December 2011
1 post
FYOS Event #3
Yay last event! So tonight I went to the Astronomy Observatory Open house at the Physics building from 7 - 9. It was actually pretty cool, even though it was mostly just waiting in lines. They are two different sized telescopes. The 24 in one was set to look at Jupiter. If you look at the sky right now, you can actually see Jupiter - it looks like a really bright star. But with the telescope you...
November 2011
5 posts
FYOS Event 2
For my second FYOS I went to the Cinematic Showdown tonight at the Tate Theater. Basically, a few weeks ago the Filmmaking Union and Cinematic Arts Club sponsored a competition for all students across campus to make and submit short films, which were shown tonight. Before showing the films, though, reps from Cine Club, the Filmmaking Union, and the Cinematic Arts Club all talked about their...
Critique for Maddie
Hey Maddie! I was really intrigued by your pitch for the screenplay, and I was looking forward to hearing it in class. And you definitely did not disappoint! I really like the whole idea behind it. However, as with anything, there is some room for improvement. I’m not sure that I understood some of what happened in the first few scenes before we went inside her mind. Like, when she went...
Critique for Erin
Hey! Let me start off by saying that I really like the idea behind your screenplay. However, there were some things that I had a problem with, mostly the dialogue. I know dialogue is hard to write without being cheesy (every critique I’ve gotten has said that :P) but its still important to make it sound more realistic. A lot of your dialogue just sounded unnatural. And, when the kid wakes up...
Critique for Daniel
Hey Daniel! Sorry you were sick and couldn’t come to class last week. I liked your screenplay, but there are a few suggestions I would like to make.
First of all, there were some things that the class found funny that you probably did not intend to be funny. It might have been different if other people were reading the roles, but I think you need to be careful in the opening scene where the...
Critique my screenplay!
Hey guys. I’m posting this so everyone can reblog and critique me or whatever. If you don’t remember which one is mine, it was the one about the woman who is married but falls in love with a man she met in a dream, and he ends up being the one who hit her in the car accident, but she still loves him. Critique away!
October 2011
6 posts
FYOS Short Film: The Incident. →
I agree with what you said about him trying to suffocate his girlfriend. At first I thought it was really weird that he would try to kill her, especially when he seemed so surprised and upset about killing the man. Maybe it was a realization that he has this power over people, that if he wants to, he can kill someone. But I think it was more along the lines of what you were saying - that he is...
"Doodlebug" Review
So, the title of this film was really misleading. I saw “Doodlebug” and thought that it was going to be another cute film, like last week. Boy was I wrong. I did really like the way that the eyes were put in the title in the place of O’s.
The first thing that struck me about the film itself was the feeling it gave me. It looked and sounded like an old horror film. Which, in a...
"Incident" Review
I really liked this film, even though it was super long…
First of all, I really felt for the main character. You could tell that he didn’t intend to kill the man, and that he wasn’t a bad person. Obviously, he had no idea how to cover up a murder, because he put his fingerprints all over the guy and dragged him through the leaves, leaving a pretty obvious trail. And then he...
FYOS Short Film: Post-it Love! →
I was totally wondering why they were doing the same exact motions at the beginning of the film, and I guess I should have picked up on it, but I didn’t realize until I read your post that it was because they were supposed to be in sync and made for each other. Or at least if I did realize, it was subconscious. And I think that the simplicity of this film is what made it so effective and...
Bean Cakes
This film was pretty cute, even though it wasn’t my favorite. The first thing I noticed when I watched it was the old timey feel of it. Its in black and white and the film quality isn’t that great. And then there’s the kids singing in the background, which reminded me of the Empire of the Sun for some reason, so that put me in the old timey feeling as well.
When the boy first...
Post-It Love
I felt like this short was a little bit too easy, in a way, but I loved it nonetheless because it was also absolutely adorable. It reminds me of something that my friend Haleigh and I would do - whenever one of us was a having a bad day, the other would make them something out of post-its. One time she wrote out the chorus of “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World and it made my day. So I...
September 2011
13 posts
FYOS Event
So we’re supposed to do three events for this class, and I did my first one yesterday, which was going to the Study Abroad Fair. I have mixed feelings about the fair. Generally I hate anything that requires people sitting at booths and promoting stuff, because the people I don’t want to talk to are always the ones who jump at anyone walking by, and the people I do want to talk to are...
tothemoon: For Our Man →
I like that you took the time to talk about the man’s voice. It was bothering me too. At first I had trouble adjusting to it and understanding what the man said. And I like that you described his voice as “out of place” because that’s how I felt about the man as a whole. He dressed like he was a monk in medieval times or something. He wrote with a quill. He was definitely...
For Our Man
I’m not entirely sure that I liked that this short. At times it was kind of funny in an eccentric way, at times it was weird, and at time it was confusing. It was about the creative writing process - how difficult it is to create a story line, how to deal with the question of why the plot goes this way. The camera shots did a good job of representing what the man was talking about and giving...
Cashback
I loved this short. I thought it was going to be really monotonous and boring from the get-go, because the opening shot was of a ceiling with the sounds of people being checked out in a grocery store. But I guess that was the point - mirroring the monotony that these people felt during the 8 hour night shift.
From the beginning I learned two very crucial things about the boy: 1) He really likes...
9 tags
Flooding the Senses.: Morning Fall Review →
I really like what you said about the setting - I hadn’t even considered how it could be used to create peace within the craziness of the accident. That was a really good observation.
abrilliantglow:
Despite my reservations at the beginning of this film, I intensely enjoyed it. The title in itself implies an accident of some sort, so I was bracing for another of those sad turned funny or...
Sooner or Later
This short was awesome, but also extremely confusing. The ending left me wondering what was real and was what imaginary. Will the cycle of time travel continue on forever? Or will they get it perfectly right, without the Nazi realizing what’s happening, and be able to move on sooner or later? Did it even happen at all? It’s impossible to know.
My first thoughts in watching this film...
Morning Fall
I liked this short film, even though it made me really sad. The ending definitely took me by surprise. The film starts off pitch black and silent, then begins to turn into shot of a sunrise with the sounds of wildlife in the background. This opening kind of mimics what is happening to the main character - he is unconscious and he wakes slowly to the light and the sounds of nature. The man...
The Lunch Date
I think this film obviously had some intense social commentary about race. The first hint is that it is shot in black and white. There is old-fashioned music in the background, which could lead the audience to think that maybe this is a time when racial prejudices are still strong. The woman is even dressed like what we would assume a rich, white woman would wear - fur and fancy jewelry.
The...
Gridlock
I thoroughly enjoyed this film. The beginning really caught my attention because of the music. It seemed happy and catchy and put me at ease. Then the background came into focus and produced a stark contrast between the happy song about a sunny day and a man stuck in traffic during a snowstorm. It seemed to foreshadow something in a way.
The man stuck in this traffic seems to be highly stressed...
FYOS Short Film: Gridlock. →
I definitely agree that this film was in part about rushing to conclusions, especially because the Uncle was named Uncle Wim. When you do something on a whim, you do it without really thinking or bothering to look at the consequences. And in this case, the consequences of him misdialing and not checking to see if he dialed the right number were extremely disastrous.
bennettbecca:
This film...
Get That Number - Review
I have to say - I did not like this film from the outset. It felt like a cheesy 80s sitcom. But as the film progressed I began to like it more and more. The characters were actually nice guys, instead of guys just looking to score. The white guy was just a little rough around the edges. I’m wondering if this film has some sort of racial message, since there was the whole conversation about...
Watchalexandryarbrfyos:
I like that you said that you were expecting a twist in the plot because all of the films we’ve watched have had that, because that’s totally what I was expecting too. The beginning was so cute that I was immediately suspicious of something going wrong.
The Crush
I really didn’t expect this film to end like it did, maybe because in most short films we’ve watched...
Review - The Crush
I loved this film! For a while in the middle I was totally horrified, but I loved it nonetheless. My thoughts after the first few minutes were, “Aww this is so cute!” But I kind of worried for the boy. I guess I always feel bad when little kids get crushes on older people they obviously cannot be with because they always end up getting their hearts broken when they dont understand why...
August 2011
6 posts
WatchWow so I just realized I forgot to upload a short last week.
This film is called “Old Seat” and its about a society where parents have to pay taxes to have their children live a certain number of years. I really liked this short because, even though it made me feel awful, the fact that it drew so much emotion from me shows how well put together it is. It astounds me to think about how...
Zen and the Art of Landscaping Review
I really enjoyed this film. I totally thought I knew where it was going, too, when Zen started sneaking glances as Jean slowly extended her leg out of the car door. The scene of her banging the groceries in her trunk made me very cautious of where it was going to go, however. This unease was emphasized by the slow head turn she performed when Zen asked her if she was ok. Then Jean invited Zen in...
The Big Shave Review
This film was not was I was expecting. The opening shots of the bathroom seemed kind of comical in a pathetic way, especially with the jazzy music playing in the background. There is this overwhelming sense of cleanliness, everything is white and shiny. Even the man’s shirt when he walks in is a dazzling white. But not quite everything is perfect - the sink is dripping.
The man barely looks...
Untitled: I'll Wait for the Next One - Review... →
I’m not really sure how to comment on people’s stuff on tumblr, so sorry if this is the wrong way to go about doing it!
I find it interesting that you feel that because this took place on a train it seemed more realisic and less scripted. I had the exact opposite reaction. To me, the way he just stepped on the train and started giving this speech that looked like he had memorized and...
"I'll Wait for the Next One..." Review
“I’ll Wait for the Next One…”, written in 2002 by Phillippe Orreindy and Thomas Gaudin, is a short film with a rather moving message about the quest for true love. The plot follows a lonely woman who gets on a train and listens to a man give a speech about looking for a romantic partner. He tells anyone who is interested to get off at the next stop, and the woman is so...