The Hard Sell
A short I wrote, produced by UK Film Council. Take a look (the buffering seems a bit slow though...):
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The Hard Sell
A short I wrote, produced by UK Film Council. Take a look (the buffering seems a bit slow though...):
Soddin' Realplayer!!!!! ARGGH! The Acchilles heal of my computer!!!
DYING to see this- will give you my comments asap- in the meantime, well done! From the feedback it seems you've managed to do TWO impossible things:
#1. Please the film council enough to let you produce and write a short with their money-
#2. Find an audience with a positive response!!
Well done mate! What lies in the future?
Well done. That was excellent.
Well done Kev...
The Positives: A nice little story. Solid acting. High production value.
The Negatives: A bit static I felt bar the opening shot. A really bad ripoff of the American Beauty Music that got on my nerves.
These things are obviously not your fault however.
Is there anyway to see a Quicktime version?? I don't have Real or Windows...
Some of us are crazy Mac owners that don't like either of those companies.
Good Luck
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 12, 2005 09:03 PM: Message edited by: Nigel ]</font>
Unfortunately no Quicktime- the BBC love Realplayer and it's their site.
Hopefully I can sort a quicktime version out soon, I'll let you know.
Thanks for the comments guys. My main problem with the film was that it never really had the chance to be seen. It was produced, then given to a company who sell the rights, but don't promote it! Therefore it was as good as shelved straight after the premiere! A real shame for me.
We've all heard horror stories of director/writer relationships, and we've all seen 'Adaptation', when Kaufman is bundled off the set of 'Being John Malkovich' with no-one even knowing who he is, but I had a great time doing this. The director was a great guy and we worked as a team to get the draft that you see now. So I'm glad the film can be viewed somewhere, albeit on a web-site!
I'm a crazy Mac user who actually has Windows Media Player installed - however thanks to Microsoft's Interoperability initiative it won't actually playback of course.
Shame.
(I won't touch Realplayer, sorry).
Im on a mac and got it to open in WMP by clicking on the open with standalone player option.
watched on a PC.
IMO the first 4.5 minutes should be a lot shorter because nothing is really happening and it's not very interesting to watch that telephone conversation.
Still at least there weren't any trombone shots in there or close-ups of door handles or alarm clocks.
The acting and production values were of a high standard.
The dialogue/monologue seemed natural.
However, there was zero "wow" factor for me. Seen it all before, used to work in a callcentre for real ...
Good job overall though.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Oh yeah, you're right! (note to self: LEARN TO READ)Quote:
Originally posted by Generic Skinhead:
Im on a mac and got it to open in WMP by clicking on the open with standalone player option.
Nice one Kev! Haven't wathced it yet though - couldn't get it working, I'll keep an eye out for that QT version...
Did you have any say in who directed it, or did the Film Council take your script and put people on it themselves...
You seem to have had a pretty good run with festivals and grants etc etc... Any tips?
[img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]
pretty impressive, although I didnt think there was anything *really* great about it.
Best thing was hearing a Northern Accent - a breath of fresh air.
As far as the script is concerned I thought it all seemed really natural.
I enjoyed it.
The acting and dialogue did feel very natural like Miker said.
Any chance of posting the original script to compare the two?
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Haha, well, I suppose the only tip is to keep your eyes peeled for writing initiatives, comps, schemes... anything, AND send your stuff in! Its amazing how many people let these opportunities pass them by.Quote:
You seem to have had a pretty good run with festivals and grants etc etc... Any tips?
It's easy to say, but have faith in your ideas. If you don't then who else will?
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah I tend to agree actually. That tends to be my biggest gripe with shorts in general though.Quote:
although I didnt think there was anything *really* great about it.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I have it on my laptop somewhere! The dialogue is word for word and the action is pretty much spot on too. The shooting draft was draft 9 though! Perhaps draft 1 would be more interesting to see because of the development and change required to please the producers and director?Quote:
Any chance of posting the original script to compare the two?
Forget RealPlayer, go for the bloat-free Real Alternative.
Good stuff Kev! Although I thought the idea was good, it was missing the wow factor (like Miker pointed out)