archived-videos Feedback on First Feature Film

J

jeemseems

Hi Everybody!

I'm nearing the end of post-production on my first feature and I'd absolutely love some feedback. Please be honest and blunt, I can take it at this point, ha.

If you're interested (it's a comedy/drama about a young farm girl and her misadventures in the city; 99mins) please reply to this post and I'll PM you a link/password.

Sorry about all the vagueness; it's not finished yet nor do I have a trailer (I'm looking for somebody who might be interested in cutting one by the way).

Thanks!
 
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jeemseems said:
Hi Everybody!

I'm nearing the end of post-production on my first feature and I'd absolutely love some feedback. Please be honest and blunt, I can take it at this point, ha.

If you're interested (it's a comedy/drama about a young farm girl and her misadventures in the city; 99mins) please reply to this post and I'll PM you a link/password.

Sorry about all the vagueness; it's not finished yet nor do I have a trailer (I'm looking for somebody who might be interested in cutting one by the way).

Thanks!
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Is there a reason you had to post something about this before you finished a trailer? Why not just wait?
 
Because I'm still trying to figure out the film's identity and was hoping some feedback might give me a better idea of just what I had made and how best to advertise it to others.

Would you like the link?
 
Okay, I watched the first ten minutes. I think the sound is nice but there's a few problems. The dialogue was a bit unreallistic, like how the mum is waiting on the porch and she says 'dinner is in the oven' or something like that, I don't think thats the first thing someone would say. And when the girl is in bed and the mum is telling her that she's welcome back any time. Thats not something I could ever imagine a mum saying to their child, thats something your uncle would say after you've stayed in his house for a week on holiday, but if you've been living with your family your whole life its pretty much implied that youre welcome back. Also I feel like the sequence in the house could have been much shorter, like the girl could have been off to the city in the first 5 minutes.

I personally think that to pull off black and white you really need to do some nice work with the lighting to stop the picture from being bland. It seems like the film has just been shot without thinking of black and white and then the black and white was just added as an afterthought.

There was a weird contrast with the acting as well. It was like the mum was overacting, while the daughter wasn't really acting at all. Her performance was pretty lifeless, at least in the first ten minutes anyway.

But with all that said, congrats on shooting your first feature. It's not perfect but its an accomplishment in and of itself and I'm sure you've learned a lot from the experience. I say take everything you've learned and apply it to a few shorts, practice a bit more before you attempt your next feature. Observe the way people talk in real life and try to make your plot tighter.
 
Thanks!

I should mention that we shot the film in order and everybody got a lot better at everything as we went along. I too feel that the home stuff at the beginning goes on too long. It is certainly the weakest material.
 
Well perfect, as long as you're growing and learning then the film is a success. Yeah I thought you could almost have just started on the morning of the girl leaving and it wouldn't have impacted the plot so much. I'm not sure, maybe some of the stuff from the very beginning comes into play later but to me it felt dispensable.
 
Things from the beginning do sort of come into play at the end of the film, so I think that's why I've had difficulty in figuring out how to tighten that up without losing something at the end.

If anybody else is interested in watching and letting me know your thoughts, please don't hesitate. This has been very helpful so far!
 
mlesemann said:
You mean you shot the scenes in the order that they appear in the movie? Is there a reason why you did that?
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Yes, for the most part; although there are some exceptions.

I knew we'd all be rusty at the start of shooting (this was a first for all of us), but I also knew that we would get better as the shoot went along; hopefully doing our best work at the very end (which is what happened).

I also hoped that this progression in all aspects of the production (acting, directing, etc.) would also somehow inform and improve the dramatic arc of the lead character - as the film is pretty much a "journey" story. Not to mention the obvious positive of being able to take detours in the story without affecting continuity or anything.
 
The problem with putting the best work at the very end is that you reduce the number of people who will watch it that far - you need to hook them early.
 
mlesemann said:
The problem with putting the best work at the very end is that you reduce the number of people who will watch it that far - you need to hook them early.
Click to expand...

Ha, very true and something that's been proven in this very thread.

Perhaps selfishly, I kind of figured that too, but the scenes at the very end of the film were the most important to me and I wanted to make sure I had as much experience as possible before I got to them.
 
Everyone's helped out quite a bit, thanks again!

If anybody else is interested in sharing your thoughts, I'd really appreciate it. Just reply here or send me a message.
 
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