Wow! Thanks for the responses guys! This thread made me
(that's smile, by the way)
JoshL said:
Looks great! Glad I could help a little! And if it makes you feel any better, I got the ending when I had first listened to the audio, before even watching the film, but that might be because I've lost jobs due to the stores closing, so I can relate
Actually, a couple times now that I think about it. I wonder if that says something about me.....
You did an amazing job and rescued me from the brink of total madness!
Interestingly my two leads had both worked at Woolworths before it closed. Stan, who plays Enoch, was actually working there the day that it closed and he said that after they shut up shop they all went and nicked a bunch of stuff! I never worked at the shop and wrote purely from imagination so it's great to see that my psychic writing powers are finely tuned!
harpsichoid said:
Loved it. Watched it just now with my girlfriend and she really enjoyed it too.
I was pleasantly shocked by the quality- I wrote the music to a tiny little video display and seeing it as high definition was great. It's really good work.
The attention to detail is great, the acting class, and over all the plot is perfect. It made me sad and nostalgic, and it made me laugh too.
Glad you both enjoyed it!
The version I originally compressed for Vimeo was so botched and unwatchable that a lot of people have expressed their surprise at how good the quality is. I shot it on the same camera as Gareth Edwards shot Monsters, people! Anyhow I just love seeing the footage somewhere that isn't Final Cut Pro...
I have to say, and a lot of people have said it for me on this thread, that I think your music is pitch perfect! I hope that a lot of people see my film, if only so that you can be vindicated for your time and effort by some proper jobs! Amazing stuff.
chilipie said:
It's been great to see your progress from start to finish. The score was fantastic and the acting very human - I particularly liked the little scene with Josie and Enoch eating pick 'n' mix - and it was so nice to see something without super shallow depth of field for a change. Seriously nice work, mate
I leapt at the chance to shoot on the EX3 if only so that I could get the cinematic feel that DSLRs lack. It was a deliberate and conscious decision and, yet, the scenes that make my skin tingle are the ones with some Depth of Field (or at least something dirty in the foreground) so I guess I'm a sucker after all!
I love that Pick n Mix scene too. I actually forgot to edit that scene and put together my first rough draft (for a private screening) without realising that I'd forgotten t. Luckily I remember in time because I also think it's the best scene in the film. The acting is fantastic and the voyeuristic camera movements make the scene both awkward and kind of tragic. Their faces during the medium close ups really sell the whole idea of Woolies for me.
Michael Allen said:
Well done and congrats Nick.
and the end made perfect sense to me.
Glad to hear it!
Now that Owen has realised what playing field I was on we've got pretty much a full house of comprehension which eases my worries again. My next film I'm going to put a super title up at the end saying 'Their going robbing together, get it?' (It's going to be shot for shot remake!)
Interestingly there actually was a final shot of the two of them walking back into the store to do a bit of casual theft and it was shot from the floor as they past the sparkling lights of the Christmas tree. Long story short: it looked really pretty. But when I got round to editing every take we did of it was slightly out of focus! I can't blame my DOP though because he did an excellent job with everything else!
Flicker Pictures said:
I watched an earlier draft of this and it all came together nicely, Nick. Looking forward to seeing more work down the road.
Thanks Jeff!
I actually only found your notes on the rough cut a couple of days ago. You made the foolhardy (
) decision of trying to email them to me. Well my email is currently putting both spam and interesting correspondance into my spam folder, so I never got it! I swore when I read it and realised all the things that I could've changed before the final cut- but that's life and, more imporantly, film.
PaperTwinProductions said:
It came together brilliantly!
Bravo, amigo.
Thank you, sir.
And you deserve special credit for effectively being my script approval guru before the shoot! I was worried that it was too boring and that maybe I should tread a more distinct line for either comedy or drama. Anyway your approval meant that I kept it as that bittersweet in between and I'm glad I did!
wheatgrinder said:
Nice. I got the ending, but of course missed the local significance. You might add some historical news footage under the closing credits for the non locals.
That said, your leading lady stole the screen for me. Shes cute as a button and seemed 100% believable, the other actors were a bit stiff at times.
I wanted to get historical news footage, I really did, but the price was too high. So I had to settle with that eye witness footage that I thought worked nicely enough over the credits. I do appreciate the difficulty that Americans will have with the social event itself but, to be honest, I reckon that 90% of my audience are going to be in the UK because that's where the continuing interest in the Woolies brand lies.
Becky was great and I think has a really promising career ahead of her. I actually liked the entire cast. Roger, who came in at fairly late notice as Matthew, isn't a professional actor and I think that that showed (my editing supervisor told me to 'cut as much of the old guy as possible') but he still has this wonderful hang dog look that suited the character. There was a bit of stiffness, of course, which comes from time contraints and not having a professional set to work with more than the acting I thought. Personally I thought Stan Colomb was excellent as Enoch, precisely how I imagined the character to be.
Theodebernacius said:
It's great to see an Indietalk collaboration. Harpsichoid's music is wonderful: melancholy and melodic.
The great strength of this piece is the acting. Very impressed by the quality of all actors. The manager is just obnoxious enough.
Some shots could have benefited from the new invention of the tripod Steadicam:
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread....879#post188879
Concerning the ending:
Spoiler
Nice work! I can't wait for Globsters now.
Cheers man! Indietalk was an invaluable resource throughout the process, notably when I got exhausted with trying to get my composer friend in the studio so turned to John and also when I desperately needed a new sound designer. I would say to any filmmakers out there: don't be afraid to ask for help on here. There's not a lot that I can give, but where I can I will always endeavour to and I think there are a lot of people with that mentality.
I'm not sure that steadicam is designed for the EX3!
I have a feeling it might get snapped in half! We only shot one shot on DSLR and that was also the only shot in the film on sticks. The reason we shot on DSLR is that the Sony was too big to get far enough back in the room to acheive any depth of field, and that's what we wanted for that shot. But the handheld is definitely a matter of taste and we tried not to overdo it. I wanted it to have that The Office feel...
I think your ending would've worked admirably if I had gone down the all out comedy route, it's almost exactly what I wrote in the first draft which I scapped when I realised that I wouldn't be able to get an exterior shot. I'm still unsure that my ending was clear enough but I hope that it makes people smile before the end which is quite poignant, rather than just having them laugh over the vigil.
Globster's a different beast and a much bigger project. We'll see how it comes on but don't hold your breath!
chilipie said:
…just looked her up on Casting Call Pro and realised she's doing The Merchant of Venice at the RSC at the moment - definitely a great find, Nick.
This is true. Onstage with Patrick Stewart.
I'm about to send her the DVD and am sending it to the RSC which makes me feel like a really low grade member of Harvey Weinstein's mail room...
