Trailer "Shadows" Short Film

i enjoyed watching it, and even if i understand that people want to know more about characters, i think that for this length, you don't want to explain everything and let people imagine.
The first two shots on the girl, the messy backpack and the double earrings let me imagine who she is, a lost girl i guess. (don't ask me why that's how i felt)
Great work.
 
Watched this and wanted to comment on it.

First off, I really liked the acting, VFX and the way it was shot. Great DP.
Nice pacing on the edit as well for the most part. Sound was decent but maybe a little flat. Nice feel overall.


POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.


What I didn't like... felt WAY too much like No Country for Old Men.

Person finds money, gets chased by truck, gets shot, but gets away. Then gets caught again, big face-off, gets away again and then a person gets struck by a vehicle completely out of the blue in the end and the movie is over. Really, the similarities are pretty staggering.

So, aside from the story I really enjoyed this. Not trying to knock it, just felt like I had seen it before. One more note, when she scans the landscape I would take it off the tripod. Seemed far too static for that kind of shot.

Very well made short though. Congrats.
 
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Thanks for the replies.

Michael if you see to much of NCFOM for your taste maybe its because it is in there, somehow... I'm such a big fan and its such a great novel and film that it must have influenced me. But if I may, when you mention that you seen it before, maybe its because the "technique" I used for the plot its an old one, its called a McGuffn. It existed in NCFOM and countless other films, someone has something that someone else wants and the plot shoots out from there... people are going to get shot, hurt, chased and **** is going to happen, NCFOM is not alone in that, at all.

I actually showed this short to Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC (DP for the Coen films) he liked it very much and praised the film's technical brilliance, it did remind him of something as well... but didn't seem to bothered with it. Maybe because the film although has a similar landscape and perhaps a similar set up, it goes to a completely different place, it takes on its own identity. But many thanks for your comment anyway.

JB_Frenchy, I couldn't have said it any better, this is a short film, there's only so much you want (and can) say, otherwise its not so short anymore... believe me I had so much more information on my first drafts that I just spent so much more time cutting things out until there was no "fat" whatsoever. In the end I cut the scripts pages by half! So believe me that whatever ended up in the film was very well though of and considered.
 
Nuno Dias said:
Thanks for the replies.

Michael if you see to much of NCFOM for your taste maybe its because it is in there, somehow... I'm such a big fan and its such a great novel and film that it must have influenced me. But if I may, when you mention that you seen it before, maybe its because the "technique" I used for the plot its an old one, its called a McGuffn. It existed in NCFOM and countless other films, someone has something that someone else wants and the plot shoots out from there... people are going to get shot, hurt, chased and **** is going to happen, NCFOM is not alone in that, at all.

I actually showed this short to Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC (DP for the Coen films) he liked it very much and praised the film's technical brilliance, it did remind him of something as well... but didn't seem to bothered with it. Maybe because the film although has a similar landscape and perhaps a similar set up, it goes to a completely different place, it takes on its own identity. But many thanks for your comment anyway.
Click to expand...

I'm aware but the way it ended with the car and her fate left up to us was the nail in the coffin for me. Even some of the shots seemed to be similar.

No worries though, I'm a fan. Just hoping to see something a little more original from you next time.

PS - you know Roger Deakins?? : o
 
very good night shots, nice lighting.
I wont comment much on the story but i must say i dislike plots which make you feel sorry for main character just to reveal at the very end that they werent exactly the good guys.Its toying with emotions just for the sake of having some sort of twist in the film, people dont like that IMO, but that is just me.
 
That's fair enough. But the twist at the end wasn't just for the sake of it, it's all part of the consequence of her actions, she put herself in danger and she put herself in that position. Now, I didn't exactly wanted people to feel "bad", but I didn't want to wrap it up in "nice" ending, maybe I was just trying to stay away from being "politically correct" about her character, being a woman and all and how women are portraid in films, always being the "nice" victims with a heart of gold.

PS - I wish I knew Mr. Deakins personally, I know him from his forum, I been part of his forum for quite a few years now and I've been learning quite a lot from him since then.
 
Just to let everyone now that Rita (the protagonist) just won the best actress award at the Los Angeles International Underground Film Festival for this film, and the film itself got a Honorable Mention. This is still the first festival on a long line of festivals to come, and I just hope the film keeps doing well at these events. I'am so happy for her as she was truly amazing and committed to her role and to what she had to go through physically on the film. Did I mention she didn't get paid for this gig? Actually no one got paid, there was zero budget, so all the more reasons to welcome these acknowledgments for our efforts.
 
hi nuno,

first i have to say that much of this short for me was very striking and effective. i thought the mood was striking with the lack of soundtrack or lack of music soundtrack. all of it taking place out in nowhere land lent itself to silence so that worked for me. i thought the actors were very strong especially the girl. visually the whole thing had very effective atmosphere for me.

let me throw out a couple of observations as to the storyline though and i cant say for sure that what im saying is necessarily wrong but these were all very immediate thoughts that struck me very hard when watching.

when the girl first goes up to the guy on the ground i was actually "specifically anticipating" whether she would shake the man to see if he was still alive or just go for the bag. since she went right to the bag that resulted for me to have no empathy for her at that point since she had no concern for the man that may have been still alive. most humane people would have checked to see at least if he was still alive. like in another post here and i dont remember who stated it that maybe she is supposed to be bad? if that was the intent then id have to say your were somewhat successful in that she didnt win any good character awards. that initially didnt bring any compassion for the girl from me at that point. had the guy been obviously dead by her checking....then she might as well run with the money could have changed my way of thinking. if i was supposed to feel negative then i think that emotion should have been establised stronger and have hit me harder. she just felt kind of flimsy at that point i guess.

everything else was flowing nice for me until she plopped down in the woods leaning against the tree. i felt ok with the chase, her getting shot, running out of breath and all until...the man showed up. as a viewer i felt by the mans attitude and expression that he was nearly "on top of her"..."knew" and was "convinced" that he had her. all he had to do was make his final move and be done. then...he gets distracted by a sound that *didnt even feel substantial* and he goes off in another direction for not even a logical or apparent reason? maybe he shouldnt have gotten quite so close to think he had her... then...then getting distracted would have been easier to understand. once again im just writing exactly the thoughts and emotions or lack of while watching.

her gagging and throwing up seemed to come a bit out of nowhere also. the scene was shot strong, acted strong but again....out of nowhere she start gagging then passes out. maybe a small reason or segway would have helped bridge the gap of that action like reaching for an inhaler but dropping it into the creek then gag away. yes, you can see im not a writer though with this lame example but just trying to illustrate something.

the scene with her seeing the farm in the distance and her taking care of her wound was all very moody and striking. knowing you had to cut this way down (as you just stated) to keep it short i still think you conveyed a good evolution of her in that barn. the guy coming out of nowhere though, with no apparent connection to the barn *and* just seems to "know" that she is in there even though i dont remember any evidence of her making a sound or giving away that "she was in actually in there" but somehow the guy seems convinced upon breaking in? in this scene there seemed no apparent evidence that she was there but he seems to know? in the woods again, i gathered the he absolutely "knew" she was right in front of him but he runs off in the wrong direction for a more flimsy reason or sound. here though he still goes in like he been tipped off but still...why is he so sure im asking my self. there IMO should be a whimper from her to tip off or a glimmer of light or activity or something for him to be so sure. made it less believable. i only watched this once so maybe i missed something. just writing this quick so i dont loose my gut reactions.

the fighting scene was fairly predictable for me but still executed extremely well for me to be captivated. when she was almost out of breath i thought to myself...what else could she do but pick something up to stab him. some sort of a twist or variable could have helped vs what eventually felt convienent and obvious i guess. i actually thought that the girl probably got a little bruised up in that scene too. i was very impressed with much of that scene.

the scene of her getting hit was striking as can be. once again the mood, visuals in this story are something to drool over IMO. still though i didnt feel anything for her after she got hit. was that the intent? indifference and pure apathy? there was no compassion becuase that was eleminated in the early scene of her not caring in anyway for the man on the ground. there was a major disconnect with the person in the car that hit her. not initially but after no action on his part i was left empty and no completion for the this short i think. if he would have wandered over to grab the bag with the indifference she had when she initially took if from the man then i think i could have seen a bit of a parrallel of seeming indifferent drifters grabbing a bag of cash and getting on their way. if her getting hit was karma for taking the bag initially without 1% of compassion for the bloody man then possibly thats cool i guess but even villans in movies are made to make you ponder and juggle your thoughts & emotions as to how you feel about them. for me i guess some kind of emotion for a character is better than none. maybe in the abscense of of obvious or typical emotion something could have hit me but there was not really anything that helped me feel some sort of a reason or twist or even a good question mark in me.

nuno, im no expert in the least and i promise you that im not saying that i could do better at all. i know i couldnt becuase i dont even do this kind of stuff and if i did id be crawling from square one. i think you have accomplished many pluses on this but it does remind me that story and script are still the most important and as a very simple viewer i was left with the above points mentioned that stuck in my head the most.

finally that last thing id want to do is criticize and rain on someone work when there is much to like. ive found much of your responses to peoples comments taken very very well on your part and gracefully on your part IMO. for some people to have responded very good to the storyline just points out that we all see something different much of the time even though we all watched the same thing. so this is just my opinion...take it with a large grain of salt...and we all know what people say about opinions!

good luck to you. you definitely have the goods to get it done.

david
 
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Hi David,

First of all, thank you very much for watching the film. Second, I truly appreciate your comments, and just how careful and attentive you were at describing some of the details for some of the weaker points in the story makes me feel very grateful to have people like you watching my movie, and posting their thoughts about it. Really.

You are right in everything you said.

But, there is a reason for why some of the scenes are the way you saw them. Actually one of the points you've mentioned was one I struggled with the most. Should she help the dead guy? Because that was going to set her character for the rest of the film. In initial drafts I had her really trying to help the guy, giving him water and whatnot. Then I cut down and had her just fiddling with her foot to make sure he was dead, and we actually shot that! But that caused another "moral" dilemma. If the audience is going to like her or empathise with her for doing this, then how am I going to have her steal his bag and run for her life for the rest of the film, without having the audience judging her? I feared too much of a character's reversal would be at stake, so I decided to cut it by the "root" and keep her "distant", so hopefully the audience would bond with her on a purely survival instinct level. And I could keep the "tone" of the film intact.

Maybe I'm not making myself very clear, but its extremely difficult for me to express these ideas and intentions on such a detailed level, because I thought and wrestled with these things for so long, in writing, in shooting them and especially in the editing process that these issues are a kind of a blur in my mind now. You did a far better job than me at your end. But I'll do my best...

The woods... the woods... that was a extremely difficult day. We were running very late, the sun was coming down fast, and I didn't do myself any favours in making that scene very difficult to direct. To keep it short we weren't able to shoot about 40% of the shots designed for that scene, so in the end I had to make it work with what we got on the day. And that's the best I could do, I must have edited that scene in 10 different ways, seriously! And every time I watch the scene I cringe, because its a very compromised scene. But that's film making for you.

She vomits because it seemed that would happen under the circumstances. It was extremely hot, she got shot, she was exhausted and very scared. Her body gave up on her. And also I had to find an interesting way to cut to the night time...

In the shed and the guy coming out of nowhere, again we shot the guy coming out of the Jeep and seeing some blood on the ground near the door, highlighted by the car lights. But when it was edited it just seemed somehow irrelevant. And I was trying to understand why, because I was sure we needed to know how come he was sure she was there. After he lost her in the woods he kept trying to find her, until he saw the shed (we also shot him driving the car and spotting the shed in the distance) and his character must have thought: there is nothing else here, she's wounded, so she must be "nested" somewhere... and that shed seems like an obvious place to hide... But when I edited all this together, just seemed flat. Then I understood why. We have to stay with the girl the entire time, and not cut points of view back and forth, this being a short film I didn't want to do that, I wanted to keep it simple. And I thought, the guy found the shed because he has got to find her and won't stop at anything, he will keep going till morning if needs to. So he saw a shed and he investigated. When he got there, he probably saw blood or footsteps... and as long as there is a plausible explanation to his character, then maybe I don't need to show it, because that would be some sort of exposition, and exposition in the middle of a film just doesn't work, you want to plot to move forward and not spend much time explaining things. That was my conclusion anyway...

The fight scene was very hard for everyone as you can probably imagine. The dynamics I wanted for that scene were that she would be completely vulnerable. She's wounded so she can't fight him, she's almost naked, so she's not protected, but still how can she, in one single blow, take him out. I just didn't wanted to be that obvious until it happened, so you probably spotted it before I intended you to. Well done.

The end. The crash. Here we are actually back at the beginning... what should people feel here... I wanted people to feel bad about her outcome, but not bad about the film... I wanted people to question her motives and think back and judge for them selfes if it was worth it. If you should ever put your self in a life threatening position for whatever reason. How do you judge your actions and your choices against the consequences... But I feel bad talking about this, because each person should take out whatever they feel about it, and I shouldn't have to say anything about it, otherwise I feel like I've failed at the most important moment in the film, on how people should feel at the end.

And let me just add that although I've been directing TV commercials for ten years this was my first short film, and now I'm convinced that this is the best "job" in the world! And its with people like you and others in this thread with detailed questions and smart analysis that is helping me improve my storytelling skills.

David, I thank you very much again for your questions. You say you don't work on this industry, but let me tell you that by the quality and the detailed analysis of your questions you have a very strong aptitude to read a film, and believe me that's a very difficult thing to do. You should either be a writer or a director.

Good luck to you and take care!
 
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Thumbs up for making an enjoyable film; digging the color and the lighting.

Congrats on the Honorable Mention and your female lead winning Best Actress!
 
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Nice.. In this summer i plan to do more "artistic"/"smaller" movie. All crew do their job well, as someone said before DP was great. I think cinematography is one of the strongest parts of this whole achievment. Acting aswell, story not that bad, there is so much tension i wasn't bored it
 
I really enjoyed this. The acting, cinematography, and story (mostly) were all great. I could tell that when the woman got hit that she was CG, but it was still very good for a low/no budget production. Also, I would have added a score to it...a lot of places felt like they could have really used some music, the scenes just felt a little too quiet at times. And, I had a hard time realizing that what was in the bag at the end was money. Maybe it's just that I very rarely travel out of my own state and my cultural diversity is lacking :P But I also feel that the shot of the bag and money could have been a little more obvious. Not a big deal, though. Overall, great film. Good work!
 
Funny post Tommy, you're probably right about the score, but that was one of the things I really wanted to pull off, no music, no dialogue. Its a short film, mind as well do something different with it.

But I guess that the biggest lesson of all was that it's so much better when you give yourself boundaries or a "frame" to work in. That way, my attention and "creativity" didn't get dispersed into infinite possibilities that you have when shooting a film. So this way, all your energy and attention goes in one direction only, and I thought that was quite a good method.

Still, I shot a lot of "garbage" that didn't serve anything in the film, I wished I had been more disciplined with myself and spent more time shooting what was really critical for the story instead of 'effin around with unnecessary shots like a moron... but you live and learn :thumbsup:

Oh, and the film just got accepted in this really cool festival, HollyShorts: http://vimeo.com/18973578
 
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