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watch The Shot - Should memories be left as they are or can they be changed somehow?

J

jackbrown

New short, any feedback would be great :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7SlQ8NC0xI&context=C353afcdADOEgsToPDskLy3hoeePv0-2R5FBszHkSQ

Jessops 'The Shot' Directed by Ross Gill. A man attempts to re-live his memories by modifying a digital camera. Should memories be left as they are or can they be changed somehow.

Story, Direction, Cinematography & Editing by Ross Gill
Music & Sound Design by Paul Street
Starring Jack Brown & Charley Walker

Camera Used:
Canon 550D

Thanks, Jack.
 
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Fantastic job, Jack! I loved the atmosphere of the whole thing, and the music really added to the feeling that he was desperate to get her back. I have one critique and a few questions. The critique is that, for such an emotional film, the actor didn't put nearly enough emotion into it, especially in the voice. I feel like the point was to show us the emotional pain this man was feeling, and to have him not express that feeling keeps me from being fully immersed in the story.

My questions are: What happened to the girl? Did his fumbling with the camera erase her from existence? Or is it possible that she never existed in the first place?
 
Thanks for the comments Exit62, glad you enjoyed it and am pleased you like the feel that we tried to create :-D

I'm the Director, Editor, DOP, and Jack was the male actor in it. With regards to the voice work, we did in-fact try some more emotional/panicked style ADR recordings but for some reason they just didn't seem to fit quit as nicely within the scene as the ones we chose. Not sure why really but this style seemed to be the most natural. ADR was a first for me on this project and I'm pleased with what we learnt from it and can take forward into the next one!

You raise some very interesting questions and that is what I wanted from this film as people will read it differently depending on their experience and personality when it comes to human relationships. I myself know the story, although there are a few possibilities that I intentionally left open. Sorry for waffling on and the vagueness but I always prefer watching films that raise questions and get me thinking instead of just telling obvious stories. I will say the girl always existed. :-D






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emotion

Thanks for the critique.
My intention was to put more emotion into the final scene (panic, desperation, sadness), tying in with the magic battery dying! Played the girlfriend scene quite straight to leave it open to interpretation, leading to questions, like the ones you have asked.
Glad you enjoyed the film.
 
I'm afraid I wasn't engaged again.

I think you set the mood right and great filming again.

I think I'll stick with my motto. You can't please everyone.

Keep on filming tho.

There was a series here called Black Mirror. One of the shorts (well 2hrs long maybe) it was the future and everyone had implants where they could rewind their thoughts and memories. It's a similar theme to yours. A good series if you can get the chance to see it, 4 separate stories.
 
I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I do not have the expertise of the other folks here. I just know that the story was interesting. I only checked length once at 3:00 in. It seemed to move a bit slowly then and the darker early shots were mildly distracting. All in all, I liked it. The dead battery was predictable, but still fit in well.

I half expected the woman to take a pic of the crow and fall to her death...that would have been epic...and it would have stranded your guy,broken the camera and made the girl's death his fault too. Total anguish.
 
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I liked the film a lot. It seems like a story I could had come up with -- meaning I'm always told I have some weird ideas and this one fits right in with the short script I'm writing ;) Great job!!!

One thing I didn't like was the complete control of the camera. What I mean is that the camera not only could transport the photographer to a different location, but also to a different time in space. Just too far out there for me to believe -- yes I know it OS impossible but within the story, the impossible still has to make sense.

But that's just me, either way, awesome short.
Please post more.
 
dariussutherland said:
I'm afraid I wasn't engaged again.

I think you set the mood right and great filming again.

I think I'll stick with my motto. You can't please everyone.

Keep on filming tho.

There was a series here called Black Mirror. One of the shorts (well 2hrs long maybe) it was the future and everyone had implants where they could rewind their thoughts and memories. It's a similar theme to yours. A good series if you can get the chance to see it, 4 separate stories.
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Thanks for the comments Darius. Yes I completely agree you can't please everyone, and that should not be an aim to strive for, unless your in politics or advertising. Which is whats nice about short films, they give you the space to experiment and try different things out. It is nice for some people to enjoy the films you make tho. And if anyone feels enough about them to comment then it's provoked some sort of response has to be good! A failure would be a shrug and an "it's alright I spose".

Being compared to a reasonably high-budget, high concept prime time TV series made by Charlie Brooker can't be bad for a film that cost nothing to make tho ey!! ;) I did watch the 3 episodes of Black Mirror, I was already editing The Shot by the time I saw the 'Sky Plus in your head' one, the best of the 3 for me. And with the actor from Dead Man's Shoes to boot! He could have taken it further with a bigger budget tho possibly - the ending wasn't very satisfactory for me... If only that internal memory feature existed when Jason Bourne was trying to remember.....or the guy in Memento! ...

I will indeed keep filming mate, and maybe I can 'engage' you next time!
 
Powerkicker said:
I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I do not have the expertise of the other folks here. I just know that the story was interesting. I only checked length once at 3:00 in. It seemed to move a bit slowly then and the darker early shots were mildly distracting. All in all, I liked it. The dead battery was predictable, but still fit in well.

I half expected the woman to take a pic of the crow and fall to her death...that would have been epic...and it would have stranded your guy,broken the camera and made the girl's death his fault too. Total anguish.
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Thanks powerkicker glad you enjoyed it man!

Yeah we were limited by time-to-submission otherwise I would have sorted some of those darker shots out in post ho hum.

Umm....would that really make for a better ending tho......really? :huh::P
 
joey1320 said:
I liked the film a lot. It seems like a story I could had come up with -- meaning I'm always told I have some weird ideas and this one fits right in with the short script I'm writing ;) Great job!!!

One thing I didn't like was the complete control of the camera. What I mean is that the camera not only could transport the photographer to a different location, but also to a different time in space. Just too far out there for me to believe -- yes I know it OS impossible but within the story, the impossible still has to make sense.

But that's just me, either way, awesome short.
Please post more.
Click to expand...

Nice one Joey :) Glad you liked it. The story took a few different turns before I settled on this one. I understand what you mean about the plausibility of it tho, don't worry I'm writing another short film at the moment and everything that happens in it can actually happen in reality...although the odds are slim of it all happening to one person....keep watching :yes:
 
Man. Don't worry about me, you're getting good feedback. I'll watch them again and give it more time, sometimes I'm impatient. Look forward to what you do next.
 
By the By, if you're really interested in this whole should memories be changed, thing, there is a great feature article in Wired magazine this month about a pill that erases memories.

Jus' Sayin'
 
Ha, nice! Shall have to pick up a copy. That's quite a worrying concept...Treadstone is just around the corner perhaps... :no:
 
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