OT: For those interested - My short film

[Bensational]

Hey guys, just wanted to share a short film that some friends and I made recently.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gryenlQKTbE[/youtube]

[Neon1]

Damn that had me locked in!

[craig01]

Well done

[MMFla]

Keep it up and good luck that was very good.

[Smooth_E]

Wow, great job. At the beginning it was very "LOST" esque (I know someone else agrees with me) and then I like the transition from a panicky situation to a heart-warming one and of course the end. Good luck with future projects, I enjoyed this one.

[CourtsideTV]

professional nice work

[MagicHolland]

Wow that was great man.. Keep up the good work!

[rcklsscognition]

Great stuff, awesome camera work and story was gripping as hell.

[arsenal6106]

That was excellent Ben. Well worth my time.

[msmoore66]

I'm going to watch this when I get home. For some reason I feel like I have seen the name before, I know they had Tropfest films showing on a recent trans-tasman flight I was on....?

[PigsEatHam]

Absolutely terrific film, Ben. Thank you for posting it. It's a snappy little gut punch, but one with an unmistakable undercurrent of heart, no easy feat. The stakes are clear immediately. Plus, I just admire the restraint; you let the images tell the story. It's like a good piece of flash fiction. Really, really nice job.

You working on any others?

[Bensational]

thanks guys, glad you like it! i can't personally take a whole lot of credit for it, because a lot of that stemmed from a great writer, and then a great actor/DOP/editor/composer/sound designer. but we're stoked with how it all came together in the end!

You working on any others?

The way our team functions is that if someone brings something to the table we like, we all jump on. So everyone's trying to come up with their own respective ideas. We're also tinkering with the idea of a feature length zombie film, in the same style/tone, before the wave fully crashes and washes out the genre for a while.

I'm trying to write one at the moment and can't quite get my head around it. Every time I write it I decide it would be more interesting/resonant from a different perspective, but that always comes at the expense of something else. Writing's a bastard!

[Devin 1L]

Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of the genre. That said, I personally liked this short.

I'm not in the field so I can't critique it through that lens (no pun,) but it grabbed me quick (as I suppose a short should,) I liked the story, and I thought that visually it was very professional.

Also, I really agree with this comment:

Plus, I just admire the restraint; you let the images tell the story.

I see it says finalist in the title. Is the competition already done? How did you do, or when do you find out how you did?

In any event, good job. I enjoyed it.

[Cammo101]

I loved it. I'm a huge fan of the zombie genre and love when people bring something new to the genre (which sadly, is not nearly often enough). The shot composition was excellent and I loved the restraint the storied showed in not feeling like it had to show the zombie conversions.

Being in the film industry myself, I see a lot of shorts and most of them horror and this was a lot better than most. Count me as a fan.

[Cammo101]

Not trying to hijack Ben's thread here, but for those that care, here is the trailer and movie poster for the short my production company just finished up...

http://www.horrorsociety.com/2013/02/22/malevolence-trailer/

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/066/b/6/malevolence_rgb_web_by_discordianink-d5xa4pl.jpg

*Can't post the finished film yet, as it is just about to hit the festival circuit. When I can, I will.

[Reverse_Angle]

Ben,

I liked your music video, this one was pretty interesting, too. Before I saw the long-haired dude's face, for a second, I thought you got Sean Bean. anyways...exceptional concept and story, emotionally strong narration, and perhaps most importantly you manage to shoot a romantic story that deviates from some key romantic features, which requires a certain level of creativity.

Two comments:

1- Exceptional camera angles, but composition and picture lags behind. I do not mean they are lacking, just not as good. Throughout the film, I craved for more simulating, richer pictures. Below is an example of what I am talking about. Fatih Akin, award-winning german director, has a similar basic style to yours, but his visuals simply elevates settings to a higher level, above mere good film. For a good example, just watch the sequence between 1:15 and 2:53.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHOFzMAyQDw[/youtube]

2- Lean towards a more independent style, a more hardcore intrinsic vision. You do wide angle shots with more than one thing happening in one picture are very well done, I would put more emphasis on that.

[PigsEatHam]

You working on any others?

The way our team functions is that if someone brings something to the table we like, we all jump on. So everyone's trying to come up with their own respective ideas. We're also tinkering with the idea of a feature length zombie film, in the same style/tone, before the wave fully crashes and washes out the genre for a while.

I'm trying to write one at the moment and can't quite get my head around it. Every time I write it I decide it would be more interesting/resonant from a different perspective, but that always comes at the expense of something else. Writing's a bastard!

No question, writing's a bastard. Writing and rewriting. I'm currently in a similar stage with about four stories I'm drafting for a half-done collection. But, it's worth the effort when you finally get your teeth into it (not a zombie pun), and everything sounds right.

Reminds me of a Paul Valery quote: A work of art is, first of all, work.

That said, is the one you're working on another zombie flick? Something else within the horror/thriller/suspense genres--or something in a completely different direction? You write in screenplay or script format? Or adapt from prose?

One other thought, you've probably got a bit longer to capitalize on the interest in the zombie genre. Amazon is producing a TV series version of Zombieland, so between that and another few seasons of The Walking Dead drawing ridiculous ratings--you've probably got at least three years.

[OrlDave]

Awesome! Highly enjoyed watching this. Also, Ben Howling? Suddenly your av makes perfect sense to me

[toofarjimmy]

thanks guys, glad you like it! i can't personally take a whole lot of credit for it, because a lot of that stemmed from a great writer, and then a great actor/DOP/editor/composer/sound designer. but we're stoked with how it all came together in the end!

You working on any others?

The way our team functions is that if someone brings something to the table we like, we all jump on. So everyone's trying to come up with their own respective ideas. We're also tinkering with the idea of a feature length zombie film, in the same style/tone, before the wave fully crashes and washes out the genre for a while.

I'm trying to write one at the moment and can't quite get my head around it. Every time I write it I decide it would be more interesting/resonant from a different perspective, but that always comes at the expense of something else. Writing's a bastard!

The premise for the short was fantastic. The bag on the stick was a really nice surprise. Very clever idea.

I'm a writer myself. And I agree, sometimes writing is a bitch. It can be so hard to know the identity of a story. But I'm wondering. If you keep wanting to write from different perspectives why not tell the story from all those different perspectives? You seem to be finding something interesting in each of them.

[Bensational]

You working on any others?

The way our team functions is that if someone brings something to the table we like, we all jump on. So everyone's trying to come up with their own respective ideas. We're also tinkering with the idea of a feature length zombie film, in the same style/tone, before the wave fully crashes and washes out the genre for a while.

I'm trying to write one at the moment and can't quite get my head around it. Every time I write it I decide it would be more interesting/resonant from a different perspective, but that always comes at the expense of something else. Writing's a bastard!

No question, writing's a bastard. Writing and rewriting. I'm currently in a similar stage with about four stories I'm drafting for a half-done collection. But, it's worth the effort when you finally get your teeth into it (not a zombie pun), and everything sounds right.

Reminds me of a Paul Valery quote: A work of art is, first of all, work.

That said, is the one you're working on another zombie flick? Something else within the horror/thriller/suspense genres--or something in a completely different direction? You write in screenplay or script format? Or adapt from prose?

One other thought, you've probably got a bit longer to capitalize on the interest in the zombie genre. Amazon is producing a TV series version of Zombieland, so between that and another few seasons of The Walking Dead drawing ridiculous ratings--you've probably got at least three years.

yeah, one of the ideas we're toying with is a feature length zombie film, in the same tone as Cargo. if we go that route, we need to jump on it soon before too much zombie fatigue kicks in. also, before other people start encroaching on whatever original spin we try and bring to the genre.

the one I'm working on at the moment is a thriller, written as a straight up script (although, I haven't developed that seasoned, concise script style. I'm still very wordy - who would've guessed? ) it's an old idea I had years ago, which I attempted and was never quite happy with. the problem i always had was not being able to identify who the protagonist was, mostly because the most likely candidate didn't interest me, and the interesting option meant too much exposition. so this is the first time I've actually taken to doing proper rewrites from scratch, building up from a completely different perspective each time, to see which holds the most promise. and i'm still no closer to having a finished product.

how far off is your compilation? have you been able to make much of a living off of it?