"Wake" -- my first short film

[JacksonArcher]

Last year, I began production on what would become my first short film, entitled Wake. Well, I just finished work on the film and it is now uploaded and online available for your viewing pleasure.

Wake is the story of young Max (Joshua Brail) who is faced with confronting the death of his mother (Christina Thodos), while his father, Albert (Greg Schweiner), tries desperately to repair the broken relationship with his son.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3008390/wake/

 

[Amaris]

Last year, I began production on what would become my first short film, entitled Wake. Well, I just finished work on the film and it is now uploaded and online available for your viewing pleasure.

Wake is the story of young Max (Joshua Brail) who is faced with confronting the death of his mother (Christina Thodos), while his father, Albert (Greg Schweiner), tries desperately to repair the broken relationship with his son.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3008390/wake/

That is really yours?


J.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Haha, yes it is. I'm sure a few members on this board will be able to back me up.

 

[Amaris]

Well, then it was very well done! I left a comment on the page (the title got cut off ).

Seriously, nice work!

J.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I for one can vouch that this is indeed Jackson's work...been following the production for the last year or so and there is no doubt that this is Dan's excellent film.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Originally Posted by J. Allen
Well, then it was very well done! I left a comment on the page (the title got cut off ).

Seriously, nice work!

J.

I saw the comment. Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Amaris]

Sorry about the doubt at first, I just wanted to be sure. It's so easy to say "this is mine!", but yes, I believe you, and once more, excellent work! When you do your next project, let me know, I would be interested in seeing it.

J.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Sorry about the doubt at first, I just wanted to be sure. It's so easy to say "this is mine!", but yes, I believe you, and once more, excellent work! When you do your next project, let me know, I would be interested in seeing it.

J.

That's perfectly reasonable and understandable. I am actually in post-production on my next short, an original superhero concept called Fallen, that I hope to have online soon.

 

[Mike Farley]

Excellent work You've managed to avoid the twin problems of poor acting and crappy sound that mark so many first time/amateur productions. Also good us of the widescrren frame.

 

[Messianni]

Very well done! I'm curious, did you shoot digitally or on film? I wasn't sure if it was just the video quality but it look like film unless you used some sort of filter.

You manage to convey a great deal in such a short time, which is always tough. It's touching and certainly affecting for those that have gone through such a thing. Of course that's because you obviously managed to nab yourself some good actors that were able to convey this well.

At first I was a little unclear, and this may just be me, but...

Spoiler: film

Did she overdose and kill herself. I thought as much, with her crying in the bathroom and subsequently seizing but for a minute it seemed like she just had a seizure. With the forlorn was she was speaking to her son beforehand and the crying in the bathroom I'm sure it's the former, I just want to clarify.

Can't wait to see your next one? Do you have a trailer for your next project or anything?

 

[exodus]

Very good work!!
I look forward to seeing more for you.


Just remember when you become a big time producer/director, don't forget all us little people.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Messianni, we shot digitally with Canon. I wanted a filmic look without having to spend the outrageous costs to go with film, so my cinematographer recommended a camera package that he just used on a short he just shot and it worked out really well.

Thank you very much for the kind words, and I'm really glad you enjoyed the piece. However I know this is going to sound pretentious, but I don't want to reveal the "spoiler" since I wanted audiences to figure out that for themselves and let them (you) draw their own conclusions.

I don't have a trailer for my next short yet but I will soon. It's taking me some time to finish that one because of the special effects work required. But it'll be available soon. Thanks for the interest.

And I'll never forget you, exodus.

 

[Barbados Slim]

Hats off to your DP. Keep him close for your next project, unless working with him was a pain. This looks really good.

I couldn't tell if it was my computer but I had some problems with the volume levels. Some moments of dialogue were too quiet, specifically the first time at the table with mom. A good sound mix is really important especially with a film this quiet, with little dialogue and the atmospheric score. But again it could be my crap computer speakers.

Are you doing any festival submissions? I recommend it, this is very similar to what I've seen in festival shorts packages.

 

[Holdfast]

I enjoyed this.

Thank you for sharing it.

Messianni upthread mentioned the emotional resonance for those who've also been in similar situations. That was certainly there for me, which is a credit to your script and the good cinematography & music for helping the immersion. Elements took me back to my own mother's funeral (over 5 years ago) which is about as high a compliment as I could pay. Very good job indeed.

My sartorial spidey sense feels obliged to point out the continuity issue with the tie knots - in the first scene both son and father's knots are decidedly off-centre (as is the funeral director's tieknot, actually). By a later scene, both are much more centred in the collar. Now, the son's change is explicable because it's loosened, but that doesn't explain the dad's change... well, maybe he caught a glimpse in a mirror and fixed it.

 

[Harvey]

Thanks for sharing this, JacksonArcher. Visually it's very stunning, for a first work or any other. You should definitely keep your DP around. The music is very effective as well-- definitely keep your composer around, too.

As somebody who just finished four years at film school where I mostly was a sound recordist and designer, it sounded to me like you used a lot of production audio recordings. There were a couple of scenes that I would definitely have done ADR, although I understand that it's hard enough to get the actors back, let alone making it sound like the dialogue comes from the same place we see in the image. And I would have trimmed the head of the first close up of the feet in the funeral parlor, and trimmed the tail of the shot where the dad runs after Max. But those are just my editing instincts. Yours are probably different.

A fine work and one I hope you're submitting to film festivals.

 

[Odo's_Bucket]

Good job. Keep going. You have a career ahead of you.

 

[Venardhi]

The volume is a bit low, I dont know if that is the fault of the file you uploaded or the software on that site. I have my volume up all the way and everything is still whisper-quiet.

 

[Messianni]

Thank you very much for the kind words, and I'm really glad you enjoyed the piece. However I know this is going to sound pretentious, but I don't want to reveal the "spoiler" since I wanted audiences to figure out that for themselves and let them (you) draw their own conclusions.

Nah, I don't find it pretentious at all. I hate it when people feel that everything must be explained to them. There is nothing wrong with a filmmaker decidedly keeping things vague and left open to interpretation. Of course, abusing this method of storytelling can be a sign of laziness but you absolutely use it very effectively here, especially with the vaious visual cues that let it lean one way or the other.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Thank you everyone for the positive and constructive comments so far. Honestly, it's why you do something like this -- for the reactions, such as these. So I'm very thankful. I'll also let my DP, whose name is Brian Levin, a very talented guy, and my composer, William Cox, know of all your compliments. Suffice to say, Brian and I struck up a friendship while working on Wake and I immediately brought him onboard for my next project, Fallen, and I plan to keep him close for whatever future endeavors come my way. Same goes for my composer -- you couldn't ask to work with nicer people, really.

It seems there are sound issues -- I do know that the sound design was very difficult because on two days of our three day shoot we had very bad sound equipment, so certain scenes will sound louder or more clearer than others. That was definitely a problem in post -- trying to find which sounds we wanted to eliminate, and which we wanted to sharpen. We had much better sound equipment on our next project so hopefully these issues will not be present there. And as Harvey pointed out, we had to remove a lot of our on set sounds and replace them with production audio recordings as a consequence. Ah, well. The disadvantage of low budget production.

(Also, Holdfast, it's funny you mention the ties -- I remember in the "coffee" scene straightening up the father's tie -- I guess I should have done that before! We didn't have a continuity supervisor on this project so some of that small stuff probably went unnoticed, unfortunately.)

Also, while I don't have a trailer to show, or any footage just yet, I have uploaded a few pictures below of filming Fallen back in October of last year. We shot in downtown Chicago and in a burnt out post office in Gary, Indiana -- the pictures below are on our second day of filming on LaSalle by the Board of Trade.

I'm the guy in the trenchcoat.

Filming a fight stunt at some ridiculous hour in the morning.

Filming a slightly more elaborate fight stunt in post-apocaplyptic Chicago as police officer Joe (Errol McLendon) fends off some looters.

Filming by the beauitful Board of Trade Building.

Directing actors Errol McLendon (Joe) and Harrison Boxley (Boy) for a scene, with director of photography Brian Levin beside me.

 

[Harvey]

It looks like your next project will be quite exciting, JacksonArcher, judging from those stills. Certainly more ambitious than anything I've been involved with thus far. I hope you'll continue to share it with us as it progresses in post-production.

And don't worry too much about the sound. I'm sure with better equipment, you'll be able to match the visuals on this next one. Good luck.