Feedback for Christmas Spirit: 2005

[Dylan Couper]

Oooh, my own DVC feedback thread!

Here is my movie:
Warning, contains a couple bad words, and partial nudity.
http://www.thedvchallenge.com/movies...anwishlist.mov

Shot on a Canon ZR40 with 1 Tota light, audio recorded with an ME66 mic in one afternoon around my house. Wanted to do more angles, but as the bottle of Scotch started dwindling, and the sherry I was drinking in the bathtub scene kicked in, I decided to wrap it up. Edited the next day.

How well does my unsubtle message about Christmas greed come across? I originally had a different idea, but couldn't get the footage.

[Lorinda Norton]

Originally Posted by Dylan Couper

How well does my unsubtle message about Christmas greed come across?.

Loud and clear, "Bad boy." You really are naughty, but I laughed my head off!

Okay, where do I begin???

The Dobies......love 'em.

The scenes with the straw hat, the chain, the tub, the glass of wine......whooooeee! I just got my Christmas present!!! Thanks!!!! Had to watch the whole thing again after that 'cause I lost my concentration...

McLaren F1, hmm? Nice taste.

May the best of your Christmas wishes come true, Dylan. Thanks for putting up with us like you do.

[Sean McHenry]

Sadly, not far off the mark from a few children I know. Man, a pet Ligar? Sweet. And I'm with you on the McClaren F1 too. Always loved the body styles in the F1 series. The old CanAm L&M car was a favorite of mine for years.

Look up the Ford RS200 sometime.

Anyway, Looking good. Canadian standards must be tighter than this side of the border. I wouldnt call that partial nudity really. We'll wait and see what Lorinda says on that.

Good show.

Sean

[Lorinda Norton]

Way to go, Sean; "made" me have to watch it again. ;)

I'm sure you agree that Dylan's tongue was firmly planted in his cheek when he gave the "partial nudity" portion of his disclaimer (boy, he wasn't kidding about the other!). As for the camera shots in the tub....my, my, my. I'd forgotten about the stubble...and the angles....and the lighting....

(Hey, let the old girl appreciate; that's all it is--good clean fun!)

Watching it again I have to say that although the serious side of the story isn't at all lost on me, the entertainment factor kind of overrides it--which I'm sure was the intention (read: subtle is good). The use of my favorite song surprised me at first, but I even put good meaning to that.

Dylan, I loved the closeup of your hand writing on the page, I loved the crescendo leading up to the end. You're a mighty fine storyteller.

[Jean-Francois Robichaud]

Very funny idea, great text: what a greedy bastard! I wish you had done more angles, but I guess it's kind of hard to find interesting angles when all the character is doing is sitting and writing. It's a good thing you had the character write his letter in multiple settings. It would have been boring if you'd kept him at the table the whole time.

It could have been interesting to intercut the shots of the character with images of what he is writing about. I could also have been interesting to have shots of Santa reading the letter. You should have shown the photos of Mrs. Claus :)

[Tyler Baptist]

Great dialogue, Dylan. The shot where your dog stares you down on the couch is hilarious. My only beef is that you cut back to same situations (ie. table, couch, tub), when I would have preferred it jump to a new location next, as that would better fit the writting of the note to Santa, since that note is linear.

Funny stuff though, and too true for what Christmas has become.

[Meryem Ersoz]

i'm not sure which is the more painful prospect, listening to another one of dylan's interior monologues or watching him take a bath.

seriously funny! pet liger!

reminds me a bit of an old calvin & hobbes cartoon, where they're standing outside in a driving snowstorm and calvin is ranting on about all the ways in which the 20th century has failed him and he says, "I mean LOOK at this. We still have WEATHER?! Give me a break!"

[Sheila Ward]

This movie gave me a good laugh, but I also think it drives the greed message home. I'm sure we can all relate a bit to your letter to Santa.

And the tub scene, well, uh, very nice. Maybe you'll release a directors cut edition of the movie? I mean, you had to get in and out of the tub didn't you ;-)

Good job!

[Mike Teutsch]

Great job Dylan! Way to sucker us in with the nudity promo bit, but I have to say I thought it would be more revealing and of another sex. Guess I will not get my Christmas wish!

Love your simplicity. Keep making these for the upcoming Challenges. Someday it will sink into my thick head that I don't need to make them so complicated, maybe it will.

Mike

[Dylan Couper]

Hey guys (and especially gals;)
Glad you all liked it.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll be putting my thoughts out on yours as soon as they are all released. To respond to assorted comments....

-I did have two more scenes to shoot which would have given me enough angles to take me through the rest of the film, but well... Scotch kicked in and I was beat from working.

-This is a variation on my first idea, which was a lot more serious and much more of a downer. Then I couldn't get the footage I needed, and my sense of humour kicked in, and here we are.

-Ladies.... and Sean... What can I say, there is nudity, but my foot got in the way of it having an 'R' rating. :)
Yes, the director's cut with the scenes of me getting in and out of the bath tub would be significantly more explicit. I had to do a nude scene for this one though. I did one much more explicit for my DVC2 entry, but it got cut, so I had to make up for it.

-Jean Francois, "Greedy Bastard" was one of my alternate titles. I like your idea of the photos of Mrs. Clause, I could have used them to go under the credits. Darn. Oh well.

-I also did this one this way because I wanted to prove again that you can make a movie with one person and one cheap camera in one location in a short time, so there is no reason anyone else can't do it, which is the motive behind the DVC (as y'all know by now of course).

[Jimmy Bustos]

Hi Dylan,
I had fun watching this movie; I kind of get serious with a lot my stuff, so when I see someone do comedy and pull it off (which is hard) I give it thumbs up man. You got two thumbs up from me, for the comedy and the message.

[Dick Mays]

Thanks Dylan,

After watching "Fingerprints," and "Shark Hunting," I thought I would be a teary mess before I got through all of these shorts. Yours started with a shot of a homeless man sleeping by his shopping cart, and you had me worried for a brief second...

But then, greed boy's list to Santa, got me laughing out loud. Loved the P.S. "can you do some of that Peace on Earth, and needy shit?"

Funny stuff. Did anybody know what a Liger was before Napoleon Dynamite?
But I'll echo one add. It would have been too perfect if you had been looking at some nude photos of a babe in a Santa hat, to set up the Mrs. Claus line at the end.

Hey, and you're a handsome dude too. You sure got purty lips on you. You ever get down to Georgia, me and the boys will take you shark hunting...

[Dylan Couper]

Dick
The shot of the homeless guy in the snow is fairly representative of what the rest of my first idea would have been. Yup, a bit of a downer. I'm still dissapointed I didn't get to do it, but glad I made you guys laugh.

I'm really tempted to add the shots of Mrs. Clause just for kicks.

Dylan


PS, thanks for the invite to Georgia, I've driven through it many times, but never had the opportunity to go shark hunting! I'd be glad to join you chaps!

PPS.... Wait a second... There aren't any sharks in Georgia... OH NOOOOOO!!!!

[Sean McHenry]

I too would have loved to see what was up with Mrs. C. Hope none of the reindeer were involved.... "Rudolph with that nose so bright..."

I'm sorry I said that...

Sean

[Craig Bellaire]

This by far was a joy to watch. Why, dude because it's a reflection of each of us here at DVInfo.net... yep..

Just wondered if you shot this by yourself had help?