Lady X: Episode 22 released!
 

PART 2

A woman in black forces a retired locksmith to overcome his painful past in a psychological journey that takes him from a graveyard to a cathedral.

Watch Episode 22 now! Go to http://www.ladyxfilms.com and click the "Current Episode" link.

The Lady X Crew

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Episode 22 Details:

Directed by: Jami Jokinen
Produced by: Jami Jokinen and Mike Pohjola
Director of Photography: Ken Tanaka
Written by: Mike Pohjola

Principal Cast: Olli Martin (The old man); Tonja Goldblatt (His wife/Lady X); Venla Kuitunen (Library ghost); Various jackdaws (Jackdaws)

Audio production: Jami Jokinen
Music: Composed and performed by Jami Jokinen

Grip: JD Sorvari

Ghost's costume: Tytti Mulo
Ghost's hair: Mira Ahlroth

I'm not entirely sure what the backstory is of this locksmith. The description refers to the 'painful past' of the man but aside from the visit to the cemetary and the icons in his home (was it his home?) You spend some time establishing the location where he gets the box but to me it isn't clear what you were trying to get across there. I wasn't quite sure what to make of his 'mission' or his goal. I enjoy trying to puzzle it out, however.

The presentation, cinematography, are obviously the class of the series thus far. Your music, especially the strings in the second part of the episode were powerful.

John, Ken, I really think the two episodes should be presented as one episode. Seeing them separated out is disjointing when they are obviously edited as one.

By far the best ladyx film technically in all departments. However the storyline, although OK seemed very slow.

The effects were outstanding. How they manged to get the animals to behave how they did was quite amazing, they must of had alot of patiences.

It all worked very well, but as Keith has said I did not understand what the mission was - was it spirtural?

Thanks again lady X,

Ed

Again, to echo my thoughts from the Ep 21 thread, it left me somewhat confused. The charm of the mood and photography wore out early on in this part, as it was more of the same (as good as it is), and left me a little bored, waiting for something to happen. This may just be me, as I have a short attention span, but coupled to the fact that I didn't "get it" as the people above me also felt, I have to stand by my previous comments that the only weakness to your episode is the story. If it wasn't for that, I'd say we were looking at the Best Of Show.

EDIT: One thing that I have to point out, that despite any complaints I have about the story, the movie overall was very enjoyable, I did like watching it.

The visuals and audio/music of part 1 and 2 are great and the mood works very well. I also was a bit confused by the storyline that is hard to discover. But another perspective could be that this short movie stimulates your own imagination. You could think about the relation with the lady in black, the black birds, visiting old locations, the music box, etc. No doubt it could be discussed how much of a storyline must be obvious to the viewers, to give them enough to imagine about.

Having watched both parts 2 times, I conclude for myself that I really enjoyed this Lady X episode. Great work!

Peter Sieben

......
 

You know, I was kind of disappointed with part one, then to top it off I made the mistake of coming here and reading the reviews first for part 2 before watching it.

Then, I was a little bored and negative until Lady X appeared in part 2.....

From that second on, it dawned on me how powerful the whole thing really was.

This would not be my choice for #1, but it's up close to the top.

<<<-- Originally posted by Peter Sieben : But another perspective could be that this short movie stimulates your own imagination. You could think about the relation with the lady in black, the black birds, visiting old locations, the music box, etc. >>>

Thank you Peter,

You're the first one to say this aloud. This is excactly what we're talking about.

There is a simple, straight storyline. And there are more subtle layers, small things in different pictures and sounds. But the real thing should be your own experience, your own way of explaining things.

Forcing yourself to think, imagine and to fill the unexplained gaps of the story makes the difference.

I'm very pleased that our episode has had this kind of impact also.

Despite the very subjective POV of the old man, the episode can be explained in multiple ways in relevance to the LadyX concept and her mission, aka "the real world".

PS. after reading your comments again, I realized something; many of you are trying to UNDERSTAND. Please don't.

There just isn't one explanation. Make one yourselves.

<<<-- Originally posted by Dylan Couper : One thing that I have to point out, that despite any complaints I have about the story, -->>>

Dylan,

I didn't take it as a complaint, but as a critical discussion. And that is something I'm always thankful for.

Jami, would you share your lightning technique to achieve that pretty images? Specially those indoor shots. I love every single frame of it.

As much as I would like to share real setup tips with you, there aren't any.

I used plain 600 and 800 W redheads with only one, small softbox in front of one of them. I played with the lights until I was satisfied, just trusting my own eye. No lighting theory, no guide books.

If I would have to analyze which light were used on which sets and their position, I just couldn'r remember.

I know this is a silly way to work, but as a director/DP with no experience in lighting before this project, this was the only way I could do it.

Did you guys do any post-production effects etc.? As someone
else pointed out: how did you handle the "animals"?

All the "animals" (including myself) were photographed in their natural surroundings and without interfering their normal behaviour.

There's one exeption though. In the second wide picture of the cathedral in the beginning of ep 21, some of the jackdaws that fly past the belltower are not jackdaws. In fact they are just small black spots moved by Premiere's "move" tool.

They are very tiny, and I don't even remember if they are visible in the Quicktime version or not.

I just got a chance to watch these two episodes (22 and 21) and I must say, this is the some of the *best* looking XL1 footage I have ever seen. Incredible cinematography and excellent composition.

Jami, you have created some very beautiful work utilizing a limited medium to it's fullest extent. Congradulations.

As for the other comments, I suppose I also feel that the layered metaphor in these pieces was a bit to thick for my tastes and tough for me to decipher... I'm all for films that make me think and feel, but if the imagery and metaphor are too obscure, than the point can be lost and the piece can fail to be entertaining, despite it's beauty. Then again, my take on film making is that the intent is to entertain above all else, though I'm sure not everyone agrees with me there :-)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that for me, personally, your episodes would have been that much more powerful if the story had been more clear. As it stands though, they are well done and much appreciated :-).

paulb

I recently watched these too, and they completely blew me away. Absolutely beautifully done. Personally I did not find it "too obscure" at all, and in fact it was refreshing to see that someone took a little liberty with the "spy movie" genre of the Lady X series (although I also enjoyed many of those as well).

Bravo Jami!