1. Nice one. It was hard to watch and was fairly depressing, but it’s clear that was your intention. The execution was great, especially for a monologue scene. Usually cringeworthy, but I was really wrapped into this. I’m pretty stunned at the quality of your voice acting! Totally sold it.

   PS I couldn’t help but notice the similarities in this and Jill’s Song. No coincidence?

   Comment by Suhnder — June 6, 2008 @ 6:34 pm

2. Hot!

   Expertly written, a new, higher degree of acting here, definately the best yet. I wish I had something more to write, I really want to repay this great film with some equally great words, but I just don’t have it in me to be verbose right now.

   Comment by Zach — June 6, 2008 @ 7:51 pm

3. Really fine work, Overman. I don’t think any other Moviestorm films has been able to sustain such a realistic, dramatic work. And I agree with Suhnder, your voice acting is the best I’ve seen you do; nuanced, paced well and with just the right amount of “underplaying” (if you know what I mean). The story is very well done as well; by having a “reveal” ending visually, it really changes your perspective on the main character since (at least I was) one imagines a different partner for the speaker depending upon what your ahem..predilections are. The sound work is subtle and very well done. Visually, you’ve created a very believable and dramatic setting for the action. You could almost smell the place. The reflections in the window early in the film are the kind of subtle touches one expects from such a skilled filmmaker. The whole film was just beautiful. I wasn’t depressed at all. In fact, just the opposite.

   I did have some problems with the animation at times. But that’s due to Moviestorm, I think. That kind of “jerkiness” from one keyframe to another has really got to be fixed so that the different animations ease in to each other. I know you probably put a lot of work in to cover or get around that limitation. But even with the occasional glitch in animation, the film still caught my imagination and carried me a long with the story.

   Congratulations, Overman. This is one of your best, I think.

   Comment by Ricky Grove — June 6, 2008 @ 7:55 pm

4. Thanks so much for the comments, guys!

   @Suhnder - Yeah, the Jill’s Song is the weirdest kind of coincidence, actually. I’m an actor in the film Jill’s Song heralds, but I wasn’t involved in the production of Song itself and didn’t even know what was coming until it was released. By the time it was, I was already nearly done with production on this film, whose script I’d written in late 2007 and the VO I’d recorded back in December. But Zach knew nothing about “Apology”, I’d not shared it with anyone until Ricky a few days prior to release.

   The similarities, at least in emotional feel, are uncanny, and I don’t know how to explain them other than a case of really similar taste between myself and Song’s writer (Michael, I believe?). I will say, though, that after seeing Jill’s Song, I did a completely new pass on toning up the gestures in my own film (as much as was possible), because I thought “Oh shit, Zach just put the bar through my ****ing ceiling!”

   Comment by Overman — June 7, 2008 @ 12:33 am

5. I enjoyed this immensely. And it opened my eyes. I’m not ready to eat crow (yet).

   Gosh those unblended ins and outs of animations. I think I’ve just come so accustomed to them, jeez who ever can solve the stacking of animations… man they win the machinima arms wars.

   Writing of course was the cement, looking forward to some more.

   Comment by todnyc — June 7, 2008 @ 1:10 am

6. Really, one of the finest from you, Phil. I specially like this subtle, minimalistic camera work. It feels that all cuts and angles used are part of monologue, part of spoken sentences. Final reveal of scene, that wide shot of whole room therefore feels like interpunction - the dot on the end.
   Also, very good use of light - lights are one of the most powerful movie making tools but authors often don’t use them right - in this movie they portrait situation very well. With this combination of lights, colors, pictures on the wall, mute footage on TV screen and living, moving things outside of the room (because everything in side is dead) we can understand the story almost with audio turned off.
   This is very difficult to do, Phil, and you are doing it with such of ease.
   If this “long talk, little camera and even less action” movies are some new trend, I am all for it.

   Comment by Tom — June 7, 2008 @ 1:37 am

7. Excellent work!

   Comment by bllius — June 7, 2008 @ 7:35 am

8. Just a small clarification. Phil, I wrote Jill’s Song, and jack’s story was co-written. and yeah, the simmilarities are crazy, but it’s just down to freaky co-incidence. that saying about great minds thinking alike is maybe applicable, though I like yours better, the reveal at the end really added alot.

   Comment by Zach — June 7, 2008 @ 8:14 am

9. It’s funny - I agree with both Tom and Todd’s comments (Tom’s about how how the viewer could almost understand the story without the audio and Todd’s about writing being the cement). These perspectives essentially clash each other, but as I said, I agree with them both. I don’t think any one element shined as this movie’s greatest strength. Rather, I think all of these elements came together and made each other stronger. The ambient sounds (reminded me a lot of Ricky’s segment from the latest Overcast) really created the atmosphere (I especially liked the opening with the distant airplane (I think it was an airplane?)). The voice over, as others mentioned, was also excellent.

   This movie portrayed a pretty tried (and often tired) concept, but this movie did it in a way that was fresh. I think it would have been EXTREMELY easy to have executed this movie with too much fire. I thought the minimalist approach to the cinematography was very fitting, as was the reserved voice over - it would have been equally easy to have gone overboard with the voice over. It reminded me (strangely enough) of James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano. Not really for style or anything like that, but for reservation. Both characters are sociopaths but not in the “bouncing off the walls” kind of way. Instead, their psychosis is shown with a lot of attention to subtleties.

   @Ricky: “The story is very well done as well; by having a “reveal” ending visually…”
   I was thinking the exact same thing the first time I saw it. That last shot reminded me a lot of “Reveal.” There were a couple more tracking shots that we’re very fitting as well. The shot from 2:16 to 2:37 personified the “Umbra” concept for me with its lighting contrast. I’m sucker for shots with a lot of contrast.

   You’ve created a really interesting character, Phil. The instant he turned around at 2:40 or so and said “I’m gonna ‘go’ and not apologize to James, too” and pulled out the gun I thought he was about to kill himself until he made it clear that the gun wasn’t meant for him. Good job, mate. I’m really excited to see how you expand on this concept.

   Comment by kradproductions — June 8, 2008 @ 12:32 am

10. @krad - Funny you should compare this to Reveal… because this idea (though only an embryo at that time) was in fact the original idea which inspired Reveal - but the constraints of the little contest Reveal was created for (no characters visible) made me take that a different direction. In purest form, the idea was an entire film which would be one shot panning backward, with the details it slowly reveals in a very controlled order BEING the story it tells. Obviously it took on a whole ‘nother life of its own here, the dialogue becoming the central mechanism for that controlled revelation, but the films Reveal and Apology are blood brothers, no question about it, and kudos to you for intuiting a connection.

    I’ll still probably do the one shot idea in the future (or a little collection of a few of them), though I’ll likely avoid the murder scenario altogether since I’ve done that here and come up with something new.

    Comment by Overman — June 8, 2008 @ 1:17 am

11. @todnyc and @Tom, thank you both so much for your feedback!

    And thank you again, all of you. I’m really proud of this piece, and it’s so good to hear about the things you like and those you don’t. I have learned so much from your comments over the years, and will continue to do so.

    Comment by Overman — June 8, 2008 @ 1:22 am

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