DVC 12 - No Small Change - Hugh DiMauro
 

Don't even ask. I hope you guys enjoy it.

I liked the odd couple pairing in your 2 leads. For Criminy sakes!!!!? I was expecting a dead robber with a mohawk to yell a few expletives! hahahaha

Good Shots and the production value was very high with the patrol cars and the convenience store! good job

For the future I would say maybe try different shots of all the characters instead of just one view of each?

Keep up the good work!

"Criminey's sakes", that's a new one for me. I like that kind of goofy ending; mugging for the camera, and all that. Good choice.

Technically speaking, I can understand that in a location like that you may not have time for a tripod, so I wasn't bothered by the handheld work, but if I may be a pest, I'd try and get a reflector in there somewhere, try and bounce some of that light back up in the detectives' faces.

The lighting was just fine for the shots of the donut/eclair/puff guy, however, and he's my favorite character (he's got no name in the credits, so I'm going to call him "The Pastry Patrolman"), so full marks for that. Wagging his little pad in the guy's face, "Start from the beginning", with the dead guy right there on the floor. I chuckled. Chuckles are good. Well done.

Ha ha! You goofball. That was silly humor—just the way I like it.

Call me crazy, but I absolutely loved the pestering detective. His mannerisms had to be perfect for what you were after (and it’s not fun playing the irritant), so tell him someone here thought he did a great job. Now that I think about it, every one of them did a great job. The guy with the doughnut was a hoot.

Help me out with one thing. What’s the last line the store owner says concerning the clips? I’ve watched it several times and just can’t seem to understand it, and it’s driving me crazy. :)

Thanks so much for the laughs, Hugh. I can always use that!

I enjoyed the dialogue here, although my favorite character was the store clerk/owner guy. I thought the cuts between the two partners and the interrogating police officer with the store clerk were very effective. It sounded to me like the store clerk's audio distorted a couple of times and it took me until about halfway through to realize the guy with the donut was not one of the partners (mustached men in uniform. . . just look kinda similar sometimes I guess). This could be due to my own deficiencies in observation though. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for the entertainment!

Hugh,

How did you get all those police cars? Great location. Perhaps my monitor is set up differently but I wasn't bothered by the lighting. It's night and the harsh shadows seem to fit.

"The light bulb has to wan't to chnage." probably not original, but I haven't heard it before, and nice start to the partern's relationship. Established that he was going to finish the joke even if the partner didn't want to hear it.

I loved the asian store owner. I once shot a movie in a small store and the guy had been robbed several times. He vowed to shoot the next robber. Very believable premise.

The dead guy waking up took it a different place than I expected. The ending turned it into a sketch. I prefer more slice of life, but then the knock against me is that I have anticlimatic endings. Matter of taste, I suppose.

I bet it was fun to make.

Dick

Thanks, You Guys!
 

I thank you all for your comments and the time you took to watch this movie. I want to apologize in advance for not jumping in as quick as my fellow entrants, as my crazy work schedule not only interferes, but I am in the middle of a take home CD course in preparation for five weeks of training that will run from sunup to sundown. That being said, starting Wednesday night (which is my Friday), I plan on a marathon feedback post.

I apologize for the hasty and amateurish production values. I will not make, nor will I list, excuses (nobody likes a whiner! WHAAAAAAAAA). I will answer some of your appreciated inquiries:

Dick: The detective car is Jenks' wife's car outfitted with a blue gumball I had borrowed from the shop. Yeah. Mrs. Jenks owns a white, nondescript four door Malibu. How cool is THAT? The police car in the foreground is a Caldwell PD officer who was nice enough to sit there parked with his lights going so I could add the proper ambiance. The car in the background was some security guard who happened to walk into the convenience store while we were shooting a scene. Before he had the chance to escape, I kindly asked him to enjoy his coffee whilst parked facing us so as not to reveal the great big "SECURITY" decal on it's side. As far as the store itself, I walked in and asked the owner if I could shoot a movie there. He gave permission provided I don't disrupt business (he must have said it four times). It's amazing how many locals like to trounce across movie sets in their quest to purchase "tall boys". The Asian store owner is none other than our very own Alan Takeuchi. Four days after I handed him the script he tracked me down and called me a racist bastard, accusing me of type casting him as the "funny talking Japanese guy." Then I told him how a friend thought he was adorable in our last movie, and he immediately stated how pleased he would be to act in this movie. Tak is a good egg. What a coincidence, the guy who played the corpse is my partner today. As I type this, he now refuses to talk with me because I am ignoring him. I wanted an unconventional ending. That was all I could think of. As far as fun to make, not as fun as past projects. One crew member had to leave early and another had a car accident on the way to the set. A black cloud hovered for the rest of the shoot.

Alex: I've always thought the quit cuts/dialog quips made things move along faster. The sound was muddled because my usual sound guy wasn't there for proper mic placement. I take full responsibility.

Lorinda: The pestering detective was a real gift wrapped package. My original lead had to bow out because of a death in the family one day before the shoot. My second choice could not participate because of a death in the family (started to get paranoid here) and so my third choice was more of a conscripting. I bonked him over the head with a club and when he regained consciousness the next day on my movie set, and the bewilderment wore off, he was ready to act. I am so grateful to Monte Ralls for stepping up to the plate. He surprised us all with a real natural talent and comic timing. You will see him again. As far as the muddled dialog, it went like this:

COP: Didja have to unload the whole clip?
CLERK: I would have unloaded TWO clips if I had them!
COP: Isn't that a bit excessive?
CLERK: Oh no! His friend poop pants and run out store!

As far as the laughs, well, it's just my job, ma'am. Glad you laughed.

Robert: I've discovered that using clean, wholesome colloquialisms is far funnier than gratuitous cursing. Especially involving cops who have a reputation for having potty mouths. I'm the worst. Yes, the light was unbalanced but we were pressed for time. NO excuses. If I had been in a better mindset I would have come up with a workaround. NO room for a tripod. I HATED holding that camera. The uni was Ken Phelps who, quite frankly, saved the production. The guy who was supposed to be the cop had an accident on his way over. If Phelpsy didn't show, we were screwed. There would have been no movie. That is how tight things were. I ran into him earlier at a pizzeria and told him to show up "if he wanted to just hang around." Boy, did we ever need him.

Jesse: I will never use a location open for business ever again. It was a rush job. Not fair to my actors or to my viewers.

Hey Hugh,

definitely a lot of chuckles from me. I liked the lack of gratuitous foul language from the cops, it made it a more compelling to watch for me. given the circumstandce, my only critisim would have been to get a establishing shot of the store and a wider shot from inside, and have your two leads play off each other a little more.

much props for procuring a police car and a store, thats a feat within itself. and for shooting in/outside Cleveland. I spend some time in Elyria as a kid.

- Jay

I'll second the notion that foul language can be gratuitous. I thought your gag with "Criminy sakes" was much more effective than an expletive would have been. For me personally, that just made it more enjoyable to watch. I have a little girl and our computer is also our entertainment center, so profanity is a "no no" for me. I don't want to get on a high horse and preach to everyone, but I think most of the time profanity can be written around rather than through. Anyway, thanks for keeping it light and funny!

Thanks, Jay and Alex!
 

Jay and Alex, I promise to always make good, wholesome, cussless entertainment for the whole family. Just think how much larger our audience base could be by including the youngsters!

This was a funny skit. I really loved the pestering detective and especially the store clerk. The "was it really necessary" line was great to. I always enjoy seeing how, on a small project like this, so many people can get involved and really contribute to the production. It is a real credit to you to being able to pull them together. I almost always cheat, I just enlist my family !

But Bruce, these guys ARE my family!

Everyone else has said what I wanted to say. Great production value with this film, and the ending really threw me off. The two detectives looking at the camera was a great kicker!

Thanks for the enjoyment, Hugh! I honestly think you sell yourself short as a filmmaker. Stop doing that and go out and make some more!

Cheers.

Joseph, as long as I have fellows like you, I will continue trying to make you laugh. Thank you!

I'll try to comment everyone's work but it's so difficult when they're all so great... *ARG* ;-)

Great story, great acting, great humor, great production, great location... What else can I say? It's extremely difficult to understand that this was put together in only ten days. Great work, Hugh ;-)