughing. Hilarious from that point forward and I LOVED the music & alien dancing at the end. Classic stuff.

Glad to make you laugh Envision... since we were shooting for the comedy angle, it's important to hear we made some laugh -- Funny how different people have different opinions on the acting... we know it's an area we must challenge ourselves on more (as in finding actors), and the girl -- actually our daughter -- is really into acting (goes to acting school, drama camp, etc.) -- but she can take the criticism well... it's how she'll improve too

The end scene was planned right from the beginning and all JTyner's (Tony's) idea... LOL

I'm still laughing now, thinking about the lead yelling with his mouth full, trying to keep the milk from spilling over his lips, etc.

Dude, can I tell you how unhappy he was when we finished filming that scene! We had gone through it several times and he was started to get SICK of Cheerios. It became dubbed the "Cheerio's from hell" scene. We got to the pont where he started spitting them into a bag instead of really eating them. I don't think the poor boy wants to see another Cheerio as long as he lives!

I was actually pretty impressed with the VFX, considering what you had to work with. The laser coming out of the gun looked perfect, BTW.

That means a lot... thanks! It was my real first attempt at any 3D animation and matting it into video. Luckily, I have done some 3D modeling (though not a lot) and I could think out how to get it done for something that wouldn't be on screen too long. The motion tracking on the laser was a real ***** and took some time, but I think it was worth it. I know it's no Star Wars (LOL), but we got the job done, and for our first attempt at FX, I'm pretty pleased.

Lighting is an area that can use a lot of attention/improvement in the future. I also could have done without the 45 degree angle shots that kept reversing as we drove down the neighborhood streets at the beginning.

Totally agree with you on the lighting. We just bought our first set of lights AFTER submitting this film, and we'll be playing around with techniques and practicing to get it better next time around. We've known for a while now that this is an area we really have to work on.

I can't disagree with you on the neighborhood shots... I think we envision it better than it turned out, but we stuck to our mental story-board as much as possible so not to end up off schedule.

Oh, also dug (if I'm right) that Tony played all of the male characters (the news anchor, farmer, etc.).

LOL if you saw our "reel" (which is not a reel, just our collection of shorts) you'd see that's a common theme -- . And the Farmer character is actually an inside joke in our family since he's had several movie appearances now. He does the radio voices at the beginning too -- that's what happens when you don't go out and get more actors -- LOL

On a totally different note, I think it's awesome that you two do this together, and both have the same passion ... very, very cool. And, is your last name REALLY Media, or did you change it for business reasons? Stage name(s)?

Thanks... we've been making short films now on a totally amateur level for a few years and growing into better equipment and ALWAYS having fun. We laugh our asses off. You can imagine the collection of outtakes. Humor seems to be where we go most of the time, but we do want to challenge ourselves to make some serious films (and idea we have right now is actually pretty darn serious). It's going to be harder for us, and we KNOW we have to get out of the living room and into locations with actors.

About our last name... let me just say it's an interesting thing you picked up on

Anyway, thanks for making me laugh so hard. By far, more than I've laughed in any other to date.

Anytime... glad you enjoyed it so much!

 

[BrianV]

As for the slippers... I believe I got them at Target -- LOL

Done and done. I'm there.

 

[Kaz]

Hey, Edit. I come in here to finally make a comment and realize after reading about dancing aliens and crap that I hadn't even seen your film yet!

I looked at my ballot (which I already sent in to Jarred) and noticed TWO "visitor" titles. But here's the best part...I filled out the wrong one. Yours was completely scored out (and with good marks mind you).

So then I downloaded and watched and will now comment.

This was funny. I thought the girl did okay and the dad...
The alien hand looked great. I liked the gag media stuff everywhere (magazines/news station/etc.)

One thing I DEFINITELY would have done was make the eradication of the dad a single camera shot. Low to the alien like you had it, gun comes out...BAM! Smokey robe falls into frame. Sure, you would have lost the cool FX shot, but it would be worth it. Maybe add in a goofy, high pitched "Ahh!" as the Dad gets it.

And yeah, the dancing alien rocked.

 

[EditPhish]

Nice!!
The Ship crashing didn't do it for me BUT crashing into Wal Mart did .

Funny story about that... we got to the Walmart parking lot and started setting up the tripod and within about 2 minutes security was there asking us what we were doing and telling us they don't allow pictures inside or outside the store. Seem that Walmart is a bit shy! LOL

Needless to say we moved across the street and took the 20 seconds of footage we needed

I liked the girl , thought she did a nice job,the Father I felt was a little weak BUT I also felt the Father and Daughter roles worked well together .

Thanks... they do play off each other nice, but Tony tends to overact a bit... he's working on it and getting better. In doing comedies, sometimes it's okay... but if we want to get any serious story told it's not going to work. We are also going to be challenging ourselves to get more actors, real ones, involved.

The night scene of the girl in bed was great . Loved the shots of her eyes moving back and forth . I didn't like the Quick flash or 2 that kind of threw me off just a little .

Thanks... in the end I think this scene was a tad too long... but we worked hard to get the lighting right. It was a "day for night" effect and when we lit the scene we tried to create a light of contrast so it would look good as night. I really am pleased with how it turned out... I think it shows that we paid attention to lighting unlike other parts of the film

Some how I didn't feel sorry for the Father in the end when the Alien Zapped him . Maybe it was because he didn't care when his Daughter hasn't slept for days .

LOL... it's actually kinda good you didn't care... we wanted him to come across as annoying, especially at the end (hence the alien tapping his finger).

I had to laugh when I saw those Alien hands ..WHY? ...Because I'm sure I have the same ones ..lol.

Really like the bit with the Alien dancing at the end and who comes home .

That's funny! We bought them just for this film... and we bought an alien head too but it never showed up so we ended up borrowing one from a friend (the one you see in the credit shots)... always funny when you can borrow an alien head from a friend...

Before I forget ...Laughed when I saw the Father wearing PINK slippers and the Father reading Filmmaking for Dummies...lol nice touch.
Ian

LOL seems quite a few people liked those pink slippers.... and thanks for noticing some of our little details!

Gotta say I dug the pink slippers.

It was fun. *shrug* Which is all it really has to be.

[edit: realized that may have sounded condescending... didn't mean it to be sincerity over here]

Didn't sound condescending at all... glad you enjoyed it... thanks for viewing!

 

[EditPhish]

Hey, Edit. I come in here to finally make a comment and realize after reading about dancing aliens and crap that I hadn't even seen your film yet!

I looked at my ballot (which I already sent in to Jarred) and noticed TWO "visitor" titles. But here's the best part...I filled out the wrong one. Yours was completely scored out (and with good marks mind you).

So then I downloaded and watched and will now comment.

This was funny. I thought the girl did okay and the dad...
The alien hand looked great. I liked the gag media stuff everywhere (magazines/news station/etc.)

One thing I DEFINITELY would have done was make the eradication of the dad a single camera shot. Low to the alien like you had it, gun comes out...BAM! Smokey robe falls into frame. Sure, you would have lost the cool FX shot, but it would be worth it. Maybe add in a goofy, high pitched "Ahh!" as the Dad gets it.

And yeah, the dancing alien rocked.

Thanks for the comments Kaz! I was a little worried about scoring with two titles so similar, but c'est la vie

Thanks for noticing our "gag media"... we actually took a bit of time on those details and I said to Tony at one point "there should be voting for extra attention to props!" LOL... doing the Time -- er Lame -- magazine was fun, and we had a good time with the scroll at the bottom of the news... it's almost a shame you don't see most of it

The shot(s) where dad gets vaporized were a point of contention in this film... we were going to go for the one shot approach, but I was afraid it wouldn't work as well and would be hard to tell what was going on from the floor perspective. Tony was adament about getting the last bathrobe shot in at the end (I was afraid it wouldn't work) -- and he was right, I'm glad we put it in... I don't know if I would have liked it without the other shot though...hmmm. Definitely have to think about that one some more

Thanks so much for your comments! I'm actually honored you watched and enjoyed it. We certainly don't have the "production value" of a film like yours and we are going to keep working to improve to get there, so every bit of criticism help!

 

[CallaghanFilms]

I thought that the actors were well suited
for the tongue-in-cheek tone of the film.

I felt a hint of a Ray Ramano vibe from Tony. This could be from his voice pattern, but I think it was more in the delivery. This is definitely a positive...Ramano is one of the few comedians today that I would consider to be of the old school of comedy.

The sight gags worked IMO.

I thing the story was well thought out. It reminded me of the SNL skit where Gilda Radner had gypsies under her bed, and a "monster" In her closet. I liked the "double twist" ending. The father being privy to the alien's presence may not have caught every viewer off guard, but I'd wager that the alien's "renewal" of his lease agreement with a ray gun was for many (I know it was for me.)

Cheers

on a fun little film that left me smiling.

 

[Kaz]

Oh, and that dad was EVIL. I mean, making his daughter go crazy, selling off her belongings... Damn. He deserved that 1.21 giga-watt death.