Yikes! Surely this is a lie?

I think Ilauzirika nailed it. I personally respect anyone who at least goes out there and does SOMETHING, anything, instead of sitting on their butts and doing absolutely nothing at all. Not to mention that in this era, to be fair, all of our crap has a potential to get posted online even if we're not thrilled about it. I was fortunate to grow up making lousy short films at a time when uploading to YouTube wasn't even an option, you showed it to your mom, your dad, a few friends, maybe an uncle, everyone gave you some kind words (even though it BLEW), and you moved on and made something else, learning from each experience. I would say the same things about the first shorts I made, they were all complete trash and we had some hokey effects, dorky dialogue, just bad filmmaking in general. But it was fun, that was the main thing, we had fun and we learned from it. So it's never a negative thing to be doing something you enjoy and learning in the process, but it IS funny only when people have no concept of what is professional grade and what is not.

I'm not saying that applies to this guy, who knows what his deal is? I don't know him. But it is funny to imagine this guy thinks he just made the Blade Runner of YouTube, and the effects are so terrible and acting so terrible as to be absolutely laughable. You have to understand if you put your work out there in public, you're allowing people to comment on it and that's just part of being an artist. Anyone has to have a thick enough skin to be able to tolerate that. It's tough, no doubt about it, when your work isn't well received, but if you're humble enough and passionate enough about your craft, you'll be able to take those criticisms and learn from them, progressively making better and better work. The people who don't listen to anyone else and assume their (crappy) work is good enough are the ones who will never grow into professionals. Everyone starts somewhere, and that somewhere is usually pretty amateur, unpolished material, but if there is some talent in there and the will to learn, who knows where you might end up?
 
Wow, there's a lot of replies since i last checked!

I didn't mean for this thread to bash the guy as such, I mean as said, he's working his ass off.

However the guy at the start of the plane is priceless... "what if we don't make it?" kinda makes me think he was referring to the series being popular. :)

Also, I can't help feel bad for these guys. I think if you're rounding up that many people for a production, you better have your $h*t together so you're not wasting everyone's time, assuming that they all never got paid. Such a waste of willing people IMO.
 
Tommy K said:
Ok... it was what it was... a campy material meant for the web... But after reading through all the responses, this question begs to be asked... Where has civility gone in this world? One mans art is another mans trash. The guy obviously put a lot of time and effort into this... perhaps somewhat misguided and I'll leave it at that, but the guy is creating and putting his ass on the line. He should be applauded not trashed. This thread regretfully wreaks of arrogance and snobbery. Does this thread make everyone feel more superior now? No one here knows what his situation is, or who he knows. Maybe Clint did look at this.. good for him. Who cares? Everyone has to start somewhere... C'mon lighten up already...
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after reading through the whole thread there is really only one person trashing the guy's material and to be honest, the harsh reality is that he is entitled to his opinion. everybody else was moreso having a laugh at the whole Clint Eastwood comment which really is only funny because he used that as a rebuttal AFTER the OP turned him down to do services for free, almost like an "Well Clint saw it so thanks for your opinion but i got this bro". if you think somebody is speaking harshly then single them out, don't blame the entire thread for bashing the guy's work when that's not entirely true.

i'm sure you dont practice what you preach every single time when you see a movie you think is a horrible movie in theaters whom tons of people spent months and sometimes years putting together. the person who made the youtube video will eventually learn from his mistakes or not. but the general public will not be so civil. there's a hundred page thread going on right now with people even bashing Avatar. you'll never please everybody. ever.

btw if this is coming off harsh, it's not meant to be. seriously.
 
Mickey Munday said:
after reading through the whole thread there is really only one person trashing the guy's material and to be honest, the harsh reality is that he is entitled to his opinion. everybody else was moreso having a laugh at the whole Clint Eastwood comment which really is only funny because he used that as a rebuttal AFTER the OP turned him down to do services for free, almost like an "Well Clint saw it so thanks for your opinion but i got this bro". if you think somebody is speaking harshly then single them out, don't blame the entire thread for bashing the guy's work when that's not entirely true.

i'm sure you dont practice what you preach every single time when you see a movie you think is a horrible movie in theaters whom tons of people spent months and sometimes years putting together. the person who made the youtube video will eventually learn from his mistakes or not. but the general public will not be so civil. there's a hundred page thread going on right now with people even bashing Avatar. you'll never please everybody. ever.

btw if this is coming off harsh, it's not meant to be. seriously.
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Sorry I don't buy what you're selling... the laughs were at the guys expense, pure and simple. You see, I view this forum as a vehicle to help people and promote brotherhood and shared interests. Some of you need to think real hard about what you are writing before pushing the send button. Is common courtesy and mutual respect dead?

And, you are very wrong... I try hard to practice what I preach every day. Maybe it is a generational thing or good upbringing? But today's younger people seem to have a propensity for being boorish and bullying people on the internet. That has become very obvious for all to see...
 
Tommy K said:
Sorry I don't buy what you're selling... the laughs were at the guys expense, pure and simple. You see, I view this forum as a vehicle to help people and promote brotherhood and shared interests. Some of you need to think real hard about what you are writing before pushing the send button. Is common courtesy and mutual respect dead?

And, you are very wrong... I try hard to practice what I preach every day. Maybe it is a generational thing or good upbringing? But today's younger people seem to have a propensity for being boorish and bullying people on the internet. That has become very obvious for all to see...
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well it's a good thing i wasn't selling you anything. yes, this forum is a vehicle for helping people, but the video posted was not a dvxuser (as far as we know). not sure what you mean by "some of you need to think long and hard before pushing the send button" but dont lump me into a category when i haven't even spoken on the man's video either way.

and if you're the perfect boy scout and have never verbalized your distaste for any movie ever in your entire life from birth until current times whatsoever then congratulations. my only point is that people are entitled to their opinions, good or bad. one thing every filmmaker knows or should know is that you have to develop thick skin. everybody's not going to always give helpful critiscm or pat you on the back and say good job. just like with anything in life.
 
OK, I can respect the amount of work the guy put in and still think that he created a truly BAD film. I can even laugh at him for apparently not realizing how god awful it is. If it was the OP's film I would be more politic but it isn't. If the filmmaker for some reason wanders on to this site then I apologize if any comments offend you but the film has a silly plot BAD acting, horrible lines, some of the most fake fight sequences I have seen in a long time, VERY bad production sound, no postproduction sound (or so little I couldn't tell) and no sense of direction.

I see a lot of student films and some are pretty bad, but I have never seen anything that looked like this that wasn't intended to be a send up. And maybe it is one. If so then they need to polish something so we know it's a send up and not just a REALLY bad film.

I am not of the school of thought that says adults need to be treated like two year-olds learning to walk. If you claim to be an artist then your putting yourself out there and I respect that. Part of why I respect it is because people are going to judge your work and you have to deal with it, learn, improve, ignore it, whatever. But you put it out there it's your fanny on the line. If nobody is honest with you it's an insult and shows no respect for your work.

If your making a home movie for your friends then I will cut you a huge amount of slack. But if you claim to be putting it out there as a professional then you need to take criticism like a professional.

Telling me I'm wearing a fine suit while I'm walking naked down main street is not "common curtseys", nor does it "show respect".
 
I'll go back to my original posting. If the creator of the video asked for feedback and criticism, I will give it. In this case, it was posted by someone else. In scenarios like that I may make constructive criticism like I see in many other videos from beginners: "overuse of shallow depth of field, it isn't being used as storytelling device, and bringing emphasis to right beats or moment of the scene" May not be right or wrong, but my opinion on how to tell a story visually.

We are all still learning no matter how much experience we have. I can learn as much from these types of videos as I do from ones that are excellent.

Michael
 
Noiz2 said:
OK, I can respect the amount of work the guy put in and still think that he created a truly BAD film. I can even laugh at him for apparently not realizing how god awful it is. If it was the OP's film I would be more politic but it isn't. If the filmmaker for some reason wanders on to this site then I apologize if any comments offend you but the film has a silly plot BAD acting, horrible lines, some of the most fake fight sequences I have seen in a long time, VERY bad production sound, no postproduction sound (or so little I couldn't tell) and no sense of direction.

I see a lot of student films and some are pretty bad, but I have never seen anything that looked like this that wasn't intended to be a send up. And maybe it is one. If so then they need to polish something so we know it's a send up and not just a REALLY bad film.

I am not of the school of thought that says adults need to be treated like two year-olds learning to walk. If you claim to be an artist then your putting yourself out there and I respect that. Part of why I respect it is because people are going to judge your work and you have to deal with it, learn, improve, ignore it, whatever. But you put it out there it's your fanny on the line. If nobody is honest with you it's an insult and shows no respect for your work.

If your making a home movie for your friends then I will cut you a huge amount of slack. But if you claim to be putting it out there as a professional then you need to take criticism like a professional.

Telling me I'm wearing a fine suit while I'm walking naked down main street is not "common curtseys", nor does it "show respect".
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+1
 
Noiz2 said:
But if you claim to be putting it out there as a professional then you need to take criticism like a professional.

.
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Yea? Well this works both ways, or at least it should. It's all how you present your criticism. Don't criticize someones work in a sophomoric way. I am not saying you... I am just responding to your comments. If you are claiming to be the better professional by having the ability and experience to pick apart someone Else's work, than act like a "PRO", and do it in a non condescending way, not like you are in a junior high school gang...
 
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Tommy K said:
Yea? Well this works both ways, or at least it should. It's all how you present your criticism. Don't criticism someones work in a sophomoric way. I am not saying you... I am just responding to your comments. If you are claiming to be the better professional by having the ability and experience to pick apart someone Else's work, than act like a "PRO", and do it in a non condescending way, not like you are in a junior high school gang...
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So, in two words, constructive criticism?


-Andrew
 
WoW, I didn't expect to see that here. I actually know the film makers who did this web series. I don't know them "personally" as in, I've never spoken to them in person. But I know who they are. That was done out of Atlanta. I know some of the actors as well. I wasn't that impressed with it, but I do give them kudos for going out there and making a film. At least they aren't shooting test films of flowers and puppies.
 
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Good or bad, the only way stuff like this gets made is for people to work for free. It has always been that way because there just isn't any money, and it is a lottery tickets chance of seeing any in the back end. The difference between now and when 'Clerks' and 'El Mariachi' came out is that technology allows much more crap to be made. When you had to budget for 16mm you had to believe in your project enough to put up $20,000 that you would never get back. That level of faith carried through to the free crew and they did their best work. The cast learned the line because you only have enough film for one take. Investing $20,000 in cameras and computers and calling that a film budget is not the same as buying film. You can use that to shoot weddings or corporate or something.

If you are going to use people for free, make it like community theatre, or cable access, the people are there for something to do and have fun, don't exploit, and make sure they get something out of it. If you win the lottery make sure you pay out. I've made some crap films for no money, but they were a lot of fun on set and everyone involved had a good time. Is it really any worse than golf, bowling or drinking in some bar. If you want to make money from films, you better know someone that can get you a job on a paid shoot. Otherwise resolve to the fact that filmmaking is a hobby and get a job to pay the rent.
 
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