Thread: February 2011: Science Fiction Film Noir

Verok. A corrupt planet on the edge of oblivion. With blood in the streets and crime running amok, two Queensmen have been dispatched to eliminate a black market informant known as "Ernie". Their investigation takes them into the darkest levels of society and challenges their moral principles. When an old acquaintance resurfaces the mission is compromised and the success hangs by a thread.

Director's Commentary:
Noir is not an easy thing to do, nor is science fiction. When you combine the two together you have a very tricky movie on your hands. I learned a lot about costuming and location scouting from this film, but I think all of our extra work paid off. I planned for everything possible in my pre production which really saved me a few headaches when production time came around. On the acting side I really hit the goldmine. The actors I found for this film were superb and dedicated, not to mention fun to work with. Rhett Cutrell did the lighting and camera work which helped me focus on the story telling aspect. His work is fantastic and screams noir with every shot. Color correction was done by Deidre Casey and we learned that leaving a small element of color, in this case purple, allows the film to pop just a little bit more. Editing was pretty straight forward but of all my films I believe this has the biggest variety of effects. As perusal with my movies and style of filmmaking I put a lot of emphasis on story. I tried to cram as many elements of a noir as I could into the ten minutes but still maintain a good pace mixed with a science fiction atmosphere. Needless to say I think I accomplished this and of all my works thus far I am happiest with Silly Things. I worked with the best crew and cast to date and I had great fun.

Written, Directed, and Produced by R.D. Womack II
Music By Austin Lawrence
Justin Logston, Nick Pepito, Christina Longman, James Pyrich, Girwan S. Thapa

I love this film, extremely well executed! My only critique is that the eyes on the bug man seemed just a little too fake looking. I would have just kept that character human. Other than that I love it.

Whilst I can't fault the quality and style of shoot and the sound etc - it was a matter of style over substance for me. You'd almost lost me by the time we got to the bug man, and he just topped it off. I wanted to skip ahead. I thought Ernie and Alistair were poorly cast and (sorry) lame. The scene after he failed to take the shot at Ernie didn't come off at all - the character throws him at the wall and then just caves in and almost pats him on the back in an understanding manner - just not convincing.....

Reverting back to where I started - filming, lighting, sound, style - all too good for the performances. (Other than your leading man - I thought he was believeable)

I admire you immensley for even attempting this - I wouldn't - but I think you need to cast better to live up to your work.

Great job. I tend to agree with the other comments about the bug man. I didn't think the acting was bad though. Everything is technically well made especially the editing was excellent. The only thing I didn't get on with was the undersampling effect I found it distracting been juddery.

All in all an all round great job by all involved.

Did you see how I managed to get 4 alls in one little sentence.

Originally Posted by Midnight Blue

Did you see how I managed to get 4 alls in one little sentence.

Known in the trade as a free four all.

Nothing to add to other comments about the film. It looks great but didn't really keep my attention.

film noir and sci fi?.. wow you got it to work!! I liked it.

Thank you all very much for your feedback. It is greatly appreciated and I hope to improve on my next film. If there is anything else you would like to add please let me know!

I like it. I like the style I agree with Andy Lockwood a bit on the acting in the scene outside, in the alley

I really enjoyed this film! I thought it had a good script and the action scenes were very believable. Looked a very professional job to me. I am not qualified to comment on the technical stuff - so will leave that to others!

I do like this type of film mind!

( 50/50 on the "bug eyes"!)

John

It's a fun little film, I like it! The bug is fine, not to worry about that.