On The Lot: Discuss the show

Personally, I'm happy Jordin won. :) Back to the lot, I think that the pushy ego guy that left will be soon followed by whiny ego boy with whom he conflicted. I was amazed at the quality of some of the films they screened tonight, not the least of which was the "time out" special effects one. SFX like that in 24 hours is amazing.
 
knightly said:
Personally, I'm happy Jordin won. :) Back to the lot, I think that the pushy ego guy that left will be soon followed by whiny ego boy with whom he conflicted. I was amazed at the quality of some of the films they screened tonight, not the least of which was the "time out" special effects one. SFX like that in 24 hours is amazing.
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And it had a story!!!

Zach (the special effects guy) had been on of my favorites on the site. His movie is really cool as it has one continuous shot. You can check it out here.
 
knightly said:
Personally, I'm happy Jordin won. :) Back to the lot, I think that the pushy ego guy that left will be soon followed by whiny ego boy with whom he conflicted. I was amazed at the quality of some of the films they screened tonight, not the least of which was the "time out" special effects one. SFX like that in 24 hours is amazing.
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No doubt that was the prized short. Amazing in that short timeframe. Imagine what he could do with a full budget. Many of my stories are high-budget SFX laden action thrillers, so he has a talent close to my heart.
 
EddieLeonardo said:
And it had a story!!!

Zach (the special effects guy) had been on of my favorites on the site. His movie is really cool as it has one continuous shot. You can check it out here.
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Thanks for that link. The only piece I saw of his work was a preview on Fox, and it just showed his opening SFX sequence.

Not many people I talk to liked Children of Men, but that movie had the most amazing long takes I had ever seen. The freeway sequence in Spielberg's War of the Worlds was cool, but in Children of Men, that sequence toward the end had my jaw on the floor the entire time when I realized that the camera had not cut away once in nearly 10 minutes.
 
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mmmm... children of men... awesome flick.

What are they doing to these poor filmmakers? Make a film in 24 hours! Now make a movie in 1 hour! Now escape from this maze filled with pointed spikes that kill people, and make a documentary in 10 mins, and then make a feature film before Fox cancels the show! You have 30 seconds! AHGAHAHAGA!

It's entertaining as hell! I wanna go on this show and be all crazy and shit, and freak out and call everybody monkeys!
 
Spat...I want to see you on that show...next season you have to go for it...I'll laugh my ass off to see what hollywood thinks of you :weird::hmm::no::lol:
 
knightly said:
Spat...I want to see you on that show...next season you have to go for it...I'll laugh my ass off to see what hollywood thinks of you :weird::hmm::no::lol:
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I'd make people cry. I really hate reality shows, mostly because they manipulate things so much (reality?) and everybody looks like douches. Therefore, in order the counter the manipulation (and not look like a douche), you've gotta have a game plan.... mine? I'd bring my own camera, first of all. I'd immediately start talking shit about everybody behind their backs to the reality-makers to steal the screen-time on the show (they seem to love shit-talk), and throw in as many "natural" plugs (that can't be edited out) for a website, where I'd post raw BTS footage, including an explanation of what's really going on.
 
Spatula said:
they manipulate things so much (reality?) and everybody looks like douches.

I'd immediately start talking shit about everybody behind their backs to the reality-makers to steal the screen-time on the show
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So.. to prevent them making you look like a douche, you'd just preemptively act like one? Nice. :D
 
I watched all the shorts on the Lot's website. Pretty good. There were 5 or so in there I really liked... super-pro-style. They have clips that were cut from air on there too- it's more juicy goodness to watch.

One thing I'm really digging, is seeing the "yet-to-be-pros" on pro sets, with working crews. It's a great help to see the dynamics in action, because I think it prepares you for what to expect. A director isn't just responsible for the shots and the performance-manipulation... it's also about inspiring the crew, communicating effectively, and creating a creative atmosphere. It's hard enough to do that without a budget... but as soon as the dollar figure gets factored in, you have to really step up the game. You have to know your vision before you get to set, so you can focus on the crew-cast relationships. One director cut some actor off MID-TAKE and gave her new direction... I know he only had an hour, but dammit! You could just see the actor shrink! I've made it a habit now, to let takes run to the end, even if something screws up. If anything, it's an extra rehearsal for the actor.

In that first episode, seeing all those egos clash got me really pissed off. I was like "people! get a grip! make a film!"... but watching clips from the next one, they're all heading their own shows, and it looks like the show is finally focusing on the creative process, rather than the petty conflicts. My main concern with the show has been that it's realityTV, and therefore might not be as much about finding the next "great one", as much as raking in the ratings... but it's getting on track now. Of course, it IS tv, so it does have to stoop a bit to gain the viewership, but it seems like that was just the beginning.. now the real fun begins!
 
One thing is for sure, with these first 18 shorts you can definitely seperate those who will succeed from those who may not. The cream is quickly floating to the surface. I was surprised by ms. recent NYU film school graduate. "Changing the Light Bulb" was my least favorite followed by Wacky Taxi, or whatever it was called. Blind Date needed some serious help, and I agreed with the judges - been there, saw that. And who brings flowers to the bathroom unless you're bi-sexual trying to pick up a man and settling for a woman (or a woman whom you thought was a transexual)? Now THAT would've been funny. Zach stole the show again. He is definitely someone with enough vision and talent to make it at Dreamworks whether he wins this competition or not.

No conflicts this time. It was all about the creation and the judges. I like where this show is headed. I can almost predict who's leaving tonight. Let's hope the viewers are judging on merit and not on popularity. We don't need a "votefortheworstdotcom" fiasco with this show.
 
I voted for the puking aliens guy...cause I laughed out loud and he's from MN! Zach's was technically great, and funny, but I thought the set was a bit cartoony for my tastes. Wacky cab guy just needed some help...or less beer. Were these the one minute things they made as the 3rd challenge in 1 hour?
 
Zach was technically great - yes a kinda cartoony.

Although I am not a fan of puke, urine, fart jokes, I was a fan of the alien movie.

I think it is an easy way to have a laugh when using poop, jokes. I want people to step up to the plate and not rely on flatulence as a punchline.

My favorite of the night was the dance man.

My second favorite was the Replication theory which contained fart jokes, but was based in the idea of blaming it on something else, which proved to be more funny than the farts.

Oh and Trevor - the golf movie it would have been even funnier with showing the mini golf course.

Show it don't just say it. I learned that from here.
 
hehe I don't think that it was mini was necessary info at all...of course, mini golf is inherently funny, I think it would have been funnier if the stakes were higher. like a US Open guy being super cocky and messing up on the very last stroke. Losing the jacket to adam sandler or something ;)
 
Yeah, they're all on the web site. And you can watch the individual movies by clicking on "Contestants". Under each person is their 1 minute movie. And, knightly, they did not make these in an hour. I'm sure they had a good part of the week to put them together. One spanned multiple locations.

I have every episode still saved on my DVR and just went through them again tonight. I have to admit, Replication Theory got the biggest laugh from my wife, and she also liked Check Out. She didn't really get Zach's film, and seeing it again I think I may have liked it more for its technical achievements than its story, which is pretty simple. It was still well done, though.

I was very surprised to see who went home (and I won't mention who left in case of time zone differences).
Jess should've been gone. Her film was he worst, IMO, both technically and story-wise. But she must have a loyal following from her film school roots.
 
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Well, what happened to that third task then from the initial three "Boot Camp" tasks...they rushed them off to the set to direct a one minute scene (one page) in one hour on a big hollywood set. I wanna see those.
 
knightly said:
Well, what happened to that third task then from the initial three "Boot Camp" tasks...they rushed them off to the set to direct a one minute scene (one page) in one hour on a big hollywood set. I wanna see those.
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I don't know, but that's how we got from 24 to 18. I guess they cut out those results. They said they'd air it Monday, which was yesterday, but they aired these other movies instead. Those one page, one hour movies were all shot in one location. One was in a courtroom, and none of the 1 minute films had a courtroom. Maybe they got poor ratings running the "reality TV" format and not the films so they changed it up. Who knows. That, or someone in the programming department screwed up. There's no way they shot these 1 minute movies in an hour. These had all original stories created by the directors with a "Comedy" theme. These weren't handed to them.

I just watched the last 10 minutes of the second episode again. They weren't planning on airing task #3 apparently. That was just for the judges to make the final cut. I'd like to see it, too.
 
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