Critics Episode 5 is now live

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I go back to Chicago soon to record some more episodes but here is another one from the first batch featuring work from my now friend Karen Abad, whom I met after filming this an am looking forward to hanging out with in SF.

I think the cat may be out of the bag that I don’t fly out every 2 weeks to record new episodes!

Webisode 5 ~ Critiqued Films:

Skate – Shot on Red  #1347 – 120 fps by Opus Magnum Production http://www.vimeo.com/1340684

Memory Bank 120394a by  Karen Abad ♥s Dinosaurs http://www.vimeo.com/2777876

FREE BEATS by ulteriorproductions.com http://www.vimeo.com/5107766

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22 comments

  1. I was mostly planted on the Steve side of the fence for this episode. First up, a big “FAIL” for cam and serial# in the title. A bit more about FILMMAKING and FILMS, a little less about TECH. Then, I scrubbed through Karen’s after about a minute – just couldn’t get into it. On the other hand, Free Beats completely elevated my day. I wanted to punch my screen when the “Obama” bit came up at the beginning (enough with making every damn thing political), but I could sit and watch a stream of this all day. The first thing I did when it was over was click over to the filmmaker’s site.

    1. Sorry, when I clicked on Bloomie’s link to this episode, I assumed it was taking me to the Critic’s page and not to his blog. I only intended to leave a comment on the Critic’s page, not spread my nonsense everywhere.

  2. Steve’s a hard man to please! Does he actually enjoy anything?

    I really liked Karen’s film. It grabbed me in a way that’s hard to put my finger on. I kind of kept building and building like a wave, which I found really intriguing.

    How do you find these films? It must eb shortlisted first before you make your random choice, or you could get something simply not worth reviewing.

  3. I wouldn’t have said the skaters put the serial number in their title. I normally consider the title to be the actual title in the film, of which there was none. The title on the page on which it is hosted is just there to identify the video. To me it just looks like they were testing out the cam and decided to throw a music track to the footage.

  4. Hmmm. I am not sure about the stream of consciousness video. I was bored. It just came out like a load of blah blah blah without any weight. If I knew her maybe I’d be more interested. But to me, her story was kind of irrelevant. I am sure she’s a lovely person and she’s clearly very talented, but as piece of video it just didn’t grab me. I thought it had that self conscious style seen so often throughout the 2000’s to represent quirky creativity and individuality. Like those awful Orange adverts that Charlie Brooker makes fun of. I prefer the camera to linger on something interesting and let it flow (I liked the robots in the garden), rather than that stream of consciousness style and ‘me me me’. Maybe I should just cheer up.

    1. You know what, having had the chance to look at more of Karen’s stuff the more I realise she has massive talent. I take it back, the comments about her stream of consciousness video, because it IS visual poetry, it just didn’t need the distracting voice-over. The visuals on their own are good enough not to need that.

      For what it’s worth, I apologise Karen!

  5. First one… Skateboarding RED Test… People need to be careful posting their “tests”.. they get critiqued kind of out of context.. The RED cam in the title kinds leads me to think he was showing RED footage tests, rather than a “formal” segment.

    Second one… A little on the “why do I need to know you?” side… Great for her friends and family, but I skipped over that one after the first 20 sec.

    3rd one was brilliant! The Obama caption made no sense.. am I to believe talented people showed up for him BECAUSE of Obama election? “WTF!?” Creative people like the openminded liberal democrats, yes we do… but save that caption for your propaganda…. But Strangers showing up and actually getting involved in freeform creativity(and pretty good too!) is totally AWESOME! It actually would have been really cool if the piece was dedicated to George W. Bush…. That would have made me laugh out loud. 🙂

        1. It took me a month to edit that beast of burden. Think about the fact that I had twice as much footage that what even surfaced to work with.

          Speaking of which, when I can I start shooting twice as much stuff with you? hahaha

          I think another thing that is of a concern is that 40% of stuff I create I can’t use because of legal issues. So it never surfaces on Vimeo and I can’t really use it on my portfolio. Do you run into that problem with stuff you shoot?

          1. you can start shooting tomorrow!

            yes i get that problem all the time. I often get told that my stuff is very samey. Static shots, pretty pics etc. Stuff on my site is 98% my own projects, my own little visual “paintings”. The majority of my work, be it broadcast, commercials or corporates I have no chance of showing it on my site due to rights. Love to stick up a section from my Discovery HD work etc…

  6. I get a sense that the views expressed on these shows reflect those of an active film maker (Paul) and an inactive film maker (Steve). Regardless of personal taste it seems there is more empathy and understanding in Paul’s experience and a tendency toward reserved judgment and technical critiques on Steve’s part. Just how things look from where I sit.

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