know whats funny?? i made a video called beauty on december 19th in black and white and it had sigur ros music...with the EXACT same sigur ros song might i add...and a month later someone else makese something....hmmm crazy
small world i guess...

www.rch-e.com/rche/main.htm

Good filming.

I too didn't realize he was depressed until he stood on the top of the roof. Maybe show some more facial shots that would give us a feeling of hopelessness. I also thought it was a little longer.

Overall good work and I enjoyed a couple of the shots alot.
Keep up the work!

Nicely done. I didn't notice the rag or the scars on the wrists at the beginning but I sort of assumed the knife had blood on it. I understand you were going for subtlety in the beginning, but how about colorizing the bloody stuff in the otherwise black&white portion?

<<<-- Originally posted by Mitchell Stookey : You're right, it is a short, and for that it is great! I was still really pleased with it just thought I'd bring that up. -->>>

As a therapist who has worked extensively with youth and their families I got it totally. The format invites curiousity very well. Of course, we have to consider whether a cross-sectioned audience would get it, and that might be the challenge.

It's clear the kid is having some suicide ideation. If it was a longer I think it would need to offer some background as to what's trriggering him. Maybe he's clinically depressed. But I'd say that there's a very interesting story here.

great work
earon
vancouver, canada

Good job on the short... it has a nice feel. The mood is strong and properly introspective. Good luck with the submissions.

I did not notice the bloody towel or cuts on the wrist the first time through, although I did notice the knife and read the suicide theme from the mood. Even watching again I saw the towel, but there is no way to read it as blood, and I didn't see any cuts. I think that's OK though, because it doesn't make sense to me that he tried to slash his wrist, failed, watched TV, and then calmly tried to jump off a building.

The expression on his face when (and right before) he notices the sunset isn't great. I think if you are dealing with someone who is not an actor, or who can't quite get to "you were going to kill yourself but life now has meaning," you should always go with less over more. His performance pulled me out of the moment a bit.

Throughout on the outdoor shots I think it would have really helped to have a bit more light on his face. I understand the choice of natural light both artistically and practically, but I would have enjoyed it a bit more if his face had been just a couple stops brighter than the background - not to look lit, but to stand out a bit more.

Congrats on a job well done.

---

On the topic of copyrights, TV stations don't need to be petty to sue amateurs. Copyright law requires that they try to enfore their copyrights, or they lose the right to do so in the future. If you copy my song (or video) to put in your movie and I just let it pass, then when Steven Spielberg does it he can argue that he doesn't have to pay for it because when you did it I didn't protest. It is the way the law is written... petty is not the issue.

Aside from that, the bigger issue is that most festivals of any import will require an ironclad copyright ownership statement from you before they will show it, so you need that. They are not going to show your film if they feel there is any risk that Campbells Soup is going to sue them for suggesting that their product makes people suicidal or something... it's just not worth the risk to them.

the video was too long and it had parts/scenes in it which took too way long. You can see it is made by a ameteur. The long you have to wait from one cut to the next. It is way too slow. And also the acting is a bit too normal....there is nothing original. Try to be original and different. DO something new with your cam! Nice black and white to colour rendition.