Attending (Off Waitlist After Interview) USC - Production Fall 2020

Awesome. Neat film. Very well shot and directed.

Not that you're necessarily looking for notes but I have some constructive ones below. (Don't worry this is all stuff you'll learn while in school.... Remember that you're going to school TO LEARN.... They are looking for potential and STORYTELLING CHOPS and you have definitely show that that with this film.)

But as far as notes I would say don't use as much inner monlogue VO and tell the story VISUALLY and with SOUND DESIGN after the film starts after the cool sounds design at the top. If you use inner monlogue VO during the main part of the film then do it with the some of the AWESOME overlapping manic sound designed voices you did at the top. You did some neat abstract shots... maybe use the inner monologue sound design overlapping with that.

Having internal monologue VO is hard to get right and is often done in student films. I'd say watch features that have it to see how it's done in them. The tone and sound quality of the VO you have currently works better as a comedy or light-hearted trope than in the more serious feel that I think you're going for.

Check out Memento, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Fight Club to see how they do internal monologue as those films fit the more serious vibe you're going for a little more. There are probably other good examples I'm sure but I'm blanking right now.

That being said your film is well done and I enjoyed it. I think it's a strong portfolio. Good luck!

Hey Chris!

I appreciate your feedback, and I'm with you 100%. This was for my one week film festival at school, and I tried to lean right into what I knew I had available - an empty classroom, some friends that were willing to be extras, and a roommate with a golden voice and some experience with radio broadcasting. Since our time was very limited (This whole thing was shot in about 2.5 hours, and we only had the classroom for 1.5 hours before getting kicked out), I knew I was going to have to rely on abstract B-roll and extensive V.O. to heighten the conflict, even though V.O. to this degree is simply lazy storytelling (Besides a few points where I think it did add some decent subtext, like the outdoor scenes). That being said, I'm proud to have such a talented roommate and I was happy to see him lend his talent to the project.

I think this project peaks in the first minute, essentially. The first shot is what I'm most proud of (event though my trash dolly was swerving left and right, lol). In the future, I'm looking forward to developing my ability to nail tone in a more precise manner.

CrispyMerola said:

Hey Chris!

I appreciate your feedback, and I'm with you 100%. This was for my one week film festival at school, and I tried to lean right into what I knew I had available - an empty classroom, some friends that were willing to be extras, and a roommate with a golden voice and some experience with radio broadcasting. Since our time was very limited (This whole thing was shot in about 2.5 hours, and we only had the classroom for 1.5 hours before getting kicked out), I knew I was going to have to rely on abstract B-roll and extensive V.O. to heighten the conflict, even though V.O. to this degree is simply lazy storytelling (Besides a few points where I think it did add some decent subtext, like the outdoor scenes). That being said, I'm proud to have such a talented roommate and I was happy to see him lend his talent to the project.

I think this project peaks in the first minute, essentially. The first shot is what I'm most proud of (event though my trash dolly was swerving left and right, lol). In the future, I'm looking forward to developing my ability to nail tone in a more precise manner.

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Very impressive that it was shot in under 3 hours!

Be sure to change your prefix to interview scheduled too.

Good catch, thank you!

Sorry to hear your interview was rough. If it's meant to be it's meant to be. @Patrick Clement 's interview goes into depth with those thoughts.


Try not to get too hung up on it.

Chris W said:

Sorry to hear your interview was rough. If it's meant to be it's meant to be. @Patrick Clement 's interview goes into depth with those thoughts.

Q & A With Patrick Clement, Columbia MFA Screenwriting & Directing Student

Recently I had the pleasure talking with long time forum member Patrick Clement who is currently in his fourth year at Columbia's Screenwriting & Directing MFA program.

www.filmschool.org

Try not to get too hung up on it.

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Thank you for the link, I really enjoy Patrick Clement's posts. I remember following his application years ago when I first started lurking on the site.

I'm feeling solid, I answered some tough questions calmly and did my best. Life is good.