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watch Julia's Grave

LOGAN L Productions

LOGAN L Productions

Here's a piece i just finished. This is the first version, so there may be a few flaws here and there, but for the most part it's finished. I'd like to thank SourMonkey for donating his song, GAMES. Let me know what you guys think.

Julia's Grave​


Death is a part of life. Sometimes you need to see the world through someone else's eyes to get a full perspective on things.
 
I'm not really sure how I feel about this one.

I like the bravery of shooting the entire short through the man's POV, but I'm not sure if you pulled it off.

Also, the note was distracting, it didn't seem necessary to the plot.

Was this a friend's grave? I want to say I think it was, or you have experienced something similar in the past.

Poke
 
...something similar has happened to me. I wanted people to be left thinking about the note....

When my good friend died, I went to visit her grave (no, her name wasn't Julia) and she didn't have a gravestone. I found a note addressed to her and my curiosity took over...

...the note was written by some girl I didn't know and it just said how she missed her friend and how beautiful the funeral was. BTW, I'm not proud that I read someone's private note, but after the fact I thought it was sort of an interesting thing I did in my grief; worthy of sharing in art or film. I was originally going to have the note in the movie say something profound or be a proverb or something (I may add this later after all...who knows...I tinker with my movies a lot after they've been "finished"), but in editing I thought that leaving the audience hanging was a better choice. The audience can imagine the note said whatever they want. I am also contemplating fading to a girl laughing at the end before the credits. The girl would be nameless' memory of Julia's face.

I also had SourMonkey's song playing at the end originally, but when I watched the end in silence I really liked it way better.

P.S. I know the note says "Tulia". I'm an idiot and that's the one thing I hate about the movie...but i'll think of a way to pretend like I did that on purpose.
 
I agree the end is better without the music. After reading your post, I've decided I like the note, and the fact that you didn't show what it said.

By the way, Tulia's a town in Texas where there's been some controversy over many minorities being wrongly imprisoned because of a shady drug informant...if that helps. ;)

Poke
 
Poke said:
By the way, Tulia's a town in Texas where there's been some controversy over many minorities being wrongly imprisoned because of a shady drug informant.
Click to expand...

Amy Goodman has covered that extensively :yes:

______

I was kinda confused with the POV presented at first. I wasn't sure if the "blink" was exactly a blink, or if it was covering up dodgy edits. (Or even if it signified a second person, possibly Julia, somehow looking through)

It all made sense, of couse, when
it teared up and bonked the steering wheel.

Silent ending good... I think the VO could have sounded better. I think it could have been trimmed a bit shorter, as well. No need to see the note.

I liked it, overall. :)
 
I don't know how you'd do it without the wink, it was a natural transition...I think straight cuts would have been way to jarring. The only thing is a person blinks far more often than that.

Poke
 
yeah I noticed some of the blinks are distracting...hmmmm....

...and before I added the blinks, I think the crying part was more powerful. I'll have to ask SourMonkey about that. He saw it a long time ago.
 
I thought it was a pretty good idea and it was pulled off well, especially towards the end. I only have 2 complaints. 1) the volume of the VO is quite low. I had a hard time understanding it. 2) The dialogue at the grave seemed kinda generic. It seems to be missing that personal touch to it. I was expecting a real heart-torn monologue when he was standing at the foot of her grave.

I liked where you went with the note. The curiosity of the note worked for me.
 
Not bad, but it's missing something i can't yet touch it but somethings missing.
P.S I saw something In the distance like a white post but it almost looked like a ghost freaky just wondering if you saw anything during editing? Just curious. Nice work overall.
 
What's wierd is this. I usually "finish" my little short films and am really dissapointed in the end result. It happened with OU uncovered, Double or Nothing, and College Life. These movies are way worse than what I invisioned before they were made. For some reason, though, a lot of people liked those short films.

Now I've finished Julia's Grave, and it seems to perplex and frustrate people...but when I watch it...I am really satisfied with it...fixable sound problems aside.

...Aaanyway. Aside from being a personal piece, I wanted to break up all expectations of what a narrative should be. There is no character development...who's the character? Who's Julia? What did the note say? I sort of wanted the audience to become the main character (that's why his speech is so vague)...that didn't work so well because people are used to being the spectator...but I did get people to care about what the note said somehow. That's an accomplishment I guess...

...eh, I got the first person perspective movie out of my system for now. I will probably do it again someday with a comedy. Back to producing some fresh Mustache goodness.
 
LOGAN L Productions said:
What's wierd is this. I usually "finish" my little short films and am really dissapointed in the end result. It happened with OU uncovered, Double or Nothing, and College Life. These movies are way worse than what I invisioned before they were made. For some reason, though, a lot of people liked those short films.
Click to expand...

I think most people on the "creation" end feel that way, when it's all said and done.

But while you are anguishing over all that "could have been", the audience is mostly quite prepared to judge the actual presentation. Unless they are viewing an adaptation of a well-known book (or a remake of another film), there is really no way for them to tell what has been ommited, missed, forgotten or fudged.

:)
 
Nice work Logan! I kind of dug it. The first person perspective didn't bother me. I'm an FPS fan so for you to use that perspective in your film was interesting to me. The blinking was funny...but appropriate I think...for the perspective you were using anyway. The only thing I would say critical about the perspective would be to try and come up with something interesting for us to look at. It's hard now that I think about it but maybe that's the challenge.

The sound...the sound! The sound on the film could be done as a voice over. From the perspective you chose to shoot the film technically we are in the characters head anyway...right? You could easily eliminate the cameras sound all together and use VO. I couldn't hear what the character said at the grave.

Anyway, nice work.

Rick
 
Rick said:
Nice work Logan! I kind of dug it. The first person perspective didn't bother me. I'm an FPS fan so for you to use that perspective in your film was interesting to me. The blinking was funny...but appropriate I think...for the perspective you were using anyway. The only thing I would say critical about the perspective would be to try and come up with something interesting for us to look at. It's hard now that I think about it but maybe that's the challenge.

The sound...the sound! The sound on the film could be done as a voice over. From the perspective you chose to shoot the film technically we are in the characters head anyway...right? You could easily eliminate the cameras sound all together and use VO. I couldn't hear what the character said at the grave.

Anyway, nice work.

Rick
Click to expand...
Thanks Rick! This movie was pretty indulgent for me, so when people dig it I really feel good.

I am actually reworking the sound currently as well as some editing. The final final cut will be posted.
 
Rick said:
Nice work Logan! I kind of dug it. The first person perspective didn't bother me. I'm an FPS fan so for you to use that perspective in your film was interesting to me. The blinking was funny...but appropriate I think...for the perspective you were using anyway. The only thing I would say critical about the perspective would be to try and come up with something interesting for us to look at. It's hard now that I think about it but maybe that's the challenge.

The sound...the sound! The sound on the film could be done as a voice over. From the perspective you chose to shoot the film technically we are in the characters head anyway...right? You could easily eliminate the cameras sound all together and use VO. I couldn't hear what the character said at the grave.

Anyway, nice work.

Rick
Click to expand...
Thanks Rick! This movie was pretty indulgent for me, so when people dig it I really feel good.

I am actually reworking the sound currently as well as some editing. The final final cut will be posted here.
 
i loved how this was all in the person's point of view; i love the blurry eyes and the blinking. i just think that you put too much stress on the note to leave it unresolved, though.

M.
 
question from a new guy

did you have to register your production companies name? or do you just run with it? and what else can you tell me, advice is always nice. thanks dude, and your movie was really cool, i like the way you shot the driving, i've always imagined it the exact same way. good work
 
thurty2 said:
did you have to register your production companies name? or do you just run with it? and what else can you tell me, advice is always nice. thanks dude, and your movie was really cool, i like the way you shot the driving, i've always imagined it the exact same way. good work
Click to expand...
I never registered my company name....but I would suggest doing it...if you don't, then someone else can use the same name legally. I probably will register trademark everything later this year.
 
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