ToTiTe Films presents HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Quite a nice little film. There are things wrong with it, but I think you know that so let me tell you the things I liked. I think the girl definitely had the best acting and was actually fairly convincing. Most of your cinematography was pretty good - you had some great colours (for example in the scene where the girl is on the phone near the end in front of some trees). I really appreciated that you resisted the temptation to show the punch-up in the main character's dream - the particle emission clouds were fun although I wouldn't overuse them; once is probably enough.
Good effort and keep going.
 
The girl did a nice job and some the shots were nice as well. I don't know how the particle effects fit, but I thought they were cool. There is definite potential here. Keep making movies and learning as you go.
 
Hey,

Just caught the flick. I liked your compositions, especially at the beginning. The shots of the girl are really nice. The look of the film over all is pretty cool.




SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


So the dream thing doesn't sit well with me. I'm not a fan. And I just don't feel like it fit into the story. That being said, the birthday thing doesn't come up after he wakes up. Are we suppossed to believe that he called her (from the dream bit) and then fell asleep? Hard to believe that he's in front of the building (whereever he is) calls to meet her, and then goes in to study and falls asleep.

Also, the getting hit by the car bit.............sorry, not a fan. Getting hit by a car is getting to be a bit cliched these days. So I don't like that. But if you do, go with it. Personal taste.

Otherwise, with regards to the story, I would have liked to see the birthday play in a little bit more. I mean, your title IS "Happy Birthday." This film seems ironic in that there's nothing "happy" (or "birhtday") related about the film. If it IS suppossed to be ironic, I think the payoff should be bigger.

Hope that helps.
 
I thought the cinematography here was very promising. Not perfect, but there were some very nice images, and the overall look of the film was pleasing.

I laughed really hard at the punching/explosion part. It seems from your comments that that was your intention, so you were successful.

That said, it does not fit with the rest of your film, and makes no sense following a very serious car crash.

Keep working on getting natural performances from your actors, and/or extend your casting search to find more experienced actors.

Congratulations on completing a film, that's a huge accomplishment, and I look forward to seeing what you'll do in the next fest you enter.
 
I am not sure what to say, I don't really get the point. He had a nightmere about her dying...thats it? The random particle fight was funny, and I thought the two main actors were natural and well directed. Keep going!
 
alex whitmer said:
Agree on the dry acting. The woman was certainly the most natural, at least in her first scene.

When the car hit, a notebook went flying, but it was nowhere around when BF and Driver came to the rescue.

A little disjointed. Not sure where the dream began. In the woman's first scene she was warm and friendly, but in the 'post dream' scene she was a bit of a Paris Hilton. Would that mean the first scene was part of the dream?

Glad you had a few extras to make things look more real.

Alex
Click to expand...

You have very good eyes. I was expecting more people to discover these glitches but you're the first one :thumbsup: The actress is actually very talented. I like her performance and hope to cast her again for my next project. Btw, she was like Paris Hilton because the guy overslept :evil:
 
Bryce A said:
Totite! I am THRILLED to see the progression from your last film to happy birthday! Thinking back on The Camera to this flick... the difference is HUGE. You've definitely gained a better understanding of just about every aspect of film making. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely problems with Happy birthday. You know it from your own impressions and the other postings... but great job on evolving since last time.

Keep it up!
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I'm glad that you watched my first movie and this one also. I like your comparison :thumbsup: Yes this movie still has problems and I already know most of the problems that people have pointed out but I don't feel offended. I'm just happy that you guys watch the movie and give me comments :D
 
Horncastle said:
Quite a nice little film. There are things wrong with it, but I think you know that so let me tell you the things I liked. I think the girl definitely had the best acting and was actually fairly convincing. Most of your cinematography was pretty good - you had some great colours (for example in the scene where the girl is on the phone near the end in front of some trees). I really appreciated that you resisted the temptation to show the punch-up in the main character's dream - the particle emission clouds were fun although I wouldn't overuse them; once is probably enough.
Good effort and keep going.
Click to expand...


I agree with you about the actress' performance. She's very good indeed. About the punches, I just like to make things more dramatic a little so people can give comments on them. Nah, I'm just kidding. I'll reduce it to just 1 punch next time :happy: Thanks for your comments.
 
msconce said:
The girl did a nice job and some the shots were nice as well. I don't know how the particle effects fit, but I thought they were cool. There is definite potential here. Keep making movies and learning as you go.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comments. I definitely plan to make some more movies and enter some more fest :shocked:
 
Danielleus said:
Hey,

Just caught the flick. I liked your compositions, especially at the beginning. The shots of the girl are really nice. The look of the film over all is pretty cool.




SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


So the dream thing doesn't sit well with me. I'm not a fan. And I just don't feel like it fit into the story. That being said, the birthday thing doesn't come up after he wakes up. Are we suppossed to believe that he called her (from the dream bit) and then fell asleep? Hard to believe that he's in front of the building (whereever he is) calls to meet her, and then goes in to study and falls asleep.

Also, the getting hit by the car bit.............sorry, not a fan. Getting hit by a car is getting to be a bit cliched these days. So I don't like that. But if you do, go with it. Personal taste.

Otherwise, with regards to the story, I would have liked to see the birthday play in a little bit more. I mean, your title IS "Happy Birthday." This film seems ironic in that there's nothing "happy" (or "birhtday") related about the film. If it IS suppossed to be ironic, I think the payoff should be bigger.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...


Sorry if the story is a little bit confused for you but I like your comments :) Hopefully my next project will have more details so it's less confusing :dankk2:
 
jasonthewho said:
I thought the cinematography here was very promising. Not perfect, but there were some very nice images, and the overall look of the film was pleasing.

I laughed really hard at the punching/explosion part. It seems from your comments that that was your intention, so you were successful.

That said, it does not fit with the rest of your film, and makes no sense following a very serious car crash.

Keep working on getting natural performances from your actors, and/or extend your casting search to find more experienced actors.

Congratulations on completing a film, that's a huge accomplishment, and I look forward to seeing what you'll do in the next fest you enter.
Click to expand...

Actually the puching/explosion scene is supposed to defuse the seriousness of the car crash. Thanks for commenting.
 
shawneous said:
I am not sure what to say, I don't really get the point. He had a nightmere about her dying...thats it? The random particle fight was funny, and I thought the two main actors were natural and well directed. Keep going!
Click to expand...

Well there are more than just a nightmare but they are up to the viewers to interpret :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
totitefilms said:
Actually the puching/explosion scene is supposed to defuse the seriousness of the car crash. Thanks for commenting.
Click to expand...

Comic relief? Of that's what you were going for it kind of worked. I did laugh, but more in a "What the hell?" kind of way because I didn't think it went with the overall seriousness of the film. The story was good and most of the shots were actually very lovely. The whole thing was visually pleasing, in fact.

I thought that acting was a little less than perfect. A specific example would be the reactions to the crash (from all parties involved). Well done, though, and good luck!
 
Your actors have the right age to go to school and your story was at school - this is very honest. I laughed a lot when the fade out came with all this bams and bangs - this was very funny. Your story is credible and the acting of the girl was quiet good, much better as the acting of the main character. Nice work. Compliments.

Susanne
 
I thought you had a really original idea with going to black and the explosion with the first punch, but then it became too much. I would have liked to see more intercut action with that in a different piece... would have been too much in this piece.


Be careful with your framing of the characters in the phone conversation. In one shot you had the girl facing right and the rest of the time she faced left. This is distracting. Not only did she move in the filmspace but the cut made it look like they were both facing the same direction... which is double distracting.

Tighten up the edit, you've got some dead sound parts. Also the whole dialog piece about quizzes can hit the cutting room floor... you don't need it and it's really poorly acted.

Sweet little film all in all. I enjoyed the youthful energy from it.
 
Congratulations on finishing this. I thought the sound definitely needed some work especially on the dead spots. The acting didn't quite do it for me. It looks like you had a really pretty location. I'd have liked to see you do more with the look of this and make those beautiful colors pop.

In the end, I didn't get the sense that anything really happened in this...just a bad dream.
 
Ha!!! The lead guy sounds like Pedro from NP. I feel like I’m in an afterschool special. The sound FX needs so much more work on so many levels. From wind in the mics to car crash, to the batman sound fx to the aweful explosion sound fx, and poor cutting of the sounds.

Acting was definitely not the strongest but with a little more attention to the actors, I think you could get some strong stuff from them. (at least stronger)

I’m not quite understanding the story… I think a little more thought into this production and script could have made this an interesting film and for the love of Pete, leave the explosions to the pros.

Congrats on finishing the film for the fest.
 
other than the guy phoning her and wishing her happy birthday where was the relevance? laughed at the punch scene :) the acting was hit and miss, and felt really awkward with the two girls chatting.
i enjoyed the music at the end.
thank you.
 
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