Very impressive, Sarzy. I especially liked the long handheld (steadicam) fluid master shot down the hall. I do like it when movies take their time to tell a story like that. Hopefully it won't be the last film you make. In this industry, even calling cards aren't enough. I have friends who are doing some big shit right now, but that's not helping me out at all. It's a tough industry, but to enjoy it is to need to pursue it doggedly.

I think the biggest gripe I'd have with it is the length. It may behoove you to consider using an editor outside of yourself. I cut a rough assembly of my movie, then handed it off to an editor. My rough assembly was just at two hours and ten minutes. The final cut is now just under 90 mintues.

I think all heist movies should have actors with Canadian accents. I think you did an excellent job, hombre. Keep at it!

By the way, what did you shoot this with?

We shot it with the Panasonic AG-HVX200. I've seen stuff shot with that camera that looked way better, and way more film-like, but we were constantly in a rush and never really had time to properly set stuff up. Which is probably just a convenient excuse. It's true though!

And yeah, the steadicam shot did turn out pretty nice (and that's actually one of the only things I actually paid for, outside of food and various little things like props). I've always been a really big fan of long steadicam shots, so if this really is my last film I'm glad I got to do that.

As for the length -- it definitely is way too long. I probably should have let someone else have a crack at it. The original cut was 37 minutes though, so I did manage to cut some stuff out.

Anyway, thanks for the comments. When do we get to see your film?

That's the camera I have. It's a decent camera (exception being the lens). I, too, was always in a rush; it seems to be the nature of this industry except for filmmakers like Terrence Malick. Shooting in LA is no picnic when you are shooting with no budget. We were always fearful of being run off by the cops for not shooting with a permit, and at one point we did get kicked out of a public park by the rangers.

Dodging them kept exterior production running at a snail's pace, and at times scenes that should've taken two hours to complete turned out to be up to five hours or so, because we constantly had to hide the cameras and equipment when the rangers or police came around. And those scenes turned out to be some of the ones I dislike the most about my flick.

You'll never see my film! Bwahawhaw! No, it's still in sound mix. Has been for a long, long time. Once it's out, I still have to get it color timed and converted to progressive 24 HDCAM tape, etc. etc.

Mybe we can have a look.
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