General / Off-Topic First Contact The Movie

[psykokow]

Ach Penthux,
The guys skills are beyond anything we could do. I thought it was like a movie made to see if he could make a movie rather than making the movie he wanted to make.

NOW we all confirm that he CAN do it and DO IT bloody good, he now needs to get the right script and actors and he will have a definate hit.

Will deffo be waiting to watch the next movie!!

 

[Caribou]

That said, since publishing First contact, I have been emailed with a load of freelance animating work and even offered an unpaid job to work on an independent racing car game, so with all its cons, I have managed to make a whole lot of pros from it

great stuff and I hope you go from strength to strength

 

[Mobius]

very impressed, a lot of man hours put in there,

 

[Bingo Brewster]

Started watching, but apparently tech stops working at 4am (just lost my photos as well) it look fantastic. A year well spent.

Also am loving the comic.

 

[ianw]

I enjoyed it - as to the OP - when I saw the thread title originally I assumed it was another Star Trek thread and didn't click on it initially.

 

[GreeceyChops]

Ach Penthux,
The guys skills are beyond anything we could do. I thought it was like a movie made to see if he could make a movie rather than making the movie he wanted to make.

NOW we all confirm that he CAN do it and DO IT bloody good, he now needs to get the right script and actors and he will have a definate hit.

Will deffo be waiting to watch the next movie!!

This - agree 100% As a showcase of animation skills it is brilliant and proves that the guy has some serious talent.

Glad to see the feedback has been taken in the spirit intended!

 

[GreeceyChops]

I've read what the 'Frontierwood movie critics' have had to say and in reply I'd just like to remind them that they should go stick their head in a big pile of sand and forget about breathing for the foreseeable future! Get a life please. Use your imaginations a little more instead of your fault-finding abilities. Oh, and don't lose your day jobs!

Hang on, the guy wanted honest feedback and that's what he got, and he clearly appreciates that, so please don't spoil this by having a go at people for being honest!

If anybody has a problem with my opinion(s), I'll see you in E: D.

I don't have a problem with anyone's opinion, but it sounds like you might!

 

[GreeceyChops]

Thanks for the feedback, guys I appreciate the honesty.

<snip>

That said, since publishing First contact, I have been emailed with a load of freelance animating work and even offered an unpaid job to work on an independent racing car game, so with all its cons, I have managed to make a whole lot of pros from it

Thank you for taking the feedback in the way it was intended - the fact that this project has already opened doors for you is testament to the talent and effort that has gone into it, which those in the know can clearly see. As a showcase of your animation skills it is therefore a complete success!

 

[Penthux]

Hang on, the guy wanted honest feedback and that's what he got, and he clearly appreciates that, so please don't spoil this by having a go at people for being honest!



I don't have a problem with anyone's opinion, but it sounds like you might!

"Hang on" (lol). Taking everything into consideration, what archamedes has created is nothing less than astounding and truly admirable. On his own PC without a professional design studio (or anything else) to back him up, on a totally amateur scale, First Contact rates very highly indeed.

I'm sure, if you showed this to Quentin Tarantino or Steven Spielberg, there would be some helpful hints and guidelines, and constructive criticism, which would highlight a few weaknesses here and there that could be improved upon. Given the fact that most of us are not in the position of being professional movie producers, directors, scriptwriters, (etc.) or film critics, and not forgetting we are accustomed to seeing amazing movies costing millions upon millions of dollars to make, we are still able to poke holes in anything and everything no matter how big the budget, how well founded, or now accurate/concise it may be.

Take First Contact for what it is and not what you would like it to be. If archamedes had $100M to throw around while making this movie and he produced what we see now then it surely would be worth the bad press. He didn't have access to anywhere near those kinds of funds unfortunately. All he had was his home PC, some friends who helped out, and some software, and from that the results are amazing.

So you want honesty? You now have my brand of honesty. I hope you can take constructive criticism as well as archamedes can.

PS - I think you need to re-assess your signature.

 

[GreeceyChops]

"Hang on" (lol).

Huh? What's so funny?

Taking everything into consideration, what archamedes has created is nothing less than astounding and truly admirable. On his own PC without a professional design studio (or anything else) to back him up, on a totally amateur scale, First Contact rates very highly indeed.

Nobody is criticizing what he's achieved in terms of animation & visuals - there is no doubt that this is a fantastic achievement for someone working on their own PC. The only criticism of the project has been levelled at the writing / storyline and acting - and archamedes himself has acknowledged that these aspects were indeed very much secondary to the animation and general movie-making.

I'm sure, if you showed this to Quentin Tarantino or Steven Spielberg, there would be some helpful hints and guidelines, and constructive criticism, which would highlight a few weaknesses here and there that could be improved upon. Given the fact that most of us are not in the position of being professional movie producers, directors, scriptwriters, (etc.) or film critics, and not forgetting we are accustomed to seeing amazing movies costing millions upon millions of dollars to make, we are still able to poke holes in anything and everything no matter how big the budget, how well founded, or now accurate/concise it may be.

Take First Contact for what it is and not what you would like it to be. If archamedes had $100M to throw around while making this movie and he produced what we see now then it surely would be worth the bad press. He didn't have access to anywhere near those kinds of funds unfortunately. All he had was his home PC, some friends who helped out, and some software, and from that the results are amazing.

But he asked *US* to provide feedback, and that's what he got. Sure, we're not professional movie critics, but we're all capable of telling someone what we like and what we don't like. If someone wants honest feedback, I'm not going to bloke smoke up his **** and tell him it's all brilliant just because he put a lot of effort into it - I'll tell him what parts worked for me and parts didn't, and hopefully he can use that to improve certain areas for next time. He didn't ask for a back slapping, he asked for feedback, and that's what he got. It's go nothing to do with whether or not we could have done better, or how much better it could have been with a massive budget - it's about what we thought was good and what we thought could have been better, and you don't need to be a professional to give that kind of feedback.

So you want honesty? You now have my brand of honesty. I hope you can take constructive criticism as well as archamedes can.

I can take it, but the difference is that whilst archamedes asked for feedback, I didn't ask for constructive criticism of my opinion! I'm not criticising your opinion, why do you feel the need to point out where my opinion is "wrong" in your opinion? Why the need to make this personal?

PS - I think you need to re-assess your signature.

Again, huh? What's the problem with my signature?

 

[Penthux]

Huh? What's so funny?

What's so funny is that whenever I question somebody on this forum, from a moral or social or intellectual viewpoint, I seem to receive negative reputation by those very people who I hold in question.

Thanks for the negative reputation, Gareth. If I gave everybody some negative reputation who didn't agree with my point of view I'd consider myself a bigot. We all have different opinions. It's the ability to express and explain those views that defines us as individuals. My "Inability to let others hold a different opinion!" is your own opinion. Yet, I now have negative feedback from you because you have an inability to allow people to question your judgement and social etiquette. Shall I then return the gesture in the same manner? I think not.

"Hang on" in the context you used it in is an expression of defensiveness because I dared to challenge you about what your choice of words. I found it amusing to see you being protective when there was reason for it. That's all. I'm done here.

<edit> your signature contains words I would not like young people asking me to explain what it means, or why you have that as a signature. hope that makes sense on a public forum such as this.

 

[GreeceyChops]

Do what you like, you were the one who turned this thread into a criticism of other people's opinions rather than being about the movie itself. Nice to see that the OP doesn't share that attitude.

I'm also done here.

 

[psykokow]

Its a quote from Game of Thrones, which is a corking series... with $millions thrown at it.

I tend to agree with Gareth on this, if someone wants feedback they need to hear whats not great and what is great. That is the point and as most critics have an opinion far from that of the actually viewers who's opinion is more valid... Joe Public or Steven Speilbergs butt chum with a degree in movie criticism..?

I watch a WIDE range of movies from the multi $m to low budget to amateur movies (Homedy & Corror) have you seen 'Attack of the Herbals' truly amateur with some amazing acting (some AWFUL acting) and an overall feeling of thrown together. 'Suing the Devil' a film with Malcolm McDowell and no real other names to note, he plays the devil, a Christian movie with a reasonable script.. Some good dialogues but lousy performance by the lead male and some bizarre scenes of 'special' effects. But it was quite funny.

So I consider my movie experience WIDE and varied enough to be able to offer a balanced opinion, from Anime (not just Manga), to Malaysian horror (Host is amazing) to Blockbuster and Low budget brit flicks. French arty farty to Spanish ghost stories..

I don't want to start a I watch more movies than the next guy so my opinion counts more... I merely wanted to state my credentials to support what I feel was a balanced criticism of what I considered an amazing movie. Better than Attack of the Herbals...

I also respect your opinion Penthux, but it was you that suggest all of us that gave negative feedback should stop breathing.. lol.. I took that in the way it was intended, and I did spend a lot of time considering wether an honest opinion given would be better than a WOW that was toats amazeballs mate..

Lets get 1 thing absolutely clear.... It was @£%£$^^ Amazing movie for a home project, as I say better than a few low budget movies, a few tweaks that are not a criticism of the creator at all. I feel if we said that was a great script and amazing acting but the visuals were crap.. well that would be a stark crit for his future works, but he made something great out of what he had... Give the guy a great script and good vocal acting... and Stand back Hollywood.

I am a fan of his works and I will be waiting to see the next creation with excitement like the rest of you. Also IF i can help him with anything.. I hope I will be able to do that.

Then you can crit my acting/singing/whatevering...

Cheers!

 

[Penthux]

I also respect your opinion Penthux, but it was you that suggest all of us that gave negative feedback should stop breathing.. lol.. I took that in the way it was intended, and I did spend a lot of time considering wether an honest opinion given would be better than a WOW that was toats amazeballs mate..

Then you can crit my acting/singing/whatevering...

Cheers!

Thanks, and I gladly appreciate that you can be as subjective as required when considering all the facts. I'm an outspoken Yorkshireman and I say what I like and I like what I say so I'm very thick skinned, stubborn and opinionated, to say the least. I do think some of the voice actors are monotoned and the dialogue is not as well delivered as it could have been but they are amateurs and I simply do not expect people of this calibre to be performing on any professional level, so I take that into account during the movie. It's like when you're speaking to someone out in the street or at work they do not respond to you in a way that wouldn't seem out of place in a Hollywood blockbuster. People are just talking normally and I think the way the characters speak to each other in First Contact is pretty much what you would expect from a real life perspective, not from a "I paid to see my hero movie actors do a great job" standpoint.

I enjoyed your opinions about the movie, psykokow, because they were considerate and put in a way that was obviously constructive and well balanced. The "go stick your head in the sand" remark was not intended for you. I'm happy to see, reading your responses, that you are a well educated and experienced individual who can appreciate hard work and effort and even though we disagree on some points about the movie we can still enjoy it without lowering ourselves to a fault finding mission of "this could and should have been much better" because at the end of the day, as you quite rightly say, it is a @£%£$^^ amazing movie for a home project.

 

[psykokow]

THE WORST thing about it is though...

I am so jealous that he managed it, and the whole process of creating the visuals from the ships, to the badges on the uniforms, to the textures on the walls... mind boggling. I wish I could... I fear my movies will be stick men and animated gifs..

 

[Penthux]

THE WORST thing about it is though...

I am so jealous that he managed it, and the whole process of creating the visuals from the ships, to the badges on the uniforms, to the textures on the walls... mind boggling. I wish I could... I fear my movies will be stick men and animated gifs..

Yep. The label on the Jack Daniels bottle on the bar caught my eye. Dave's attention to detail in First Contact is very impressive. It's things like that which make it a great spectacle.

I've watched it five times in total now and I'm still finding things I never noticed before each time I view it. Gripping stuff I must say!

 

[archamedes]

well thank you. As stated in my other thread about the frontier comic, I will now be continuing that shortly, Now I have my drawing tablet to hand I may even finish it in a new art style depending on peoples opinion on my test picture I posted there

 

[Selezen]

I was one of those who criticised, and I want to clarify that I thought the effort was brilliant - as said, the effects, animation and visual impact of the video was a-smeggin-mazing.

But perhaps I should provide some constructive comments to the negative aspects of my "review".

Scripting and dialogue - maybe submit the scripts to people for review. maybe community members here (LOADS of writers) or on other forums you are on.

Dialogue - read the dialogue out loud to yourself (or yourselves) a few times and make sure it sounds natural and flowing. If not - edit.

Performance - nothing wrong with using friends of volunteers, but it would still pay to ask people to maybe do more than one recording or even clarify to them that the performance needs to be up to a certain standard and that if it isn't their performance won't be used.

Probably very obvious stuff, and apologies if you already thought about it, but I just wanted to ensure that my comments weren't just being taken as overly harsh. I loved the film and given that you did it as a hobby thing, it's spectacular.

 

[archamedes]

Yeah I mean I agree with some of the performances, I really do, I wasn't happy mainly because in some cases I waited up to 2 months to get the audio files back and this was really starting to interfere with my production because without the audio files, I couldn't apply the lip synching, without the lip synching I didn't have a character to animate in a scene. So naturally when I finally got the files in I was really in a catch 22 situation, Do I just say "This is crap, record it again and wait another 2 months" or push on with at that time was only a very small story that only included the bridge crew and nobody else. All other characters were written into the script afterwards & I had so much to do the last thing I wanted was to be sitting around waiting for more audio files to carry on production. Lessons learned, I won't be using some of the same people for my next project if I manage to do one.

 

[DobrijZmej]

Yeah I mean I agree with some of the performances.....

Hey, you have not accidentally left the screenplay text?
I can use it to create subtitles.
And then, I put these subtitles in Russian, and see the whole entire movie =)