watch WW2 short film. Feedback needed!

[McOlofL]

Hey everyone,

I just got finished my latest film. It is a WW2 film and it is based on true events. It tells about the start of the Lapland War between Finland and Nazi Germany. This is kind of my debut film (at least my first film that had a proper team making of it). The film was a last year school project and I wrote the script and directed the film and eventually I had to edit quite a lot of it. Overall I’m not so satisfied with the results even if there are some really nice/working things in it. The thing is that even if I know that the story have flaws and all scenes don’t work so well, I really can’t tell exactly what is wrong with them (I have become too blind to the project). This is why it would be so nice to have some constructive criticism (good and bad things) from the people that have never seen or heard of the film. Running time is approximately 30min and the spoken languages are German and Finnish but it has English subtitles in it. Hope you have some time to watch it!

-Olli from Finland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6HjCUyvBfw&feature=youtu.be

 

[backfirepictures]

Wow, technically the film looks amazing, and the acting is pretty good too! I think the problem is the narrative. I tried to watch it yesterday, and made it about five minutes in before I was bored to death.

I saw your post again today, and I couldn't figure out why no one has given any feedback to a film that looks like it could be a professional production.

My guess is that no one wants to criticize a film that they have not seen in it's entirety. I gave it another shot, this time I made it almost eight minutes in. Since I have not seen the whole thing, my critique is sort of unfair, but it might help you nonetheless.

The first 40 seconds might have something to do with the overall story or her character arch, but its boring, and seems a bit cliché: Woman packing a suitcase and looking at a photograph of loved ones.

Then the film goes into what I assume is the set-up for the film, but I'm still a little vague on exactly what it is. It looks like her brother is secretly planning some kind of resistance, while she is seeing some German officer. (Apparently she is spying for Germany, or he is spying for Finland?) Again, I'm sure this is all explained in greater detail as the film goes on, but it didn't have enough drama or suspense to pull me in for half an hour.

I'd come up with a more compelling opening scene. Something to really hook your audience. Hope this helps!

 

[clone56]

I think I have to agree with above, the film look amazing. However the story a tad on the borning side.

 

[McOlofL]

Thanks for the feedback! I would love to hear some more.

I think the beginning could and should have been more interesting, even though I didn't want the film start with "james bond" kind of shock action sequence (which you could think when it comes to WW2 film). I think the big problem was that I didn't tell the setup/conflict enough clearly. I studied the real events and people quite a lot but somehow I forgot that the audience don't know anything from the subject. The big conflict with the protagonist girl is that she cannot be with her loved nazi lieutenant because the society (finnish people) condemn that and the worst thing is that even her brother thinks that she is a slut... all this kind of hatred towards our protagonist is missing which is really bad thing because we don't understand her motivations for leaving the country. Or what do you think?

Also it is quite important to understand that Finland and German are brothers in arms. Was it clear because it was mentioned only in one sentence when the lieutenant says "what are you talking about our brothers in arms" ?

 

[mlesemann]

I got through 5 1/2 minutes but it was too boring.
Great photography, but too dark for my taste - some dark is great but this was too much for me.

From a story perspective, you need to grab us much faster. I would have started with Kaarina with her Nazi lieutenant - show us first that they love each other and then show us the problems that they're facing.

"Brothers in arms" - sorry no. Problably within Finland there's enough knowledge of the country's convoluted (to me) alignments in WW2, but I had to google it, and most people won't bother, especially to watch a short movie.

 

[backfirepictures]

Also it is quite important to understand that Finland and German are brothers in arms. Was it clear because it was mentioned only in one sentence when the lieutenant says "what are you talking about our brothers in arms" ?

All people are ignorant of most things. I'm certainly not a WW2 scholar. Many historical dramas have some sort of opening title sequence that sort of give the audience a brief synopsis of the time and place, as well as any relevant facts that will effect the story.