Your overall opinion of TwilightFest?

alex whitmer said:
Maybe Chris Messineo has the best idea.

Stick your neck out and for sure someone will take a whack at it.

Agree with some of your take on things. I was just shooting from the 'perfect world' hip.
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lol, then what would we have to talk about? But I do think there needs to be strides taken to work towards that "perfect world", JDS' how to give and receive criticism thread was a huge step in the right direction. Unfortunately, I have no specific solutions like that, only general suggestions. :)
 
Ben Sliker said:
lol, then what would we have to talk about? But I do think there needs to be strides taken to work towards that "perfect world", JDS' how to give and receive criticism thread was a huge step in the right direction. Unfortunately, I have no specific solutions like that, only general suggestions. :)
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I think the perfect world will forever remain elusive. Maybe more folks will pick up the AIM modus and run with it. Why I like them so much is that it is clear you are watching every minute of the film. I know it's not all that practical for every participant to watch every film, I'd just like to see more of an indication it's not just a 'thread bumper'.

Am I guilty? Hell yes! I even went door to door looking for comments.

Best is the use of 'Lol' to move from page three to the top of page 1

All in all - hell of a hard theme to tackle, for both filmmaker and viewer.

a
 
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I'm sorry to all of those I haven't commented on (most of them). I owe it to everybody to watch and review their film, but I haven't yet. School has been getting in the way of most things, but I'll try to get these viewed over time.

I really have liked the films I've seen so far (about 10).
 
J.R. Hudson said:
I think the majority of the films are really really bad. No concept of camera composition, framing, sound, editing, visual storytelling, acting ....

But hey, we're all learning, right ?

There's always a handful of nice films and one or two that are really on the bubble of being much more, but the rest are, how do you say ? Meh ?
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I agree. In previous fests I would have been more vocal about this - but I now that I have an entry, I realize an encouraging comment really makes my day. So I try not to tell people their films suck. But there's a lot of mehs out there.

Actually, I think less than half of the films submitted this fest could be considered "films" - you know what I mean? Some are so bad they're just a series of moving images.
 
A number of screenplay review forums have word minimums, like 50 or so, but it really doesn't guarantee a better review. 47 filler words, and three opinion words. Arg.

Some do critique by assignment. That may not work either, as a viewer will jam through to get to their preferred choices.

In the end it all comes down to the individuals, and some are going to be more thorough than others - though not by default more heartfelt. Some will skate by, others will just be cheerleaders. All valid, right?

If this DVX fest monster gets to be much bigger, I'll go the route of picking 20 film makers I know, and 20 I don't, and call that my share. With 40, I feel I can really take the time to comment, and revisit any threads where I'd like to add more feedback.

Seems doable.

I recind the 'lazy' comment. We all just have our own way of participating.

I won't butt kiss though. Honesty is still a good policy, even if it gets you shot.

aw
 
gabrielflorit said:
I agree. In previous fests I would have been more vocal about this - but I now that I have an entry, I realize an encouraging comment really makes my day. So I try not to tell people their films suck. But there's a lot of mehs out there.

Actually, I think less than half of the films submitted this fest could be considered "films" - you know what I mean? Some are so bad they're just a series of moving images.
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I was the King of "the sound wasn't great but you did this well."
Thats an example of what ever +/- comments I would leave.
I'm not overly critical but I will point some things out.

While doing so I try not to repeat the same criticism over and over again.

Cheers,

Mike
 
alex whitmer said:
Okay, so when will we know the next theme/rules so we can start this masochistic business all over again?

a
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The next fest is announced this coming Monday, right?

My requirement for this next fest: to only proceed if I have a script that makes me excited. I must say... Twilight Fest was not my cup of tea. I don't like to work in a supernatural world.
 
Last time I commented every film. Which only lead to a great deal of people coming into my thread and telling me that the film was a waste of their time. With the disclaimer on the first page that I shot the film in less than a day with my brothers friends who were interested in being in a movie.

Needless to say, I found it very discouraging. Sure - I knew the film wasn't perfect. Wasn't intended to be. But some of that stuff hurt.

This fest, I was too busy to even watch most of the films. And that said - I skipped through maybe 1 out of every 3 I did watch. Couldn't do it. And another one out of those three I stopped entirely.

But the fest is a learning experience. Will I go into a thread and rip something apart? No. Will I offer constructive crits? Most definitely. But last fest's response really made me not want to comment anything. I think it got better this time around though.
 
Mattykins said:
Last time I commented every film. Which only lead to a great deal of people coming into my thread and telling me that the film was a waste of their time. With the disclaimer on the first page that I shot the film in less than a day with my brothers friends who were interested in being in a movie.

Needless to say, I found it very discouraging. Sure - I knew the film wasn't perfect. Wasn't intended to be. But some of that stuff hurt.
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I think any filmmaker has to have rather thick skin. For example. Take my entry, Forgotten. It's flawed in many ways. I know this. So when someone points it out, it doesn't hurt me, because I know it. "Your audio sucked" - yes, I know. "The bar is too bright" - yes, I know. I love it when someone points out a flaw I hadn't noticed before.

I don't think you should get hurt when people criticize your film. Criticism is good. If you don't want your film to get shredded, don't show it in the first place.
 
gabrielflorit said:
I think any filmmaker has to have rather thick skin....I don't think you should get hurt when people criticize your film. Criticism is good. If you don't want your film to get shredded, don't show it in the first place.
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I think Aaron Cheney, who wrote one of the songs in our film, said it best in this post from the Barn Dance thread:
smallbutmighty said:
As artists, it is always tough exposing our babies to the cold, cruel world, but as I always say, "If all I wanted was a pat on the back, I would have shown it to my Mom."...Aaron Cheney
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I can take criticism on my films. I had the thread deleted. I mean, I can't remember half the stuff that was said. There is a difference between slamming a film. And slamming the person. That was my point.

I guess trying to explain the point is worthless.
 
Mattykins said:
I can take criticism on my films. I had the thread deleted. I mean, I can't remember half the stuff that was said. There is a difference between slamming a film. And slamming the person. That was my point.

I guess trying to explain the point is worthless.
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Yes. I agree with you. Slamming the person is not cool.
 
Norm Sanders said:
I think this was one of the weaker fests, with regards to quality of work and/or sticking with the theme. One of the main reasons I'm voicing this is that (and I did see this mentioned on the 1st page) was that many of the entries completely missed the park with regards to the Twilight Zone feel, and just went all out thriller/horror.

The Twilight Zone, as I remember it, was usually more subtle, and VERY often would make you think afterwards of what you'd do in the same situation, etc. Very few films in this fest matched up with a true Twilight Zone theme/feel to them.
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A film can be technically beautiful and completely miss the mark in terms of
feel and/or imagination. We had a pretty good number of decent films that
stayed faithful to the theme, independent of genre of course, but most didn't
offer anything substance wise. I yearn mostly for substance over technical
ability and that's what I feel should be the heart of each short no matter what
the theme is.

I honestly had a difficult time conveying my honest opinion on some films
without the fear of being frowned upon because of opposing thoughts. I've
been berated in Horror Fest and lectured in Twilight Fest so now I really
don't feel like commenting on certain filmmakers threads just to avoid
the clashing of opposing thoughts.

I gotta pee. Finish this one later.
 
Interestingly enough, I feel more free to offer constructive criticism to the "established players" in the fests, since I hold them to a much higher standard... because those same criticism's can be perceived as "bashing" of a newcomer... IMO.
 
Brandon Rice said:
Interestingly enough, I feel more free to offer constructive criticism to the "established players" in the fests, since I hold them to a much higher standard... because those same criticism's can be perceived as "bashing" of a newcomer... IMO.
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Oh... Yah... Ummmm, Brandon. You can hold off on reviewing my movie. No rush. I know you're busy. :grin:

LOL.
 
Well that's the main difference I noticed here, and I guess it's everywhere that way. Those who want critics are partly or mostly aware of their own mistakes, so pointing those out to them is actually good to them.

Those who do not see the their films objectively, will mostly feel hurt or offensed when someone says something sucks.

We all have our own way of expressing, and there's really no need to cuddle anyone.

When I first got critics (a short tv-story for some morning show) on my work 2 years ago, my boss told me:

''I can tell you how bad this is in two ways.

First: This is great, wonderful! It's beutiful and full of emotions, BUT you could do it even better next time if you just try to read with a little better prononciation! Oh, and that ending part is great, like some old romantic films, but you can do it even better if you try next time to re-watch it a couple of times. And all the shots are great, it wasn't your fault some of them weren't made, he (camera operator) should have known this. Great, jsut keep going!

Second: This is terrible. One of the worst things I've ever seen, and I've seen them a lot. You read like a zombi, this story is overrated and predictable, and those shots you're missing are your fault. You think this is joke? Why would ANYONE sane want to watch this?''

I know filmmaking and tv-reporting aren't the same, but those two jobs have something in common-your work is heavily critized by the audience.
The same two-way rule could be applied here also. I prefer-'that is bad' over 'that is GREAT, but you could do it even better'.
It's one thing when someone really means it, the other is when one cannot or doesn't want to speak his mind out.

But, I don't want to be mistaken-I really like the encouraging spirit here around dvxuser, AKA, constructive criticism.
 
Mile Bozicevic said:
When I first got critics (a short tv-story for some morning show) on my work 2 years ago, my boss told me:

''I can tell you how bad this is in two ways.

First: This is great, wonderful! It's beutiful and full of emotions, BUT you could do it even better next time if you just try to read with a little better prononciation! Oh, and that ending part is great, like some old romantic films, but you can do it even better if you try next time to re-watch it a couple of times. And all the shots are great, it wasn't your fault some of them weren't made, he (camera operator) should have known this. Great, jsut keep going!

Second: This is terrible. One of the worst things I've ever seen, and I've seen them a lot. You read like a zombi, this story is overrated and predictable, and those shots you're missing are your fault. You think this is joke? Why would ANYONE sane want to watch this?''
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Ha! Exactly. Man, some of these entries are so terrible I want to go the second route and just tell it like it is. But I always hold off and try to say nice things instead.


Mile Bozicevic said:
But, I don't want to be mistaken-I really like the encouraging spirit here around dvxuser, AKA, constructive criticism.
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Well... constructive criticism is, I take it, when you tell people that it sucks, but also WHY it sucks. That way they can improve next time. The ridiculous lovefest we get everytime viewing opens isn't constructive criticism. It's just plain stupidity and laziness. It's much easier to say "you did great, I can see you'll improve next time around!" than "ok, this sucked and this sucked and this sucked and this sucked and this sucked".
 
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