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Post by bleahaa on Oct 2, 2008 23:48:03 GMT
Hi, First time posting a film on here. I don't want to say too much about this film (it has been quite a conflict with each version drastically shorter than the last) but I have decided this is it, finished... or abandoned haha. Salvador posted one of my previous films (The Journey Man) which had a spaceman crash land on a planet and all weird stuff happens. This film has a kind of spiritual link, and could plausibly take place in same universe (but 1000 years apart). Film is about 26MBs at Yousendit - www.yousendit.com/download/bVlCMFhvYXlrUm52Wmc9PQAnd there is a trailer at Youtube - uk.youtube.com/watch?v=E5MxEwiEHxEAny feedback much appreciated. |
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Post by salvador on Oct 3, 2008 11:45:39 GMT
Bleahaa on the forums!! Its about time dude..... I'll download the latest version and give you my thoughts, probably during a night of mixing ciders and throwing up  Anyway, I urge everyone to check out Lewis' film, he's a talented guy who creates films that are ambitious and yet manages to do it within the constrantes of no budget. He's also humble as hell, so yeah, give the guy some considered feedback. |
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Post by Dazza on Oct 3, 2008 12:45:19 GMT
Holy Shit wow that was like watching a trailer for something like 'Sunshine' you've got a gorgeous looking film there and really well made. The fact Salv says you made this with no budget gives you even more credit in my book. I think I've seen a film of your before that Salv got me to watch about a guy that comes down from space? Just read your post it was Journey man I saw.
Really nice film with a real high production quality look. If you can make this with nothing and it has a big Hollywood special effects feel what the hell can you do with a big budget...... heres waiting to see ;D
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Post by jill on Oct 3, 2008 21:38:08 GMT
Hey, wow! That was fabulous! Really well made-in terms of the production, one of the best shorts I've watched. Gorgeous colour, great music. Will probably need to re-watch to fully 'get it' (bear with me, I'm a bit slow). Really liked the bit of him capturing a bit of home in the jar though...think I got where it was going. Great stuff.
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Ria
Full Member
Posts: 55
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Post by Ria on Oct 4, 2008 18:24:00 GMT
Hey Bleahaa,
This is not usually entirely my kind of film, but I have to say I though it was just great. And so amazingly well executed. I've seen a few lo-budget sci-fi(ish) efforts but never anything quite as accomplished. I'd be curious to see the other versions, but since I haven't the length actually struck me as just right, so i suspect the editing 'conflict' has probably paid off in the end. Kind of reminded me of The Fountain somehow (which is a compliment, by the way)
Salv certainly wasn't kidding when he said your stuff was ambitious!
Very well done, you should post your other stuff when you have a chance. You've put down a pretty high marker here though ;D
Ria
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Post by shindig on Oct 5, 2008 9:40:36 GMT
Well-shot pretentious wank.
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Post by deadmansrockports on Oct 5, 2008 10:05:48 GMT
Well-shot pretentious wank. C'mon man, its one thing giving constructive criticism but thats just rude. I think your being a dick for the sake of it. |
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Post by shindig on Oct 5, 2008 15:42:47 GMT
In 3 minutes it poses questions but doesn't offer an inkling of an answer.
"I'm going away! Here's a message in a bottle and a conversation with a lass that I presumably know.
Oh, there's a light heading off into the cosmos. Is this a metaphor for death or am I working for NASA? Or are these events completely unrelated?"
That's the summary of it. It's alright but it's a 3-minute in-joke that'll probably give your film lecturer an erection. A++.
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Post by deadmansrockports on Oct 5, 2008 16:50:04 GMT
In 3 minutes it poses questions but doesn't offer an inkling of an answer. "I'm going away! Here's a message in a bottle and a conversation with a lass that I presumably know. Oh, there's a light heading off into the cosmos. Is this a metaphor for death or am I working for NASA? Or are these events completely unrelated?" That's the summary of it. It's alright but it's a 3-minute in-joke that'll probably give your film lecturer an erection. A++. Fair enough. |
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Post by bleahaa on Oct 5, 2008 21:37:54 GMT
Wow, didn't expect response to be that positive, was thinking I'd get more along the lines of Shindig! Holy Shit wow that was like watching a trailer for something like 'Sunshine' you've got a gorgeous looking film there and really well made. The fact Salv says you made this with no budget gives you even more credit in my book. I think I've seen a film of your before that Salv got me to watch about a guy that comes down from space? Just read your post it was Journey man I saw.
Really nice film with a real high production quality look. If you can make this with nothing and it has a big Hollywood special effects feel what the hell can you do with a big budget...... heres waiting to see Thanks Dazza, if only I could persuade someone to give me money! haha ;D The DoP, Ian, did a great job shooting it. This is actually the first film I've done where I didn't touch a camera and by consequence it's the best looking film I've done. Lesson learned there. Hey, wow! That was fabulous! Really well made-in terms of the production, one of the best shorts I've watched. Gorgeous colour, great music. Will probably need to re-watch to fully 'get it' (bear with me, I'm a bit slow). Really liked the bit of him capturing a bit of home in the jar though...think I got where it was going. Great stuff. Cheers Jill  Yeah the composer, Phil, did a fantastic job with the music. I'd heard his stuff before on other shorts, Seaside being one, so I knew he was good, but I was still pleasantly surprised with his work here. This is not usually entirely my kind of film, but I have to say I though it was just great. And so amazingly well executed. I've seen a few lo-budget sci-fi(ish) efforts but never anything quite as accomplished. I'd be curious to see the other versions, but since I haven't the length actually struck me as just right, so i suspect the editing 'conflict' has probably paid off in the end. Kind of reminded me of The Fountain somehow (which is a compliment, by the way)
Salv certainly wasn't kidding when he said your stuff was ambitious!
Very well done, you should post your other stuff when you have a chance. You've put down a pretty high marker here though It's funny you mention The Fountain as it was a reference in research. Is one of my favourite films in recent years too. The other version is very much a linear film, starts with the jar and windmills, progresses to the conversation (which was done rather conventionally, which was my fault, bad scripting) and then the end sequence is more or less unchanged bar a few adjustments. The final cut is far from what I was looking for when I set out to make it, but I feel it is the best it can be and I can settle with that. It is a cut born of compromise, I had quite a few technical issues with sound so the final cut is somewhat determined by what went wrong as much as what went right. Also, much of the dialogue was kinda peripheral and thus just bogged it down, so it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I have a Youtube account which has some of my stuff, ranges from serious work to immature mockings of failed films and test stuff, haha, so beware - uk.youtube.com/lewis1984Another interesting aspect was while seeing Salvador's Abbeyhill constructed, the 'less-is-more' and ambiguous withholding of certain information and dialogue technique must have rubbed off on me and used it as a solution to fix bits that annoyed me. In 3 minutes it poses questions but doesn't offer an inkling of an answer.
"I'm going away! Here's a message in a bottle and a conversation with a lass that I presumably know.
Oh, there's a light heading off into the cosmos. Is this a metaphor for death or am I working for NASA? Or are these events completely unrelated?"
That's the summary of it. It's alright but it's a 3-minute in-joke that'll probably give your film lecturer an erection. A++. Haha well I certainly didn't get an A (although it was the longer cut I submitted). I respect your opinion though, but I don't think you'll like many of my films given that I like exploring themes and ideas that don't necessarily have an answer. Not often had my stuff called pretentious, especially considering my film viewing habits are very mainstream ;D And just a thanks again to everyone for watching and commenting |
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Post by Gareth on Oct 7, 2008 22:56:00 GMT
anyone can see from a technical point of view its really impressive, but as a story I don't really know what to say,
it'd be interesting to see the other cuts!
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Post by henryspencer on Oct 9, 2008 21:28:19 GMT
not sure about this
i thought the acting was a bit wooden and there was a bit too much 'starring' out of shot. didnt really add anything, wasnt much behind the characters pausing to look into the distance
the film was well put together though.
just thought it was a little overly portentous without delivering anything
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Post by RydCook on Oct 10, 2008 20:10:11 GMT
Hey,
I enjoyed this. Reminded me of The Fountain as well musically, and visually. Great photography and music. Would agree... that the acting was a bit wooden, could have been a bit more natural. Also the dialogue was a little on the quiet side compared to the score very the top. I like how it's short and concise, I think i'd prefer this edit... by what you've said about the other one. It's amazing how much difference an edit can make. I look forward to more of your stuff.
i really loved Journey Man by the way. I'm sure I've left a lot of feedback in the thread Slav made a while ago.
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Post by bleahaa on Oct 10, 2008 21:21:05 GMT
anyone can see from a technical point of view its really impressive, but as a story I don't really know what to say, it'd be interesting to see the other cuts! You could say nice things? ;D Haha yeah I think this is the most common reaction, that it is lacking something. It was somewhat rushed into shooting as well because in the time given this was the third project I started developing, and I had only about 3 weeks real pre-production (with a lot of other stuff going on at the time). So yeah, the script wasn't properly developed, and it was a case of not having much choice but to shoot it when it was scheduled to be done. I don't think I'm too keen on showing the other cuts, as it shows me up as a poor scriptwriter and director, haha. But maybe the new cut shows my progressing editing skills not sure about this i thought the acting was a bit wooden and there was a bit too much 'starring' out of shot. didnt really add anything, wasnt much behind the characters pausing to look into the distance the film was well put together though. just thought it was a little overly portentous without delivering anything I'd argue that in this they are always looking at something. I can see why you might not like it, but there are definite reasons for what they're doing, and while it's quite 'staged' (badly directed?  ) the character is looking at basically something he will never see again, while also remember what it once was even within his short lifetime. There were a lot of ideas I had about what kind of future this is, with the snow being a complete fluke, which adds something environmental to it that I hadn't really considered (yet is part of the backstory in a major way that I wrote in 2007 before Journey Man). I'm not even sure if it works or not but I kinda like it. I can understand why you think it doesn't deliver anything. I think the narrative is complete, but again it was under-developed so that's probably where the problem lies. Hey, I enjoyed this. Reminded me of The Fountain as well musically, and visually. Great photography and music. Would agree... that the acting was a bit wooden, could have been a bit more natural. Also the dialogue was a little on the quiet side compared to the score very the top. I like how it's short and concise, I think i'd prefer this edit... by what you've said about the other one. It's amazing how much difference an edit can make. I look forward to more of your stuff. i really loved Journey Man by the way. I'm sure I've left a lot of feedback in the thread Slav made a while ago. With the acting I'd say that's more my fault, again a script problem, not exactly great word play ;D As for the dialogue, yeah it is on the quiet side when it starts partly because I wanted this cut to be far more visually driven (and musically). I already had the music, so it was very easy to see what works and what doesn't, which was one of the reasons why I cut almost all of the conversation because to me it's all said in the images and music... or at least, the snipped footage added little! But I'm glad you enjoyed it, and yeah thanks for the comments on Journey Man! You've actually motivated me to track down that thread... |
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) the character is looking at basically something he will never see again, while also remember what it once was even within his short lifetime. There were a lot of ideas I had about what kind of future this is, with the snow being a complete fluke, which adds something environmental to it that I hadn't really considered (yet is part of the backstory in a major way that I wrote in 2007 before Journey Man). I'm not even sure if it works or not but I kinda like it.