Hallows eve.

[Dpendleton77]

Vr3QR5PC2lI

 

Has anybody seen this? I wonder if this guy posts here.

[itsjustme]

I wonder if this guy posts here.

 

Here is Sean's profile.

[Dpendleton77]

Thanks. I figured he did but was not sure.

[Rodney]

Thanks for posting this... I hadn't seen it before!

(I hope Sean will drop in and tell us more about this film!)

 

I might nitpick at a few aspects of the short but over all this was very impressive.

I say this as someone who rarely enjoys 'scary movies' and cares for Halloween tales even less.

This story held my attention all the way through from start to finish.

 

The two areas I think would have really polished the film and taken it to the next level would be pacing and a color check to maintain the lighting/style continuity throughout the tale.

 

What impresses me most? That Sean has demonstrated his multifaceted talent (modeling, animation, special effects, lighting, cinematography, voice work, music... everything needed to pull this film together makes any piddly criticisms of the short pale in comparison.

 

Now, having said that if I were Sean I would go back into this short and attack it with an eye for improving the over all style and pacing.

For instance, one could go into the imagery and convert it to black and white... one pass with high contrast.

Use this pass to spot out the focal area where the audiences attention should be directed.

Then, go back into the original imagery again and extract a color sequence similar to the black and white pass.

Run through this sequence with an eye for continuity of colors from scene to scene. Check to make sure colors aren't just randomly popping in and out of the scenes but (just as in cinematography) are motivated and have a continuity by matching the cuts from scene to scene. This was done rather well in the final credits*.

 

An additional pass should probably be ran for general style and texture.

By this I mean to say that skin should be consistently like skin (or at least a style for skin throughout the film) and other surfaces should maintain that level of continuity as well. The key here is to consider the element of depth in detail. Things that are closer to the viewer/audience generally are perceived as having more detail. This consideration and consistency will pay off big dividends.

 

An audio pass should be ran to make sure all dialogue is crisp, clear and understandable. If purposefully obscured (as was the voice of the demon in this story) then the audience should be able to understand it more fully on subsequent viewings. Dialogue that isn't specifically intelligible and which will never be for artistic reasons should be clarified/augmented through imagery. In this way even if the dialogue is audibly undecipherable the audience can still make a full determination on what has been said.

 

Finally, a terminal editing pass should be made to tighten up the pacing and in this case to fully sync with the music of the film (which was pretty spot on throughout this short film)

 

One could argue that a separate pass/check should be carried out for each important element of the film and since there are so many important elements... there'd be a lot of them!

 

Why bother to run through these suggestions?

Because I think this short film is that impressive already.

I can only imagine what it would be if it were taken to the next level.

Perhaps best of all... this film doesn't have to be revisited... but it can be plussed up in effect via the next story told with this character.

And this is perhaps the most important advice I can give Shaun.

You've got the bait in the water and we are hungrily circling around it.

We can almost taste the next adventure.

Tell us more stories with this character!

 

*There is a thought I would like to explore with regard to short films created by one (or very few people) with regard to credits and that involves the use of the same persons name over and over again. While Sean's effort in the credits is one of the better executed with regard to this repetition I've seen to date, in general this should be avoided. So what to do in a situation where one person has performed all duties on a film? I would suggest that it might be better to revisit scenes from the story and then have one screen where all the credits are attributed to the creator. Multiple repetitions of the same name tend to serve an approach that suggests multiple people have worked on a project and if going to the effort of listing these credits separately, in my estimation, it would be better to find someone which would critique that area of interest and then credit them as a consultant in the credits (one approach for instance might be to begin by stating "with special thanks to" and then start listing those names, "music" then list the name of the important person(s) instrumental in formulating the success of the creators effort (it could be a highschool teacher for instance... if it was Mom... then perhaps consider using only first names in all the credits). Then similarly run through the other credits for other elements of the film.

 

Impressive piece of work Sean.

Keep up the good work.

[Dpendleton77]

I messaged to him last night and believe me you he is bringing some more heat. Same character different trouble.

[Rodney]

I messaged to him last night and believe me you he is bringing some more heat. Same character different trouble.

 

Outstanding!

[robcat2075]

Good movie! Another One Man One Computer masterpiece!

 

I wonder if this guy posts here.

 

Here is Sean's profile.

 

Ah, that Sean! Yeah, he's been around here!

[Vertexspline]

Sean - ---Bravo !

 

For a one man 10 minute plus short ---you have done very well. I watched and enjoyed the whole thing from beginning to end. As Rodney points out there is a lot of impressive things going on here --especially for one person.

 

I agree with Rodney on credits with one person -----One time one place one name --not unlike a painter might sign the canvas. That said I liked the credits anyhow. Also ---although Rodney referenced the vocals --I was impressed with the overall sound and music !! Very nice indeed. One of the strengths of the short for sure. But visually --There really are a lot of stellar shots in the film.

 

I just have to say you certainly showed what Animation Master is all about. One Man One computer One pretty amazing Short Film .

[zandoriastudios]

nice mod to the balrog--great to see it get some use!

[Dpendleton77]

Sean - ---Bravo !

 

For a one man 10 minute plus short ---you have done very well. I watched and enjoyed the whole thing from beginning to end. As Rodney points out there is a lot of impressive things going on here --especially for one person.

 

I agree with Rodney on credits with one person -----One time one place one name --not unlike a painter might sign the canvas. That said I liked the credits anyhow. Also ---although Rodney referenced the vocals --I was impressed with the overall sound and music !! Very nice indeed. One of the strengths of the short for sure. But visually --There really are a lot of stellar shots in the film.

 

I just have to say you certainly showed what Animation Master is all about. One Man One computer One pretty amazing Short Film .

When I looked at this I thought of the one man one computer motto also.

[Rodney]

nice mod to the balrog--great to see it get some use!

 

I thought I recognized your balrog in there.

I agree, it constitutes a very nice modification.

Very appropriate for the story as well.

 

This is the first animation in some time that I have genuinely been 'creeped out' by a character in an animation.

Having that beast go after the main character with the timing as it was (and with time artificially manipulated via slow motion to prolong the event) must have struck a cord from many years ago for me.