"We Are Not Alone" - Reyo-San Pictures

After watching it again last night, I really liked the MATCH CUT from the back of the face-down dead body, to the moon at night.

A very nice transition indeed.

EJ
 
I'm glad people like that transition. I actually wrote it into the script so I wouldn't forget about doing it. Although, it was originally supposed to pan down from the moon to the woods on a wide shot with Daniel and Kate running(which is how it was shot), but with time constraints, I cut out the pan.
 
Although I'm glad the film didn't end at this point, I thought the scene where the main lead comes across the dime again, in the street, next to the dead body, was a very natural place to end the story.

I really liked the the whole 'underground' turn it took from then on, and could feel myself more emotionally involved in the piece because of it. It was almost a throw-back to a time perhaps that you'd imagine Nazi occupation to be like. A time where people kept silent, were more covert, moved in shadows, etc. The hand signals was a very nice visual touch...

It was a shame we didn't get to see the main lead kicking some organic butt in the end :) I felt that was a natural progession of the story, and perhaps would of made for a more rewarding emotional pay-off, given what was invested. Which was a lot.

Nice job again!

EJ
 
EJ Pennypacker said:
It was a shame we didn't get to see the main lead kicking some organic butt in the end :)

EJ
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Believe me, if I had the time and resources, you'd get to see that in a final shot. I just don't think it'll ever happen...

I've even thought about adding a quick sound bite after the cut to black of rifle shots with aliens shrieking in pain, but...I don't know.

Maybe I shouldn't dwell.
 
Perhaps it could end with a shot on a TV, and footage showing explosions as F16's rain down bombs. This way it could end how it started. With the TV coverage.

EJ
 
The only problem with that is, I want to show it was the victims themselves that really pulled it together and got their life back.

Like with Katrina, the goverment certainly helped, but it simply wasn't enough. Everyone had to put in their dime.
 
I have never seen a DVX created film that impressed me this much. While it was not as profoundly beautiful as Similo (Which was Phenomenal!!!) all of its elements were put together in such a way to make it believable and engaging throughout. I liked the motion blur on the ship, as I felt it made the camera pan look believable. I would have loved some alien screaming with gunshots at the end like you thought about. That would have been great. The visual effects were stunning and composited beautifully. The acting was superb as well. The things I believe would have made it better, if time was not an issue, were that the wife dies from a second laser, after the husband refuses to go, istead of him leaving her. Lastly, some alien screaming and gunshots. Other than that. It rocked, from beginning to end! One of my only perfect 10s.
 
Hey, Didnt get to read everyones reviews yet so I apologize if I'm repeating things. I'm sure that almost everyone has said or thought this but WOW. This was incredibly enjoyable and the effects were really good, story, acting and cinematography were also TOP NOTCH.

Only things that bugged me were the alien at the window, the beginning shot of the sky because I didnt know what was going on and the opening title. I think that the opening title was actually really bad but I forgave it about a million times over after watching the rest of the movie.

Outstanding!
 
Thanks for the thoughts and I'm pleased you guys enjoyed it!

Nobody356 said:
... the beginning shot of the sky because I didnt know what was going on
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Could you elaborate? I'm not sure what you're talking about here.
 
Well Kaz, what can I say? I'm still only a handful in to my viewing, but you have the kind of talent that impresses me. Your shots were beautiful, and the story felt complete. It ended with the sense that these people have a hard uphill battle facing them, and its anyone's guess how it will pan out.


I didnt know you were in the N.O. area, but I live in Florida and the very second I saw the huge uprooted tree, I knew where you had to have shot this. We still have lots of places still just like that in south Florida from 2 years ago.

Overall, very professional job. Held me beginning to end!

Terri
 
I enjoyed this a lot. The first line got to me -- like the first line of Odd Squad (but I know there's another thread on the board about the Katrina connection so I won't elaborate on that here). The fX were really, really well executed. Completely believable, great look and feel. The only thing about this film that made me hesitate was when the protagonist leaves his pregnant mate alone; I thought, wow, I don't think I could leave -- how can he do that? I'm kind of curious as to why you didn't just kill her off. But, I understand how that turning point gave him the motivation to go on and become part of the rebellion, so in the end, I guess I buy it. And, I just want to reiterate how much I liked every other aspect of it -- Oh, and I totally jumped out of my seat and yelped when that alien comes out of nowhere... Great job on that!
 
Ay yi yi -- I'm usually pretty good about reading an entire thread before I post, but I'm on this deadline and haven't had enough coffee yet, and just posted without a thorough read... So now I see the whole discussion about leaving his wife. You know, I agree with the thought that several others have expressed -- and you outlined very eloquently -- that you struggle with the idea and how to write it and execute it and make the best decision you can at the time. Just want to emphasize that it was an aspect of your film that I thought about as a writer, but as a viewer, I was still hanging in there with the protagonist after he left and still rooting for him at the end. And I did get that in the aftermath he was struggling with having made that decision. Anyway, apologies for bringing up a point that had already been discussed -- I enjoyed the discussion and shoulda read it before I posted ;)
 
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VERY impressive!

Best FX work I have seen so far! Killer job Kaz, I was into it for the entirety. Solid effort all around. What more can I say? You thought big and managed to pull it off, you are a seriously talented dood!
 
Hey Brian!

Really nice work... great use of the location (NOLA)...really nice CG work, looked very smooth.

I liked the acting a lot. Solid overall. Blake had a lot of presence and was pretty much spot on with his delivervies.

Quibbles are just that quibbles... audio on the flashback was a little weird. ADR? It was a little tooooooooo WotW, but it was executed well. And the last thing is really just a personal thing because I am a stickler, but to keep the actual movie's running time w/o end credits as close to 6 mins as possible since that was the official running time.

Great job though! I really enjoyed your film a lot!

-Robert
 
Thanks to everyone for their comments.

Ought2bCommitted said:
And the last thing is really just a personal thing because I am a stickler, but to keep the actual movie's running time w/o end credits as close to 6 mins as possible since that was the official running time.

Great job though! I really enjoyed your film a lot!

-Robert
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This has been discussed ad nauseum, but it was a mistake on Jarred's part. He put my DVD version up on accident and my 6 minute version was trashed.
 
Kaz said:
Thanks to everyone for their comments.



This has been discussed ad nauseum, but it was a mistake on Jarred's part. He put my DVD version up on accident and my 6 minute version was trashed.
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Sorry to be repeatative. I usually don't read all the posts until after I've written my own.
 
No harm done,O2bC.

Cheers!

MsManhattan said:
Just want to emphasize that it was an aspect of your film that I thought about as a writer, but as a viewer, I was still hanging in there with the protagonist after he left and still rooting for him at the end. ;)
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Excellent!

thartley said:
I didnt know you were in the N.O. area, but I live in Florida and the very second I saw the huge uprooted tree, I knew where you had to have shot this. We still have lots of places still just like that in south Florida from 2 years ago.

Overall, very professional job. Held me beginning to end!

Terri
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That's something I've been afraid of. Just HOW long is it going to be before things look normal around here?

the-lyons-den.com said:
VERY impressive!

Best FX work I have seen so far! Killer job Kaz, I was into it for the entirety. Solid effort all around. What more can I say? You thought big and managed to pull it off, you are a seriously talented dood!
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Here's hoping the next time I think big, I won't have to pull it off alone (technically speaking).
 
Hey Kaz -- did you know that your film is 20 seconds over? I'm sure it was some kind of mistake ... I just didn't know if anyone had pointed that out to you yet.











































































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