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watch "Amy" - Short Film

P

pwells360

Hello All! This is my first posting to IndieTalk. This was my senior student film I made a little while back, about a young, lonely woman working as a stripper in the inner city who has a figure from her past intrude into her life. It's all shot in beautiful 16mm Black and White, with a stylish editing and sound design style, and a terrific lead performance.

Link - http://vimeo.com/23181301

Please check it out and leave feedback and suggestions. I'm trying to start work on a couple new projects and am looking for any ways I can improve, or just positive comments to help me push forward. Thanks a bunch and enjoy!
 
I thought it really was terrific. The problem with most indie films is the acting, and it gives away the amateur nature of most indie films. Your actors were awesome, and it can only mean they were very well directed ;)

I loved your framing by the way. I look forward to watching everything else you do.
Congratulations!!
Aveek
 
Thanks guys for watching and for the complements! As for the performances, I was really proud of everyone involved. Vicki is a really amazing actress and I couldn't believe what she brought to the role, and Ithaca has some really great supporting character actors in town who like to work on a lot of the student films. Madeline, who I got to make a brief cameo, is actually the best actress I've ever worked with on any film I've ever worked on (whether I was a production assistant, an extra, or directing and shooting) and I don't think she knows how good she is. I'm not sure if Vicki does either, because its amazing how good they are, in my opinion.

Unfortunately, I was never happy with who I got for Charlie, who is actually a family member of mine. I had another trained SAG actor who I wrote the role for, but he was unable to do it, and so I got my non actor family member to do it. And he did as well as he could, and Vicki and I coached him as much as we could, but he still feels like a non actor. And I think it shows just how good Vicki is that she was still able to have the presence she did while acting opposite a non actor who she is having to coach through the scenes. I wish I could have had who I originally intended in there, so they could play off of each other, and so we could rewrite their scenes together.

Also, one thing I always kept telling the actors was to go smaller. Don't project. We're not onstage. Just be. Just whisper it to each other. Stuff like that. I feel most indie films have everyone acting as if they are on stage and projecting their lines and emotions, rather than feeling and living them. So, even though I was going for melodrama, I wanted every character to feel as real as possible. Hopefully I achieved that on some level.
 
Really nice work. Gorgeous, grainy film --a nice stand out in a world of digital video (though I do miss the widescreen aspect ratio...only a personal preference). It's gorgeously lighted! Though at times the overall darkness might have felt a bit oppressive for me; what the hell, like I said, the gorgeousness the lighting pretty much made up for that. I also really liked your framing. It's not just good framing...I think all of your shots had good to excellant composition. I love good framing and composition, and this film really stands out there. I also only want to praise your lead and other actors. One tiny critique, and maybe I'd change my mind on this with more screenings, but, while understated is good, the scene when your lead is pushing her former guardian out of the club might have been played just a very little bit too understated. Like, maybe it could have benefited by being just a small note more passionate. Not sure, but that was (just sorta) my initial feeling.

Bravo.
 
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Richy, if you check out my dp reel on youtube (just search Patrick Wells dp reel on youtube) you'll see that, the film isn't actually normally that dark. I don't know why, but vimeo just makes everything about a stop or half stop (to speak in film lens terms, ha) darker for some random reason. Maybe because I uploaded in mp4? But the original mp4 file is slightly brighter.

I thought of reuploading it and compensating, but I already sent the link out to a few prospective employers before I realized just how dark it got on vimeo.

The original film is still dark, just not quite as so or with as crushed of blacks. There's more detail there in the shadows than what vimeo shows.

Thank you so much for watching and for the positive comments! Also, I normally prefer the 2.35 aspect ratio, or widescreen in general, and have shot almost everything else I've shot in 1.85. BUT, I felt the 4:3 classic aspect ratio fit this film more. I like how it feels more claustrophobic and more classic in that respect. Also, I TOTALLY agree with you about that end confrontation being too understated (and too quick, blink and it's over). In the script, it was meant to take place outside the club, and she actually threw him on the ground and started kicking him in the jaw and the bouncer actually pulls her off of him and back inside. BUT, it was the end of the shoot, and weather prevented us from being outside, and we were all fatigued, and most of all, I ended up not getting the actor I wanted for Charlie and instead ended up getting a non actor who didn't have the range and was very rigid. So that scene really really suffered, and it kills me. I even tried to reschedule to reshoot all the Charlie stuff with the original actor I had in mind, but Vicki was no longer available. Oh well though, it is what it is.

Thank you so much again!
 
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pwells360, thank you for directing me to your youtube videos. The clips of Amy do look a bit lighter in your cinematography reel and even more so (because there's even more of Amy in it) in your editing reel. I don't know, but Amy still looks beautifully filmed in all versions. I had wanted to praise your editing before. Now that I've seen your editing reel I really have to correct that earlier omission and sing about the brilliant editing of Amy.

I think we're all going to be learning the name Patrick Wells better. All the samples on your sample reels look brilliant. I have to say that the ones from Vito Bonafacci (besides Amy) really caught my eye. It looks like it was beautifully filmed. I see it only just opened in New York. I think you should consider posting the trailer or something here in the Screening Room. Of course I haven't seen the movie itself, but it looks like work to be proud of. :)
 
Well, Vito Bonafacci, while I am glad that it was finally released and am proud of John and Michael for what they've achieved, I didn't direct or write it. I served as cinematographer and as co-editor. Basically, I edited all the dialogue scenes and made a rough cut of the rest of the film. But because of how much sitting and talking and meditating there is, it became frustrating to edit it further without having a score, even if it was just a midi version of the score, and some more intricate sound design, which I was still waiting on. Normally I am all for cutting a film entirely without any music or sound design, and then building those, and then just making slight final touch tweaks. But because of how meditative the film was, often with long takes, it was tough to build a rhythm for the entire film that way.

In the end, after cutting the dialogue scenes and building a couple passes of the rough cut, I ended up leaving the project to move on to other things. Michael, who was working on the sound design and was close friends with the composer, finished cutting the film as they built the sound design and the score, and it probably worked best that way as he could tweak the sound and the cut all at once together. John and Michael also wanted the film to have a brighter and more colorful color timing, so it looks a little different from my timing as well.

I am proud that John is getting his meditative and somewhat experimental film out there and that people in New York can see it in theaters. It's got some interesting moments and some very cool performances from actors and local nonactors as well. I wish them all the best.
 
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