TheatreGuy's "ID"

Charli said:
You have a story Theo (am I the only one calling you that?) so that's the
good part. I can see all of the hard work you put into it.
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Awl, you didn't like the writing! LOL!!! :)
 
Brandon Rice’s comprehensive and completely subjective film review

Brandon Rice’s comprehensive and completely subjective film review

ID by Ted Arabian


Script
This one had a story, cool story. I did feel the ending was just… out of place.

Acting
Great work. You played the lead I take it, and I really think you have the subtle expressions down. You didn’t have to say a word, and I could tell what you were thinking.

Cinematography
Some really nice shots in here, one in particular is the phone shot, when it starts ringing. I dug that shot. Obviously this was hard as you had to set the shot up, then go act in the frame. Knowing that, it was great. Work on lighting it a bit more dynamically next time, but good job.

Editing
Pretty fluid overall, some shots seemed to drag a bit too long. I think the intro editing was great, transitioning into him inside the house. Loved that.

Score
The score was pretty synthy, and kind of annoyed me at times. I also felt it drowned out the dialogue sometimes as well.

Overall Impressions
Well Ted, this was your first film, and I’ve gotta say, you did a pretty great job! You for sure know the basic mechanics of film, and know what works and doesn’t. I look forward to seeing more work from you, as I know you can only get better. ID was a GREAT start! Congrats!
 
conrad_johnson said:
Let me tell you theatre guy....I'm impressed!
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Thank you! Thank you so much!!!

gwmesler said:
Dude, you're a genius. Editing was incredible. Loved it!!!!!!!
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Thank you! I really appreciate the comments on the editing. I worked my a$$ off on that!

I am very glad that you both checked it out and commenting. Seriously!

Thank you! :dankk2: :dankk2: :dankk2:
 
Nice job Ted! You've got a story behind everything and I really enjoyed watching your film. Nice cinematography and sound design! Your VFX blend in nicely and don't call too much attention to themselves- all around, nice work and looking forward to more of your work.
 
First film? Definitely impressed. The actor was pretty good, several good shots, my favorite was the "The Guy" shot.

Editing had a few too many fades, but it worked well for the most part.

Score was decent, not awesome, not horrible.

The script....I liked it but the end seemed off. Not sure I quite understood it.

But for your first short, I'm real impressed.

You're the actor, right?
 
Brandon, thank you for your in depth review. I really appreciate you taking the time to give such feedback.

I know that I have a lot to learn... one is how to tell the story that I want to tell in 6 minutes!!! What a toughy that is! (I know that I should have cut the wife part out. I thought about it so much... but I didn't want to leave my wife on the cutting room floor! :grin:) Seriously, if I could do it over again, I would leave that out and finish the story I started. In the scripted version, it reads so much better! Bad choice.

Music, yep! I need a composer. Had to do that on Garage Band!

Acting, Yep! That was me. And thanks for the kudos. I love acting!

Editing... I would love to know which scenes dragged on too long. Seriously. I would like to know for my own evaluatioin and I can only think of two shots (both of which I felt were appropriately timed). Is it okay that I ask that? I am not doubting you. I really do want to learn from this.

Cinematography.... yeah, I'll NEVER be my own cameraman again! There is so much that I envisioned that I just couldn't pull off without a second person!

(How about that rack focus job though!? I am pretty proud of that one!!! :) )

Again, thanks for the critique! The information is so valuable!!!

Ted
 
TheatreGuy said:
I would love to know which scenes dragged on too long. Seriously. I would like to know for my own evaluatioin and I can only think of two shots (both of which I felt were appropriately timed). Is it okay that I ask that? I am not doubting you. I really do want to learn from this.
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Some shots when you were looking around the closet seemed a tad long to me. Editing is the one area I am hyper sensitive too (because I do it all day) but for the most part it was good. :)

TheatreGuy said:
(How about that rack focus job though!? I am pretty proud of that one!!! :) )
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I loved that! I was like, way to make do and use what you got! Right on.

TheatreGuy said:
Again, thanks for the critique! The information is so valuable!!!

Ted
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You got it my friend. I am trying to write detailed reviews for everyone. One of the key things of this fest is that we ALL learn something. I am sure we all will :)
 
Virum said:
First film? Definitely impressed. The actor was pretty good, several good shots, my favorite was the "The Guy" shot.

Editing had a few too many fades, but it worked well for the most part.

Score was decent, not awesome, not horrible.

The script....I liked it but the end seemed off. Not sure I quite understood it.

But for your first short, I'm real impressed.

You're the actor, right?
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Hey Virum, Thanks so much!!

The actor was me, and THE GUY is the plates on my Chevy van! I thought it was appropriate for this guy!

I appreciate the comments on the film. Yeah, I have a lot to learn yet. Need to do better on my ending next time. Tried something but there just wasn't enough time to develope it. I should have left it out! (I knew that when I was trying to edit it in!)

I am 42 years young. Been a scenic and lighting designer, technical director and actor most of my life. A lot of carpentry and stage managing two orchestras. First time at filmmaking!

Thanks so much!

Ted
 
Geoff_R said:
Nice job Ted! You've got a story behind everything and I really enjoyed watching your film. Nice cinematography and sound design! Your VFX blend in nicely and don't call too much attention to themselves- all around, nice work and looking forward to more of your work.
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Cool man! Much appreciated! I look forward to doing more!!!

I need to get over to your thread, don't want to comment here, but saw your film!!!

Thanks for the comments!

Ted

(and thanks for not letting me give up on uploading this thing on Sunday!!!)
 
I love some of the BTS shots. I look forward to seeing this film. Good job on putting this together.
 
Thanks Rebecca! I am trying to view R.E.M. but can't get it to download. I am sure that it will soon. I am dying to see the film especially after viewing the BTS clip. What a great looking crew! (and actress!!! :) )

Thanks for visiting my thread!
 
TED!!!!!!!! I WATCHED YOUR MOVIE!!! ITS THE FIRST ONE I VE WATCHED!!!

So here is my first review for HorrorFest!!!!

ID
---

I really liked it!!! I liked the story, it was solid, it was good, it had a nice way of taking you from the first scene at the cemetary and step by step revealing what is going on. The end of course is a bit strange and I want to know what your other alternative endings were.

You are a very good actor!!! You can show the viewer what you feel and think! The fact that you did it by yourself is amazing! You worked a LOT on your frames and angles and setups. However, I must say that I think you changed your angles more than you should. I know however that this is probably coz not having someone to work you camera and pan makes you want to do something like angle changes.

There were some scenes were the editing was kinda abrupt, I believe when you open the door for the cop you just cut there and then did another shoot where you step out to the porch, is that correct?

The sound was not that good....I dont know if it's because of compression or the fact that you had no boom pole and boom man....but the score worked even if it was made with garage band. It was a nice horror score that escalated when it should.

The woman was also Excellent!!!

I didn't really like the scene with the dream of the cemetary, the flashes were not so smooth but as an idea it was great .

I LOVE the first scene at the cemetary, very well done, edited and shot and with the van pulling in and you walking in the house.

I left for the end the scene with the first appearance of the dead woman. Man I'm telling you I was SCARED! It just showed me how easy it is to think of something really scary, with no killings, no blood, no vfx. Just a hand reaching out through the grass! Stunning!!! And even though I was expecting to see her in the mirror in the bathroom, when she appeared I was still scared!

All in all a GREAT movie, it's a scary movie by all means, very well planned and executed and I would bet all my money that you could pull an even better version if you had 1 person helping you around with camera/boom and probably some music arrangement. But even as it is, it's great and you rock!
 
Hey John, thanks for the review! I appreciate it. I am glad that you were finally able to get some stuff downloaded to watch.

I appreciate the kudos on my acting. I bit tough to pull off when I was acting as the crew and cameraman. Thanks.

I am confused about the edit-jump at the door. It should be (and is on my download) the door just opening from indoors and a cut to the rest of it opening from outdoors. Then you see my face through the screen and then the scren door opening to a wider cut of me on the porch. Seems like an edit didn't quite make it to Greece!!!

As for the sound, again I am wondering if there is bad quality in what you have. Not to say my sound is great, but I was wearing a wireless through the whole movie! (believe me, I know! I had to toss so many takes because of the damn thing showing!!!)

Yeah, I tried a lot of angle work. Maybe too much. Trying to compensate for lack of camera operator to do any panning, zooming and such.

The ending had choices....

IF there was more time (and I really should have just cut it because of lack of time) the wife makes a phone call and says the line, "what ever you did worked becuase the lying, cheating sack of sh*t killed himself." Then she replies with, What? Then hello, hello? Phone is dead. Demon wakes up and she begins to face her own demons. (Yes, in this ending, she thinks that she is responsible for killing her husband.)

And the much more simple ending, which I should have stuck with, "Tim" finds his inner demon (there was a line, "Nothing like meeting your inner demon face to face, is there?") That got cut.

Oh well, I never expected to win anything. Just wanted to make my first movie!

Thank you for the comments. I am glad that you got spooked here and there. I, too, knew that a person would appear in the mirror but still jump every time I saw it. And I kept it because, like I said... first movie and I wanted to have as much junk in there as possible!!!

Thanks again!!!

Ted
 
-Sound: I think it's the compression, I'm not saying that there is a problem with making out the sounds and them not being very distinctive, but maybe comrpessing and pushing down the khz made it all somehow flat. I'm just saying its not that crystal clear sometimes and for example, when the mobile rings and you're out of focus you say something and I played that a few times but cant make out what you're saying.

-Editing at the porch/door: we have the same version in Greece :) what I meant was that we see you through the screen door from a different angle than the one when you open the screen door and move outside. This cut is abrupt and the change in angle makes it not look that goood. Why didnt you go all the way with the same angle? just curious

I like the simple ending!!! Inner demons.....we share the same puzzles in our head...
 
Ted,
That rocked! All I can say is "Fu(k, Fu(k, Fu(k, Fu(K. :)

This would have been a good flick for a multiple crew production. You'd never know if you hadn't told us.

Good angles. It looked like you put allot of thought into lighting.

The blood from the ceiling was badaass.

My guide for a good flick is how long it seems. That didn't seem like six minutes to me. It was over before I knew it and that's because it sucked me in and took me along for the ride.

Good job. You should be proud of this one!
 
Wow! Thanks Kevin! You know, that is one thing that I think is right on the money about my film... it doesn't seem like 6 minutes! I appreciate you saying that.

And, yeah, a lot of time went into this film. Working out all of the details and shots by myself and putting myself in front of the camera was tidious work.

Glad you liked the bloody ceiling. One of my favorites too. You ought to see it in it's full resolution/size. Man, you can see the individual dropplets coming down. It's awesome. And what a mess!

I told Mark that I would detail how I did that, and I will. I have to pull up some photos for that. WHAT A MESS!!! And it took 1 1/2 hours to get that 2 sec. scene!!!

And yeah, my script was pretty easy to remember!!! :grin:

Thanks again, Kevin. I'm glad you watched and comment!

Ted
 
VersuS said:
-Sound: I think it's the compression, I'm not saying that there is a problem with making out the sounds and them not being very distinctive, but maybe comrpessing and pushing down the khz made it all somehow flat. I'm just saying its not that crystal clear sometimes and for example, when the mobile rings and you're out of focus you say something and I played that a few times but cant make out what you're saying.

-Editing at the porch/door: we have the same version in Greece :) what I meant was that we see you through the screen door from a different angle than the one when you open the screen door and move outside. This cut is abrupt and the change in angle makes it not look that goood. Why didnt you go all the way with the same angle? just curious

I like the simple ending!!! Inner demons.....we share the same puzzles in our head...
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Well, good. I'm glad that you saw what you were supposed to see. Yeah, I had spent a lot of time with that edit. I wanted it tight when I opened the door but wanted a fuller shot when I came out on the porch, just to reveal that there was in fact no one there. I tried it with just the close shot and felt it didn't work. I tried it cut in many places with the opening of the door, found that to be the best place. I should have and thought about it but didn't want another set-up, was to shoot it long down the porch. But again, I didn't know what it looked like until I broke down the shot and downloaded the footage. Some of the consequesnces of shooting on my own.

Sound, yeah... I did have to compress the sound. I found that when I didn't I couldn't get my film under 50MB. It wasn't until I started compressing the sound that I got under the mark.. and that was at 4 am in the morning that dreadful Sunday!!!
 
FEEDBACK/SPOILERS:

Script: I think you had a story here that kept us guessing, which is what you want
to do in a script. I did think the pacing was a little slower than I would like, but
it's hard to pick up the pace when there's one actor for the first part of the short.

Direction: I think I liked the basement scene the best. Some nice inserts.
Get some new socks btw.

Acting: The one line I did not find believable was, "I would not leave my wife" that
pass. It came off forced. The rest was fine.

Score: Never try to be a one-man-band.

Cine/lighting: I could definitely see you put effort into it. Again, basement
scene was my favorite.

OVERALL: First short out of the box was a valiant effort. You might want to
have more actors from the get-go so that you can 'play off' one another. It's
very difficult to be totally focused on one person for so long, especially without
dialogue. I think you can be proud of this and uh, get some new socks.
 
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