Vaccine - Written & Directed By Matt Harris

Mobie540 - LOL - she is right, too true. I should have called it "Antidote" maybe? but Vaccine sounds sexier.
Half the fun with creating your own sci-fi is getting the science part wrong.
 
Chris Keaton - good points/questions. I realized that a vaccine is liquid, so that's why he cuts the pill in half and dissolves it in water.
but of course a vaccine would really be shot into the bloodstream through a needle right?

As for the gas/chemical attack... it's completely open ended at this point. I think they left it open ended in THE ROAD and CARRIERS as well.
My thinking, and feel free to help brainstorm, was a chemical attack from China, or maybe even something resulting from an asteroid or alien meteor?
 
Matt Harris said:
As for the gas/chemical attack... it's completely open ended at this point. I think they left it open ended in THE ROAD and CARRIERS as well.
My thinking, and feel free to help brainstorm, was a chemical attack from China, or maybe even something resulting from an asteroid or alien meteor?
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The Road was completely unexplained. I loved that about it.

MAH
 
Pickings were slim but I was alllowed to choose. Grabbed 'Up in the Air'. :)
Now let's get back on topic. Post apocalyptic genres are cool! :zombie_smiley:
I really like what you did with Vaccine and would love to see more.

MAH
 
Really fantastic film! The pacing was spot-on, the story complete in its arc... I can't speak to the production/technical stuff, but I didn't see any glaring gaffes... Really, really nice!
 
To begin, this film definitely leaves a lot open in various areas. The moral dilemmas on top of the over-bearing stress the situation has brought upon this tormented pair of lovers maintains an openness that I really appreciate. Questions are asked, few are answered, but critical pieces are delivered to the viewer through flashbacks and mock super-8mm home footage in order to come to certain conclusions.

In regards to the film's look, I was impressed with the couple of quick dolly moves sprinkled in as they demonstrated a good attention to detail on part of the director and cinematographer. The filthy, raw aesthetic of sickly greens and poor exposures certain hearkens to an environment of immense destitution. Although this color palette and cinematographic direction are taken frequently in cinema, it was fairly useful here. I didn't find it distracting, but some might ask the question, "is it purely intentional--a sort of dogme- style cinema verite--or was it just a budgetary/time constraint issue?" Either way, it does still work. And I haven't looked to see what you shot on, but it seems you utilized an adapter of sorts to yield a genuine anamorphic ration; nice!

The sound was well established and quite full, which was comforting, especially in this kind of film. But it did tend toward the noisy and often felt a little flat. The depth of the audio just wasn't up to par, but in no way was it distracting so please don't assume that. As said, you kept a good balance of dialogue levels, room tone, and various other diegetic sound.

I feel that perhaps where the film suffered the most might have been in the performances. Although both the leads have moments of excellence, at times they appeared a little restrained and rigid. Not a big deal, though.

All-in, I thought it was a fairly well crafted little film. A six minute film is always difficult especially when tackling such a rich subject matter as mass viral infections and quarantines. This is another area where the film suffers because the sudden aggression, though working well as a nice scare tactic to end on and also revealing something about the virus and "vaccine," does little more than tie up loose ends with a slightly contrived convention of the genre. But between this and the slightly forced use of flashbacks to reveal details (which are sometimes necessary in a film this short), there isn't a whole lot to critique in the end. Really enjoyed it! :thumbsup:
 
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that's a good review lawsuit, the short is far from perfect, warts and all, and i feel where you're coming from.
i have to defend my actors in that, anything sub par in the acting i feel is more my fault as the director.
I tend to not give my actors their lines until we start shooting. there's little to no rehearsal, my collective is
into improv and experimentation and sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. from my POV, they did a killer
job for such short notice. but i should start to do table reads (lol)!

oh, and i always color grade everything green!
 
Matt, you're really starting to come into your own too. Your films continue to have really great stories. I'm going to start with that. I thought it was great how you tied everything all together here. I'm a writer and I can tell you that I didn't see the ending coming. That broadcast on the radio before his wife comes out the room was so "right-on-time!" Just excellent. The whole virus part of the story was really cool as well. I thought your actors did a good job as well and I picked up on you doing that long continuous shot. I'm really starting to dig those, but they're hard to pull off right. I thought you did though. Your male actor for the most part really did his thing, but I would say he could improve on emoting what he's thinking a little more. There were a couple of times during that long shot that I was really interested in what he was doing and then I wasn't. I thought both of them did a convincing enough job though. I thought the makeup was great as well. There was only one shot in there where I could tell it was makeup and that's because I could see a harsh line above her eyebrow. Maybe I'll go back and find the shot. Other than that, the makeup flawless and so nasty! If that was my wife I'd be like, "You ain't got to go home, but you got to get the hell up outta' here!" LOL!! Just kidding.

Oh, and I see ya' on the color correction! Nice! I'll definitely be watching this one again.
 
Matt Harris said:
that's a good review lawsuit, the short is far from perfect, warts and all, and i feel where you're coming from.
i have to defend my actors in that, anything sub par in the acting i feel is more my fault as the director.
I tend to not give my actors their lines until we start shooting. there's little to no rehearsal, my collective is
into improv and experimentation and sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. from my POV, they did a killer
job for such short notice. but i should start to do table reads (lol)!

oh, and i always color grade everything green!
Click to expand...

Completely understandable. From one director to the next, I feel it is almost always on the shoulders of the director if performances run astray. But hey, with small budgets and time constraints, you've got to do the best you can with what you have, and you did very well. And yeah, for being tossed right into the film, they did great!

And hey, there's nothing wrong with going a little green. :)
 
Thanks Marlon for taking the time to give me some love.

about this: "There was only one shot in there where I could tell it was makeup and that's because I could see a harsh line above her eyebrow."

man you have no idea! the makeup was great, and applied well, but after while it started coming undone here and there - it was stressful!
so we are rushing through takes and trying to keep the makeup secured and... you get the point.
 
Hey, I totally understand that. It's happened to me too! LOL!!! I may have been the only one that noticed that though, so probably not an issue at all.

Matt Harris said:
Thanks Marlon for taking the time to give me some love.

about this: "There was only one shot in there where I could tell it was makeup and that's because I could see a harsh line above her eyebrow."

man you have no idea! the makeup was great, and applied well, but after while it started coming undone here and there - it was stressful!
so we are rushing through takes and trying to keep the makeup secured and... you get the point.
Click to expand...
 
I like this film! The unproven vaccine concept is cool as hell (I love bio-nightmare scenarios). It's well shot, your sound design is effective and the lead actor was totally believable. The cg fog was the only thing that I wasn't fond of.

Nice one!
 
I like what you have going on here, unbelievable with the fog etc. I say so what. I like it, the look is eerie and the scene after she askes for the gun and the meds is really intense. niiice
 
Thank you for the comments guys, and thanks to everyone for watching and reviewing, i appreciate all the feedback, it's been a solid fest.
-Matt
 
Great little genre flick Matt!

The acting was a little stale but the make-up was good and that last shot where he's listing to the radio is excellently paced. I was terrified for the guy as he realizes his own sorry fate.
 
Amazing make up work, here. And kudos for going all in for style. Nice camera work. Only thing that took me out of it was the word "vaccine" (which I realize has been mentioned before). I generaly suspend my disbelief long past the time others give up, but I really had a hard time with that. Made me realize I was watching a movie. Call it a serum if you don't like the word antidote, but you can't vaccinate a person who is already infected. But, really, when that's all I have to complain about in a movie, everything else must be top notch, right? Good job, Matt.
 
I found this one very enjoyable. Love the subject matter of course, but also very well done. Nice atmosphere. Nice use of flashbacks w/ the Super 8 style footage. Well put together storyline and climax.

Only remarks I have would be a little drag in the middle with homeboy in the kitchen and the acting and dialog seemed a bit forced at times with the actors lacking any depth or forcing their performances a bit. Those are minor issues as the atmosphere and style holds it together fairly solid. Just the little shot of a woman screaming and running by the glass door was enough to pull me back in.

Creepy and fun and I got lost in your world, which is key.

I loved the camera shot in the living room where you do almost a full 360 pan into the bedroom; that was a nice touch !

Awesome job Matt !
 
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