Take a look at one of these movies and tell me what you think or I'll kill a puppy.

Killer Queen
Simply Complex
Back Home
52 Pickup

Okay...we all know that I won't kill a puppy, but I just really want some input. So, please, tell me what you guys honestly think about them.

Well, at least someone responded. Come on, people, I thought that this site was for learning about film from each other. Is the fact that these movies are linked to another site the thing that's keeping anyone from reviewing them? If I was able to put them on studentfilms, I would -- too bad my school wouldn't like that too much.

And, yes, I did kill the puppy. But I have plenty of kittens to drown if I don't get a couple of reviews.

I'll watch 'em

- C. Davis
YELLOW HAMMER PRODUCTIONS

I liked the multiperson trick in simply complex. I liked the title intro in Back Home and I liked the sound track for 52 pickup.

- C. Davis
YELLOW HAMMER PRODUCTIONS

Thank you, Chad. What didn't you like? What should I work on?

Hey, I only had time to watch Simply Complex since I have to go to school, but here are my quick thoughts:

3 and a half stars, overall.

The actress, she didn't do a bad job, but it wasn't that great either. I know how hard it is to find good actors, especially females, though, so good job.

I thought it was cool how you only heard her thoughts. Especially on the part where her date calls her. That was done really well.

The voiceovers had a humming noise somewhere in the background. If you recorded them with your computer's mic, or next to any machine that makes noise, I wouldn't recommend trying that again.

And the little sequence with a bunch of 'clones' in the room, that was awesome. How did you accomplish that?

"Don't breathe or I'll kill you!"

Thanks, pgPyro -- well, first of all -- I just watched the movie again -- for about the 2,000,000th time, and I can't hear - and I've never heard - that humming you're talking about. I've screened the movie in our class, in a theater -- and no one mentioned the buzzing -- so, I can't help you with that one -- I can't hear it -- but I might be going deaf, so who knows.

Anyways...as for the multiple girl thing...that was a hell of a lot of rotoscoping in After Effects. The movie only took me 30 minutes to edit -- seriously -- but the effects took me 3 STRAIGHT days of work -- and I mean, no sleep. I was seeing rotoscope lines when I would close my eyes. But, what I did was, I shot each shot multiple times, layered them, and rotoscoped it to death.

[This message was edited by AlsonThorne on September 25, 2003 at 07:30 AM.]

hello,

i have only gotten to see 52 pickup and simply complex, and i see a lot of potential.

the stories are engaging, the editing is nicely paced, compositions are great, and while i am sure you were working with an almost non-existent budget, you managed to put together some real gems.

they still feel like student projects, but when you start adding some veteran actors to your work that can add some real depth to your work, I think even you will be happy with the outcome.

the actors you used were okay, but i saw a lot of potential for character growth in simply complex. the kind of growth that is unscripted and brought the set by the actor who adds a little something more. the actress you used was missing something, and for me the character wasn't wholly believable. but i'm being really picky here.

nothing really stands out as overtly technically flawed in my eyes. good stuff.

i haven't seen the other films yet, so this is just for simply complex and 52 pickup.

and remember this is one man's opinion. i have been known to be wrong before.

" I won't show you tonight what requires many hours of progressive and
scientific exercises to even begin to make itself visable; besides I
would need space and air, and especially a head of steam -- which I
haven't got."

http://www.lostheadfactory.com

I finally got through them all so here goes.

You've got some excellent stuff here, but there's one problem that really sticks out to me. The issue is that most of your charachters are difficult to relate to or care about. Part of this, as stated above, is perhaps the lack of professional talent (Actors/actresses) but I think the scripts and directing style are also suspect. Most of the charachter molds seem fairly stereotypical to begin with (Disturbed perverted murderer/Mob delivery boy/delusional and slighted ditsy dumpee). Also, the complete lack of dialogue leaves you to rely on voiceover, music, expression and environment to express who these charachters really are, and I just don't feel it's there at this point (But there's no reason it can't get there).

The one film that didn't follow this trend was "Back Home." Being that it was about yourself and the people in your own life you seemed far more comfortable taking liberties and having more candor with your charachters. IMO, this approach keeps your audience far more interested. There is more at stake even when your film is describing seemingly banal daily life.

On a technical level all of these are excellent. Many of your shots are very well designed and composed, the effects work is flawless and the audio was solid. However, most of the films seemed too bright to me. This ultimately comes back to charachter again. Most of your subjects are supposed to be disturbed yet everything feels too available. There's no mystery lurking in shadows or dirty secrets hiding in corners. Luckily Filippi's is a naturally moody place (I used to eat there all the time and you get mad bonus points for shooting there).

I think you've got a lot of potential here, and forgive me if this critique comes off a bit harsh. You've got good stuff. Keep 'em coming Alson!

Nota "Didn't get many gold star stickers in grade school" Mono

Thanks a lot for the input, guys -- and isn't Filippi's incredible? Anyways...I definately agree with stuff about the actors...definately. And Noto, your comment about the characters is interesting...

With "52 Pickup," two other guys from my class and I decided to make our last movies interconnect -- so we had to hatch a plot that would work from one to the other. My movie was about the delivery boy, this other guy's movie is about the cook and busboy at Filippi's and the other guy's movie is about the guy who walks into the bathroom in my movie after my main character. So, each movie was viewable on it's own -- but they interconnected -- and you saw the same scenes from a different perspective and whatnot. And my movie turned out to be the most 'stereotypical' movie of the three -- because mine was dealing with the reason that the Bag o' Money was there in the first place -- so, I figured, what the hell, it's cliche, but it'll be a lot of fun. And, actually, the guy with the sunglasses character name is "Stereotypical Film School Goon #1" -- so, yeah, I knew for that film that the characters were cliche.

As for the character in "Simply Complex" -- this is really interesting. Every single female that has watched it has said the same thing to me..."How did you get inside a woman's head? That's exactly how I think." I've been told that by women ages 16-55. Every single one has said that. So, that's kinda interesting. In my class, the guys thought that the character was a little cliche/unbelievable, but the women thought she was a perfect representation of them...so, go figure.

As for "Killer Queen" -- it was my second film in the class and I just wanted to make people uncomfortable -- which I did. And some people didn't think that his switch to violence at the end was motivated -- but they believed everything up until that part. But, yeah, it's cliche.

And I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but in this class, we were not allowed to use sync dialogue, so, that is the reason for the VO/subtitles/music in all of them.

And, as far as the brightness of the movies go...I actaully really dig it, to be honest. Kinda like "The Shining" -- and no, I'm not comparing myself to Kubrick -- every frame is bright, but it has one of the most disturbed characters of all time as the lead. So, yeah...I dig it. I guess it's just personal preference.

And Noto, thanks for the review, and no, it wasn't harsh at all.

Hey Alson, in the 'clone' shots, was the camera ever moving? I think I remember the camera slowly zooming or something like that. How did you manage to accomplish the exact same movements every time?

And what were you filming on?

"Don't breathe or I'll kill you!"

Well, there was some movement -- for example, there was the shot where she stands up, out of herself, and walks across the room as the camera pans with her. What I did was this -- I set up the shot with her on the bed and then used the chair she would be sitting in on the right side of the frame as a guide. I picked two places on the wall -- one to start, one to stop, and counted off a beat to myself as I did the camera move so that at beat 5 or 6, I would be at the last point. So, I had a static vertical camera, with horizontal movement that was counted off so they would have roughly the same speed of a pan. Then, I did a shot with her on the bed and me panning to nothing. I did a shot with her standing up and walking across the room. I did a shot with her just sitting in the chair and I did a shot with her not in the frame. Then, I shot just a shot of her sitting down in both the chair and on the bed. Then, in editing, I put the shots together without effects -- which is where I noticed that the pans WERE off -- of course -- it was done by hand. So, I had to use the heads of each shot in order to cover the two girls on the side, and then I had to add in the shot of the girl standing and walking -- which was totally rotoscoped. So, the shot was done, with a pan, which was cool -- but I shot in 16:9, so what I did was, when I added the 2.35:1 matte, I keyframed it to digitally tilt up as she stood, and then slowly tilt down as she walked over -- so half of the camera movement was created in post. And all of the zooms were done in post -- just keyframed some digital zooms after the effects shots were completed. And I shot all of this on a Sony PDX10 -- mostly with a wide-angle lens.

That's perty smart. I commend you, soldier!

Innovative thinking is the key to filmmaking. You're definitely on the right track.

"Don't breathe or I'll kill you!"