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Sorry to hear about the troubles, Mark. Hopefully you get some respite soon!
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“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell



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Thanks, it sounds intriguing. Is this a black and white or colour film? Something about the description makes me think black and white, but I'm probably wrong. Also was the music specially composed for the project, or did Sarah source it from elsewhere?
One of her films last year was in black and white but this one is in color. She could not use any music without getting permission from the sources which would have meant paying for it if it shows at a festival or she earns any money from the film. She's using the music from two sources. One is a USC music major who has done scoring jobs for other students' movies, and the other is our good friend Nick who's in two bands and composed a new song for the movie. One thing she slightly "stole" is her opening title colors -- she used the yellow and black style at the beginning of The Tenth Victim although she changed the font. The film's title is Quest For Life. It sould be changed later if it goes to festivals. I thought that was an OK title, if a bit underwhelming. I preferred Eat the Fruit.
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My IMDb page



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Sarah's radio show, as always, streams on kxsc.org from 5-7 PM Pacific time each Tuesday. That means it starts in about 10 minutes. If you click the link, once it gets to the page, click on "Popup Webplayer" in the top right corner above "What's Playin'". If Sarah isn't on yet, the robot will be playing music culled from most every type of genre. You can play it while checking out the site or surfing the web.



To tell you the truth, I've only seen four films released in 2011. That's out of 425 I've watched this year. I haven't even gone to the theatre once. The four, in order of decreasing quality to me, are The Lincoln Lawyer, Thor, Source Code and Hobo With a Shotgun. So, in reality, I should be asking you the question.
I watched all of those, except Hobo with a Shotgun. I thought Lincoln Lawyer was decent, Thor unworthy of my time and Source Code the best of the three. So far, Source Code cracked my top 10 of the year, even though I've got some minor issues with the plot.

The best film I've watched this year remains Bullhead, the Belgian bid for an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film. My runner-up so far is Super 8, a film that damn near moved me to tears. Other good ones are Melancholia, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Essential Killing, La Piel Que Habito, Le Gamin Au Vélo and The Trip.



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OK, first off, I did see Source Code three times (as well as most the other ones, whether they were worth your time or not). It's a very thoughtful film, but I got the "mystery" in the very first scene, and if you believe, as I do, that the mystery was more about the resolution of his personal life than the resolution of the disaster, then I got that about halfway through. I thought it was a good movie and should be seen by people, but it's just not a Top Ten film in my book. Neither was Moon. Both films seemed like "Twilight Zone" episodes deserving of an hour (including commercials) but I honestly don't believe that Bowie's son has crafted a full-fledged film yet. He's great at what he does but I find it somewhat limiting, and I would say the same thing about my own daughter (and have) too. Now, I will admit that Duncan does come up with a few flourishes here and there which almost make it seem like he's made a fully-complete film, but I'm not backing down. Thor could be considered stupid, I guess, but it's pretty damned funny on Earth and Branagh gets to turn the other stuff into something resembling pseudo-Shakespearean. Even so, it's the Earth stuff which works for me in Thor.

Maybe I will add the 2011 movies I watch into this thread. I was actually going to go into detail about Sarah's screenings last night, but it's way too late. I could add my viewing of SCRE4M, but I'm not really into it right now. I'll go into that one after I watch a few more from 2011.



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I watched Source Code with three different people, and since it's only 90 minutes, it's really very easy to watch it that many times, but yes, of course, I watch movies 24/7, at least in general.



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Well, what do you want? Is he supposed to psychically understand that you're watching and you're perfect for him? That's taking movies to an interactive extreme, I'd say. Sorry, but of all the persons laid out in front of him in the movie, I'd go for her too. I mean, the "officer" is hot too but there's no way that's gonna happen.



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Hi, Guys!

I need help from you on two fronts here. First, I'm posting the link to Sarah's last film. I saw it on the big screen at USC on Saturday, but this is the first time any of her films has been posted online. She couldn't post last semester's films for some silly reason. I just watched some videos at another site before I watched this, and I could see and hear them fine playing at normal speed. Now, either my computer or my connection is so slow that I can't tell if the audio is all synced up with the picture here. I could hear all the audio, and it's the finished product but my visuals were slow, frozen and skipping around.

So basically I want everybody to watch the video. It's six minutes, including the credits. Is it synced up properly? Also, please make comments about the film. I have many more than I already said earlier in the thread, but I'm not adding any more until I hear what others say.

There is supposed to be a password to watch the video, which is "quest", but it started up when I clicked on it without a password. Maybe you can also tell me if you need the password. Thanks in advance for all your time and consideration here.




I did indeed need a password, and I should note that it's case-sensitive: "Quest" doesn't work, but "quest" does.

The audio is a bit off for me as well, though only a bit.

Regarding the film itself: should I comment here or on the video itself?



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I want your comments here because I want to respond to them here. However, I would appreciate any comments being put at the other site too. It will make Sarah see that people are watching it, and maybe get her to post her thoughts there and perhaps here again. Thanks.



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This is that time of the week: Sarah's radio show is at 5-7 PM Pacific time. That's in about 30 minutes. Today's show is split into two halves. Intern Mike is doing the first hour on his own to try to pass his "test" and prove he's ready to be on his own show. Sarah will come on the second hour, and her theme is Music from "Gilmore Girls", and that means lots of Grant-Lee Phillips songs. That's Super Cool!

Here's kxsc.org. When you click the link and get to the site. click in the top right corner on "Popup Webplayer". That should take you to Sarah's "French Connection" show or the robot will automatically be playing random music until she and Mike arrive.



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I agree with you that it's probably "confusing", at least if you think all of it is real. There were problems which had to be addressed based on limitations in cast members, extras and band members not showing up. The "Asian man" was the main guy who wanted the role of "the billionaire" and since only two out of 80 guys interested showed up, he certainly earned it. You think that Asians shouldn't be allowed to act such parts? His part was cut way down though. What was 'hipsterish" about it?

I appreciate your comments, but please try to get more specific.



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Semper Fooey
I couldn't watch it with my connection,

Everybody looked like a hippy.
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Semper Fooey
Where did they find so many people that look like they think it is 1969?



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I couldn't watch it with my connection,

Everybody looked like a hippy.
You may have the same crumbum-kinda connection I have. They were supposed to be from "any era" but, yes, some of them seemed like hippies.

Thanks for trying and commenting.



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No, but there's something about it that just seems like a cliche. Asian men are often portrayed, comically, as these crazy, yelling, psychotic people, and I just thought of that when I saw him.
Do you think that character is supposed to be comical?

The music, the way the people dressed, and that moment where you see the film through a camera lens. Made me think about all those hipsterish people I know of who are into photography and use Holgas and special lenses and such. Call me unwashed, but it all seems so pretentious to me.
Your comments seem to have as much to do with the people you know (and their cameras) as the film. Do they really use 60-year-old cameras regularly? I realize this is changing the subject, but since we've discussed Source Code elsewhere (and that's a "real" professional movie), do you think the music in that film is hipsterish?

Thanks again, and keep it coming.

Mind you, I'm not really too bothered by anything hipsterish, but it's just... is there supposed to be some kind of message/story, perhaps pertaining to The Bible or something, in here? Something hidden, something you need to figure out? If there was, I didn't really get it, but that might be because I'm not a student of religion.
The film has nothing to do with religion. It might have more to do with something similar to what DSM is going through, although it has nothing specifically to do with that either.



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Well. since films are personal messges, I have no desire to explain "what it means", if anything beyond cinematic communication. If everybody else comes in here and says it's incoherent, maybe I'll "try" to explain it. Then again, it's not my film, so what right do I have to "explain" it. Needless to say, you are correct though. It has a strong personal message for Sarah and others who came up to us and talked about it after the screening. I really probed their minds, but I'll admit, most of them couldn't exactly put in words why they liked it. Maybe I'll back off a little and say that it may have to do with people unable to express themselves creatively. You know, something similar to Writer's Block, Director's Block or Musician's Block. If that's true, then I guess you DID get more of it than either of us think.



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Look, I agree with you, and I'm happy that you've spent so much time on this. I would certainly hope that people would watch this short more than once, just as I would hope that people watch The Usual Suspect's short films over and over. There are lots of things hidden in films, and you might catch them more easily in a very short film than in a feature, but it will help anyone to appreciate all that cinema has to offer, whether it's crap or cream.

People, if you want to bash, this is your thread. Just remember, this is a film which tries to be more than just a cookie-cutter flick. I'll admit that this is an anti-USC film because they want commercial hits.



I've watched it. For a short film, I think this is pretty good. I like the editing (when he falls into the sofa, but wakes up in bed), the camera shots (the shot when we see the guy filmed from behind those other 2 guys' heads, thought it was a nice touch) and I think the lighting and use of more 'artsy' features (the old camera, the white light, the knight) was fine.

Now, I have to say that I like that it makes you think. It's not a story that moves from A-to-B. Because you hinted at dealing with writer's block, I personally think it has to do with the guy not being satisfied with his creative output. Therefore, he has no interest for the record contract that his group members are psyched about. So in his dreams or dreamy lapses when he's awake, he goes looking for a mystical object (the tree of life) in order to get his artistic flows pumping again.

What I didn't get however was the Asian. I don't understand his role in the film. As a result, I thought he was unnecessary and made matters perhaps more complicated than they should've been.

So in short:

* technically sound
* nice artsy touches
* depth in the story BUT a little too complicated for being such a short film



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The Asian guy was supposed to have a much larger role. First off, he was supposed to be a billionaire and looking for the "Tree of Life" also so that he could live forever. The scenes which were deleted were: (1) Outside the concert venue, his "minions", including the "black guy", were supposed to be looking for the "tree of life" for him and (2) an extended scene in the forest where the minions tracked down the singer and shot him to see if he somehow got the "tree" to work for him because he was more "into it" than the other guy who got shot and "failed". I realize that this is trivia the way the final film ended up. Sarah's logic was that the Billionaire was important enough to keep in the finished film, especially since it was so difficult to go out to the mountains and shoot in the forest, but he was then going to end up being more of an opposite of the lead character than an actual nemesis. I think a line of dialogue could have "clarified" his reason for him being in the current film as a "real" character, but the entire crew was so far out in the middle of nowhere that nobody's cell phone worked at all, whether I was calling from 75 miles away or the people a few yards away from each other were trying to communicate. All the terrific editing transpositions were written by Sarah into her original script.

Sarah may disagree but I believe the final decision was made to have this Billionaire character stay in the film as an added reason for the singer's rising up from the depths of creaitve despair. He became more of a fantasy character who pushed him to find and eat from the tree of life to overcome his own lack of commitment to his choices in life.

Sarah, where are you?