page 3 says acting good, writing and execution bad

4/30/2005 4:11:09 PM

yeah, generally speaking the acting was preety good, except for library boy. even if it was supposed to be funny, that shit was just annoying

4/30/2005 5:32:13 PM

i think the lines he was given just didnt cut it...mainly because there were only like 5 total diff lines

4/30/2005 5:41:31 PM

there were script problems from day one

4/30/2005 5:43:43 PM

I thought the library kid was funny...repetitive, but funny

4/30/2005 5:45:40 PM

I enjoyed it

4/30/2005 11:38:03 PM

I missed seeing it at Witherspoon. Anyone know where I can download a pirated version?

5/1/2005 12:48:47 AM

its all over irc man, just look around

5/1/2005 1:10:41 AM

the kid in the library was really good until he started the whole "i found your disk" thing, and he said it like 12 times in a row. I know the point they were trying to make but it just got ridiculous

5/1/2005 3:26:06 AM

I am just curious as to what you guys actually liked in the movie. I am not scared to say that I am in the group and I can dig all the criticisms. Here's the thing though, why not also tell us what you liked about the movie.
We already know Republican18's opinion on the subject. (its just wrong to not even support your own group, I am truly sorry we couldn’t work the mafia boss with exploding heads story line into the script for you, perhaps if you weren’t so busy lifting weights then you may have been free to come to some of the shoots and help out or when were sending out a million emails a week asking for script ideas it seems yours got miss directed.)
The point is, I don’t think you should like the movie because we worked hard on it, people work hard at a lot of things but that doesn’t mean they are good at them. The fact that a respected professional was courteous enough to send an email about how he enjoyed the film speaks far more volumes about our work than people who won’t voice their concerns to the faces of the people with whom you are supposed to be in a group with. It is a shame that this discussion has to happen here on the internet anonymously. There are tons of things about the film that I believe most of people have skipped over. They are things that can get skipped over on a first time viewing. I personally have seen it 3 times. Each time I enjoy it more and more. I also become more critical. Even having been as involved as I was I can still take a few steps back and marvel at this as a film in the context of all films. The list of things that are wrong with all films can go on for miles. Even high budget films have problems whether it is technical or otherwise. People can somehow still manage to like a film even though it has flaws. My point with all this being is there not anything you liked about the film at all? Let’s talk about that instead, I am interested.

5/2/2005 6:23:22 AM

the part where you jump over the book cart holding the coffee cup was a pretty cool stunt.

otherwise the story/dialogue were pretty cliche topics to which nothing new was added.

what did you like about it?

5/2/2005 7:03:25 AM

The hitch-hiker girl was good and the guy Eric was good too. If you do another movie use them, they did a good job.

Tell you the truth, one of the best (most well done) scenes in a movie I've ever seen was when they guy just got beat up in the parking garage and he stood up. When he took off running and the camera slowed down while he was in stride...that was one of the most perfectly filmed scenes I've ever seen.

5/2/2005 1:50:47 PM

Quote :

"We already know Republican18's opinion on the subject. (its just wrong to not even support your own group, I am truly sorry we couldn’t work the mafia boss with exploding heads story line into the script for you, perhaps if you weren’t so busy lifting weights then you may have been free to come to some of the shoots and help out or when were sending out a million emails a week asking for script ideas it seems yours got miss directed.)"

just becasue i was in the group for a few weeks doesnt mean i have to like yor damn movie. i dont see whats so hard to understand about that. also i do support your efforts making it, good job, next time improve and make a better movie. art is a maturing process and ya have to learn from it.

real mature dude. first off, i did offer sugesstions, on many levels none were taken. my friend also sent brandon an email early on telling him about the many many many script problems and rather than listen to possible suggestions, or even acknowledge that the script might not be so great, brandon just got pissed off. i mean i understand why you all like this movie, becaue 3 of you worte it and therefore think your art is pure gold, but im afraid that just doesnt make it so. and the reason i stopped going to meetings was becasue i realized early on that this was not a group project,(it was one mans project and a few of his buddies project), and i realized that this movie was going to suck (i was right). so i didnt really want anything to do with it. you all seriously need to learn to take some criticism. your movie was really bad and thats being nice about it. a standing ovation doesnt mean it was great nor does praise from a teacher. and i got news for yall, more than 5 people didnt like your movie, i heard many people talkin shit in the theater during it.

[Edited on May 2, 2005 at 2:40 PM. Reason : .]

5/2/2005 2:38:50 PM

Quote :

"The hitch-hiker girl was good and the guy Eric was good too. If you do another movie use them, they did a good job."

dont remember who eric was specifically, but hitch-hiker girl, track star guy, and homebody that smokes in his car and gets run over by the train? were pretty good

5/2/2005 3:58:26 PM

ok, i will add a like of the movie, i thought the acting was pretty good.

5/2/2005 4:12:05 PM

I feel it is time for me to address some of the concerns about the film "Matchbook Morning" and set a few things straight.

First to the claims that we had problems capturing video, these are completely false. Every flicker or effect you see in the film is in fact purposeful. The daydream scene in the library did not have dropped frames. Each of the daydreams were posterized to 24 fps to disassociate them from the real world. Also the accusation that there were obvious technical problems that could have easily been fixed is also completely false. After burning a copy of the DVD (which is not the copy we intend on having as the final cut of the film) the computer's main hard drive crashed. Therefore, aforementioned corrections were impossible to make prior to the film's premiere. This too explains the interlace problems which I know are only punctuated during time-lapse sequences and during other effects where the fields become more active. This would have been corrected had we not had basically the only problem that could serve as the exception to the "could have been fixed regardless of time constraints" idea. I assure you that I have been editing video longer than anyone on this board, and am fully aware of the technical problems the film possesses. Also I would like to mention that I have yet to take any sort of technical class at NCSU. All of the editing, camera work, and video effects are product of what I have learned on my own time.

Now for the accusation that this film was the product of just "one man and his buddies". Funny you mention this, with the exception of just one of the members who only acted in the film, I did not know ANY of the group members prior to the project. Story ideas and thoughts were equally listened to. If you are interested, email me and I can send you a list of group members who contributed ideas to the stories and what those ideas were.

As for the ability to take criticism, I assure you I'm fully aware to do so. However, please don't find me foolish in not listening to complaints such as "Hand down worst movie ever". I feel such statements are bold exaggerations not capable of any sort of legitimate merit. I really do appreciate some of the comments on this board, referring to the pacing and story ideas. These are the few comments that give me something a little more than just saying it was bad. I'll admit that I still have growing to do as a film-maker. I wrote "Matchbook Morning" when I was 20 years old. Perhaps the film I write when I'm 21 can meet the expectations equal to that of Hollywood films.

Now, the most important thing. Regardless of what the four or five the keep posting on this board are saying, people DID like this movie. I am positive of that. I have talked with many, and I mean MANY people since the premiere that I have never met before that loved it. I had several people come up to me afterwards in tears because they enjoyed it so much. It took me forever just to leave the premiere just because of the overwhelmingly positive response. I'll agree, applause would be warranted for the effort, but I believe a sustained standing ovation could be more believably attributed to the film itself. I didn't see a single person leave during the showing, and saw at least 15 people standing at the doors watching it because they didn't think there was a place to sit down. I'm proud of the project and my talented film group. Regardless of how many times the same people keep posting complaints about our work, we will keep on making films and building our group, and being successful at it.

If you have any more future concerns, please email the group. I would be more than happy to address them. I will not be posting in this thread again. I don't feel like discussing this film along side threads titled "Best B00bs".

Brandon Tweed

Oh, one more thing. If this is the response I get when making a bad film, I can't wait till the day when I make a good one.

5/2/2005 4:12:59 PM

Quote :

"As for the ability to take criticism, I assure you I'm fully aware to do so. However, please don't find me foolish in not listening to complaints such as "Hand down worst movie ever". I feel such statements are bold exaggerations not capable of any sort of legitimate merit. I really do appreciate some of the comments on this board, referring to the pacing and story ideas. These are the few comments that give me something a little more than just saying it was bad. I'll admit that I still have growing to do as a film-maker. I wrote "Matchbook Morning" when I was 20 years old. Perhaps the film I write when I'm 21 can meet the expectations equal to that of Hollywood films."

my work here is done, but was the name on the screen really needed brandon.....stroke the ego much?

5/2/2005 4:54:48 PM

He can finally lose his virginity now that he is a bigshot hollywood director.

5/2/2005 5:33:18 PM

trim the fat

cause the pacing is gonna be the #1 issue when you get this to a film competition

[Edited on May 2, 2005 at 5:50 PM. Reason : .]

5/2/2005 5:47:09 PM

Quote :

"Oh, one more thing. If this is the response I get when making a bad film, I can't wait till the day when I make a good one. "

i compare this to applauding an nc state sports team after a losing effort. sure they lost, but they are still your team, and you appreciate their effort. the same can be said of fellow state filmmakers. i didnt see the movie, so i'm not judging your film. but i wouldnt read too much into a standing o.

5/2/2005 6:10:18 PM

Quote :

"Oh, one more thing. If this is the response I get when making a bad film, I can't wait till the day when I make a good one."

Really now, you got a standing ovation because that's what happens at premieres. You make it sound like you OBVIOUSLY directed a movie on the level of Citizen Kane because of the standing ovation. Do you think that simply because you didn't get tomatoes thrown at you that the movie couldn't possibly have been bad?

Quote :

"Now for the accusation that this film was the product of just "one man and his buddies". Funny you mention this, with the exception of just one of the members who only acted in the film, I did not know ANY of the group members prior to the project."

Nobody was saying that, they were saying that you're a control freak who basically took over as many aspects of the film as he possibly could. And, knowing some of the people involved and some of their complaints (ahem, if you think only ONE person in the group had issues with you, I can assure that you're wrong), I tend to agree. Let's see, you were all over the writing of the story, ignoring group member's complaints about how poor the stories were (and complaints about the "four stories in one movie" framework being cliched, the book "link" being poor at best, etc.), the directing, the filming, the editing, etc. Face it, "Matchbook Morning" was basically you calling all the shots and a couple actors and a composer, simply because you couldn't be the only actor in the movie...

Quote :

"As for the ability to take criticism, I assure you I'm fully aware to do so."

This coming from the guy who deletes critical posts from his message board?

Quote :

"Regardless of how many times the same people keep posting complaints about our work"

I think it's funny that you say "only five people on the Wolfweb are criticizing the movie. Therefore, only five people out of a few hundred didn't like it." You ever notice how basically five or less people have posted on the Wolfweb talking about how much they LIKED the movie? By your logic, at least as many people hated the movie as liked it.

Anyway, I can't wait for you to enter this thing into a film festival and be brought back down to reality...

5/2/2005 6:10:26 PM

Just for the record, Citizen Kane was a box office failure... It was only later that its "greatness" was realized...
(I learned that in film class)
Just thought i'd throw that interesting tidbit in, b/c i'm bored

[Edited on May 2, 2005 at 6:15 PM. Reason : boredom]

5/2/2005 6:14:17 PM

Quote :

"Also the accusation that there were obvious technical problems that could have easily been fixed is also completely false."

OK, if you lost the actual cut of the film, that's understandable. However, two things jump out at me:

1. The audio quality was terrible. You obviously encoded it improperly. It sounded like a very low bitrate MP3. This could have easily been fixed prior to making the DVD (and the hard drive crash) if you knew what you were doing... I just can't imagine that you had made the MPEG of the movie and listened to it before burning the DVD and liked what you heard.

2. On a similar note, why would you go ahead an burn the DVD after seeing how poorly deinterlaced the movie was? And I'm not just talking about the leftover interlacing artifacts, I'm talking about the very noticeable aliasing. It looked as though you had a simple bob deinterlacing filter applied. Again, I can't imagine how you could either not notice these things or notice them and go ahead and put them on DVD...

5/2/2005 6:22:54 PM

Quote :

"Really now, you got a standing ovation because that's what happens at premieres."

I have not seen the movie so I will not reply in regards to the film. However, I have been to numerous premieres, more than many of you will ever have a chance to attend, and I can assure you I've only seen two standing ovations.

1) Bubba Ho-Tep
2) Sin City (and that wasn't a collective ovation)

To receive a standing ovation is pretty damn cool. People don't do it just out of principal. Suprisingly, people have the power to control their motor functions -- such as standing and leaving your ass in a seat.

5/2/2005 8:58:04 PM

i stand by my analysis of the standing ovation

5/2/2005 8:59:45 PM

i stood up and clapped, but I didn't enjoy the movie

5/2/2005 9:20:44 PM

^^ Yeah, I stand by mine too. In a world where presidents receive a minute of applause after every sentence uttered during the State of the Union address, I kinda think that applause is a little overdone.

^^^ And a similar argument could be made to say that applause of ANY kind after a movie premier is not that common (because after all, it's not like people applaud during regular showings of the movie). I kinda have to imagine that if it's a premier where the entire cast and crew is present (and the director stands in front of the audience at the end), there's gonna be a standing O out of respect for the work done.

[Edited on May 2, 2005 at 9:22 PM. Reason : ...]

5/2/2005 9:21:51 PM

Is there any other way to see this film if you missed the premiere?

This arguing is making me quite curious.

[Edited on May 2, 2005 at 9:40 PM. Reason : k]

5/2/2005 9:30:27 PM

Quote :

"Story ideas and thoughts were equally listened to............. "

When does the sequal come out?

[Edited on May 3, 2005 at 1:13 AM. Reason : .]

5/3/2005 1:13:10 AM

yeah brandon, putting that pic in the thread is just being arrogant

5/3/2005 2:49:27 AM

Back in my freshman year, I went to director's showing of this independent film shot entirely on the streets of a city in Rhode Island. It had no plot really, they just filmed people walking down the street. The director was a girl in her mid 20's. She got up to speak after the movie played, looking very depressed.

Director: "So we made this movie last summer. Production cost over $80,000..."
Audience: "Please don't think me rude for asking, but what's the return on that investment so far?"
Director: "At this point we have no intention of paying back any of the investors. In fact I lost quite a bit of money myself."
Audience: *awkward silence

We clapped for that movie too. It was on that day that I lost all interest in cinematography, other than watching movies as an escape from my dreary, pathetic life like everyone else.

[Edited on May 3, 2005 at 2:16 PM. Reason : .]

5/3/2005 2:14:38 PM

Ouch

5/3/2005 2:15:37 PM

How the fuck did "filming people walking down the street" cost $80,000!?

5/3/2005 2:21:40 PM

Beats me, but I've never been to Rhode Island so it was kinda cool...for the first 10 minutes. The most notable portion of the film was a driving sequence involving a Latino bicycle gang who all tricked out their bikes with hundreds of mirrors and bling.

5/3/2005 2:25:52 PM

if she filmed it on film stock, that shit adds up

i know a few of you in this thread know the costs for film production (com 344) but for those of you who don't, here's a rough breakdown:

we use 16mm film stock, which is about $35 a roll. one roll contains about 100ft of film, which equals about 3 minutes of filming. part of the film will be light-ruined for the loading and unloading of the camera so you really only have about 2:40 to 2:55 (give or take) of usuable film. obviously, you're not going to use the entire footage because you'll have to make cuts and do more than one take. granted, it can be done without retakes and cutting, but in general, the way i described is typical.

the cameras we use are ancient beasts from western germany. they give great picture, but can be prone to ruining images if you don't have a firm grasp on how cameras work. obviously they lack modern updates and, as a result, some students may ruin whole reels at a time due to technical mistakes.

the lab processing fee is pretty hefty as they tack on expenses like setting up the equipment, transfering, and cost of tape. fortunately, for our class, we submit a lot of film at once for the lab to process so it cuts back on the setting up fees and printing fees. similar to the cost of film stock, the lab fees are about $30 to $40. example, the last project i did costed me around $65 for lab processing and i used 2 rolls. some students used 4 rolls, so double that figure.

add on the shipping and handling fees from both the film stock comapny (kodak) and the lab processing place.

also, at state, they require us to purchase our own external hard drive. film requires a little bit of space, as in gigabytes of space. you can share with a friend if you have that sort of connection, but usually, you'll buy your own. depending on the deal you can get, it's roughly around a dollar a gig. there are exceptions.

all told, film production can be pretty expensive when you're a student financing your own stuff. one way to get around this is to record to digital video, like the group here did, which is still expensive but not as bad as film stock. personally, i don't mind DV recording, but you'll get your purists who depise it.

[Edited on May 3, 2005 at 2:46 PM. Reason : Ø]

5/3/2005 2:43:35 PM

I'm going to make a feature length film created entirely on a webcam. Take *that* society.

5/3/2005 2:46:02 PM

remember that music video that guy made using nothing but the 15 second video record on his digital camera?

http://www.aviola.com/the_sad_song.html

the music and images are up for subjective opinion, but i approve of the technical application

5/3/2005 2:54:43 PM

In COM 344, sounds like they should totally invest in some DV cameras.

5/3/2005 2:58:29 PM

that's what com 357 is for

5/3/2005 3:04:01 PM

^^^ wow.

5/3/2005 3:06:42 PM

I personally like DV, (see 28 days later for some beautiful DV scenes).

But filmmaking has always been about making do with the technology you have.

"We're making film history!.....here on video cassette."

[Edited on May 3, 2005 at 3:21 PM. Reason : .]

5/3/2005 3:19:47 PM

^^^^^very nice

5/3/2005 3:26:13 PM

wow, that cool pix guy did good

goes to show that the equipment doesn't have to hinder the art

5/3/2005 5:25:18 PM

yea that was quite impressive

5/3/2005 5:31:35 PM

fuckin-a, that video is awesome. I'm not even remotely into music like that, but that guy has alot of talent.

damn, that is really quite impressive

5/3/2005 5:38:52 PM

^exactly what i thought

5/3/2005 5:42:52 PM

I could have done without seeing up into his nose so much, but that's a minor gripe.

Wow, talk about a hijacked thread.

5/3/2005 5:46:58 PM

haha

whoops

5/3/2005 5:47:53 PM

The only complaint I have about Matchbook Morning is that the story was somewhat conventional and cliched; I mean, it had been done.

I'm working on a screenplay about a bold and daring newspaper tycoon, bent on putting big business in its place; whose controlling behavior causes one wife to divorce him, alienates him from his second wife, and ultimately leads him to wishing he could return to the innocent days of his youth.

I'm going to call it: Newspaper Guy

5/4/2005 3:14:22 AM

ZING!

Well done, sir.

5/4/2005 3:15:59 AM