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watch The Kohlman Files

Gonzo_Entertainment

Gonzo_Entertainment

OK, full on web release coming this weekend.

I have changed jobs AND moved in the past six weeks and I've been too busy to really try and pitch this thing and I'm tired of sitting on it, so I'm just going to release it on the web and see what happens. If it's well received we'll try to make the rest of the episodes, the next 4 are already written.

I'll save my excuses about all the obstacles that stopped it from being everything I wanted it to be, but overall I'm pretty happy with it. I certainly don't think it looks like I shot it in 3 days for $3000 (which I did).

Thanks to the several forum members who contributed to the kickstarter!

http://vimeo.com/52153693
Password: kohlman
 
I'm hoping to get a chance to sit down with this when I get home...I've been looking forward to seeing this for some time! Loved your last one!
 
Just watched. Pretty cool, Gonzo!

Loved your gills.

Hmmm, I suppose my favorite part might be the manse (?) (sorry only thing popping into my head to call it at the moment) scene with its diabolical residents and its alchemy lab.

That was shot with your 5D, right? Looks good.
 
Mixed feelings about this.

Lots of character introductions, but not a lot happening. However, the stage has been set for many directions to come in the later episodes. Bring 'em on! :)

Footage looks great. Camerawork was good. (That pov-thing you were unsure about earlier turned out great) Some of the acting's a bit stiff, but oh well.

The thing which really got me was the setting's inconsistency. Modern nightclubs with lasershows, 70's car, cb, theme song & clothes, mid-90's cellphone (had that model lol), 21st century led panels on reporter's cameraman's camera... it's all over the place. Actually, my heart dropped a bit when that very first title card appears - set in a similar universe. Can pass away a lot of things like that, but it doesn't really help ground the period and settle the viewer into the zone.

Will definitely be tuning in for more, if you make them. :cool:

Oh, and here's a spoiler bit:

The other thing at the start that threw me was the really blank bedroom where the chick gets killed. We've gone from a lavish nightclub where girl gets picked up, and now we're suddenly in that dreaded bare room with bare walls, which plagues a million shitty short films with no budget. This is addressed later when we see the Open House sign as Kohlman approaches the residence and things suddenly click... but until that fact was actually established (much later) I couldn't get the terrible set decoration out of my mind.

Please make the rest of them. :yes:
 
Thanks for watching guys. I'll address a few things.

Indeed, shot on the 5D2. The only VFX in the entire thing is a fake camera flash, EVERYTHING else practical.

Some of the acting IS a bit stiff. This is the area I continue to struggle with, casting. Leads are all good, secondary very up and down.

You'll actually note the only time things aren't "modern" involve Claude. He is a huge luddite. Everybody else is in roughly 2012. Only Claude still types on a typewriter, drives a vintage car, uses an old cell phone, uses a film camera, etc... He's a man born in the wrong time as it were. In later episodes his boss and various other people give him a hard time about some of his idiosyncratic behaviors.

Indeed, the murder scene is a foreclosed house. Professor Flagg's Lair started as an empty basement (if that gives you any ideas how much I put into set design art direction). So it's not lack or set design/dressing, very intentional for the murder room to be empty.

Definitely a "asks a lot of questions and doesn't answer many" episode. Hopefully I get to make the resat of them as it goes in some interesting directions.
 
Good work. I think your production design needs to be jazzed up. The girl at the beginning isn't a good actor, although a rack like that is a great equalizer. This production seems to beg for noir type lighting.
keep us posted.
 
Definitely my curse of secondary characters, always spotty. That girl has been in every film of mine except The Island. She's a fetish model friend. First time she's had lines. Her begging and pleading (not surprisingly) actually pretty good.

I'm a little surprised you mention the production design. I thought it was pretty layered everywhere except the murder scene which is intentionally sparse. Of course all these things fall prey to budget.. Certainly ways I would have liked to kick it up a notch as far as art direction goes. We actually had police tape for the return to the foreclosed house, but time crunch in full effect didn't get it put up.
 
Gonzo_Entertainment said:
Definitely my curse of secondary characters, always spotty. That girl has been in every film of mine except The Island. She's a fetish model friend. First time she's had lines. Her begging and pleading (not surprisingly) actually pretty good.

I'm a little surprised you mention the production design. I thought it was pretty layered everywhere except the murder scene which is intentionally sparse. Of course all these things fall prey to budget.. Certainly ways I would have liked to kick it up a notch as far as art direction goes. We actually had police tape for the return to the foreclosed house, but time crunch in full effect didn't get it put up.
Click to expand...

The sets that didn't do much for me were the room the girl got murdered in at the beginning and Kohlman's place. The place looked fairly generic, I think it should be a better reflection of Kohlman.
my dos centavos.
 
My honest opinions:

THE GOOD:

I found it very enterataining to watch actually. It was straight to the point. I don't know whether Kohlman is intentionally made out to be a 'bumbling idiot' but it was inadvertently funny and entertaining and quite watchable.

I found the club scenes to be well filmed and the exterior of the house where the victim is was well done and authentic - the lighting, the camera crew, reporter etc.

The writing seems okay - LOTS of stereotypical characters and no one particularly unique in terms of supporting cast, although the main character Kohlman is likeable if taken at face value.

Just wanted to particularly mention the actress who plays the reporter (Tania Yegelwel) - she seems a very good find cast wise and reminded me of Maggie Gylenhaal.


THE BAD:

There are LOTS of flaws that could have easily been avoided. There is quite a glaring continuity problem - the crime scene where the female is lying on the bed, when Kohlman visits the scene when the cops are there, there is far less blood and her arms are in a different position.

I found it quite generic for the majority - it wasn't bad but wasn't special either. There are some particulary poor actors from what I can see (the police detective, the cop etc).


SUMMARY:

If taken on face value and as an 'easy watch', this is definately watchable and I'd genuinely watch more.
 
londonfilmmaker said:
There is quite a glaring continuity problem - the crime scene where the female is lying on the bed, when Kohlman visits the scene when the cops are there, there is far less blood and her arms are in a different position.
Click to expand...

That's actually a plot point -
Kohlman's all wtf 'cos the crime scene is different when the cops are there. Girl doesn't have mask on, either. Camera makes a point of showing us that a pool of blood & the scalpel have been removed from the hallway. But yeah... that's basically the whole point. Things have been altered substantially.
 
I wish I could watch this. It plays for about 5 minutes then the screen turns green and won't play any more. I have this problem frequently, but only on Vimeo -- I think my computer may be too old. I tried both the HD and SD versions. :(

Anyone have any suggestions (short of buying a new computer)?
 
Zensteve said:
That's actually a plot point -
Kohlman's all wtf 'cos the crime scene is different when the cops are there. Girl doesn't have mask on, either. Camera makes a point of showing us that a pool of blood & the scalpel have been removed from the hallway. But yeah... that's basically the whole point. Things have been altered substantially.
Click to expand...


Ding ding ding...
.
"It doesn't make any sense... nothing was the same..."
He was only there maybe an hour before, how could it look totally different...

Yes, Kohlman is supposed to be very bumbling. He's partially patterned on Carl Kolchak from The Nightstalker. He's an everyman hero. He's NOT especially smart, he's NOT especially brave.... In fact, he's a bit of a doofus.

"I found it very entertaining to watch actually."
Good answer. That's all I can ask for. Not something I intended as high art.
 
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2001 Productions said:
I wish I could watch this. It plays for about 5 minutes then the screen turns green and won't play any more. I have this problem frequently, but only on Vimeo -- I think my computer may be too old. I tried both the HD and SD versions. :(

Anyone have any suggestions (short of buying a new computer)?
Click to expand...

I'll have it youtube next week. I'll post the link when it is.
 
Is this supposed to be something like Kolchak The Night Stalker?

The knife used for the murder is really out of place. A sacrificial dagger would have looked more appropriate.

You could have ramped up the frame rate for the pop on the head with the gun to be more convincing.

I like the general idea. Your lead actor for Kolman is very good and convincing. Good camera work and sound too.
 
Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC said:
Is this supposed to be something like Kolchak The Night Stalker?

The knife used for the murder is really out of place. A sacrificial dagger would have looked more appropriate.

You could have ramped up the frame rate for the pop on the head with the gun to be more convincing.

I like the general idea. Your lead actor for Kolman is very good and convincing. Good camera work and sound too.
Click to expand...

For sure. It's an homage to Kolchak, but also to 70's TV in general, with Lovecraft elements.

It didn't reach the level I was shooting for. Many production problems (like melting the breaker box in the murder house, 1st AD quitting on the second day, lost footage requiring a whole scene to be dropped) held it back from fully realizing my "vision".
ALL the murder house stuff, both the murder, Claude's initial visit, AND Claude's return when the cops are there was shot in one 18 hour day.

I'm fairly happy with how it turned out though. Something to build on.
 
I can relate to problems on set with cast and crew and attendance issues. People here can say what they want, but union actors are, on a whole, better with attendance than nonunion actors. Since SAG collects the money to distribute to the actors, if actors don't show up or show up late, SAG will handle them because SAG does not want to give back money.

My first DP pulled a no show on the last shooting day, so an actress who was on a plane that night lost out on camera time. The DP came up with a BS excuse and we had a makeup shooting day at his house. The way he acted on the makeup day got him fired from any future work, I found a new DP who is WAY more honest and works a lot faster than him with the same camera outfit.

In post, its fingers crossed on how much we can "Fix in post."
 
Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC said:
Since SAG collects the money to distribute to the actors, if actors don't show up or show up late, SAG will handle them because SAG does not want to give back money.
Click to expand...

This is not true. You pay the actors their salary + a "deposit" to SAG, about 40% of your cast budget. You'll get it back once you're wrapped and they have proof that everybody's gotten paid.

If an actor doesn't show up, that is between you and the actor, that is none of SAG's business, they are there to protect the actor's interest and make sure you pay them accordingly.
 
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