Reviews of MICROFILM 53

• 
  Great Music
  A review of MICROFILM
  by dhelmen on 01/29/2007
  First of all, I thought that the background music and sounds were right on the money for this particular film. It helped me to stay focus on what was happening. The actor that played the guy asking questions did a very good job and had that menacing quality to him. I didn't particularly care for the part where Ryan was in the car and we got like three different shots of... First of all, I thought that the background music and sounds were right on the money for this particular film. It helped me to stay focus on what was happening. The actor that played the guy asking questions did a very good job and had that menacing quality to him. I didn't particularly care for the part where Ryan was in the car and we got like three different shots of him at the wheel. The ending looked really cool when we got to see the shadow going into the light. I enjoyed this. read
• 
  Well composed
  A review of MICROFILM
  by joannes on 01/25/2007
  Overall, it is well put together, properly tells a story. There is certainly talent, and thus deserving to be at work for some real blockbuster story to put on film. It might be given just that extra twist, by having him brake, and trying to stop the car, and in that process, he is outmanouevred by an old car from the dump. Make the ex a sexual addict on parole from prison,... Overall, it is well put together, properly tells a story. There is certainly talent, and thus deserving to be at work for some real blockbuster story to put on film. It might be given just that extra twist, by having him brake, and trying to stop the car, and in that process, he is outmanouevred by an old car from the dump.
  Make the ex a sexual addict on parole from prison, that escaped from his guardians, leaving a trail of harrasments, and finally he just in time gets nailed by a police force, if not, they take the wrong man, and by a smart trick he makes the police force think the victim is the man they are looking for. Suddenly his wife/girlfriend thinks about the noises, that she remembered from her ex, and is just in time to make the police force realize their mistake.
  I just give a few examples, to give just that little extra story line, that impresses by creating some nervebreaking suspense, that can hardly remain unnoticed by the pros, scouting for new talent out here. If selection for a competition is what is your purpose or being scouted by the pros, then therein lies the key. Plenty of talent, you have shown, but to keep it really stick, and distinguish from the pack, it is in the imagination as writer. Let your imagination for extra twists, before deciding to grab the cam. Read some weird stories in the newspapers whenever you think you are already there with a script, for that little extra, that might give the audience that shiver on the back they hope to experience. You almost did it to the full, why not dare to go beyond that if you are so far ahead. I'd give it a 90% rating. With a little extra twist it would have been 100%. So I give this benefit of the doubt, but only with the heels over the ditch. read
• 
  Microfilm
  A review of MICROFILM
  by jdzone2001 on 01/01/2007
  There were a lot of good things about this short. I liked the creative use of the camera, the in and out of focus was used well. Good use of locations. The editing was not the best in keeping the story going. It was a little slow and somewhat confusing to what was going on. There was some could tension created but then it was destroyed by taking to long to get to the point... There were a lot of good things about this short. I liked the creative use of the camera, the in and out of focus was used well. Good use of locations. The editing was not the best in keeping the story going. It was a little slow and somewhat confusing to what was going on. There was some could tension created but then it was destroyed by taking to long to get to the point. I think less of the set up. Some things were redundant and could have been trimmed down. I think more attention was needed in plotting out what essential shots you need to tell your story. The acting was okay but I didn't care for the lead character. And i think that also hurt the film. The choice that actor made or maybe it was a directing decision but he was not likeable. Therefore I did not care what happened to him. I liked the music. Good work. read
• 
  great
  A review of MICROFILM
  by guyut leigh on 10/09/2006
  i though this was a graet film your camera wrok was very good the chioce in music caried the story very well story kept you think what is going tell the end and what an end it was i realy the why uesd the focus on the carmer to set the mood in the hospatle bed great ending
• 
  Great D.P./Editing Work
  A review of MICROFILM
  by geeworldco1998 on 07/12/2006
  This film is definitely well shot. The direction of photography is outstanding. The editing is very good as well. I would definitely like to see more D.P. work from this filmmaker (this is the kind of person we all hope to end up working with -good eye, filming/post). As far as the story goes, it could have been better. I felt too much was crammed into it, and some seemed unnecessary... This film is definitely well shot. The direction of photography is outstanding. The editing is very good as well. I would definitely like to see more D.P. work from this filmmaker (this is the kind of person we all hope to end up working with -good eye, filming/post). As far as the story goes, it could have been better. I felt too much was crammed into it, and some seemed unnecessary. Nevertheless, this one I feel should be considered for the competition for the D.P. work alone. This is real filmmaking! Great job! read
• 
  "Starting without a good story is to build on faulty ground"
  A review of MICROFILM
  by Scotty C on 05/18/2006
  Constructive critique and then praise. The story was weak at best. Our lead character displays no real virtue through the entire piece. What I mean is that he never revelas hismelf to have any really appealing characteristics, things thta make the audience give a damn about him one way or the other. I found myself not really caring one way or the other about the lead character,... Constructive critique and then praise. The story was weak at best. Our lead character displays no real virtue through the entire piece. What I mean is that he never revelas hismelf to have any really appealing characteristics, things thta make the audience give a damn about him one way or the other. I found myself not really caring one way or the other about the lead character, even whether he lived or died. He was the same bland, boring guy all the way through the piece. Also, the antagonist was completely unbelievable (and transparent) through the entire piece. I was waiting for the evil laugh when the revelation was given that he was the one behind it all! "MWOOHAHAHAHAH!" Acting didn't help this cause one bit either. The lead was decent, even if he was monotone. Now, back to story,...one word: "disjointed." The whole piece was like ill-sewn patchwork. The struggle with school, the relationship issues, and the plot to kill the guy didn't transition into one another well at all. Could the characters TELL me any more how they felt? The girl blurts out how she found pictures,..which later leads us to believe she knows somethings up with the guy being a psyycho or stalking them...so why didn't she say anything about that!? And the pots and pans, ...that was completely out of left field and...then for the girl and the friend to be carrying them around the hospital on a visit...who does that!? The lead doesn't question a single bit that some guy is in his room from the news to badger him in his recently damaged state? Even if I was loaded on pain meds, i would be pissed. Also,...the lead character seems pretty coherent through the entire piece and then he can't even raise a finger to try to stop the bad guy when he's poisoning him (very slowly posioning him) through the IV. And also, why would he poison him with a dark RED liquid, when he obviously is trying to kill this guy and make it look like an accident!!!! Man, these are what I call plot holes. Bad acting isn't responsible for these.
  Technically, audio was recorded fairly well, some fluctuation, but at least it was crisp.
  
  On to good things: It looked really slick. The intro title sequence was awesome. It looked professional and stylish. Editing was decent, although towards the end it could have been sped up a bit to deliver a sense of urgency. It moved slowly during the climax. The score was pretty good, some parts a bit overly dramatic, and could have used a bit more ambient noises to fill it out, but all in all really good work in that area. Lighting was really good in the interiors and the driving scenes. Thats a pain in the ass to do, so nice job there especially.
  Just my opinions of course.
  Thanks for the view man, keep on rolling! read
• 
  Looks good
  A review of MICROFILM
  by Lucracle on 05/08/2006
  I'll start by saying that for the medium on which it was shot I thought the film looked really good. I liked the camera movements and the colour grade was a lot better than what I'd expect to see from a first attempt. That said there are issues I have with the film, but you only learn from your mistakes so don't take my criticisms too personally. I thought the story was pretty... I'll start by saying that for the medium on which it was shot I thought the film looked really good. I liked the camera movements and the colour grade was a lot better than what I'd expect to see from a first attempt.
  That said there are issues I have with the film, but you only learn from your mistakes so don't take my criticisms too personally. I thought the story was pretty weak for a number of reasons, mainly that it was a simple story that took ten minutes to tell, and I therefore became a bit bored with what I was watching. This links in to an editing point I'll bring up in a bit, but for example, the story revolves around a love triangle and a man who's willing to kill another person because of this 'goddess'. This is difficult to pull off when you give me no indication that this woman is a goddess because I've only seen her once and she was talking about her ex boyfriend - that doesn't sound heavenly to me. What I'm saying is that there is no character development, emphasized by the fact that the main guy has no personality and his journey throughout the film isn't that intriguing. If he was a bad boyfriend, who lied to his girlfriend that he was out working in the microfilm lab when in actual fact he was out cheating on her, binge drinking, had a smack habit, etc - then I might care what happened to him as immediately I'd (dis)like him. In the film I'm not even sure what he's working on, which would be fine if the film was a commentary on how society makes us into mindless drones happy to waste life on inane projects, but in this film's context it just makes him boring.
  Secondly I found the acting unnatural. It's not to say the actors did bad jobs, it just links into the fact that when directing you need to be sure of what the film is about and what the character's journeys are. If the main character had been a liar, cheating on his girlfriend then his journey could have been that he is made to realise the error of his ways by the return of the ex boyfriend and by the end he appreciates her more. That gives your actor somethign to work with, and as I mentioned above I think this is lacking.
  The last point I have is about editing. I like the use of the blurry POV shots, but I thought you could have gone further with this with you final scene in the hospital room. If you look at Tony Scott films he uses quick edits to create emotions, and you could have borrowed this style with more edits in your final scene, because we are supposed to be scared for our main character at this point, but all we have is a long blurry shot. If this had been edited with different angles, close-ups of the evil boyfriends mouth, reactionary shots of the drugs taking hold of the main charcater, etc, then this would have been a more powerful scene. Sound effects, echoing of the ex's voice during his monologue would also have helped.
  The same could be said with the final scene where the guy is on the phone, says he loves her, gets up, hears noise, sees cart, alls well, ends. I'd have made that scene shorter by having the noise interrupt the phone call to the girlfriend, so the tension is building, she's on the end of the line asking what's wrong, the sound gets louder and closer, we really start to think he's in danger, she's almost frantic now, we reveal the cart and the scene ends with the long shot of him walking down the corridor. The camera slowly pulling away and a then man's image passes in front of the camera, like you had earlier in the film. End. For me this gives the audience an unexplained chill at the end and leaves them asking is it the ex again or is it just that creepy microfilm room playing tricks on him?
  In short I thought it was a very good effort for your first short narrative attempt, and you should definitely get on with the next one. Well done. read
• 
  Nicely shot, bad acting
  A review of MICROFILM
  by Victor Verhaeghe on 04/11/2006
  The opening title sequence is the best part of this short. It is shot really well, and very cleverly edited. The sense of the type of film we are going to see is made very clear and it's very effective. I have to get this out of the way: the acting was terrible. I'm sorry. I'm an actor and bad acting upsets me. It takes away from the story and the wonderful work the... The opening title sequence is the best part of this short. It is shot really well, and very cleverly edited. The sense of the type of film we are going to see is made very clear and it's very effective. I have to get this out of the way: the acting was terrible. I'm sorry. I'm an actor and bad acting upsets me. It takes away from the story and the wonderful work the filmmaker has done. That being said, I thought this was shot very well. The lighting was effective, the distance of the camera from the principles in some of the scenes, was also very effective. The sense of time and place and the suspense were built into the film very well. I think this guy has a nice future. It was a solid little story that bad acting nearly ruined. read
• 
  Ideas we have
  A review of MICROFILM
  by Podger on 03/23/2006
  Seems to me like somebody was sitting in a library late one night looking up stuff on microfilm, got a little creeped out, and decided it would make a good premise for a film. It almost does. The directing and cinematography in this short are top notch as far as TS is concerned. The sound was also well done but could have been a little lounder. My biggest complaint of the... Seems to me like somebody was sitting in a library late one night looking up stuff on microfilm, got a little creeped out, and decided it would make a good premise for a film. It almost does. The directing and cinematography in this short are top notch as far as TS is concerned. The sound was also well done but could have been a little lounder. My biggest complaint of the film is the dialoge and the acting. Compared to how great the rest of the movie looks and sounds, these two things pale. From the very beginning I didn't beleive that the big guy was a cop, with his peirced ears and hip-hop beard. The only thing is that I just thought it was a poor casting decision until the reveal. One edit that would make it better is the freind with the frying pan, knocking the bad guy out at the end. Come on. A frying pan? Just have the ex-boyfriend deliver that last line and blur to fade out from there. Great job though on this being your first narrative film. Like I said, the directing, photography, and sound are tight. read
• 
  Microfilm
  A review of MICROFILM
  by jmpennetta on 03/21/2006
  After viewing the short film " Microfilm", I was impressed to learn that this was the director's first attempt on a narrative. ( I won't even show anyone any of my intro to film/video projects.) I really enjoyed the ironic twist where the police officer interviewing the patient actually turns out to be the attempted murderer/murderer. The cinematography and editing where also... After viewing the short film " Microfilm", I was impressed to learn that this was the director's first attempt on a narrative. ( I won't even show anyone any of my intro to film/video projects.) I really enjoyed the ironic twist where the police officer interviewing the patient actually turns out to be the attempted murderer/murderer. The cinematography and editing where also impressive for a first time short and also considering the fact that it was shot on a Canon XL-1. The only constructive criticism I have was about the ending where his friend and girlfriend come in and save him. I just thought it was a little out of place for them to have a pot in a hospital. Perhaps if his friend where to have tackled him or punched him instead of hitting him with a pot/frying pan it would have improved it a little. Other than that, it was not bad for a first short. read