just Just Withnail's short films

Started by Just Withnail, June 16, 2010, 12:57:38 PM

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Cloudy

You are one moody motherfucker. And I love it. Such thick emotions through simple scenarios, and I also agree that Hand to Mouth is even better than your last. I can't wait for more.

I also have to say, the lighting was magnificent. I love seeing natural light used so well, and not forcefully Your story fit that sort of texture. Also, your pacing just lulled me into the rhythms of the film...Pretty much agree with all of the opinions above, and most importantly..."this goes well with coffee". It's that moooood.

:yabbse-thumbup:

PS: The fact that THAT was your favorite comment on the film so far reaffirms my feelings for it. I think you'll dig the fact that it flowed perfectly at 4AM for me.

Just Withnail

Quote from: Cloudy on March 03, 2013, 06:04:33 AM
I also have to say, the lighting was magnificent. I love seeing natural light used so well, and not forcefully

Thank you! It was ridiculously liberating to be able to grab the camera bag and tripod, head out the door, and be ready. Or, at least ready to start rehearsing. I think we spent two hours and maybe eighty (!) takes on the shot of the hand coming up into frame from below, holding the note, then Axel taking it and following his hand behind back, getting the clap in focus and not way too motion-blurry, and then up to the other hand doing the friendly hit on the shoulder. But then we didn't do anything else that day.

And that was sort of how we did all of it. Two hours here, four hours there. If you've got no money that's a good way of working :)


Quote from: Cloudy on March 03, 2013, 06:04:33 AM
Also, your pacing just lulled me into the rhythms of the film...

I think it's the main actor Stig's walking! He sort of set the pace for the bing long takes.


Quote from: Cloudy on March 03, 2013, 06:04:33 AM
It's that moooood.

I'm putting this on the DVD-cover.


Quote from: Cloudy on March 03, 2013, 06:04:33 AM
I think you'll dig the fact that it flowed perfectly at 4AM for me.

Fuck yea! Probably edited most of around that time.

Just Withnail

Hey friends, I got a little secret here for you, don't tell anyone.

This link here leads to my latest short.

You'll need a password to see it and I'm not sure I want to make it public, but send me a PM and you'll get it. Please don't mention the title in the thread, as I don't want this page to come up if you google the title, in case this is something festivals still do.

Pubrick, I put your bee in the credits, with a thanks, but that is a thank you to all of Xixax. You know, for being who you all are.

Can't wait to hear your opinions!

Pubrick

Password request sent.

I hope the title isn't Password Request.
under the paving stones.

matt35mm

I dunno how much we're meant to talk or not talk about it here, but I just finished it and am buzzing with how much I loved it. My immediate feeling is that it's one of the best shorts I've ever seen. Everything about it just worked so well for me. I'll say more specific things once the conversation starts blooming a bit more. I also want to watch it again to figure out what I want to say and why it worked so well for me. But anyway,  :bravo:

jenkins

Quote from: matt35mm on November 28, 2013, 03:49:38 PM
I dunno how much we're meant to talk or not talk about it here, but I just finished it and am buzzing with how much I loved it. My immediate feeling is that it's one of the best shorts I've ever seen. Everything about it just worked so well for me. I'll say more specific things once the conversation starts blooming a bit more. I also want to watch it again to figure out what I want to say and why it worked so well for me. But anyway,  :bravo:

matt and i are having one of our days of cosmic harmony. he's made an excellent statement and i fully agree

i sent a more detailed thing to just withnail. it's nonstop gushing. and i mean it

(edit)
i asked just withnail if i could share the credit screencap, i asked like 2mins ago and he hasn't responded, though it's so sweet i'm going to share it anyway. watch the short first if you can, because it's such a nice final gift, but if you think you don't already want to watch it, please let this discourage you from not watching:

Just Withnail

Holy shit! Thank you for those immensely kind words, they mean a lot to me. But please don't hesitate to criticise.

And I have no problem at all with you discussing the film here in the thread. If you have questions please ask :)

(and of course no worries about the screencap)

Tomorrow I'll write a little bit about the hows and whys of the film for those interested.

Cloudy

This felt like Benji's chapter in Faulkner's Sound and the Fury...and if you've read it you'll know why...and how this might be the most accurate way of depicting how this felt for me.

As a post-Thanksgiving meal, this was exactly what was necessary. The sense of place was pure feeling like a memory, the wind..each sound, the change of light pouring through lived windows it felt like you could smell, the younger brother calling for his older brother in the background was truly something, the laughing at the funeral, the fear of the unknown...the darkness in specific spaces and scenes...you captured truth.

The way this ended was so interesting as well...thank you for this. Will be watching again, want to talk more.

wilder

Ahhh I loved it! I loved the sound! Not a moment felt false. And I'm marveling at the layers in exchanges like this one:

"Jonas, come, let's play by the water."
"Not now Arvid. We're cleaning up. You're welcome to help out."
"Soon!"
"Now, Arvid."


Just that you thought to...not only have the kid avoiding another conflict through his avoidance of this one, but also have him masking his feelings from his father with the tone of his reply "Soon!", how emotionally contained he is for the duration...I don't know, man. Your writing and direction: it's something. I want to let the short stew in my head for a bit before saying more, but to echo everyone above, it's really, really good. I know I'll be watching it a few more times in the next 24 hours.

pete

"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Just Withnail

I haven't read Sound and the Fury but I've been planning to for ages and those plans just got put into motion thanks to you, Cloudy. And reading thoughts and descriptions like yours and wilder's is immensely exciting, can't wait to hear what you think after further viewings.

Pete: you got a pw your pm!

03


Just Withnail

So, a little background about what this is.

I have always wanted to do a short in the neighborhood I grew up in and in the house I grew up in, in Svolvær in the north of Norway (google it!). Something that could capture a little bit of that feeling of running between houses up and down hills. That was the first impetus and it was just lying in the back of my mind for a long time. Never as anything concrete.

After to hand to hand to mouth I was trying to figure out what to do next and I figured I'd try to work towards getting a grant from a regional film fund. I started writing, and it evolved into a story that is loosely based on my own experiences with my aunts death. So there's a lot of very personal stuff in this film. We were lucky enough to get two grants and were planning to do it summer 2012, but due to circumstances out of our hands it was delayed a year. Thank god. I really don't think I would have been ready to do it then. The delay suddenly opened up a creative vacuum that I filled with that improv-project I posted the teaser to some pages back. Working that closely with actors really broke down some barriers for me and prepared me for what this ended up being.

We started pre-prod for real around march/april last year, and did the casting then. Up to this point I had been extremely nervous about how to handle the kid actors, how to give them direction and thinking a lot about how the entire film was on their shoulders. But when we found the kid playing Arvid, I was sure it was going to work. He did a tremendous audition. You look at him, and you see he's thinking.

We shot in july this summer and it was almost exclusively a joy from beginning to end. We spent the entire first day trying to get the first scene, taking our time and trying not to hurry too much. The steadicam operator had only done a handful of steadishots before! We initially thought the opening might be divided into four shots, but after a killed all-the-way-through rehearsal we decided to go for a one-take. The actress who played the mom rightly and thankfully took me aside to tell me she needed me to focus less on the technical side and talk to her a little bit about what she was going to do. That sharpened me up a bit :)

The second day we were up on the hill, pretty much just playing around. We knew we had a few lines that we had to get before the day was done, but other than that I just tried putting the kids in situations where things were bound to happen. The part in the film where he's describing the gas chambers is an extract from a much longer explanation he gives after I asked him to explain to his younger brother what the holocaust is. 

We had a rough shotlist for the entire film, but whenever we got to the set on each scene, we'd break things down and see how simple we could make it. Is there an evocative shot here, that can be held through the entire scene? Let's find it and hold it.

Yeah, that became a wall of text :) Sorry. Probably better if you guys ask if there's anything you're wondering about :P

Cloudy

Just watched it again, it holds up man =), loved it. I found a few moments that stood out to me this time which were overlooked the first time. When the younger brother is yelling at God "GIVE US OUR AUNTIE BACK" resonated so hard, the Sun was always shrouded by a veil of clouds, penetrating in hints. And I gotta say, the confusion, an almost existential crisis within Arvid was felt much more in this viewing. It had a dark foreshadowing of adult life that was looming over the sun at this moment in his life that his brother was not yet aware of. Also, the idea that his younger brother could die one day, just like in the picture of his mother and aunt as babies was felt this time.

Were you purposefully working with wind for specific scenes, or did it make its appearance on its own terms? I absolutely loved the way it was lit, and the way you work with light is extremely nostalgic. The darkness in many moments is so poignant that it creates a feeling as if it was captured from memory. And it's so interesting that you brought up how personal this was for you after I posted my post, because I felt it even without you saying it. I feel like I've had those moments with my mother on the couch, turning the TV on. Father coming in with a bunch of laundry asking for the controller. I think I basically had a very similar childhood as you. I'm the older brother with my younger brother, and it was really interesting how you captured the dynamic between father/older son & father/younger son.
And to say that there were hints of Tree of Life here is completely a compliment, in other films it's forced, here not. I think here it's beyond the influence of Tree of Life, it didn't feel like that was conscious at all through the filmmaking. You were just approaching the film in a similar manner. Tarkovsky-esque as well. There was a shot where the camera fluidly followed Arvid towards a group of flowers when Arvid left the shot, I was expecting you to linger and focus to a close-up of flowers and it almost looked like you purposefully didn't.

I'm going to just go ahead and be the one to ask the dumb but necessary questions: What were you using in terms of camera, lens, steadicam, lighting, bounces? Also in terms of sound, how did you come up with the idea of the loud machine that comes in in certain segments, and also, how did you work with your sound design in general? How many days did it take to shoot?

Really inspiring work dude. I sort of lost hope in the medium of short film for a while, but this one sparked them up again.

pete

"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton