watch Purgatory [short film] [5D Mark 2]

[Psy]

Hey guys, I’d love to hear your thoughts on my short film entitled ‘Purgatory’.

This is the 2nd short film that I’ve created. Last year I created my 1st short film as a student entitled ‘Where the Wind Goes’ however I felt that they hold your hands far too much but also restrict your ideas in a big way. I wanted to venture out and try making a short film without their help and learn off my mistakes, the end result is ‘Purgatory’

It’s very much a short film only created to learn more and get better at the craft. The budget for the short film very low, mainly because no one had any money to begin with since everyone was willing to work for free on the film, it helped in a big way. In the end, we spent around $300 or so.

We were busted by the police (helicopters and all, while the helicopter was beaming the light on us, I was telling the DOP to record it but he refused ) for one of the shots (when he looks at the other car coming towards him at the traffic lights)

The film essentially has subtle messages here and there which I made deliberately especially regarding the pills and its importance in dealing with anxiety or depression.

I’m aware that there are problems here and there but in the end, it was only to learn and get further experience to enable me not to repeat those mistakes on my next ones.

I hope you enjoy it



PURGATORY

http://vimeo.com/18583050

PASSWORD: purgatory01



EDIT:

I've made the video public and removed the password required to view it

 

[jrsmithson]

The special effects were good IMO, including the blood and lacerations. I liked the music, I think it went well with the film. On the other hand, Sandra's mother was pretty matter-of-fact about his revelation that he killed her daughter. If it was me I would cry or get violent or at least emote somewhat. However if she was too emotional she wouldn't be able to make the level-headed decision to take away his medicine. And I think that contradiction is where I'm most critical- there are a pair of unrealistic reactions- the lack of emotion of the mother and then the taking of the medicine. This is a reality in which unrealistic things happen. But I think that is the kind of reality you are going for, so good job on accomplishing what you set out to do. Good production.

 

[Psy]

The special effects were good IMO, including the blood and lacerations. I liked the music, I think it went well with the film. On the other hand, Sandra's mother was pretty matter-of-fact about his revelation that he killed her daughter. If it was me I would cry or get violent or at least emote somewhat. However if she was too emotional she wouldn't be able to make the level-headed decision to take away his medicine. And I think that contradiction is where I'm most critical- there are a pair of unrealistic reactions- the lack of emotion of the mother and then the taking of the medicine. This is a reality in which unrealistic things happen. But I think that is the kind of reality you are going for, so good job on accomplishing what you set out to do. Good production.

Thanks

I had heaps of conflicting opinions about that scene and whether the level of emotion in the end was the right amount. My friends mother reckoned as a mother, she should've been far more emotional. My brothers girlfriend who lost her sister (suicide because of depression) said it was the correct emotion because in the end, the guy at the door wasn't the main cause of the accident, even though that's what he thought for many years.

Even though the mother isn't aware of John's state of mind, the removal of the pills in theory will get rid of his hallucinations which were caused by the excess amount of consumption and set his life back on track (especially with his boss at work) so I thought that it had be in the story.

 

[hunteq]

I rather fancied the name title how it interacted with the car, then faded to black! Also the cinematography is great! Absolutely fantastic. I'll be honest though, I didn't see this guy as any kind of law enforcement, he looked kind of young. For the U.S. at least.

 

[dar]

The police officer is young, but I didn't find him too young--it seemed to fit with the character, a young man in his 20s. I was startled momentarily when he called in to the dispatcher, but only for a moment.

I thought the cinematography was superb, especially the car scenes--those are tough! How did you shoot them?

The mother's reaction seemed ok, to me, given that it had been years since the girl's death and that she had put it down to suicide. If it had been more recent, no, but, even a violent death, the visceral reactions do ease with time. Bet she had many sleepless nights after that encounter though. (And the fact that I'm thinking about what the characters would do afterward is a really good sign!)

My only real suggestion for improvement would be the blood work. Even if her heart stopped beating moments after being struck, the laceration on her face would be more bloody. There's a lot of blood in the capillaries of the face, and they would continue to leak blood, esp, since there was blood underneath her. Also, her body would have flown quite a bit after such a collision--friend of mine got hit like that and flew about 20 feet before bumping and rolling a good bit more (survived, thank heavens!) So, we'd expect her to be a bit more scraped up, her clothing to be more out of place. It did take me out of the film for a moment, but only a moment (and I'm a horror hound, so I see a lot of blood work--I'm awfully picky about it!)

But, wow, what a great start to a career you've got going!

 

[guidelinefilm]

Very nice work, man...

I really like the visual style. The pacing is great too. Some sequences were running a bit long...but what do I now, eh? Did you really pull this off for only 300 bucks? Well there goes my jaw dropping. I spent round about that kind of money and had a much, much, much worse camera and my sound is far more amateur.

Some inserts reminded me of Mad Max and the piece as a whole a little of Anderson's "El Maquinista"...hats off!

Congrats, Mehran! Sorry for my sloppy comment...it's late...

Gonna watch your other film tomorrow, for sure!

Cheers, man

A.

 

[Psy]

I rather fancied the name title how it interacted with the car, then faded to black! Also the cinematography is great! Absolutely fantastic. I'll be honest though, I didn't see this guy as any kind of law enforcement, he looked kind of young. For the U.S. at least.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. For the character, I required someone that could pass off as around 27ish and look young for the flashback sequences. I auditioned quite a few over 30 year old guys and even though they looked great for most of the scenes, they couldn't pass as 'young' for the flashback scenes.

At one point I wanted to use actual police uniforms and make the character a regular cop as it would've been more believable. I even contacted the police commission inquiring how to get my hands on those kinds of gear. They said that if I was in the Victorian state, uniform hire is $5, but in my state New South Wales, uniform hire was $130. I changed the script right after to make him a detective in regular uniform and a regular car to save money at the cost of authenticity unfortunately

The police officer is young, but I didn't find him too young--it seemed to fit with the character, a young man in his 20s. I was startled momentarily when he called in to the dispatcher, but only for a moment.

I thought the cinematography was superb, especially the car scenes--those are tough! How did you shoot them?

The mother's reaction seemed ok, to me, given that it had been years since the girl's death and that she had put it down to suicide. If it had been more recent, no, but, even a violent death, the visceral reactions do ease with time. Bet she had many sleepless nights after that encounter though. (And the fact that I'm thinking about what the characters would do afterward is a really good sign!)

My only real suggestion for improvement would be the blood work. Even if her heart stopped beating moments after being struck, the laceration on her face would be more bloody. There's a lot of blood in the capillaries of the face, and they would continue to leak blood, esp, since there was blood underneath her. Also, her body would have flown quite a bit after such a collision--friend of mine got hit like that and flew about 20 feet before bumping and rolling a good bit more (survived, thank heavens!) So, we'd expect her to be a bit more scraped up, her clothing to be more out of place. It did take me out of the film for a moment, but only a moment (and I'm a horror hound, so I see a lot of blood work--I'm awfully picky about it!)

But, wow, what a great start to a career you've got going!

Thanks mate

The in-car scenes were done pure guerrilla style by simply using attaching a camera stabilzer to the Canon 5D to minimize as much bumps as we could. The in-cars were just regular shots with the cinematographer sitting in the passenger seat and recording the main character, same goes with the frontal shots but the stabilizer helped alot. The one shot next to the wheel, I had the cinematographer stick the camera out the car upside down while holding onto the stabilizer (risky business ). I did originally want to get suction cups but the overall price was extremely expensive so didn't go for that option.

The blood part, after we had all the make up on Sandra, I even told the makeup artist that the scaring should be more apparent and gruesome, but i stood back and figured that I wasn't trying to make a movie to scare people but to make a point about depression and life in general so i stuck with the original makeup in the end.

Very nice work, man...

I really like the visual style. The pacing is great too. Some sequences were running a bit long...but what do I now, eh? Did you really pull this off for only 300 bucks? Well there goes my jaw dropping. I spent round about that kind of money and had a much, much, much worse camera and my sound is far more amateur.

Some inserts reminded me of Mad Max and the piece as a whole a little of Anderson's "El Maquinista"...hats off!

Congrats, Mehran! Sorry for my sloppy comment...it's late...

Gonna watch your other film tomorrow, for sure!

Cheers, man

A.

Thanks

The sequences that had the long takes were done deliberately to enforce a sense of analyse to the anxiety that the main character was going through. Many of the shots that weren't analytically important, it was cut fast but the others that were had the slower pace.

$300 was actually a bit too much than what it should've been. We almost made this film for much less but the owner of the car that main character is chasing didn't want money for his car to be used, but wanted his fuel tank to be filled up every night we needed it which took a big hit to my pocket. The Cinematographer had the camera and lenses so we saved money there. For the musical side, my friend composed the whole thing and my other friend programmed the police database. Overall, I reckon having the right people around you helps in a big way rather than tackling everything yourself.

Not sure if you'll like my other short film 'Where The Wind Goes' though, but who knows

 

[IndieBudget]

Well done.. Well shot, a little slow IMO..but still well done. great camera work, sound was awesome, well acted ! Im not sayin' I can do better. We are all trying here. I see a lot of hard work and solid filmmaking skills in your film and it shows with an excellent film !


I'd love to know what lens did you use inside the car ? what lighting did you use inside the car ?

 

[Psy]

Well done.. Well shot, a little slow IMO..but still well done. great camera work, sound was awesome, well acted ! Im not sayin' I can do better. We are all trying here. I see a lot of hard work and solid filmmaking skills in your film and it shows with an excellent film !


I'd love to know what lens did you use inside the car ? what lighting did you use inside the car ?

Thanks very much

To be honest, I'm not sure what focal length the lenses were but they were definitely the L series Canon lenses.

For the lighting, considering we didn't have any battery powered lights, we resorted to using the interior car and ambient lights. So that includes just one of the overhead lights above the drivers head (both gave too much light) and opening the sunroof to let in as much light as we could