Platt22
"Gay Detective" by Hippojuicefilm - Reviewed on May 31st, 2009

I really like your shot selection throughout the entire film as it creates that eerie 1920’s feel. One thing I’m not too big a fan of though is the spotlight effect. I get disengaged seeing the frames basically cookie cut out. Your frame can be used to tell a lot about a situation and/or character and should always be used to the fullest rather then cut in half. I know you did this to get an old detective film style effect but there’s a reason why this effect is not used anymore. The lines are brilliant. Your actors capture the essence of those old film noirs perfectly with lines such as “how thick is your water!?”. The writing aspect of your film is probably the best part about it. You seem to have put a tremendous amount of time into pre production and it shows! The actors could have been mic’d better, especially the female lead. Outtakes!

Platt22
"Salvatore's Last Smoke" by Procoverage Studio - Reviewed on May 31st, 2009

Good shot selection throughout but try being more careful when editing and while shooting to keep a nice flow from shot to shot. At times, you skip a position of the camera and it becomes jumpy. For example, don’t go from a long shot of a character to immediately going to a medium shot unless it’s vital to do it that way. In the scene with the doctor, you jump a lot with the shot selection as though you didn’t storyboard or have any idea how and what you would be shooting. The blood splatter was a nice effect in the beginning. Your lighting was impressive at times but you don’t keep continuity of it especially in the scene where the girl first confronts the detective. The acting isn’t all that great and it’s hard to stay invested in the characters even for the short amount of time that the movie runs. The sound quality wasn’t all that great and I’m very confused why you continued to have some dialogue that was supposed to be delivered by an on screen character, actually be edited in after shooting. Did you forget some lines while in production? I’m not much of a fan of zooming for any reason in a film. Leave camera zooms for the television shows. Instead, use tracking shots or steadicam, both types add tension or excitement to a scene too, only in better fashion (in my opinion anyways). I like the drunken detective aspect of your film, try using more close ups of him to get across his depressed, alcoholic nature rather then mostly medium shots – close ups can be used to show great emotion in a character.Eh, dissolves – stay away from them. Just cut between shots when staying in 1 scene – you use a dissolve when the girl brings the detective tea and this makes us assume time has gone by when really, not much has (as the characters are still in the same spot as prior). Instead, maybe cut to the girl saying sure, and then cutting back to the detective investigating and saying a simple line, and then cutting back to a medium shot of the girl bringing tea. This would work slightly better.

Bryan Fox
Replied on June 1st, 2009

We lucked out last month, but this month, I learned the hard way that we should have checked continuity between shots better. There were a lot of instances where I was forced to change shots of somebody looking one way to them looking a completely different direction. Becca was real good at squashing continuity bugs last time around. We were also more rushed with shooting this time since we could only get together one day as opposed to two last time around. As for acting, I've said it before that I can't go and hire Christian Bale. Friends are all I have to work with and just the fact they got in front of the camera in the spotlight deserves commendation.

As for zooming, you don't say zooming or handheld shots suck to a 24 fan. "Leave (insert method here) for TV shows" is the worst advice you can give an aspiring filmmaker. How can you be as good as a TV show if you don't practice their methods? As for dissolves, they were only used to show passage of time. I do like the technique you mentioned for the tea scene.

Platt22
Replied on June 1st, 2009

I apologize for sounding like such a dick ha but my point was made obviously...24 uses those zooms very nicely as it is a digital television show but movies usually stay away from the zooms (not saying you shouldn't ever use zooms in filmmaking but personally, I think movies should stay away from them unless it's completely necessary) - I hope you don't think I'm just some jerk though who hated your movie as I really enjoyed it and think you have a lot of talent when it comes to the short films you make - keep it up!

Bryan Fox
Replied on June 2nd, 2009

Nah man, I don't think you're a jerk. I always take critiques seriously from people like you who have good quality work to back them up. I've got good things to say when the review show goes up.

Platt22
"Hello Detective" by Sometimes Funny - Reviewed on May 31st, 2009

I was so pumped to see this after you told me you shot it in France. Your locations were terrific as we are able to get a nice image of a place that most of us film fighters probably have not seen. My favorite location was the car garage however. You got some beautiful shots under the odd lights of the ceiling and I like how the backdrop disappears in frame as your actor is in silhouette. How did you find French actors? They did an awesome job! The antagonist is freaky! I love the shot selection in the movie as you stick to your excess of close ups but like I said for Procoverage, I would rather not see zooms as they are disengaging. I’m glad you subtitled this, it was tough understanding the actors at times. I’m not convinced that you put as much time into this movie as you do with most of your others as it seems like you had the idea of it one minute and shot it the next. The music is terrific! I don’t know if you did this purposely, but the costuming was great (white against black). Even though the locations were great, I think it would have been nice to have incorporated more of the city into the film. An establishing shot from a high point of the entire city would have been gorgeous and well worth it if possible. I also like the pace of this movie especially at the end when the bike crashes. The best part of all your films is always the editing and here you did a great job again of cutting from shot to shot.

Platt22
"The Mysterious Case of the Lulz" by CharmingNewSociety - Reviewed on May 31st, 2009

Very glad you decided to put this into black and white. The lighting is excellent in the beginning of the film especially when the detective is in silhouette but as the movie continues, the lighting begins to get very spotty which makes for annoying images. This may have been on purpose but next time try to find a fill light and back light in order to produce a more realistic image rather then something that looks like it should have been shot on stage. The most important aspect of a black and white film is the lighting because of the absence of color, and you seem to dull down your lighting much too much and camera spotlights are pretty gross. Music is very appropriate though. Some of the shots are a tad out of focus (not sure if this was because of the compression process or because you just didn’t focus your lens but think about that more next shoot). Great shot with the shadow of the victim hanging. Continuity issues at some points as to where a character should be entering screen especially as the detective chases the dude in the mask. They both should enter into frame the same way. The acting is pretty good for amateurs and I really enjoy the story as a whole.

CharmingNewSociety
Replied on June 1st, 2009

Platt22, see my reply to Justin on the matter of lighting. Kind of funny, no? And we intended there to be continuity errors in the chase scene. It was meant to be humorous, but I'm not sure the chase came off as intentional as we intended. Thank you for your critique and compliments.

Platt22
Replied on June 1st, 2009

haha that is funny - good thing a cop didn't end up chasing you guys around with a real gun thinking you were a couple of lunatics - i understand fully the situation with the lighting (or lack there of) - i've been there myself. The movie was still good though, don't get me wrong - i fully enjoyed it!

Platt22
"Detective Movie" by Encryption Entertainment - Reviewed on May 31st, 2009

The voice over sound quality is not very good in the beginning. Some of your pan shots were very bumpy, try loosening up the pins on your tripod the next time you shoot so that you have a nice, smooth pan and/or tilt shot. I wasn’t a fan of the rack focus shot when the lead character watched the dude run away. I think this would have been better if you had used a lens with a much greater depth of field, keeping everything in focus rather then changing focus midway through. Ha, not so sure I believe that girl could run after a dude and tackle him to the ground, she looks a bit too sweet to be a badass. The gunshot sound effect at the execution was pretty “meh” – maybe check online next time to find a more suitable sound effect. Also, would have been awesome if you got some digital blood in there or used a special effect in camera to create a blood spray from the guys head after he gets executed. We get very lost in these characters. What I mean by that is, what are their relationships? I’m not digging the story so much either, although it was interesting that you used the swine flu as a character motivator for the antagonist. The ending to me is too abrupt. This was a pretty ambitious project but it seems like you didn’t spend enough time with it. Maybe next time, try to get your ideas on paper quicker so that you have more time for production and post production. Also, try to write some more natural dialogue as the characters’ lines were very “line for line” rather then conversational. This could have been your actors too I guess.

Platt22
"Meet The Maker" by Yes Maam Productions - Reviewed on May 31st, 2009

Obviously the best film ever made haha. No but seriously, the sound is off with the detective’s voice over and some of the shots were a little bit too shaky (if only I had been equipped with a dolly/track). Also, the video was re-uploaded to youtube to incorporate the filmfights intro and was not uploaded in HD like the original version which I am now ashamed of. Obviously, the movie was too long to meet the required time limit but in my defense, this movie was made months ago and I was unable to cut anything out because I do not have AVID on my laptop. The sound effects were difficult to come by as I was forced to use only sound fx that my school supplied me with and they were without the sound of punching a glass mirror – so I improvised…terribly haha. Also, I wish I could have produced this into wide screen but because I used a bolex camera, I was unable to unless I used some camera trickery during shooting – which I didn’t have time for sadly.

Platt22
"Salvatore's Last Smoke" by Procoverage Studio - Reviewed on May 31st, 2009

**also, for story critique...why would the girl (who ends up being the killer) go through all the trouble of going to a private investigator when the cops stopped poking around the case? Wouldn't she lay low and not go to another detective?

mitchtk
Replied on June 1st, 2009

The detective has a bad history of messing up cases, which he states in the office scene, and he's obviously a drunk. She goes to him to hopefully throw the cops off her trail. When she realizes he's gotten something right, for once, and he's on to her, well, you saw what happened.

Platt22
Replied on June 1st, 2009

yes, but she says "the cops have already STOPPED looking for the killer" - so why would she as the killer ask another law enforcer to stick around with the case when the cops have already stopped - if the cops stopped, then she's free and clear from anyone ever discovering the truth

mitchtk
Replied on June 2nd, 2009

she's lying man.

Bryan Fox
Replied on June 2nd, 2009

I guess that shuts that debate down...

Platt22
"Hoodwink" by Edward Flinch Productions - Reviewed on June 1st, 2009

mine too! u never cease to amaze me with how incredible your shots look! sorry i didn't review yours as it wasn't online last night, but maybe if i have some time later after the gym I'll get to writing - amazing job though!