watch Loss - My first short thriller

[pepper jack]

Well I've never been too much into thrillers or horror movies but a few weeks ago I wanted to give it a shot and come out with something by Halloween. So here I am.

So some things I'd like to get feedback on are my lighting, the acting, does the story make sense, does it make your heart pound at least a little bit, in your opinion anything I could of done better, does it make you think as in do you have to question the story but in a good way, is it scary at all, etc.

Those are a few things I'm looking specifically for but any feedback at all is greatly appreciated. Thank you and I hope you enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6M5YKH4Wrs

 

[gebo]

It's good. Kept me interested in knowing what was going to happen next. Some shots could be shorter (for instance preparing the toast). I don't know much about lighting but I found the movie look to be a bit dull, too desaturated, I think a more contrasty light/shadow would suit this short better. It has the look of a home made movie, doesn't look pro, if that's what you want to know.
I also didn't find it scary. The acting was good.
Overall i think it's very good for a first short thriller. You should do more.

 

[pepper jack]

Thanks for the feedback I appreciate it. Also you are exactly on point with the wanted contrast look and too desaturated! Initially I wanted a hard contrast with the lighting, kind of like old noirs but I couldn't pull it off exactly how I wanted while we were shooting, so I just called it off in the interest in time.

I decided to put in the desaturation during the post processing, it actually very gradually gets more and more desaturated throughout the whole film. I admit I may have put a bit too much but my idea behind it was that the whole theme of the film was everything around him is deteriorating, along with his mind, so I thought maybe having the desaturated look could add to that feel I wanted.

How could I of givin that feeling and theme of deterioration through visual effects better than simply desaturating?

Also I have one more question, although I do personally realize it wasn't as scary as I would of liked, rather than a jump scariness, does it ever have your heart beating just ever so slightly and kind of having you sit on the edge of your seat?

Thanks again for the feedback!

 

[punee]

It has the look of a home made movie, doesn't look pro, if that's what you want to know.

Yeah, even I thought the same. How exactly does one remove that home made look? Lighting or color corection?

 

[gebo]

Thanks for the feedback I appreciate it. Also you are exactly on point with

How could I of givin that feeling and theme of deterioration through visual effects better than simply desaturating?

Also I have one more question, although I do personally realize it wasn't as scary as I would of liked, rather than a jump scariness, does it ever have your heart beating just ever so slightly and kind of having you sit on the edge of your seat?

Thanks again for the feedback!

I think desaturating isn't enough to give a feeling of deterioration through the movie. I don't know how you could do this with visual effects, maybe it has more to do with the acting itself, the actor getting more nervous and tired...or older... more skinny...wrinkled face, wrinkled clothes...I don't know...

As for being scary, maybe if I watched this all alone in a dark room with the right mood it could be a bit scary. Nothing made me sit on the edge. There were parts where I thought something was going to happen: when he grabbed the knife and pointed it to his stomach I thought he was going to stab himself, and when he opened the door without even looking through the peephole I thought someone would be there and it would become scary moment...some zombie or monster etc. attacking the poor guy. But no tehre was none there.

Yeah, even I thought the same. How exactly does one remove that home made look? Lighting or color corection?

Better lighting, much more important than color correction.

 

[pepper jack]

Yeah like I said lighting is one of the things i'm kind of struggling with. The main problem I was having while shooting this was I was trying to get that high contrast of having a bright and dark side on the faces but I couldn't pull it off without getting a huge dark distracting shadow in the background of whoever I was lighting.