"The Water's Edge" - NJ Film School

Spoiler:
SPOILER REVIEW:

Chris, this was a wonderful short. I wanted to come into this with open eyes and miss any simple things that your students may have overlooked because, well, they're students and they're learning. You should be super proud of them, though, because I didn't have to do that at all. The opening shots were beautiful, the pace was great, and the actors all did a great job. And give Kevin a freaking Oscar. That guy NAILED it. I think you guys did a phenomenal job. In all honesty, I don't know what to tell you to work on. Everything was wonderfully done. And i'm not just saying that (you can check other threads and you'll see I've tried to give plusses and minuses to all of the shorts). Great, great job, sir! You and your crew really made something great here.
 
CHRIS!!!! I'm in awe! You guys did super-great! This was a well-paced great story. The meat is on the bones all throughout. The shots were excellent as were all the actors and kudos for the cool money shot. I can't say enough about the acting and obviously your editing put this puzzle together big time. The only things I saw was a medium close-up when they were by the tree that was a little out of focus and no blood on the guy at the end. That's not a big deal though, because it didn't bother me that much. He could have been hit in an area that we just did not see. I felt for the kid and the boat and money shot at the end was, well. . .money. Very, very nice! Oh, sh*T! I almost forgot, the music was also great! LOL!
 
Hawk Teflon said:
Chris, this was a wonderful short. I wanted to come into this with open eyes and miss any simple things that your students may have overlooked because, well, they're students and they're learning. You should be super proud of them, though, because I didn't have to do that at all. The opening shots were beautiful, the pace was great, and the actors all did a great job. And give Kevin a freaking Oscar. That guy NAILED it. I think you guys did a phenomenal job. In all honesty, I don't know what to tell you to work on. Everything was wonderfully done. And i'm not just saying that (you can check other threads and you'll see I've tried to give plusses and minuses to all of the shorts). Great, great job, sir! You and your crew really made something great here.
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Marlon Ladd said:
CHRIS!!!! I'm in awe! You guys did super-great! This was a well-paced great story. The meat is on the bones all throughout. The shots were excellent as were all the actors and kudos for the cool money shot. I can't say enough about the acting and obviously your editing put this puzzle together big time. The only things I saw was a medium close-up when they were by the tree that was a little out of focus and no blood on the guy at the end. That's not a big deal though, because it didn't bother me that much. He could have been hit in an area that we just did not see. I felt for the kid and the boat and money shot at the end was, well. . .money. Very, very nice! Oh, sh*T! I almost forgot, the music was also great! LOL!
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So, I'm trapped in a hotel in New Hope for the night and I can't view any of the films yet, but I did manage to sneak a quick look at our first two reviews.

I seriously can't thank you both enough. I'll have more thoughts tomorrow, but for now, I just had to say - You made my night!
 
Wow Chris this is STRONG. I really have no negative comments, only praise. I love the lush environment, i love chris hurn's score, i love the actors and i really liked where the story took me. I didn't think it was going there at all. The whole "boat" thing, the concept and the shots of the boat, were a nice touch. This is your best work yet, far and away.
 
Chris, what a terrific film. I’ve watched all the entries and visually, this was the best by far. The natural lighting and the location didn’t hurt, but you and your team made the most of them. The acting was superb behind a strong story.
Spoiler:
Although the story worked very well for the most part, I felt the confrontation between the brother and the cop was a bit off. Wouldn’t the kidnapper know what the father of his victim looked like? And why would the kidnapper bring his brother along to such a dangerous situation? The offhand mention of the victim, the girl, also left me hanging. I expected to see her floating in the river.
Not a big deal, just some thoughts that crept into the back of my mind while viewing. Overall, one of the strongest entries.
 
Beautiful. The production values of this were very high. Excellent camera work, sound was perfect, acting very strong and belivable. The only think I had a problem with was the ending.
Spoiler:
At first the "cop"says, "Wheres my daughter", then "I'm the police". The police would have filled that wood, the cop would be wired etc.. and why kidnap a cops daughter!? So that just didnt make sense to me.

Still that being said it was a real beauty, well done.
 
This was a very nice entry. A good film overall.

A few nitpicks. The cops dialogue seems to be clipping pretty badly when he says "police. now drop the gun. your both under arrest". Also a few shots seem to miss their focus marks.
I found Tommy's performance quite nice, but thought his crying at the end went for far too long, i found myself getting a little irritated by it.

Like i said, just a few nitpicks. I thought this was a nice little story.
 
Hawk Teflon said:
Chris, this was a wonderful short. I wanted to come into this with open eyes and miss any simple things that your students may have overlooked because, well, they're students and they're learning. You should be super proud of them, though, because I didn't have to do that at all. The opening shots were beautiful, the pace was great, and the actors all did a great job. And give Kevin a freaking Oscar. That guy NAILED it. I think you guys did a phenomenal job. In all honesty, I don't know what to tell you to work on. Everything was wonderfully done. And i'm not just saying that (you can check other threads and you'll see I've tried to give plusses and minuses to all of the shorts). Great, great job, sir! You and your crew really made something great here.
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Thanks Hawk. I'm so glad you liked it. I can't wait to share your review with the whole team (especially Kevin).
 
Marlon Ladd said:
CHRIS!!!! I'm in awe! You guys did super-great! This was a well-paced great story. The meat is on the bones all throughout. The shots were excellent as were all the actors and kudos for the cool money shot. I can't say enough about the acting and obviously your editing put this puzzle together big time. The only things I saw was a medium close-up when they were by the tree that was a little out of focus and no blood on the guy at the end. That's not a big deal though, because it didn't bother me that much. He could have been hit in an area that we just did not see. I felt for the kid and the boat and money shot at the end was, well. . .money. Very, very nice! Oh, sh*T! I almost forgot, the music was also great! LOL!
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Marlon, You're too kind.

Good catch on the that two-shot at the tree - the focus is definitely a little soft. I wish there was a way to fix that, but alas, it's like that in all the takes. :(

As for the blood, it is actually on his chest, but the camera angle we chose almost hides it completely (you can barely see a dark spot by his sternum). I wish we had that to do again too. :(

I'm glad you liked the money shot. That was a nightmare to do, as those were real hundreds floating in the water.
 
Matt Harris said:
Wow Chris this is STRONG. I really have no negative comments, only praise. I love the lush environment, i love chris hurn's score, i love the actors and i really liked where the story took me. I didn't think it was going there at all. The whole "boat" thing, the concept and the shots of the boat, were a nice touch. This is your best work yet, far and away.
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Wow, thank you so much. Everyone worked so hard on this: the crew, the actors, Chris Hurn - I'm just really touched that you liked it so much.
 
taylormade said:
Chris, what a terrific film. I’ve watched all the entries and visually, this was the best by far. The natural lighting and the location didn’t hurt, but you and your team made the most of them. The acting was superb behind a strong story.

Although the story worked very well for the most part, I felt the confrontation between the brother and the cop was a bit off. Wouldn’t the kidnapper know what the father of his victim looked like? And why would the kidnapper bring his brother along to such a dangerous situation? The offhand mention of the victim, the girl, also left me hanging. I expected to see her floating in the river.
Not a big deal, just some thoughts that crept into the back of my mind while viewing. Overall, one of the strongest entries.
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Great review and questions raised.

I wrote and edited the story and it wasn't until the edit that I realized I left too much in the subtext. My intention was that Jack isn't the actual kidnapper, he's just the money man - a low level crook sent to the middle of nowhere to pick up the money at the drop. I could have fixed this in the dialogue - added more to the "that's not how these things work..." line. Oh well, next time.

Anyway, I'm glad you we're still able to enjoy the film.
 
MrFluffy said:
Beautiful. The production values of this were very high. Excellent camera work, sound was perfect, acting very strong and belivable. The only think I had a problem with was the ending.

At first the "cop"says, "Wheres my daughter", then "I'm the police". The police would have filled that wood, the cop would be wired etc.. and why kidnap a cops daughter!? So that just didnt make sense to me.

Still that being said it was a real beauty, well done.
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I apologize if the ending was confusing - I wrote it, so any confusion is my fault.

My idea was that the kidnappers have led this man on a wild good chase that ends up in this clearing (and prevents anyone else from following him). But what Jack doesn't realize is that this cop came in place of the father. Once the cop realizes the girl isn't there (and Tommy accidentally distracts Jack), the man reveals himself to be a cop. I hope that makes sense.

I'm glad you enjoyed the rest of it.
 
Matthew B said:
This was a very nice entry. A good film overall.

A few nitpicks. The cops dialogue seems to be clipping pretty badly when he says "police. now drop the gun. your both under arrest". Also a few shots seem to miss their focus marks.
I found Tommy's performance quite nice, but thought his crying at the end went for far too long, i found myself getting a little irritated by it.

Like i said, just a few nitpicks. I thought this was a nice little story.
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Thanks for the detailed review.

The sound is definitely rough in spots and (as I mentioned above) we missed focus on that one two-shot. The crying at the end was tough to edit. I tried it at a dozen different lengths (longer and shorter) and this felt right to me, but you may be right.
 
I followed this film from beginning to end, and AUH-MAZIN' sir! Acting, visually, audio...had no faults. My #1 fo sho

Excellent job sir

Rogan
 
I really enjoyed your film. Cinematography was awesome. The acting was great, I especially liked the guy who played Jack.
Good job.

Wish I knew what happened with the girl. Otherwise awesome job!
 
This film looked great. The main bad guy looked good against the lush, green background. I especially liked the sound. The birds chirping in the background added a nice touch. When people are talking or crying in the distance, did you capture that by shooting from a distance or do you make it sound like that when editing?
 
Wow... beautiful film Chris! (I wasn't expecting anything less) This is your (or your film school students) best work yet. You have to love the AF100, give it a nice sunny day in the lush woods and you're in heaven! (I love mine...can you tell?). Add to that a well written script, a few good actors, a dedicated crew and this is the level of film that can be produced! All involved should be really proud of this film. Lets not forget the score either, Chris did an exceptional job.

Congratulations to all! :thumbsup:

Spoiler:
Play-by-play:
Aspect ratio worked nicely on this one with such beautiful images. As soon as I heard 'Tommy' speak, "Of Mice and Men" instantly popped into my head. Your directors did a great job with the actors overall. There were a few soft focus shots that stood out, but only because the rest of it was so sharp. The story did have a few small things as mentioned...the cop alone in the woods...and not wearing his vest? He had been running and wasn't sweating at all? Two 'kill shots'? Tommy's crying might have been a little over the top...but all this is just picky little things. I really had to dig to find anything to comment about.

Since this was a NJ Film School project.... the only thing I would have liked to see, since students are credited with everything else, was to have a few students edit this one too. As an assignment you could have had each student make their own edit and talk about which one everyone liked best...then go with that edit for the fest.
 
Spoiler:
ZazaCast said:
Play-by-play:
As soon as I heard 'Tommy' speak, "Of Mice and Men" instantly popped into my head.
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Yes! That's instantly what I thought too. I loved the colours and the quality of the images were top notch in my opinion. When it fell apart for me was the interaction with the cop. I can't really put my finger on it, but I was immersed up until that point but then you lost me a little.

Tommy's crying was OK for me. I think that the realization that he and his brother were actually "bad guys" followed by the sudden and violent death of his beloved brother would make a man like Tommy react in exactly that way. His world was completely broken.

The closing shot of the boat in the water and the money floating by was beautiful.
 
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Congrats! best of the fest, IMO.
Loved the cinematography from the very first shot all the way through. The acting was great, believable, and the writing was, as usual, peppered with surprises and just perfectly natural. One of the few.. or maybe the only one, that I could just enjoy as a story and keep the 'critical filmmaker in me' down. You should be proud!
 
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