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General Category => Entertainment and Media => Topic started by: pburn on April 29, 2008, 02:59:41 am

Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: pburn on April 29, 2008, 02:59:41 am
film is finished
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95jG-GGmHsA
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: AznChipmunk on April 29, 2008, 11:31:23 pm
I think it's pretty good, man. I like it. Just kinda... incorporate the feel of the music into it more... somehow...
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: pburn on April 29, 2008, 11:46:07 pm
Ok guys, I appreciate it if you guys could give me some comments very soon. I want to have a final cut ready, so I can get a track composed by May 9th!
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: Strangeluv on April 30, 2008, 12:17:51 am
The title for this is pretty misleading, Psyburn.

When I said change the title from HOLES 2, I didn't mean change it to something misleading like this. I meant give it a better title like the ones RPG and I suggested for you. I know you are influenced by certain movies but you have to stop stealing other works' thunder... I mean. HOLES 2, SEQUEL TO HOLES is not a good title at all. And now you put GAMING WORLD THE MOVIE to attract some attention when it is clearly not.

You need to be more original. I know I'm just talking about the TITLE OF YOUR MOVIE here and I haven't even watched it yet (will do tomorrow) but you should get what I mean.
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: Mateui on April 30, 2008, 12:23:21 am
Some crits: I liked the opening shot until it abruptly cut into a close up of someone smoking. I just feel that the transitition was too abrupt. The other quick transitions near the end of the film made sense, but this first one didn't jive with me..

Also at 1:20 the guy is just wearing a t-shirt, but at 1:30 when he picks himself up he's now wearing a jacket. I don't know if this was intentional on your part or a mistake.

At the end I had no idea what he found and what the whole point of the film was... Could you explain it further? I usually like to think about films and see what they were trying to show thematically, but here I can't pinpoint what the purpose was unfortunately.

A plus however - I felt that the music really fit the scenes - especially when he found the lunchbox - the music crescendoed/picked up. Good job on that. :)
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: pburn on April 30, 2008, 12:28:29 am
Some crits: I liked the opening shot until it abruptly cut into a close up of someone smoking. I just feel that the transitition was too abrupt. The other quick transitions near the end of the film made sense, but this first one didn't jive with me..

Also at 1:20 the guy is just wearing a t-shirt, but at 1:30 when he picks himself up he's now wearing a jacket. I don't know if this was intentional on your part or a mistake.

At the end I had no idea what he found and what the whole point of the film was... Could you explain it further? I usually like to think about films and see what they were trying to show thematically, but here I can't pinpoint what the purpose was unfortunately.

A plus however - I felt that the music really fit the scenes - especially when he found the lunchbox - the music crescendoed/picked up. Good job on that. :)
1. Thanks, I will try try to play around with that.

2. Both. Turned out we couldn't find the shirt or the hat again, but we planned to make everything anti-time anyway, so yeah, it's "artsy" to have continuity errors.

3. He found a tooth. I didn't stress the part where he puts it under the pillow though. Ugh. Anyway the whole thing is contrast from day to night. He digs to find a childhood, he digs to bury a body. The random cigar transitions all contribute to a timeline.

4. The music won't stay for long for the Vancouver version. :(

Thanks alot man, I appreciate the comments.
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: Sarah on April 30, 2008, 01:08:07 am
Change the title of this thread you jerk.

Got my hopes up for nothing.
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: Mongoloid on April 30, 2008, 05:19:35 am
so was that Soap or something?
how is this gw the movie
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: Strangeluv on May 01, 2008, 12:42:59 am
I watched it today and I did not really like it. You have some good shots, such as with scenery and with the close-ups of the boy smoking the cigarette but in the end, it meant nothing to me. The overall picture seemed obscure for the sake of being obscure - and this is not a good thing with your audience, unless you're Lynch or Linklater. And this is another thing I want to comment on -  you WANT to be these people and that is where your downfall lies. Your work is not 'artsy' - it's just obscure. I think an amateur filmmaker should start off with something either comedic, exciting and riveting or so bizarre it stands out. This film is none of those.

A boy digs a hole, finds a lunchkit, finds a tooth in a lunchkit and then plays with the tooth, with no explanation to this series of events is ultimately pointless. I know you said the boy killed somebody or something and whatever and was digging a hole but the audience isn't going to know that unless you hint it in the movie! I know people may watch it and interpret it in their own ways but I just saw it as a cheap means to be obscure and 'artsy'.

Also, having a continuity error and claiming it to be 'artsy' is lazy. Kubrick did this intentionally in 'A Clockwork Orange', by the way, Spielberg did it in 'Jurassic Park' and Adrian Lyne did it intentionally in 'Fatal Attraction' but they are established directors of previously popular and commercially/critically successful films so they are basically allowed to do that. You're allowed too, but all three of those directors had stated their reasons for doing so and none of those reasons were, "Because it's artsy!"

My advice to you, if you want to have a career as a young filmmaker, is to make films that will catch someone's eye. Some of your shots drag and it makes the viewer lose interest. Lack of a story or a point translates into lack of interest, I think, even if you have some nice visuals and good lighting. I know 2 minutes isn't a lot to squeeze STORY into but I think a lot of intriguing scenarios can play out in just 2 minutes. It's your (or your screenwriter's) job to sit down and brainstorm them.

P.S. Please change the name of your thread!
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: pburn on May 01, 2008, 02:10:07 am
Fuck.

Lock the topic plz thx.

FUCK.
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: Strangeluv on May 01, 2008, 02:34:33 am
Why?

Because you got a bit of criticism?!
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: headphonics on May 01, 2008, 02:40:42 am
Fuck.

Lock the topic plz thx.

FUCK.
what the hell is wrong with you, dude?  can you ever not be like exactly how you are being right now?
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: Fish on May 01, 2008, 03:12:41 am
Man, is that really all the new NiN album is? I haven't really every listened to them but that songs like some shit you could make in Fruity Loops in like five seconds, if you have any egality questions at all you could only improve by getting better music, geez.

I don't understand the whole falling down thing, it doesn't really explain itself. Was he tripping? It looked more like a dead fall.

The footage and everything pretty tight, the cuts fit with the techno type music, but the storyline makes no sense at all. I feel like all amateur film kids try to make crazy deep movies that end up not really having any substance. Its not really just you, I feel like its pretty common. That's why I don't ever do anything creative, I always want to make it deep and then I hate myself.
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: Strangeluv on May 01, 2008, 03:18:42 am
Yeah, this is exactly what I mean. So many people try to do something deep and obscure, it just comes off as haughty or wannabe-ish and not stand-out at all. This is because they're trying to emulate arthouse directors or cult directors and the movies end up being meaningless fragments.
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: pburn on May 01, 2008, 08:55:22 pm
Strangeluv keeps telling me to reply even though I told him everything I post is always fucked up and stupid. I've explained to him so many times I don't want to post but all he does is:

<Strangeluv> Why didn't you reply to the thread?
<Strangeluv> Why didn't you reply to the thread?
<Strangeluv> Why didn't you reply to the thread?
<Strangeluv> Why didn't you reply to the thread?
<Strangeluv> Why didn't you reply to the thread?

I realize that I am terrible at coming up with story ideas, so I had RPG think one up. I chose it, I made it, and apparently I'm getting shit for selecting. I am a terrible director for selecting such a shit story. I lack vision, I can't direct actors, I can't edit or do nothing. I'm not blaming RPG for anything but everything is apparently all my fault.

So far all I've got is implying STOP TRYING TO MAKE STUFF OR GET A CO-DIRECTOR. The truth is that I have no talents at all, and making this kind of shit is the only kind of passion I still remotely have some faith in. Everytime I say something like that someone always has to say "BUT YOU'RE ONLY 13". Nobody seems to understand that the teenage years all have massive differences between ages. It's true there's really nothing between a 30-33 year old, that doesn't mean that 12 yr olds are the same as 9 yr olds.

I'm really worried because I'm nearly almost out of high school, and I have absolutely no idea what I want to do. I'm an attention seeker, I want to be acknowledged. In a third person perspective, perhaps I'm just the pretentious young film maker looking to get attention who really can't do shit. I don't want to go to college at all. I want to do something I enjoy, which all I got is watching movies, using the computer all the time, and comic books. Unfortunately I can't do any of that.

I was just a faggot because I realized that I have no talents. I totally forgot that I, myself was against the whole emulating-arthouse-directors things a whole year ago. I didn't know I was trying to emulate directors, I've never done that knowingly besides the Andy Warhol thing which was just for fun. I put all I had into this film and I don't know if I am capable of going any further I've been doing this shit for like two years now and I've never came up with something that someone simply says "it's good" or respects it. I know I made a lot of bullshit. Every time I try it's still bullshit. I'm trying to get out of the cycle but I just can't. I mean, there are fucking 14 year olds that make better films than I ever can. Even Esh's Coffee and Rose thorns or whatever shit is better than anything I could do. Have I even improved at all? Do I even have potential or something going for me that separates me from the casual film student? I can't even make something on par to the generic film school kid.

I have no problem with criticism. I have a problem with the fact that Strangeluv doesn't know shit about amateur films, has seen very few of them, and based on those standards has singled out what I've tried to make. And thus, I am losing my self-esteem because this project was my limit in skill.

And this is why I refused to reply, because I just bitch.

EDIT:
Shit now one of the composers I tried to get will probably not do the job after he reads this.

Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: Strangeluv on May 01, 2008, 09:15:01 pm
What is wrong with you, man? You always have to do this crap. Someone says something bad about something you made and you go off on some rant like "I AM SHIT." That isn't the right attitude at all. You have to learn from what you did wrong and see how you can improve it instead of wasting energy degrading yourself.

Quote from: Psyburn
I have no problem with criticism. I have a problem with the fact that Strangeluv doesn't know shit about amateur films, has seen very few of them, and based on those standards has singled out what I've tried to make. And thus, I am losing my self-esteem because this project was my limit in skill.

Do I have to see 1000 amateur films before I can enjoy them or something? I like all sorts of films. In fact, one director I like a lot is Richard Linklater (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000500/) because he manages to hold my attention even though his movies usually are just about PEOPLE TALKING, like subUrbia, Tape or Before Sunset. I don't think these films were made on extremely high budgets and an amateur film can probably stretch to achieve what those films did. Even amateur films, I think, should follow the basic principles of what makes people engrossed when they see a movie. I don't think they should have to LOWER THEIR STANDARDS TENFOLD to enjoy it, arthouse shit or not.

Also, when I told you to reply in the thread, I didn't mean post lengthy essay about how your life is so messed up, I meant to address what people said so far and if you plan on improving anything and how you plan to do that.
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: local_dunce on May 01, 2008, 09:34:05 pm
I haven't read the topic after the "LOCK THIS PLEASE" post but I'm just going to say it was actually a kinda neat idea. There were some shots that were badass cool and carried this awesome kind of mood, but you dragged those shots down with other stuff that just kind of made it look like you were trying too hard to be edgy or something. There were a couple of grass/digging shots that were really awesome and I think if you had focused harder on the "I AM DIGGING I AM LOOKING FOR SOMETHING DESPERATELY LOOKING FOR SOMETHING DESPERATE HELP LOOKING" then it would have been cool but you tied it together with random shots of a guy smoking which really detracted from it. I think it would have been a lot better for it to be a constant digging with everything else just being a transition to the next stage of the digging rather than shots of guy looking edgy or guy looking emo.

Also what the fuck man? You said PLEASE CRIT THIS and when people did you said FUCK PLEASE LOCK THIS TOPIC. What's up with that? I think you did this once before as well man what the hell. It's not a BAD piece of film, the editing is actually pretty good and aside from the fact it doesn't look FUCKING PRO HOLLYWOOD CAMERA ACTION I think you did alright. The only downer really is a little lack in the sound department and your "I want to be edgy and cool" shots which no offense it's not just you but I find pretty laughable in anything that involves teenage kids. In regards to sound, I think the fact that you are trying to make a piece of film and not a music video meant that you should probably have a little more than silence + piece of music. That's purely at you discretion though I guess but that's how I felt it should have been and I think that's how I would have done it.
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: RPG on May 01, 2008, 10:02:16 pm
Yeah Psyburn, grow up. People were trying to help you and they brought up valid criticism (what you asked for). I know it's easy to get attached to your project and how it feels to really like what you did only to get a different response from your audience, but that's part of the learning process. Everything you do is a learning experience, and you should try to learn from your mistakes and improve.

I personally think you've done a good job on the movie, there are some really good shots and the editing is what I'd expect from you. It's easy to see why people "wouldn't get it" because of the serious pacing issues and continuity errors. You should've never approached the movie with the 'artsy' mentality in mind, and even calling the thread Holes 2 (which I know is a joke) shows a problem in how you perceive your work. You're a hobbyist, your movies don't need to be cool, no one has expectations and people here just want to help you improve. Even people who are involved in a scholarship program would realize that they're looking for talent, and not for mature film quality. I'd say you have talent, you certainly have a 'vision', and you know what looks good.

It might be a long way to get to where you want to be, but self-pity will never help you. I realize you're 16 and that's what teenagers do, but  ranting will never do you any good. Stop blaming other people (I can't believe you accused Strangeluv of not knowing about amateur films or your response to Mateui where you claim you did it on purpose) and work on fixing the problems.

Good luck, I guess.
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: Cheshire Cat on May 01, 2008, 10:49:14 pm
I liked it, personally.

To list the good points. The bedroom shots were really well lit, as were the night time shots. Essentially, the dark ones were the ones that particularily stood out.
The digging scene was pretty cool too.

Two negative observations
1. The sudden change when he falls over. Is there a way you can make this feel a bit smoother or make the jumpy nature more effective? I'm not an expert, it just felt like the sort of larks kids get on with so they can make videos of themselves teleporting and that.
2. You waited quite a while on some of the shots. Not THAT long, but just long enough to put me off slightly. Best example i can think of is the shot into the hole, showing the box. If you want to use a longish shot, it needs to have some kind of dynamic quality too it i think. I appreciate you wanted people to know what they were looking at though.

Hope this helps.
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: pburn on May 01, 2008, 11:34:08 pm
Sorry guys, I am an idiot, back to this.

I appreciate the comments and criticisms, here is my second render:
http://redculture.com/videos/ninrenderfinalv2.wmv

Hopefully it clears up the DAY NIGHT contrast.
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: Strangeluv on May 09, 2008, 11:14:08 pm
Was he digging to get the tooth or bury a body
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: Shepperd on May 10, 2008, 02:07:03 am
Psyburn, I don't give a fucking damn about people who don't like my music. I don't get offended, I know my stuff is out there and some will dig. Some people tell me some crits, why they dont like this or why they love that and that helps. I listen to that. But again, when people dont like my music I DON'T GIVE A DAMN. All that matters is that I do like my stuff.

Uwe Boll should be your hero
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: Strangeluv on May 10, 2008, 02:32:37 am
I think Uwe Boll is like Psyburn's role model or something, by the way, because he always talks about him. I dunno if you knew this before and was just re-stating it, though.
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: Shepperd on May 10, 2008, 09:55:01 am
didnt know and wouldnt be surprised
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: pburn on May 10, 2008, 03:42:07 pm
I am not offended. I was just a faggot sorry.

The whole thing is over, I wanted to make a new topic but I got this shit man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95jG-GGmHsA
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: Ragnar on May 13, 2008, 10:23:48 pm
Did you use real film for this?

Also it reminded me of like, really good outtakes from an episode of Prison Break (but usually I like the way Prison Break is filmed so take that as a compliment)
Title: Holes 2 - 2nd rough cut out
Post by: pburn on May 13, 2008, 10:33:21 pm
Did you use real film for this?

Also it reminded me of like, really good outtakes from an episode of Prison Break (but usually I like the way Prison Break is filmed so take that as a compliment)
No, I used a cheap consumer Canon Elura 90. I put a vignetting effect over the picture and put a shitload of filters over everything.

Thanks man, I appreciate it.