Trailers and Clips for $9000 LIMBO black and white DV feature

R

ROKOKO

Well-known member
Finished a DV feature in 2005 called LIMBO.

LIMBO IS NOW AVAILABLE IN THE US
http://web.mac.com/themerc01/iWeb/BUY LIMBO DVD/The Circle Never Ends.html

It was shot on a Canon XL1S and was a $9000, 2 1/2 week production. Bonus Features shot with a DVX100B.

www.limbomovie.com

(note internet explorer is best to view site, flash and quicktime needed)

If anyone still has trouble with the website trailers, the film is also on ifilm at:

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2670550

BLOG & PODCAST link: http://web.mac.com/themerc01/iWeb/THE LIMBOLOG/L I M B O.html


REVIEWS:

TWITCHFILM.NET
http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/003768.html
'...a serious minded piece of work'

CINEMA-CRAZED.COM
http://www.cinema-crazed.com/limbo.htm
'...an indie that's one peg above the rest.'

CIN3MA.TV
http://www.cin3ma.tv/moving_pictures/reviews/l/limbo.shtml
'We are always seeking films like this, which delve into the darkest depths of our minds.' 4/5 STARS

FILMCRITIC.COM
'...a wealth of promise displayed in Ikimi's narrative skills'
http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/0/3af3e538da508355082570b80001d8b9?OpenDocument 3/5 STARS

WORLDSGREATESTCRITIC.COM
http://www.worldsgreatestcritic.com/limbo.html
'...may become a classic in the history of artistic independent cinema.' 5/5 STARS

ROGUECINEMA.COM
http://www.roguecinema.com/article420.html
'...Should you see this movie? Yes, it's most definitely worth seeing....a joy to watch.'

MICROFILMMAKER.COM
http://www.microfilmmaker.com/critiques/limbo.html
'This is a must-own inspiration for low-budget filmmakers...who want to be reminded of what can be done on virtually no money' 9/10

ENTERTAINMENTOPIA.COM
http://www.entertainmentopia.com/reviews/movies/limbo.shtml
'...a thinking-man’s movie which is more focused on delivering a compelling story...'

SHADE.CA
http://www.shade.ca/getarticle.asp?i=749
'It is intriguing and visually stylish...Limbo will surely mark you.'

BLOGCRITICS.COM
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/13/123145.php
'...a great story line with a great moral' 4/5 STARS

FILMTHREAT.COM
http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=reviews&Id=8247&archive=&match=&page=0
'...a well made and thought provoking film' 3/5 STARS

FILMGURU.NET
http://www.filmguru.net/reviews/2005/051114.html
'There is no night. There is no sleep. There are no consequences. There is only limbo'

HORRORVIEW.COM
http://www.horrorview.com/Limbo.htm
'...incredible storytelling comparable to old school Twilight Zone episodes' 5/5 STARS STAFF PICK

BEYONDHOLLYWOOD.COM
http://www.beyondhollywood.com/reviews/limbo.htm
'...Mark Thomas Ikimi as a filmmaker to watch'

MICROCINEMASCENE.COM
http://www.microcinemascene.com/artman/publish/review_limbo.php
'...the film has the muscle where it counts most, in the story.'
4/5 STARS

FILMCRITIC.COM (Interview)
http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/empo...b6255f5fc77594b888257090006feca8?OpenDocument


Looking forward to the feedback! :laugh:
 
Last edited:
gumonstro said:
very good! did you deinterlace or not? if so, which software did you use?
Click to expand...
No we did not de interlace. We sent it to a company called FILMLOOK in LA that made it 24 fps and gave it a film grain.
 
Just out of curiosity how much did this procedure cost you?

Honestly, I have achieved better results deinterlacing and doing other effects myself in Vegas or Premiere. This looks about halfway in between 60i and the near film motion look of DVX 24p, still looks very video to me.

Aside from that, the short looks pretty good... I hope there isn't TOO much voice over though. But overall looks like you did a good job. Congrats and good luck. Funny we have 2 scripts for shorts about limbo, purgatory, etc that have been sitting on the shelf... and I've seen like 5 shorts on these themes in the last month. Odd.
 
Chance White said:
Just out of curiosity how much did this procedure cost you?

Honestly, I have achieved better results deinterlacing and doing other effects myself in Vegas or Premiere. This looks about halfway in between 60i and the near film motion look of DVX 24p, still looks very video to me.

Aside from that, the short looks pretty good... I hope there isn't TOO much voice over though. But overall looks like you did a good job. Congrats and good luck. Funny we have 2 scripts for shorts about limbo, purgatory, etc that have been sitting on the shelf... and I've seen like 5 shorts on these themes in the last month. Odd.
Click to expand...

hmm, are you looking at the right clip? Did you go to ifilm or the website to view? My film is not a short, it is a feature in black and white duration 93 mins under thomas ikimi director. Just wanted to make sure. Thanks for the feedback though. I appreciate it.
 
oh and the film if you are watching the right clip (there are like 8 limbo films by different people on ifilm so it is easy to mistake it for another) it is very filmlike to most who have seen the film. Maybe it is the monitor you're on?

We sent it to FILMLOOK in LA. They do filmlooking for the production houses in hollywood like ESPN and NBC send them a lot of shows to filmlook for them etc.
 
www.limbomovie.com

I watched the right clip. And it's not my monitor, trust me.

I'm not saying it looks bad, I just expected a bit more I guess... maybe it's just me, whatever.

Also never said yours was a short. I have seen several projects revolving around this theme is all I was saying.

I can say that yours looks to be the most successful one though, just from what I've seen.

Keep us updated, I'm interested in seeing the entire film.
 
oh no problem, it's good you expected a lot. I'm glad it didn't meet your expectations. It's so much less fulfilling to hear you're so amazing rather than it was good but could be better here here and here. I mean if the film was bad we wouldn't be in the postition we are in now. Thanks very much for the honesty of opinion.
 
Well I don't mean to be a jerk, but I try to be honest because as a filmmaker that's the kind of feedback I want.

With you outsourcing to FILMLOOK I expected it to look almost indistinguishable from 16mm, I guess this was unrealistic on my part? Don't get me wrong, it does look very good. I like the style.
 
yeah it's the only way to get better. Honest harsh but constructive criticism and support as well. Yeah FILMLOOK can only do so much for a DV product and it was shot on an XL1S remember. It is as video as you can get. The fact we got it so much more film like was an achievement. I'll be using a DVX for my next film. I'm just hoping this one sells well. I think it will do okay as we had a lot of people wanting to know a release date at the festivals we went to.
 
I'm not even going to comment on the footage look because, like you said, it was shot on an XL1s (as video as you can get). What I will say is with a lesser camera (as compared to the DVX or XL2) you made an engaging looking film here. This is the kind of thing people like Walter Graff keep talking about. It's less about what you shoot with and more about what you do with what you've got. Kudos for doing so much here. There's a lot of talent involved in this work.

You made a really good looking flik here. Compositions, lighting were gorgeous. The acting apears pretty decent. The music sounds REALLY pro. VERY 6th sense inspired, (which is a good thing to me) (I'd really like to know who did it). The audio was ok. It wasn't horrible, but I think it's the one thing that seems to take away a tad from the overall production value. Did you use the XL1s in camera audio? Because that's what it sounds like to me (then again, it is compressed for the web).

In using the XL1s, did you use multiple lenses? If so, which ones? And how far back did you have to keep the camera to frame for 2.35:1? How long was your shoot? And was this shot in NYC?

Nice job. Would love to check out the full film-
 
Thanks a lot for the detailed response. Much appreciated and i'm glad you liked the work. We did not use any multiple lenses on the XL1S, we just had a really good hard working DP and crew of gaffers. The music is excellent and we will be offering the soundtrack disc for purchase from the composer who still owns his rights to the LIMBO score. I told him that I liked James Newton Howard and I wanted a cross between 6th sense and the exorcist for the soundtrack. You will notice the exorcist undertones in the Adam Theme on the website music of limbo section. Real quality soundtrack and i'm not just blowing my own movie's trumpet on that aspect. The audio hahahaha man the audio is great. maybe it is the web or your download that may have messed it up. It did have to be GREATLY compressed for the web. The sound was done by a guy called Dan Sable. He is the guy who did the sound for Apollo 13, The untouchables, A bronx Tale, Carrie, Obsession, Married To The Mob, Ransom and a about 65 other hollywood studio pictures dating back to the 60's. Check out his ridiculously awesome resume on imdb.com. We mixed sound at Soundtrack in Manhattan because of him. We mixed at the same time as Spike Lee's She Hate Me which was next door and just after The Manchurian Candidate in our room and before Cinderella Man. Our Engineer worked on both those films, Bob Chefalas. Truth is, I don't like going into some of the great crew we had because the movie should stand on its own. It was VERY chep and these guys came on board because they liked the script and the way the movie was going. Remember I was just a college sophomore and this is my student film so it took a lot to convince folks to get on the wagon haha. We had a few other 'connected' guys involved too. but i can tell you about that another time.

oh the composer's website is www.andydaniels.com

we didn't keep the camera back at all. The DP just masked the actual monitor we used. We didn't have a true scope 2:35 lense. We bootlegged it and it worked!

Problem is now we will have those pesky borders for the dvd which can't be removed. But hey it gives the film look right?
 
Yeah, it's gotta be the compression then. I though it might have been the production sound only because the dialogue and background activity sounds chinsey on my speakers, but the score doesn't. The wonders of compression never cease to confound I guess.

But jesus, you had some serious people involved. How'd you get them to work so cheap?

On the footage note, after watching the clips (aside from the trailer) I do agree with Chance White that the 24p conversion still looks very video to me. But like you said, it's an XL1s. You pushed it as far as it could go and the shooting and other production values balances it out enough to want to watch it. Really looking forward to seeing what you do with a DVX-
 
It was weird. Like a network thing. One guy comes on and from that he talks to another guy who likes the idea and then he tells another guy. It all started with our editor (after i had to let one go and the second editor walked out on us). We got a guy called Scott Brock who read the script and said he had to work on the film. Now this will BLOW your mind. This guy was the first assistant editor on all Martin Scorsese's movies since Casino. He worked on Casino, Bringing Out The Dead, Kundun, Gangs Of New York and then was part of the three man editing team that won an Academy Award for best editing on Aviator. If you watch the telecast of the Oscars you will hear Thelma Schoonmaker thank Scott Brock in her acceptance speech. The guy worked like a dog. He'd go right from the editing offices at 2 am and come to my apt. in Uptown NYC to work on LIMBO till 4am just to go back to the Aviator at 10 am the next day. Madness. These are the guys who make great movies happen but you never hear about. His bio is on the Limbo page. From him we got the sound guy who had worked with him on a Woody Allen movie. Then the sound guy got us Bob and Soundtrack as most of the young new guys there who are now doing the big hollywood movies were young apprentices when Dan Sable was at the top of the pile. You see how it works? My claim to fame is getting a bottle of champagne from Thelma Schoonmaker when Scott told her LIMBO got into the Taormina film fest in Sicily. Neither her nor Scorsese have watched my film yet though!!!
 
What an amazing story... I envy you... alot. Ha ha.

STORYTELLER is right on that you have pulled off an enormous accomplishment. Props to you. The camera after all is just a tool. It's easy to get caught up in all the technical aspects here.

It is certainly an enormous improvement over the super video awful look of virgin XL1 footage.


I agree that it sounds great, much better then most indie productions.

You've already played festivals? I'd love to hear more about your experiences there, I'm about to embark on my first festival voyage.
 
I can't get any of your trailers or samples to load. I've actually waited almost 20 mins just to load a trailer and nothing. Just keeps buffering... I really want to see what this film is all about! Eh, maybe next time.
 
Chance White, dude, just chill bro. Video look or not, he's got a feautre done. Hell, I hate Blair witch and it looked like a piece of **** but damn, 100 mil in the box office! Those muthaphuckers did their thang!

:beer:
 
BLUESPIDER, yeah, as I said in further posts, it does look good, and the camera's just a tool, and I wanna see the film, etc etc etc... heh

Am I coming off uptight here? If I am, it's because, I am uptight. I mean, no wait, argh! Where's my BC powder?! You've got me all uptight again, thanks alot.

BTW your sig banner is big time 0wnage BLUE.

PS BTW what's up with everyone calling me out by my full name on this thread? Just call me Chance, or don't, Jesus H!
 
ROKOKO -

DEATH OF SEASONS - You can check out a teaser at the link in my sig. New full trailer coming soon and a massively updated web site.

As far as what fests, well I plan to be snowboarding in Park City in January, if I don't make it, I will crash all the parties and have renegade screenings, or not. Was going to play some smaller ones first but at this point might as well shoot for the big one and let the chips fall where they may.
 
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