3 Minute Horror Short... DEATH ROW

[Mike Horrigan]

DEATH ROW

This is my first ever COMPLETED work! I've messed around with the camera a bit and finished some test scenes... but this is the first time I've ever completed something! Of course, I wish I had more time to set the mood of the scenes but I was under a time constraint. (<3 minutes)

Please check out the 3 minute short (2:59) that I did for this contest. The idea was that it had to be 3 minutes or less and it had to portray "the creepy origins of something either real or imagined."

NEW EDIT: Highest Quality Widescreen version can be found here... http://files.filefront.com//;6003426;;/

You can also find it here... (Low quality) http://www.heavy.com/index.php?video...deathrowupload
You can hit the little [] beside the speaker to make the image larger. It SHOULD be in widescreen but I've noticed that it is often in full frame.

And here... http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...oid=1272829910 Slightly better quality than the contest link.

The quality is a little poor in the last 2 links and the image is quite a bit darker than the higher quality version that I have. You have to watch it in the dark in order to see it better... :)

Luckily, the contest will be judged by the higher quality version that I sent in. I'll try uploading it so that I can provide another link. EDIT: Done! Please choose the first link in this post.

Please let me know what you think...

Mike

[Mark Howells]

Hi there. I know from experience it's very difficult to make a scary short film. Although I didn't find your film scary there was a great deal of promise in the structure and sound effects, particularly for a first timer. Unfortunately a lot of the scenes were way to dark to make out on my computer. Good luck in the competition.

[Van Zijl Loots]

What a great debut to horror filmmaking. To me it wasn´t scary, more freaky I think. Burst out of laughter when I saw the "priest" cause it was so blatant, but it worked like a charm. Also you have the resonance factor to your story, so it could always lead to sequels and a huge mythology that works for the viewer...

Anyways keep it up, all the best with the competition, keep us up to date with that and your future projects...

Regards
Van Zijl Loots

[Mike Horrigan]

Originally Posted by Mark Howells

Unfortunately a lot of the scenes were way to dark to make out on my computer. Good luck in the competition.

Yes, as I said, I'm working on getting a higher quality version uploaded to another site. I found the flash player made it much too dark.

[Mike Horrigan]

Originally Posted by Van Zijl Loots

What a great debut to horror filmmaking. To me it wasn´t scary, more freaky I think. Burst out of laughter when I saw the "priest" cause it was so blatant, but it worked like a charm. Also you have the resonance factor to your story, so it could always lead to sequels and a huge mythology that works for the viewer...

Anyways keep it up, all the best with the competition, keep us up to date with that and your future projects...

Regards
Van Zijl Loots

Thanks, Van, when did you first see the priest? Was it when you saw him in the hallway standing behind the kid? Or was that scene too dark for you to notice?


Just curious...

[Mike Horrigan]

I uploaded it here as well...
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...oid=1272829910

The flash players seem to make it darker and I also get a quality hit as well. Fast download though. This version seems a "tad" better though, a little brighter as well.

Anyone know of a free hosting site that allows larger files?

EDIT: Just posted a higher res widescreen version here... http://files.filefront.com//;6003426;;/
You can see this one much better! Edited the original post with this link.

[Mark Williams]

Try putfiile.com. It is free and you can upload files up to 25mb without any recompression being done to your video.

[Van Zijl Loots]

Originally Posted by Mike Horrigan

Thanks, Van, when did you first see the priest? Was it when you saw him in the hallway standing behind the kid? Or was that scene too dark for you to notice?


Just curious...

I saw him when he went out of the cell, standing behind him, bloody freaky and well timed...

Regards
Van Zijl Loots

[Mike Horrigan]

Thanks Van, I appreciate that. :)

Any other takers? The HQ version is much better and the heavy.com site seems to be down at the moment. Please post your thoughts...

Thanks,

Mike

[Alex Hunter]

Definitely showed promise. You needed more contrast between the light and dark in your shots. The DOF shot of them walking up the hallway out of focus with the bar in focus did not quite work for me, plus the pan afterwards was poorly framed. What were you trying to say in that shot?

Dialogue could be less hammy, but i know how difficult from my little short it is to write it. Getting some good actors for your next film will also make a big difference. I liked the shot of the hooded guy behind the lad. I think you have got some great ideas and am looking forward to them developing in your next piece.

[Mike Horrigan]

Thanks!

I wanted a joke in the middle of the clip just to lighten things up a bit. No real actors were involved either. I also wanted the out of focus shot to be more about the dialogue... which I thought was pretty natural sounding, all things considered. I just wanted to focus on the bars to send a message of where they were. I also broke it up with an over the shoulder shot but the entire scene probably went on for too long.

Mike

[Rick Schultz]

The story was a little confusing, yes, but I really thought you had some great shots. Great use of lighting, sahdows, depth of field etc. You are definately not afraid of the close up which I think a lot of people forget. It is easy to shoot everything wide.

One thing you may want to try is some frame rate changes. Maybe ramp the speed on some of the scary moments. It is used alot today in horror movies.

Keep up the great shots!

[Brian Duke]

PLEASE DO NOT take offense to my comments, but if you are looking for constructive criticism here are my two cents;

I agree with other post that the long shot out of focus didn't work for me either. A pull or rack focus would have worked better. The performances weren't that great, but again, you didn't work with any actors, which in my opinion shouldn't matter. Getting good performances is key, and I learn that over and over again in my own work. The story wasn't that clear, or at least the point never came through to me. Still not sure what happened except two kids going to a prison and then one getting killed. There were not enough shock factors for my taste, and not enough tension building, but I cannot stress enough that filmmaking is DIFFICULT.

Overall I found the performances not very strong, the story hard to follow, the editing could have been tighter. The beginning just seemed confusing, which most horror films are I guess. It almost came across as a horror satire, which I am sure you didn't intend. B-movies'ish. Some of the close ups very hard to tell what they were and where you were in the scene.

I would have improved several areas, which may be impossible at this point since you already shot it.

1. The beginning appeared to have an inmate kill the priest, so I am not sure why the priest later killed the kid. You should have stuck with a crazy inmate, rather than the priest.
2. Reveal less, i.e. don’t reveal the priest behind the kid too quickly.
3. The ending is way too confusion. Too much wall footage and no real pay off with either the kid killing priest or some other twist. The bag over the head didn't really mean much since priest was hung with a robe. No connection there.
4. Maybe have the priest be a ghost coming back to haunt the prison would work better.

I could add much more, but I don’t you to take any of what I say as insulting, but rather to help you improve your work.

[Mike Horrigan]

Originally Posted by Brian Duke

1. The beginning appeared to have an inmate kill the priest, so I am not sure why the priest later killed the kid. You should have stuck with a crazy inmate, rather than the priest.
2. Reveal less, i.e. don’t reveal the priest behind the kid too quickly.
3. The ending is way too confusion. Too much wall footage and no real pay off with either the kid killing priest or some other twist. The bag over the head didn't really mean much since priest was hung with a robe. No connection there.
4. Maybe have the priest be a ghost coming back to haunt the prison would work better.

I could add much more, but I don’t you to take any of what I say as insulting, but rather to help you improve your work.

I had to squeeze everything in under 3 minutes so I did my best... but I have no hard feelings at all. I'll do my best to answer a few things...

1. Yes, the priest was killed by a couple of inmates. If you listen to the dialogue as the kids are walking down the hall, they discuss how the priest was caught doing "something" to the Warden's son. (I show this as flashes during the opening credits) They mention the riot that followed, the priest being murdered and the prison being shut down 50 years ago.

2. I had to reveal him as I was running out of time... ;)

3. Watch the HQ version, you can clearly see the bag over the head of the priest as he is being dragged on the floor by the inmates. You can even make out the rosary in his hand if you look close enough. That's the connection. Can't really make any of it out in the poor quality version.

4. The priest was murdered 50 years ago as mentioned by one of the kids... he IS a ghost. I actually don't expect people to get this on the first viewing. That was actually intentional. I hate movies that spell everything out.

Just do me one favour, watch the HQ version, listen to the dialoque, and let me know if all this makes sense. I do appreciate the critique! No harm at all.

I did a lot of things wrong... learning as I go.

[Mike Horrigan]

Originally Posted by Rick Schultz

The story was a little confusing, yes, but I really thought you had some great shots. Great use of lighting, sahdows, depth of field etc. You are definately not afraid of the close up which I think a lot of people forget. It is easy to shoot everything wide.

One thing you may want to try is some frame rate changes. Maybe ramp the speed on some of the scary moments. It is used alot today in horror movies.

Keep up the great shots!

Thanks Rick, I'll have to try the frame rate changes... see how it looks.