"undercover" - NJ Film School

randin said:
Yep, I was mainly going to compliment you on the successful look of the film in low light. Great use of just the two locations, both simple and simply lit, focusing the viewer on the characters well.
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Thanks a lot. We shot the car scene first and it was trickier than we anticipated. Luckily the shoot in the room went smoothly and we were able to pick up some time there.

I'm really happy you liked the look of it. The students worked really hard on it.
 
Charli said:
At first I thought you were going all "Memento" on us, which you did, but not exactly. I wasn't easily captivated at first. By the time we got to where the two actors were interacting is when I got into the story. The possibility of that happening with two undercovers wasn't as plausible for me. I still have to believe it.

Still, overall, the film was definitely on the higher end than the lower end.
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I love "Memento". I wish this story was as cool as that, but I fear I was too focused on giving the class some cool lighting and camera challenges that would work with the timeframe and locations we had and maybe the story didn't get all the attention it deserved.

Anyway, thanks for the review and I'm glad we made it into your "top half". :)
 
i loved this short. chris, this was wildly successful. Nicely shot, good actors, simple story with a clever payoff. i love the backwards style, and the piano cues as the time registers on screen. I do think the earlier scene with the guy tied to the chair went on a few seconds too long, but once it gets to the 2 actors it gets really good. you accomplished a lot, with very little.
 
Matt Harris said:
i loved this short. chris, this was wildly successful. Nicely shot, good actors, simple story with a clever payoff. i love the backwards style, and the piano cues as the time registers on screen. I do think the earlier scene with the guy tied to the chair went on a few seconds too long, but once it gets to the 2 actors it gets really good. you accomplished a lot, with very little.
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Thank you so much for the great review!
 
My criticisms: Some of the acting was a little unnatural and at times, the music didn't mesh for me. Some of the shots could have been a little more interesting, especially during the dialog between the two characters.

My compliments: Love the opening shot. The wack to the nose was awesome... very believable. I liked the lighting and the overall concept... and the twist was interested and unexpected. I didn't predict it at all. Overall a good film! As a fan of "Memento" I like the backwards story-telling.
 
Wow! I really liked this Chris!

Bold choice to go the Memento route, but I think you did it well. I honestly didn't see the last twist coming.

Very cinematic and good acting.
 
EditPhish said:
My criticisms: Some of the acting was a little unnatural and at times, the music didn't mesh for me. Some of the shots could have been a little more interesting, especially during the dialog between the two characters.

My compliments: Love the opening shot. The wack to the nose was awesome... very believable. I liked the lighting and the overall concept... and the twist was interested and unexpected. I didn't predict it at all. Overall a good film! As a fan of "Memento" I like the backwards story-telling.
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Thanks for the thorough review. We would have liked to try a few more things with the shots and to give our actors a few more takes, but time was not always on our side.

I'm happy you liked the opening shot and the hit to the face. We rehearsed that a lot and on that particular take it looked so good on the set, for a moment I thought he actually whacked him. :)

As I said earlier, I'm a huge "Memento" fan and it's cool that you liked the backwards storytelling and the twist surprised you. Thanks again!
 
Shawn Philip Nelson said:
Wow! I really liked this Chris!

Bold choice to go the Memento route, but I think you did it well. I honestly didn't see the last twist coming.

Very cinematic and good acting.
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Thanks a lot - that means a lot to me coming from you.

I'm glad we were able to surprise you and that you liked the look and the actors. We didn't have as much time as we wanted (does anyone ever?) and the actors usually only got to do 2 or 3 takes, but I'm really proud of what my students accomplished.
 
Tried downloading it but it wouldn't play. Can't get it to stream either. Anyone else having issues or is related to my crappy hotel wi-fi?

EDIT:

Streaming finally worked!

Nice job. I think the sound design could have been deeper but I liked the coverage of the shots. Great opening scene!
The edit cuts closer and closer as the guy walked in front were a bit too much. One or two would have done the job.

Wasn't a big fan of the music but I loved the story. Nice twist. Good dialogue audio as well.
Really liked your use of time, very smooth edit and pacing.

Nice job!
 
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Michael Anthony Horrigan said:
Streaming finally worked!

Nice job. I think the sound design could have been deeper but I liked the coverage of the shots. Great opening scene!
The edit cuts closer and closer as the guy walked in front were a bit too much. One or two would have done the job.

Wasn't a big fan of the music but I loved the story. Nice twist. Good dialogue audio as well.
Really liked your use of time, very smooth edit and pacing.

Nice job!
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I'm really glad you got it to work. I could definitely learn a thing or two from you with sound design (yours was awesome).

That's cool that you loved the story. Thanks for the awesome review.
 
I really liked this one. When it opened like "Memento" my antennas went up, as a big fan of the film that is a thin ice territory if you were to mangle it. But on the contrary you handled it very well. I loved the lighting, very noirish. The composition, sound, story and cutting were all very good, absolutely no complaints there. The only remarks I have would be for the actors, for the most part they were good, there were just a couple of shots where I think they could be better, but as a whole I think they were fine.

When that stick hit the guy in the face I actually had an outburst, that looked very convincing. Did you tie a string to it? I hope you did, then I can say I helped inspire you when you win (just being a little facetious here). Tell your students they did very good job, this is definitely something that will go good on their reel after they graduate and look for a job.
 
Mr Blue said:
I really liked this one. When it opened like "Memento" my antennas went up, as a big fan of the film that is a thin ice territory if you were to mangle it. But on the contrary you handled it very well. I loved the lighting, very noirish. The composition, sound, story and cutting were all very good, absolutely no complaints there. The only remarks I have would be for the actors, for the most part they were good, there were just a couple of shots where I think they could be better, but as a whole I think they were fine.

When that stick hit the guy in the face I actually had an outburst, that looked very convincing. Did you tie a string to it? I hope you did, then I can say I helped inspire you when you win (just being a little facetious here). Tell your students they did very good job, this is definitely something that will go good on their reel after they graduate and look for a job.
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Thanks so much for your wonderful review. "Memento" was definitely an inspiration for telling our story like this and I'm really pleased you liked it.

The hit to the face was a lot of fun. We didn't use a string (that would have made me to nervous). We had an obstacle (out of frame) that the stick hit - this kept the stick from striking our actor, but also let it get to within a few inches of his face. It also made his reaction feel very real, as that stick really was flying at his nose. :)
 
Nice short. Not a lot to say other than I enjoyed it. I thought the edit was nice and tight with great points to cut on. Some fun shots. Bravo.
 
Great job and a really well done film folks! I'd give the kudos to you Chris, but this was all done by the students...and they rocked it. :shocked:

Memento is one of my all-time favorite films...it actually hurt my brain the first few times I watched it trying to get a grip on it. You guys did a great job...right down to the reverse credit roll. The acting was believable and genuine. Editing, sound design and score was right there too. A very enjoyable film for me.

The only thing I wondered about was why was Decker kind of out of breath when he hit Taylor in the face with the broom stick? It felt like he had just been running to me.

That's all I got for you. Loved the film, congratulations to the entire cast & crew on a job well done. I have a feeling this will do good and I look forward the next NJ Film School production!
 
ZazaCast said:
Great job and a really well done film folks! I'd give the kudos to you Chris, but this was all done by the students...and they rocked it. :shocked:

Memento is one of my all-time favorite films...it actually hurt my brain the first few times I watched it trying to get a grip on it. You guys did a great job...right down to the reverse credit roll. The acting was believable and genuine. Editing, sound design and score was right there too. A very enjoyable film for me.

The only thing I wondered about was why was Decker kind of out of breath when he hit Taylor in the face with the broom stick? It felt like he had just been running to me.

That's all I got for you. Loved the film, congratulations to the entire cast & crew on a job well done. I have a feeling this will do good and I look forward the next NJ Film School production!
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Thank you so much for the awesome review! It means a lot to me and my students.
 
Very good job, Chris. I wasn't surprised by where this went but I enjoyed watching how it got there. I like the fact that you used a non-standard timeline, even if it had been done before, I don't remember it being used quite that way at DVXfest.

I though everything was carried out well on this project. My ONLY gripe might have been the fact that the lead didn't fit my perception of a drug dealer. (Maybe he was a dealer in the 'burbs. :))
 
You wouldn't have a photo of all the film students involved in the production? I saw the video, thought it be nice to see a shot of all of 'em.
 
Blaine said:
Very good job, Chris. I wasn't surprised by where this went but I enjoyed watching how it got there. I like the fact that you used a non-standard timeline, even if it had been done before, I don't remember it being used quite that way at DVXfest.

I though everything was carried out well on this project. My ONLY gripe might have been the fact that the lead didn't fit my perception of a drug dealer. (Maybe he was a dealer in the 'burbs. :))
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Thanks for the great review - It's nice to hear that people dig the reverse storytelling - I was a little worried about that.

As for the "drug dealer" - here in New Jersey they come in all shapes and sizes. :)
 
Charli said:
You wouldn't have a photo of all the film students involved in the production? I saw the video, thought it be nice to see a shot of all of 'em.
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It would be nice. Unfortunately, I'm terrible at documenting all the BTS stuff - I don't have anything. :(

One of the students though (Mark) is a great photographer and took some awesome BTS shots. I'll see if I can't get him to post a couple.
 
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