"We Are Not Alone" - Reyo-San Pictures
- Thread starter Kaz
- Start date
Filmjunkie677
Master of Horror
Kaz,
Fantastic, it felt very professional and felt like a "real" film.
Props on the production value and the CGI.
I loved the shot of the girl's body laying on the ground. Very creepy.
The whole tone is kept consistent throughout. The end of the world and the survivors banding together to overthrow them type scenario, almost like a Romero zombie film.
Kudos and keep it up. High marks from me!
Fantastic, it felt very professional and felt like a "real" film.
Props on the production value and the CGI.
I loved the shot of the girl's body laying on the ground. Very creepy.
The whole tone is kept consistent throughout. The end of the world and the survivors banding together to overthrow them type scenario, almost like a Romero zombie film.
Kudos and keep it up. High marks from me!
Norm Sanders
Script Wrangler
Kaz, I was amazed at some of the production value you pulled off with this. Some great shots. Was this with the HVX or DVX? The charred cop car in the beginning was great as well, which I'm assuming you composted in.
Also, nice to hear you used Vegas for compositing/editing. It's what I use, and I'm always inspired to see what people can pull off with it.
The opening, to me, is by far the best in the whole film. While the story is solid, and is in some respects a compressed first act of a feature film (what ours is as well, I believe), there were a few spots that pulled me out of the experience.
First, was what others have mentioned already; the rack focus on the spaceship overhead. It had a documentary/war camera feel to it, which none of the rest of it had ... so I found myself saying, who's the camera man that's in this scene, as it was that POV feel that threw me.
Second, their love is so strong between the man & woman, not to mention she's carrying their baby ... I didn't find it believable that he would listen to her & actually leave her there. I'd fight to the death, even knowing it would be hopeless, rather than leave my wife & baby behind. It would have fit better, for me at least, if she'd been hit again as he's trying to drag/carry her, she's actually killed, and then when he sees there's nothing further he can do, he finally leaves her ... but not leaving her to experience the doom/pain she's going to when he leaves her alive.
Otherwise, I like the tie-ins with the dime, the transitions, the FX, overall story, etc. I've only watched about 8 films so far (still downloading), but of those, this is the highest ranking one yet. VERY nice job.
Also, nice to hear you used Vegas for compositing/editing. It's what I use, and I'm always inspired to see what people can pull off with it.
The opening, to me, is by far the best in the whole film. While the story is solid, and is in some respects a compressed first act of a feature film (what ours is as well, I believe), there were a few spots that pulled me out of the experience.
First, was what others have mentioned already; the rack focus on the spaceship overhead. It had a documentary/war camera feel to it, which none of the rest of it had ... so I found myself saying, who's the camera man that's in this scene, as it was that POV feel that threw me.
Second, their love is so strong between the man & woman, not to mention she's carrying their baby ... I didn't find it believable that he would listen to her & actually leave her there. I'd fight to the death, even knowing it would be hopeless, rather than leave my wife & baby behind. It would have fit better, for me at least, if she'd been hit again as he's trying to drag/carry her, she's actually killed, and then when he sees there's nothing further he can do, he finally leaves her ... but not leaving her to experience the doom/pain she's going to when he leaves her alive.
Otherwise, I like the tie-ins with the dime, the transitions, the FX, overall story, etc. I've only watched about 8 films so far (still downloading), but of those, this is the highest ranking one yet. VERY nice job.
Kaz
Well-known member
Envision said:
Ah! Now THIS is a comment!
I went through great pains with this part. Originally, the flashbacks were to be quick. Later, I realized they would add even more emotional impact for the character and extra empathy from the audience. So I decided to focus more on them.
Your issues were definitely discussed, but knowing full well ahead of time that I only had 1 1/2 minutes to make that whole sequence as believable as possible, the kind of struggle you speak of would have taken up a lot of extra time so it was compressed into the simple words as he is running away, "Oh God..." As in, "I can't believe what I'm doing..." which I thought my actor read brilliantly.
Great insight!
janzie
Active member
kaz, so far the best movie i´ve seen...i just told my girl friend "it´s like WOTW, but better" (well, i surprisingly liked WOTW until the last third) and yours keeps the tone till the end...the effects were really good (the green laser beam i liked the least, but it worked)...i gotta go with envision with the "he should´nt leave her"-theory...i actually liked the out of focus shot, cause the texture looked more like a dragon than a spaceship...the only thing i´d complain about is the "little-shop-of-horrors" shadow (is that audrey 2?) and the people at the end (except for the guy with the scars)-i just didn´t buy that the others went through the same crisis as the main character...i´ve only seen it once (and i won´t rate until i´ve seen them all) - actually i can´t rate at all (##posts) but i´ll definately show it to all the people around here to demonstrate what can be achieved and why it´s worth spending more than a week on a short (otherwise it looks like mine...)
great job
jan
great job
jan
Kaz
Well-known member
Thanks, Janzie.
I won't lie, the green lazer beam I got lazy with. It's sorta overwhelming doing everything yourself sometimes.
As to the Audrey thing, I should have seen that coming, but if you look at the document on the wall at the end that's exactly what my 3D alien looks like (nothing like Audrey) I think the confusion stems from the fact that the alien is actually stuck to the wall like a slug.
And BTW, ALL my alien ships are actually organic, living things. Hence the "dragon" look you saw and why the fungicide, algaeicide in copper sulfate will eventually take them all out.
I won't lie, the green lazer beam I got lazy with. It's sorta overwhelming doing everything yourself sometimes.
As to the Audrey thing, I should have seen that coming, but if you look at the document on the wall at the end that's exactly what my 3D alien looks like (nothing like Audrey) I think the confusion stems from the fact that the alien is actually stuck to the wall like a slug.
And BTW, ALL my alien ships are actually organic, living things. Hence the "dragon" look you saw and why the fungicide, algaeicide in copper sulfate will eventually take them all out.
janzie
Active member
that´s why i got lazy with all my effects too...
i like your aliens...it´s just the first thing that came to my mind and it was our (viewer) and their (protagonists) first contact, after that you made it clear that audrey is not part of the game
i got that, but i still like the choice of going out of focus
BTW did you use a 35mm adapter on some shots??
i like your aliens...it´s just the first thing that came to my mind and it was our (viewer) and their (protagonists) first contact, after that you made it clear that audrey is not part of the game
i got that, but i still like the choice of going out of focus
BTW did you use a 35mm adapter on some shots??
Daniel Skubal
Veteran
Damn Kaz!
This has been one of my favs so far! Your CG was top notch. My only comments to you are concerning a few of your cg choices. As stated before, the in and out of focus thing seems a bit out of place, but I think it was the model itself that was a bit out of place. I think with a bit more tweaking you could have gained some more realisim (ie decreasing the contrast and doing a motion blur on it.) That was really the only thing that took me out of the film.
The beginning sequence was incredible. I just loved it. The SDOF of the dime shot to the pull out shot of the ship composite had me cheering. I literally said to myself "Holy ****. This is incredible!"
Although the story was in the shadow of WOTW, I felt you put your own twist on it. I loved the story, and the ending was great. You left it open for an expansion of the story and it just felt right.
I thought your compositing was just superb! Would you be willing to do a tutorial or something for the DVD?
Thanks for making such an entertaining film!
This has been one of my favs so far! Your CG was top notch. My only comments to you are concerning a few of your cg choices. As stated before, the in and out of focus thing seems a bit out of place, but I think it was the model itself that was a bit out of place. I think with a bit more tweaking you could have gained some more realisim (ie decreasing the contrast and doing a motion blur on it.) That was really the only thing that took me out of the film.
The beginning sequence was incredible. I just loved it. The SDOF of the dime shot to the pull out shot of the ship composite had me cheering. I literally said to myself "Holy ****. This is incredible!"
Although the story was in the shadow of WOTW, I felt you put your own twist on it. I loved the story, and the ending was great. You left it open for an expansion of the story and it just felt right.
I thought your compositing was just superb! Would you be willing to do a tutorial or something for the DVD?
Thanks for making such an entertaining film!
Norm Sanders
Script Wrangler
So which camera did you use HVX or DVX? It was VERY crisp & tight, and if you DID use a 35 adapter, all the more impressive considering the light loss you would have been fighting for the INT. shots.
arielman
Well-known member
This was good , right from the opening scene .
At the point where the Ship lands on his front yard and we hear those noises , I really thought you were going to surprise us with something Cheesie BUT you didn't .
I also liked the scene when he has to leave his wife and unborn child, what a decision !
Man this was really good . Held me to the end .
Well done Kaz.
Ian
At the point where the Ship lands on his front yard and we hear those noises , I really thought you were going to surprise us with something Cheesie BUT you didn't .
I also liked the scene when he has to leave his wife and unborn child, what a decision !
Man this was really good . Held me to the end .
Well done Kaz.
Ian
Kaz
Well-known member
Wow! Thanks for the kind words!
No 35mm adapter, sadly. The dime was in macro and the SDOP shot of the character watching TV was a mask in Vegas. I do love that program! Just better support HVX someday.....
The rest was the tried and true "move back, zoom in and seperate the objects from the background" method.
dj, the ship already had substantial low contrast AND motion blur. I think it more comes down to use of advanced shaders which I'm only just beginning to learn.
No 35mm adapter, sadly. The dime was in macro and the SDOP shot of the character watching TV was a mask in Vegas. I do love that program! Just better support HVX someday.....
The rest was the tried and true "move back, zoom in and seperate the objects from the background" method.
dj, the ship already had substantial low contrast AND motion blur. I think it more comes down to use of advanced shaders which I'm only just beginning to learn.
ExtremeSleuth
Veteran
i loved this one... very good job kaz! it was shot very cool, loved the effects... good one all around
macgregor
Veteran
What I like about this film is that from the first 20 seconds i was watching a movie. And not just an "attempt to create a movie".
Every shot is there for a purpouse. Editing is superb as well as cinematography of the shots. I am not talking about lighting (which is quite good) but about film language itself.
Whatch for example the terror scene in minute 1.50. Ok, we just started this story, and Kaz made a terror situation with just 10 shots and a living room. Only very talented people can do this. It is a honor to have this guy here in the forum.
I think this is the best shortfilm i have seen this year by far.
Also the script design (start-middle-end) and how the story is told is superb.
Using the Katrina couldnt have served a better purpouse. I was amazed with the matte paintings until i though: "wait a second, maybe he did... no, that is impossible..."
Note: Can you give me the girl´s telephone number? She looks nice to me. :]
Every shot is there for a purpouse. Editing is superb as well as cinematography of the shots. I am not talking about lighting (which is quite good) but about film language itself.
Whatch for example the terror scene in minute 1.50. Ok, we just started this story, and Kaz made a terror situation with just 10 shots and a living room. Only very talented people can do this. It is a honor to have this guy here in the forum.
I think this is the best shortfilm i have seen this year by far.
Also the script design (start-middle-end) and how the story is told is superb.
Using the Katrina couldnt have served a better purpouse. I was amazed with the matte paintings until i though: "wait a second, maybe he did... no, that is impossible..."
Note: Can you give me the girl´s telephone number? She looks nice to me. :]
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