First, let me say a BIG congratulations to you Chris and your team!! Seriously!! Excellent work!!

Thoughts as I watched and I'm no filmmaker so I just watched it as a regular person and a writer.

Why did you decide to go with such bleak colors?

A little heavy with the spook sounds on occasion, BUT you did get me there around the 19 min mark. I actually jumped!  

21 minutes in and I was wondering where the guy went. She was in the bedroom at daytime and now she's checking out the cabin at night. What is he doing at this time? Nice music, btw.

Why would she not let him read the book?

At min 41, I jumped again! Wished you had shown the bird. It didn't have to be real, but I really wanted to see something there. You do later, but it should've come at the time they looked out the window, IMHO.

I'm currently49 minutes in and I'm having issues with Becka. I don't like her...

Nice work in the tent!  

My over all  thoughts were Impressive!

My only issues were that I didn't really like the character of Becca. I thought she was a bitch, to be honest. The music, although good, was a little too intrusive at times, like James said. I also thought that you started out with a spooky kind of thing and the jump scare at min 19 really set the tone for a suspense/horror type of film. But it didn't deliver on that set-up. Instead it turned more into a drama and as someone who loves horror/suspense films, I felt a little bit like you didn't quite give me what you had promised. Also, just like Don suspected, someone will come along and mention the pacing. I guess that will be me. Nothing big, just on occasion, I thought it could've moved along a bit quicker, but have ADD so....  Those were my only complaints. You did a great job! A big ostrich feather in your hat!!  

PS. I loved the negative scenes in yellow and black.

PPS. I watched Blackout today. If you saw FK, I can happily report that Blackout was lightyears ahead of FK.

First of all, a big thanks again to everyone for taking the time to watch and comment. Nothin' like SimplyScripts.

I'll do my responses all in one post, I hope that's not obnoxious.

Quoted from Forgive What bugged me on u-tube was you can't download it, so I have to depend on my/u-tube speed (not too sure who's at fault here) - downloadability would be a boon. ...but I'm wondering what camera u used? Half of me feels the cinematography might be a bit off, or too many of the shots where a bit too long?... Going to get the rest in tomorrow (re-watch of Sex Drive got in the way - forgive me, I love the 'tree of shoes ...') ...But apart from minor gripes, and as a whole - very worthwhile - looks like a lot of effort and thought (and skill) has gone in to this - well done on getting this out there.

The movie is now available for download by torrent at this link, if that works better for you!

The film was shot on a Canon 5D Mark II, with a few shots taken on a Rebel T2i (for example, the montage during which Guy walks alone in the woods and Becca listens to records and reads the journal; all of the shots of Guy outside are T2i). We were impressed with how well this turned out for us. We were reluctant to use it for anything more than quick B-roll stuff and only did so because we wouldn't have made our day otherwise -- we sent our sound team out with Benjamin and they took all the shots themselves while the main crew shot another sequence inside with the 5D. But in the end, I think the T2i stuff looks great.

I love Sex Drive too. Own that one for sure.

Thanks for watching Simon and I'm glad you enjoyed!

Quoted from James McClung Just finished a few minutes ago. I have to say I was very impressed. There were elements that reminded me of Antichrist as well as The Shining though this is clearly its own thing. ...I thought the music was a little intrusive at times but the quality of music wasn't too bad so I didn't mind too much. ...Some of the editing choices were a little jarring but I'd say they were more peculiar than anything inherently negative. I enjoyed the story for the most part although I wouldn't really call it horror. I think it was more of a drama with horror and surreal elements and, again, a lot of portent. But of course, that's just one opinion among many.

You know, I saw Antichrist well after we had written this, but well before we shot it, and I warned the director about it -- he hasn't watched it to this day, for fear of being influenced by a Von Trier film with a similar setup. Now that Truth's out, we can finally sit down and watch Antichrist. Anyway, those are the exact two films I'd have you mention out of any films, so, thanks!

Music...we had a hell of a time with the music. As I think I mentioned above, we had to replace a lot of it at the last minute when we discovered that, though public domain in Canada, many of our songs were not public domain worldwide. This thing was down to the wire, with the last music cues completed on the 30th by the director himself, just in time to export and upload. I mention all this mostly because I think it's a shame...we had a very tight sound mix done initially with the original cues that might not have seemed intrusive. Ah well! Such is life.

There were definitely some editing gambles, some due to the director's idiosyncrasies, some due to typical low-budget "make it work". We're always looking to do something different, so "jarring, more peculiar than negative" is great to hear. Thanks James for watching!

Quoted from nawazm11 I hated the low saturation though, did not work with me at all sorry to say. I think there might have also been a film grain layer added in the film, and if there was, IMO the opacity wasn't low enough - or maybe it just looked like that because of Youtube's encoding process. I can't be sure. And again being honest, a few small segments were also edited poorly, one specific one stands out from the others. Right when that piece of paper leads her to shed, there's like some frame rate problem and it stalls as the papers fly towards her. There were a few more like scenes. And then some repitition of scenes which looked like they were used on purpose but I couldn't be sure. ...Not a fan of the ending, but I can't complain.

I'm not generally a fan of low saturation myself, but I did more or less like the look our colourist (and editor!) achieved here. It was a strong choice and I'm glad that it's polarizing Fair enough hating it!

Good eye. There is a layer of film grain and it doesn't exactly look perfect. At anything less than Blu-ray quality, the grain's caused us significant problems, and YouTube encoding in particular wreaked havoc with it. There was definitely discussion about leaving it off altogether.

The papers and the frame rate...I never liked that either. I think the choice was try to sell as stylistic what was really just covering for an idiotic moment on the production end -- we just could not get those damn papers to fly upwards. What you see in the finished film is someone just throwing a clump of them up from below frame, and the editing choice was what was needed to catch them long enough that we could tell at all what was happening. Definitely not our finest moment, on all fronts! Haha.

The ending...well, I won't comment too much yet, but yes, I'm not surprised to hear you say that.

Thanks for watching and critiquing Mo!

Quoted from Angry Bear Why did you decide to go with such bleak colors? A little heavy with the spook sounds on occasion, BUT you did get me there around the 19 min mark. I actually jumped!   Why would she not let him read the book? At min 41, I jumped again! Wished you had shown the bird. It didn't have to be real, but I really wanted to see something there. You do later, but it should've come at the time they looked out the window, IMHO. I'm currently49 minutes in and I'm having issues with Becka. I don't like her... Nice work in the tent!   My over all  thoughts were Impressive! My only issues were that I didn't really like the character of Becca. I thought she was a b****, to be honest. The music, although good, was a little too intrusive at times, like James said. I also thought that you started out with a spooky kind of thing and the jump scare at min 19 really set the tone for a suspense/horror type of film. But it didn't deliver on that set-up. Instead it turned more into a drama and as someone who loves horror/suspense films, I felt a little bit like you didn't quite give me what you had promised. PS. I loved the negative scenes in yellow and black. PPS. I watched Blackout today. If you saw FK, I can happily report that Blackout was lightyears ahead of FK.

Hey Pia,

Thanks so much for all your support with the film Very kind.

The colours...two thoughts, perhaps. One, to achieve a look that was at least a little bit distinct from the average digital low/no-budget horror film. Two, to hopefully get at a look that was a little more like film and a little less like digital. This might come through more clearly if you were able to see it on Blu-ray (which hopefully, at some point, you will).

Heavy with the spook sounds...that is definitely true. I think this is probably to compensate for what you eventually discovered...that we were going to let you down and give you a relationship drama. Haha! I'm glad we got you to jump a couple times though!

She wouldn't let him read the book because she's a bitch, of course!! Kidding...but I'll jump ahead  now to your comments on Becca. This was a major, major problem with the film from the very first edit (well, probably from the script stage, really). Some people can get on the same page as her, and some people hate her from the get-go. To quote a close friend of the director's, "When the movie started I was like, 'Who is this bitch and why am I watching her?'" It was a good, stern reminder for us that it's easy to forget the simple stuff like, y'know, having a likeable protagonist.

Haha the bird...we forgot to talk about this in the commentary, but what was hitting the window in that scene was a ball of socks. The bird wasn't ready at the time we shot that scene, unfortunately, though we were happy with the work Art got together when the bird was finally film-ready. But yes, I think you're right that we should have seen the bird then. The bird was originally a much more significant motif, and we saw it a couple more times, but that was all cut down.

The tent! I'm glad. I don't know if you knew this but that stuff was actually filmed in my bedroom in Vancouver. We shot the tent scene on the very first day of production, with a full tent set up in producer/actor Michel Duran's (Jasper's) basement. The tent was super cramped, with the actors and me and the camera jammed in there, and the results were...not good. So a couple months after production, we reshot the scene, this time in my bedroom with a tent build.

The other big comment you made is about the lack of horror payoff, and that's very true. There was originally quite a bit more horror stuff near the end, but for a variety of reasons it was cut down, and the end result was that we definitely let people down on that front. It was always the director's intention to set up a standard "cabin in the woods" horror scenario and then surprise people with a relationship drama, but we definitely had scripted and shot more horror than makes it into the finished film. Soooo...sorry! Haha. I'm glad you enjoyed it overall, though.

I haven't seen Finders Keepers yet, what a jerk. But I'll tell you this, I'm not gonna pirate it! I think myself and the director of Truth will sit down and watch it next week. Glad to hear you're impressed with Blackout though and can't wait until that one's available.

Chris,

First off, congratulations. Overall, a job well done all the way around.

It's a little plodding. I think more could have happened sooner, but the pace was consistent.

I also agree with Pia about the main character. She's not very likable from the beginning. I like the actress's performance, though. I think the other actors did really well also.

I didn't care for the saturation, but otherwise I generally like the direction and think the director made some interesting choices.

Petty grievances aside, there's a lot to like. It has a uniqueness that's refreshing in a climate where so many filmmakers use the same jaded techniques.

Oh, and the writing is pretty good too.

Solid work. Strong impression. Compliments to all.

Thanks so much Breanne and I will pass your comments and compliments on, too!

That reminds me...would love to hear from anyone/everyone what the obvious story/script fixes are for the film. The start is definitely slow...what should have happened, I wonder? What would have made Becca more likeable? Etc... If anyone feels like pointing out how the script could easily have been fixed up, I'd love to hear it!

Quoted from Heretic What would have made Becca more likeable? Etc... If anyone feels like pointing out how the script could easily have been fixed up, I'd love to hear it!

I think for me it was that she was always whining and complaining. Blaming Guy for everything. Wasting two years of her life etc. She didn't seem like she even wanted to try to make their marriage work. Almost the opposite. He might not have been God's greatest gift to women, but he seemed genuine and that he really wanted to make this work. She never showed any kindness or love towards him at all and then when we find out that she lied about him hitting her, that was like ultra low. IMHO, it might have work better (for Becca's likability) if she had started out as really wanting to try to salvage their marriage, but then she encounters the ghost. Maybe that's how you had it written, it just came across as she didn't even want to try. Does that make sense?