Reviews
Bad:
The video quality. Is there any reason why the video has this "old" look about it? The audio, the ambiguity in the content, the song which was not clear to be heard and the cinematography
Good
The actress and there were definitely signs of the character undergoing trauma and her emotions and the characters conveyed the same.
Hi, I saw your short film and to be honest, I was not able to comprehend what the film was trying to convey. I understand that it is told from the point of view of the girl. But I could not understand what it was trying to convey. The cinematography was commendable and so was the editing. This was about the chaos and confusion in the mindset but it could have been brought in...
Hi, I saw your short film and to be honest, I was not able to comprehend what the film was trying to convey. I understand that it is told from the point of view of the girl. But I could not understand what it was trying to convey. The cinematography was commendable and so was the editing. This was about the chaos and confusion in the mindset but it could have been brought in a more clear manner. Good luck for your future films.
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I admittedly was a bit unsure at first with the archive footage, but the music and robotic voices and compilation of imagery really worked for me. I was (and am) unnerved by the film (in a good way!), and it forces you into this psychotic world of perspectives and how the same situation can be viewed so oppositely. If anything, I would possibly use less of the first footage...
I admittedly was a bit unsure at first with the archive footage, but the music and robotic voices and compilation of imagery really worked for me. I was (and am) unnerved by the film (in a good way!), and it forces you into this psychotic world of perspectives and how the same situation can be viewed so oppositely. If anything, I would possibly use less of the first footage with the woman lying down on the couch as it doesn't quite fit the dialogue as well as the other footage. Overall: very interesting and unique.
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The story is an interesting concept and has strong potential, but I felt that there were elements missing throughout that made it hard to feel for the characters or get into the film. The acting was a bit forced and methodical at times, so the relationships didn't always ring true. The production value was a bit weak as well (ie. the bullet firing).
I really liked the...
The story is an interesting concept and has strong potential, but I felt that there were elements missing throughout that made it hard to feel for the characters or get into the film. The acting was a bit forced and methodical at times, so the relationships didn't always ring true. The production value was a bit weak as well (ie. the bullet firing).
I really liked the twist of the confession ending, and I am curious to know what he said to his wife and how that relationship ended and what happens next. Overall, the story was intriguing and enjoyable, if a bit predictable.
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I felt like the mood was established well and the storyline was interesting. I noticed that the aspect ratio was not a standard widescreen which was visually distracting in a way. I thought that the acting was interesting and musical score was very ominous. Keep it up, I look forward to more submissions from you.
I think this film has a good storyline. I know that we don't always have the best actors available when having friends and family as cast members, but I think they did a good job.
I like the use of the lighting in torture room and enjoyed the shotgun fire in the front room.
Keep it up!
A good attempt on picturization of how a Schizophrenic's thought process, thought insertion, thought broadcasting and auditory hallucination presents. How differently one could have done for such theme. Casts performed well. I like the attempt to confuse and make the audience think about the characters; whether Jake and Jack both are same character or different. Narrative...
A good attempt on picturization of how a Schizophrenic's thought process, thought insertion, thought broadcasting and auditory hallucination presents. How differently one could have done for such theme. Casts performed well. I like the attempt to confuse and make the audience think about the characters; whether Jake and Jack both are same character or different. Narrative style with opening shot with one character and ending in another is perfect for such theme. Visual effects and editing were good. I personally like the colour combination used in the film. The B/W shots for the hallucinating part were good and colour for outdoor. Overall a nice attempt.
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Let me start by saying I'm glad to see that this short took the all-to-familiar "stalker phone call" concept and at least put a new-age spin on it. People don't continuously pickup their land line anymore. Texting was a more believable spin on the concept.
Now the review;
The character doesn't really have any definition, why should we care that she's in trouble? I understand...
Let me start by saying I'm glad to see that this short took the all-to-familiar "stalker phone call" concept and at least put a new-age spin on it. People don't continuously pickup their land line anymore. Texting was a more believable spin on the concept.
Now the review;
The character doesn't really have any definition, why should we care that she's in trouble? I understand this is a super short, but even something as simple as pictures of her and her friends would have given her some more definable characteristics.
The party scene was actually pretty well done. Again; it's a more accurate representation of what parties are like, instead of the typical Hollywood style ones we're all to used to seeing. The music was a bit overpowering though, I feel a better choice could have been made, or mixed a little better.
This is kind of nit-picky, but it bothered me a little bit that she had her phone in her hands already in the bathroom, when her phone went off she should have dug around in her pocket a bit before presenting it.
Lighting outdoor shots can be tough, especially at night, but it's worth noting that it could have been a little better, it was hard to see what we were supposed to see at times.
The camera work is a bit tough to review, there were shots I loved (the first shot, and the shot down the stairs were great!) and some I wasn't such a big fan of. It seemed like certain shots were rushed, I'm guessing they were near the end of your shoot but they definitely seem lesser in comparison.
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I have to say this is really well made and very good production value. No doubt done on a low budget but doesn't come across that way. Strong dialogue and a good performance all add to the strengths. The music used to add the tension and the finale is also top notch. Really good work!
Quite an intriguing piece, for the first part I was trying to work out where you were going with the piece. I think you have some good imagery going and I particularly enjoyed some of the camera angles, especially the fixed angle as you ran down the stairs and the camera is following the protagonist. Good work.
The first 27 seconds was nice , i like the way the head of the gang gives the order to kill the snitch. i hate the Snitch and gang cars it seems like good guys cars not bad one. i would prefer that the snitch would get more than one bullet and the way the killer hold the gun seems like he is participating in a shooting contest .
The premise of the film was solid, a guy who takes the money of the women he's in a relationship with and ended up killing his first wife over that, then she haunts him as he is trying to marry a second wife.
How this story is told in this film needs to be refined and developed further. The music being the same over and over is a drawback. The music used is ok, but there should...
The premise of the film was solid, a guy who takes the money of the women he's in a relationship with and ended up killing his first wife over that, then she haunts him as he is trying to marry a second wife.
How this story is told in this film needs to be refined and developed further. The music being the same over and over is a drawback. The music used is ok, but there should be more variation in the music than the same sound track being played in every scene.
The first scene is disconnected from the premise of the film. It's a standard setting at an outdoor eatery, this doesn't convey anything as far as the story. If he's taking women for money, there should a scene that reveals why he's doing that and why a woman would fall for a guy like that. Don't have scenes just to be having them while having the characters tell the viewers what the story is. You need to have scenes that show the viewers what the story is, bit by bit that build on each other. In this scene, the couple is sitting having coffee talking about their upcoming wedding and the ghost shows up and the guy starts to get rattled. That's not interesting, also the ghost shows up then plops the viewer into the crux of the story right away, without any build up or developing of care for any of the characters.
The next scene at the park is a repeat of the scene at the coffee place only at a different location. He talks to the fiance and the ghost shows up, he gets rattled. The scene after that he's sleeping and the ghost shows up, he gets rattled.
Then the viewer gets some explanation with the flashback to the first wife and him having a good time making out with her at the same park, in the next scene she is comfronting him with financial statements. Now here's a big problem, the film goes on to show him trying to kiss her and she falls down some high hill and gets killed at the park. Now if he leaves her there like that with all the bank or credit card statements laying around, there's no reason he wouldn't be in jail. Also the scene is at a busy park during the day. Again he's going to jail, no way he gets away with this as shown in the film. That has to be cleaned up. Even if he goes to trial and he's somehow found not guilty he's a businessman that would know people - this being in his past would be known by a future love interest. When a detail is this crucial to the main idea of the story, you can't be sloppy about it and leave it being unrealistic.
As the film goes on, he's at his fiance's place, the ghost shows up, he gets rattled. The whole ghost shows up and the guy gets rattled sequences, its too repetitious there's no progress in this issue eventhough it happens over and over. It's at the same level until the end when he gets the ghost hammering on him for a while then he ends up dead jumping off the building. There's no character development, the main guy is dead in the film and you see that the ghost of his dead first wife killed him and why, but that's it for the whole film. You never get to see why he did what he did, how he did it, you never get to care about him or hate him because you just see him do mundane things then get rattled when his ex-wife's ghost shows up.
I didn't see the first Episode and I don't know if any of this is shown in there, I got this as a review assignment, but then again a short film should stand on its own. The main problem with this film is that it wastes scenes and film time showing mundane stuff when it should be hooking the viewer in somehow about the characters. I don't want to watch a guy drink coffee and have a plain conversation with his fiance, show me something I need to know. You only have a limited amount of time in short film, you need to get me to care about what's going on and who is doing it.
For example, you can show the guy day trading stocks and running some kind of shady deal or even meeting with some crook or mob guy that is going to threathen his life if he doesn't pay back some money. Nothing cheesy either, but some impact scene that gets the viewer interested. So after fixing the unrealistic killing of his first wife somehow, have her ghost play into it. It needs to be interesting though, not just showing up in a cape. Like doors slamming or cell phones going off with weird messages. The guy's reactions also need to be something other than nervous. If he can kill someone and rob them, he should be hard core enough to put up with a ghost. You should make the ghost encounters more frightening and compelling and his reactions to them more in control. His constant nervousness makes him weak and uninteresting, I want to see him calculated and evil if he's a killer. Make the ghost rise to the challenge of a guy she can't rattle.
So those are my suggestions because the scenes are just too plain. When you have more interesting scenes, then they should be coupled with better camera angles, lighting contrasts, better music and sound effects and compelling acting because the actors are doing more than being nervous, talking like a ninny girlfriend, and being flamboyant in a cape.
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In general, I liked this short film. What appealed to me about it was that it was straight forward, it was your basic vampire creepy set of scenes. The production and post production was done well. The music and color schemes used set the tone of the scenes well, giving a creepy, eerie feeling. The simple, straight forward format was appealing but at the same time it was also...
In general, I liked this short film. What appealed to me about it was that it was straight forward, it was your basic vampire creepy set of scenes. The production and post production was done well. The music and color schemes used set the tone of the scenes well, giving a creepy, eerie feeling. The simple, straight forward format was appealing but at the same time it was also a drawback. The scenes individually are like cotton candy horror scenes, in that they give you a horror fix film wise; but they leave you flat and unsatisfied intellectually as far as story telling. There just isn't any story here really, it's a series of creepy scenes with a thinly put together reason for why they are happening.
So these two brothers want to rob this house. Why? How did they come to know about it? What's this artifact and why is it valuable? The brother who is instigating the robbery, gives information about knowing who lives there and their schedule as far as leaving soon. How does he know this? Why would he know this, what's his relationship with the people who live in the house?
As far as the first scene's filming it was really flat and boring. The straight shot into the front seat of the van where the two brothers are sitting and talking was way too long at that angle, and made the scene really uninteresting. The film maker needed to use camera angles on the brother's faces as they talked or even not show them at all and just have their dialogue carry the scene as something else is being explained with the film's visuals. The acting was stilted in this scene and the speech of the actors choppy with little authenticity in the emotions. The scared brother's emotions and the pushy brother's emotions were forced not natural. They needed to slow down and let their emotions and body language convey the feelings not just forced voice inflection.
The scene in the house was pretty good action and set up. The dark lighting and the camera angles set the eerie tone. One big drawback was the gratuitous cussing - not only was it not needed, it underscored the lack of acting ability of the two actors by telling the viewers if the actors can't convey the emotions of the scene they can always just cuss a lot. I can't stand that when I see it in a film. Just act and let me feel your acting from the screen, don't make up for the lack of that by cussing every other word.
So then, the scared brother gets slashed, they are both trapped in a room, one brother makes an escape plan while looking out the window, the other gets a spell cast on him by the vampire on the other side of the door to attack his brother, they fight, the aggressive brother wins and goes to confront the vampire with a gun, the vampire makes an entrance and gets his object back, and bites the aggressive brother while implying he's going to eat them both. Like I said in the beginning of this review, if you just want a quick horror film fix, ok that's cool. If your scope is limited you got your basic fillers in there, the end. And then the gag scene at the end with the house keeper cleaning the blood off the floor during the day with the body bags - arms sticking out. If I'm in the mood for short and choppy, ok that did the trick.
But then the viewer looks back and thinks to themself, well that was kind of a waste. You have seven and a half minutes of film but you didn't tell me anything. You didn't show any kind of meaningful conflict, resolution, or struggle with purpose. It was a nicely put together short horror film fix with the basics; which again if the viewer is in the mood for watching that and not thinking - that's ok. But on further thought, after you watch the film, the lack of depth and story telling just leaves you unsatisfied.
I liked the film because you can see the effort being made and care taken in production and post production. The makers had a solid basic rough draft as far as the idea for the film. Now they have to add some depth and give it some punch and have it not just be short horror film eye candy.
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Its one of those movies that capture the audience and will glue you to the seats until its finished. Hats off to the director who put a great effort to make a movie with less dialogues and stunning visuals.
Characters in the movie has done justice to themselves. All the characters showed great effort. Opening shots of Stanley(present) gives audience a feeling that he...
Its one of those movies that capture the audience and will glue you to the seats until its finished. Hats off to the director who put a great effort to make a movie with less dialogues and stunning visuals.
Characters in the movie has done justice to themselves. All the characters showed great effort. Opening shots of Stanley(present) gives audience a feeling that he has been living in pain and regret. Subtle expressions were visible.
Crane shot of past London and getting subject into the middle of the shot is a great establishing shot. Sound, photography and editing were excellent. Perfect Visual effect gave an additional feature. Technically a perfect movie and great story line. Title suits well.
Flaws: The position and way how the policeman's hat falls.
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This is one of the films where movie show importance of images and sound. Great effort by the director to narrate a confession. Technically good especially editing and sound. There's is no better way than this to show images coming through whilst doing a confession letter. It is interesting how he associated this with Fargo movie. Good work and great imagination
