Ouellette (10th Apr 2008 12:32)
Nah, thats all true ben.
The directorial decisions as far as the shooting goes were made out of desperation. The actors that I was stuck with were not actors...hahaha. The people who I was looking to act in the film were busy, the few days I had avilable to shoot they were going to be starring in a play. So they had no avilable time to shoot. The angles as you said that portrayed the "actors" as less than actors, while i noticed the problem, there was way to much of a time constraint in that opening scene. I would have re shot this entire thing to the script if I had the time. But that day was the ONLY day I had to shoot....and as we were filming it started to rain, and I had no rain cover or umbrella for my camera. I was holding a paper bag over the camera that I found in the woods that was slowly falling apart, so we only had a few minutes left to film. If we had waited to re shoot that scene then ALL the editing for that scene would have been stuck into two days, two days in which I had a math exam......
I was really frustrated with the "smile" that the "Arms dealer" does as he rounds the corner, but it was impossible to re shoot.
The next film that I am making is a documentary, That will do a much better job at portraying my skills, as the acting does not come into play.
Thanks for the input and complements Ben. Don't worry about offending me, I just wanted some honest input from people who are passionate and involved with film making.
The actors got really involved with the action scenes, and it overshadowed me telling the story of the piece. It made it really difficult to get everything I was looking for.
I'm also working with an acting group now,
so the next piece should be a lot different.
It also requires a GOOD actor.
I'll be posting it here for sure when its done.
ben3308 (10th Apr 2008 05:21)
I'm sure you already know what I think of this. I liked it a lot.
With a movie like this, there's always two large sides to the production: the directorial and the editorial. As an editor and effects artist, there's a lot of skill. The flashes in the beginning and the final effects in the end are well done and appropriately paced in the movie overall. The grading work also shines through as some of the better color toning out of the films on this website.
As a director, however, I think you may need a bit more work. While many- if not most- of the angles were generally good, the blocking and choreography as they coordinated with the angles were not. If you have someone who you know isn't a strong actor, don't put them in an angle that will negatively reflect their acting. There are a few obvious ones in 'Compression', but the shot where the guys runs around the corner and waits for the guy in the vest comes immediately to mind. I hope you don't think I'm being too scathing: I'm not trying to be. But in this film in particular, it's a shame to see an otherwise top, top notch production be pulled down (if only a little bit) by a few direction errors.
I've found that if you overshoot a bunch of angles in times of uncertainty that you have more to work with in the end. Though your editing was solid and good, I would've liked more angles- most particularly, as I have mentioned, once the rather bad acting of the first main guy becomes apparent.
We all have different things to learn as we continue to grow and study in our filmmaking endeavors, so I hope you take these comments with a grain of salt.
This is polished, but lacking a few technical and directorial aspects that, for me at least, bring it down a little. So I'm giving you a 3/5. I was close to a 4, but I think the rating should allow for improvement, as its obvious you've got the talent to get better.
I hope I didn't offend you or anything, I just wanted to be honest and open about this.
