Wolf Tree

Hawk Teflon said:
SPOILERS. PLEASE STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THIS SHORT.

What I liked: You had some really nice looking shots and locations throughout the entire short. Not just one or two, either. I liked the eyes on the werewolves as well. Was that in post or contacts? If it was post, it was done VERY well. Pretty gnarly scene if the dad being bitten, too.
Click to expand...

Hawk, thank you very much for the comments and criticism. It is VERY well taken and I don't have thin skin about this. I know it is what it is and has issues--I'll try to explain things as best I can:

Thank you about the look of the film. I tried to make the most of an interesting location and I am spoiled here in Utah--there are lots of visually cool places to shoot. I had told Chad about some interesting locations as possibilities here, and silver mines seemed like a great fit for a werewolf story of sorts. (i.e. silver bullet mythos) The eyes were all contacts (cheapies unfortunately and all the same) but there simply wasn't enough time to do what I had hoped with them in post. Same with fangs, etc. I went with what I had and that was that. Essentially, since I didn't have Rick Baker making my dream werewolf, I thought minimalist moon "berserkers" might work. Basically lunar spell-rabid-rage virus infected blokes. With some vfx work ahead I think they can be at least passable.

I had a little bit of crew the first day of the shoot, but people dropped out after some setbacks and I ended up going mostly solo as far as cinematography goes.

What I didn't like as much (so please take this opinion with a grain of salt): I'm a pretty dumb dude, I know. Man, I did not understand the reference to the tree at the beginning at all. They never were there to my recollection. When they were in the cave and scared and said, "Let's get out of here," why didn't they just go out the opening they just came into? I also didn't understand what he was supposed to be swearing and "please mean." I feel like a line was cut that might have explained that.
Click to expand...


About the tree--The whole idea of it was to try and open up the world with an origin story of sorts to the "pack". The story was based on an old pioneer legend from the area but simply couldn't film what was written.

I was going to do an opening title card a lot like Pulp Fiction that defined the movie's title as a dictionary term. This is from Merriam-Webster

wolf tree

noun


Definition of WOLF TREE

: a very large forest tree that has a wide-spreading crown and inhibits or prevents the growth of smaller trees around it

First Known Use of WOLF TREE

1928






So yeah--I bit off a lot and only filmed part of the story. The other thing that I know is very ambiguous is the whole "I swear it" thing at the end. The idea was to try and convey that the werewolves (as supernatural beings) could sniff out a lie easily. My intent was to try and make it seem like a supernatural miracle that they let the kid go. Well--I had some cool macro close-ups of eyes in slomo, but that was a tough sell no matter what. A bunch of people involved wanted me to have the kid say "I'll never tell" so that it's more clear that it was like an oath given to the pack. I may still do that, but we'll see.

As far as the kids going into the silver mine instead of walking out the gate--it was supposed to be implied that the pack was right outside and would've killed the kid if it weren't for the boy werewolf. Again, tough to sell the idea was that the silver mine was like radiation poisoning to the werewolves. Obviously, I had performance issues in this scene particularly, and I cut out a lot of dialog.


Thanks again for the comments!
 
Last edited:
Elton... what can I say... great job and I'm still jealous of that location! Knowing the struggle behind this one I have to commend you on getting it together
and out. Film production certainly can be a battle and fight you every step of the way. You whipped this on into fine shape!

I thought the acting all-around was very good, even with a little stumble here & there. You did a great job shooting this, just some beautiful shots. I did find the a bit of
the tunnel shots tough to see on my TV but nothing too bad. Great make-up & glowing eyes. LOVED the SloMo of the guy getting eaten. I know this isn't the final, final cut
...so I can't wait to see it in it's complete form. Really great job!
 
Last edited:
Elton,

Your film was an anticipated one for me. I like the location a lot. You are lucky to have access to it. I liked how you made it seem that it was indeed a 3-4 hour hike in the middle of no where. I tried to pull the same thing off but had to scrap it because of time. I too filmed in an old silver mine but because of the story line I didn't reveal it as such. I know the challenges of filming in one. Since we are in the Mojave Desert there is so much dirt everywhere our equipment was filthy and we were constantly breathing in dust.

I thought your lighting was a little dark in spots in the mine. I ended up grabbing an inexpensive led panel for our mine shots that had the option of running off of batteries. This was great cause I knew a generator was out of the question and it was so easy to move and set up.

I thought that in the beginning when the characters meet, there could more ambient noise like wind and tress wrestling to give it more depth. I loved the DVX image and everyone peeing on the same tree. I thought this was really creative.

Overall, I really enjoyed the film. I read that you may do a re-edit and I would love to see it. Great job and I look forward to seeing more work from you in the future.
 
Interesting to see the comments on our little film. Had many of the same concerns and issues with the film notable the kid dialogue being ambiguous about the "Swearing" considering it was 5 hours in a chilly mine with a first time actor (Ephraim) with his shirt off most of the time it could been worse. Also the riches of location is very true and was something myself and the other Actor/.Producer stressed very strongly. For the record I was "Porter" and we overcame a lot of issues to make this happen ;)
 
I also can vouch for Elton's passion and lack of thin skin about this project ;) cause he would have skinned me alive already if he didn't ha ha.
 
Zak Forsman said:
a solid effort. some beautiful compositions in this short, you've got a great eye. for me, the key area to improve upon would be the writing -- had some structural and tone issues, imo. and the performance of the blond haired kid was weak. but i really admired the direction in many ways mostly because it surprised me a few times... in a good way.
Click to expand...
It was the "Blond Haired Kid"s first time in front of the camera and his first scene was 5 hours 500 feet back in a cold silver mine with his shirt off most of the time. Just incase anybody was wondering ;) And I agree the writing could have used some improvement as we urged at the time strenuously ;). For the record Elton was great to work with and learned a lot from this project. Dave aka Porter/Alpha Werewolf
 
Not much I can add that hasn't already been said. There were some nice shots in this short, but there were also some average looking shots in there as well. I think if you can get your shot consistency up it would make a huge improvement. I did find some of the acting and dialogue a bit on the nose, particularly the exchange at the beginning about the helicopter. I also think the edit could be tightened up to make this a little more coherent and a new grade would do well. I did get a little lost with the story as well, but thought some of the special FX makeup looked kinda cool. I thought your location was pretty cool and with a recut/regrade this could have some potential.
 
The opening dialog turned me off, because why would there be kids there? And the one excuse made me groan. I don't think it would've if we would've seen the mother and the family dynamic before this scene, but we didn't so all we have is the excuse. That's what makes shorts hard, you don't have the time to fight off that disbelieve. The DVX thing made me laugh. That sure is a long piss scene. Where did the premonition talk come from? I love when people find great locations. You didn't reach the 10 minute mark, but it still felt like things were missing. What was he swearing, to not tell? The kids dialog or maybe it was the delivery kind of bugged me. I loved the ambition with this one. Good job.
 
I enjoyed it! It had some fun movements and some nice camerawork with the wide angle lens on steadicam.
I think the major part it suffered was the acting on the teen parts.... and jeez the pissing scene was freaking awkward lol
One little nitpick (probably youtube’s fault), but the color wasn’t consistent between shots. One shot the screen would be tinted green, the next, purple.

Final note, a worthy effort and I appreciate the outcome!
 
Some great shots and staging. Great steadi cam.
Performances uneven and some dialogue a little stiff.
Like the silhouette backlit shots walking into the cave.
Great slo mo werwolf silhouette in the cave in trance.
Like the extreme wide angle lens to discover the bodies.
Like the birdseye when there surrounded.
The day for night and the makeup looks pretty good.
The slowmo eating really works too - great visual, staging and sound design.
Some of these tracking shots in the cave with the warm green moss and cool walls are great.
The warm flashlights look great with the cool walls too.
Great shot when the kid turns around and he’s face to face with the older werwolf.
Like how you get the blood to pop even in the cool tones.
Good subtle pale makeup on the blond wolf kid - works great with the lighting.


Not 100% on the story - did they bring these folks out here to turn them also? Do they try to lock themselves up in the mines on full moons but things went wrong?


Your art direction, camera movement, cinematography - all working well for you. Color palette especially nice.

Nice work!
 
Ah... WOLF TREE!

This film is a very interesting mix of far range inconsistencies (which hey... isn't necessarily a bad thing on the way towards GREATNESS hehe!)

The effort employed on the cinematography is admirable, and the mid shots in particular are very attractive. The wide shows are dominated by pans / and tracks and so forth - I dunno.

When you have the beauty of this natural environment, we never get the opportunity to take in its majesty or grandeur which would have really placed these characters as the tiny insects they are in this great place.

The constant movement on the wides almost gave it a kind of television looks (for a moment it actually reminded me of the Asylum productions!)

Then we get to the PEEING SCENE! Wow... that (and the dvx placement) was a little overkill. But the peeing scene was hilarious, the longing looks... the batting eyelashes... the constant glances between father and son... their furtive members twitching in the forest... peeing... peeeeeing....

for some 10 minutes. Dad is just a little too curious about his sons penis... don't you think?

The slow mos in general DO NOT WORK imo in this film. From the peeing to the scenes where they look around themselves at the monsters. The repetition of sound effects combined with the slow mo (like the peeing scene) brings an unintended level of humour imo.

That said, the make up - effort, and the scenes that take place inside the cave with the boys - is a marked improvement! Now... what if the story had moved THERE faster... so that the action comprised of their life and death struggle to escape a mine pursued by these nightmares!

Instead we get the awkward lines between the boys... "I'M NOT WHO YOU THINK I AM?" - what a 13 year old Bon Jovi? Of course not? We don't need to know this... you've give us MONSTERS!

WE WANT MONSTERS BRO!

So... a lot of great ideas - beautiful mid shots, awkward wides... great monsters... awkward slow mo action scenes... A real mix - I wonder if this is not a film that genuinely might not improve 300% through another editors perspective.
 
Hey JDS and Lawrie,

Thank you so much! I thoroughly enjoyed the review/feedback. There is hardly anything that I would disagree with. I sincerely appreciate the time you guys took to watch and give great constructive feedback! It was fun to make the film even in its current unfinished condition. I haven't really thought about it much in months. I had a great many trials in making it, but I am happy to have taken my first honest stab at horror.

@ Lawrie--

Just some quick responses to each thing you mentioned...

--Thanks about the cinematography. I actually had a DP that dropped out on me and I just did the best I could, mostly on my trusty Glidecam. Definitely too many wide pans. I agree that I could've done more with the environment but as it is probably painfully obvious, much of my shoot was glorified "run-n-gun" and I didn't have much time to indulge my inner Mallick. :)

--Ah yes, the PEEING scene. Haha, at least a few people had some biting laughs from it. I know it's awkward as hell, which was my intention. Very over the top for sure. I actually shouldn't have added the scene because it was a pick up scene I shot late October and in general it was a silly, hurried edit. I hope to find some editing help, and yeah, I could really use an objective eye. Basically, the gist of it is that the werewolf father and son were actually marking territory and signalling/foreshadowing a ritual kill for the rest of the "pack." It's super ridiculous but there's actually a lot of material that I didn't address that might sell what I was suggesting. We'll see.

--Yeah, the mine is pretty cool, but holy cow was it a nightmare to shoot in! Complete darkness everywhere and a persistent cold wind shaft-breeze that made it really tough to just think straight after a few hours. Grabbing LED lights to just go and find equipment all the time...whoa, it was tough on both the crew and the kids. Yes, the blonde kid was the main performance issue but I have to have some compassion for the misery he was going through in that scene.

I do love your suggestion about making more of the film about a nightmare chase inside the mine. Obviously I didn't sell the kryptonite-like effect the silver mine had on the werwolves all that well.

--I think some of the slomo works, but probably much less of it in a much tighter edit. And of course with finished FX on the fangs, etc would've helped. It's unintentionally funny that they look like "Deliverance" hillbilly werewolves. Haha


Again, thank you so much for the thoughtful criticism. It's given me some inspiration to see what can be done with a much better editor than myself!

Cheers!

Elton
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top