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Sometimes Funny, "Money Can't Buy?"
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AvatarJustin
Reviewed on November 1st, 2009

This is our film! It was fun to try a new style for Sometimes Funny. We wanted something a bit more heartfelt. It's cool to just see what happens in this situation. If you stick it out long enough, you can get some interesting folks to speak up.

AvatarOutlawPictures
Reviewed on November 4th, 2009

Great point. How long were you out there doing interviews? And outta curiosity, how many people brushed you off or mocked you? I'm always nervous about putting a camera in somebody's face lol. Are they open to the idea?

AvatarJustin
Reviewed on November 23rd, 2009

We were doing interview for like 45 minutes. No one really mocked us. It's Times Square, there's so much chaos going on everywhere it's just fine.

AvatarEnvelopeGenerator
Reviewed on November 2nd, 2009

Damn, this is clever! Must be a big gamble to let the content of your film depend almost entirely on the reactions of random people, but it pulled off and there are some great and interesting responses. Love the idea! :D

It goes without saying that your films always look amazing but... yeah, this film looks amazing! :P And you did a great job of keeping everybody in focus considering all the interviews were (presumably) spontaneous and on-the-fly.

AvatarJustin
Reviewed on November 2nd, 2009

Focus was a bit of a nightmare, haha - since I was holding the mic with one hand and the camera with the other ... I had to move back and forth to keep the subject focused. And even then since aperture was up so the focal range was a tiny sliver. Thank god for compression!

Avatardethbyinc
Reviewed on November 2nd, 2009

this films video quality made me poop my pants i want to get the camera now haha! very good, i love those kind of montages ... Great work!

AvatarJustin
Reviewed on November 23rd, 2009

Don't poop your pants!!!

Avataralvirnexc
Reviewed on November 2nd, 2009

I like this more serious approach of this video. A man on the street interview allows for a lot of different opinions and at the end of the day, you end up with lots of cool stuff to mash up. The idea of having so many different opinions from strangers is really good. Also, I loved the audio on this. The beginning with all the whistling/subway scraping (or whatever that ambient noise was) was cool. Plus, where did you find that music? It was the perfect fit!!

AvatarJames
Reviewed on November 3rd, 2009

Great job, you guys! I would have never thought of something like this for this fight, but now it seems so obvious. I love man-on-the-street type things and this was very very well done.

I love all of the comments you got from the different people, and love how you not only overlayed those over each other, but showed footage of Grace and Mike looking for people to talk to. It added a lot of realism to it. I also like how the focus was done, I know you guys had trouble focusing but it seems like it adds to the film somehow and wasn't too distracting for me. I would have maybe ended it a little differently, it seemed to abrupt to me, even with the fade out. Not sure what else you could have done though. Nicely done guys!

AvatarSometimes Mike
Reviewed on November 3rd, 2009

This was entirely Justin's work, and all credit for the concept, look, and feel go to him.

I'd come up with (as I often do) a far too complicated idea for the few days we had left to film something. Justin came up with this great idea, which was a simple idea, which are usually the best ideas. I'm really happy with this, it's a great change of pace to the sometimesfunny catalog of films.

The only thing I'm sad we didn't get was a shot of me holding the sign (which I did for the first few minutes before realizing that just scared people)

AvatarJustin
Reviewed on November 3rd, 2009

Yes, I am sad we don't have that shot. Someday we will get it.

AvatarOutlawPictures
Reviewed on November 4th, 2009

Man, Time Square is so beautiful. It's made for filming, can't have a bad shot there lol.

Really like the look at what people think. I admire you guys for going out there and getting these shots. NYC is such a wonderful place for the variety of people and opinions it represents and this is a nice piece in that respect.

Unfortunately, I love the idea, but you're up against some hysterical competition and I can't pass up voting for something that made me laugh.

Again, love the piece. I would've liked to see some more B-roll shots, I know they're quick snippets of dialogue but you're in such a great area I would've loved to get more surroundings as well as different types of dialogue shots. Not all extreme close ups, maybe a few craftier shots. Personal opinion.

AvatarSometimes Mike
Reviewed on November 4th, 2009

Personal opinions are appreciated!

AvatarDavidSegerAOK
Reviewed on November 5th, 2009

This is pretty rad Justin. I like the energy. But didn't the rules originally state it had to be a Drama or a Comedy? This is a documentary of sorts or experimental to say the least. Didn't follow the rules. Lightweight it! Jk. XOXO. Rule-breaker.

AvatarJustin
Reviewed on November 5th, 2009

shhhh

Avatarhippojuicefilm
Reviewed on November 7th, 2009

Like my homeboy Jay Z would say "God bless the beautiful people in New York".

AvatarJustin
Reviewed on November 8th, 2009

Yes! For sure. The beautiful tourists.

Avatarloveislbind2all
Reviewed on November 18th, 2009

I really enjoyed this! I'm so jealous that you guys are up in NY and you can just go to time square and ask people questions. Gah and it looks beautiful!

AvatarBonerpop
Reviewed on November 23rd, 2009

Super duper good camera quality. Ewe. The guy that said "faith" had creepy teeth! I liked the little kid the best. Good Paris Hilton answer, but...I am pretty sure she did buy happiness. Well, I don't have much to say about this one. I really liked it. Seemed way too short, though. Music could have been quieter, cause it was a little distracting. This was my 2nd favorite one. The picture quality looked so professional. I wish it was about twice as long.

AvatarBryan Fox
Reviewed on November 28th, 2009

Sound: Good music choice. Voices would have been crystal clear if you hadn't made the music too loud that it drowns out the voices. 2/5

Lighting: Iris settings might be a tad dark, but other than that it looks great. I know you're rocking a nice cam which makes things a little easier. Having everything outdoors helps immensely as well. 4/5

Filmfights Criteria: Tackled with a vengeance. I thought the documentary was going to be the copout that everyone would fall back on for this fight, but I'm surprised I didn't see much of that. 5/5

Script/Story: Man on the street documentaries this short are pretty much devoid of a script and story. No rating

Acting/Choreography: You got a decent selection of average Joes and Janes off the street. Exactly what a documentary is about. Their answers don't sound forced or phony. 5/5

Pacing/Style: Nice shots of cutting away to miscellaneous things (looks like some shots of you guys beaconing people over to interview) to break up the monotony of facial closeups. Almost perfect documentary style. 4.5/5

Overall: Sometimes Funny strikes again. I personally frown on documentaries because there's no storyline creation which takes out my favorite part of filmmaking. I still like a well executed documentary. 4.5/5

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