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Eurofurence 28 — "Cyberpunk"
Sep 18 – 21, 2024
CCH — Congress Center Hamburg

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Author Topic: Bitter Lake  (Read 24411 times)

Cheetah

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Re: Bitter Lake
« Reply #15 on: 26.08.2011, 19:01:02 »

Don't get me wrong vector, you are entitled to your own opinion, but about some of the technical aspects, I'd suggest doing some fact checking - and dismissing creative choices with lines like "it's from the old 2d world of cinema" ... come on. That's just being destructive. And claims like "there are no establishing shots" are just plain wrong. Get your facts right!
« Last Edit: 26.08.2011, 19:03:17 by Cheetah »
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Cheetah

CleanerWolf

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Re: Bitter Lake
« Reply #16 on: 27.08.2011, 01:18:44 »

*** Warning *** Contains heavy Spoilers ***

The beginning of the movie is absolutely exciting - smooth camera moves, everything just fits together and creates a thrilling atmosphere.
Unfortunately the following dialogue scene flattens out the tension. The audience already knows, who the assassin is and during the whole scene everybody stands on fixed positons and is filmed with fixed camera (except the wide angle). 

One of the most beautiful shots is that one on the lake with the fog and the blue light  - absolutely breathtaking (it's an establishing shot, hello Vector). But then again fixed camera in the following dialogue scene.

The scene in the cabin, when Prince Arden finds the dead Belora is the weakest of the whole movie in my opinion, because the acting didn't reflect the severeness of the situation and the lighting is very dull. Some bright light rays from outside coming through the slots in the walls would have helped alot.

As mentioned already, the sword fighting scene is too slow. Speeding it up by a factor of 2 in the post and/or faster editing with more different viewing angles would be a big improvement. What I really liked in that scene was the cloth and the chains hanging down from the ceiling, that created a great atmosphere.

The music fits perfectly, it supports the action without being too exaggerated. Amazing job.
The costumes are excellent and like Cheetah mentioned, the actors did a very good job bringing them to life.
Camera work, lighting and color grading are on a professional level, I really liked the shallow focus. Only in some cases I would have liked a more "active" camera, because sometimes the camera didn't even pan to follow the action, instead it was fixed like a rock.

Now to the story - what is the point in introducing characters with a pretty complex background story only to watch them being killed one after another within 40 minutes? Is this some sort of special dutch black humor? It's not that I would need happy ends in every movie, but in this case it doesn't make sense to me. First a whole universe is being created and then it's being destroyed within minutes.
The other aspect is the lack of emotional depth. I don't want a soap opera, but Bitter Lake just couldn't catch me, there was no character I could identify myself with and everytime I started to like a specific character he got killed anyways, so at the end I was sitting there, shrugging my shoulders like "Okay... well... the evil brotherhood wins, game over."

So, to sum it up, Bitter Lake is an excellent promo video for Clockwork Creatures Studios with mostly amazing camera, lighting and music, but couldn't convince me on the story side.     
 
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Quincy the Raccoon

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Re: Bitter Lake
« Reply #17 on: 28.08.2011, 19:52:57 »

I >>TOTALLY<< missed the DVD stand! I would buy the DVD but obviously I was too late, I really missed every opportunity to snatch a copy of it. (Yeah, sometimes I'm really so outta luck...) But at least I could witness the premiere of it.

Music: was awesome, really. Not an Oscarworthy, but yeah, awesome!
Story: Sorry, but it was a bit confusing about it all (for me) and I had my share of 'huh?'-moments.
Movie overall: very nicely done, great spooky scenery by the lake!
Mistakes in the film: haven't found any, although I COULD had missed a few...  :P

The ending was kinda open for me. So, everyone's kiled in the end... so who's gonna rule the country now? (maybe revelation of that in Bitter Lake II?)
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Kamuniak

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Re: Bitter Lake
« Reply #18 on: 29.08.2011, 00:22:07 »

I liked this a lot, something totally new :) A bit violent though, everybody dies.

BigBlueFox

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Re: Bitter Lake
« Reply #19 on: 29.08.2011, 02:43:36 »

I liked this a lot, something totally new :) A bit violent though, everybody dies.


They wrote it after watching too much House M.D., but then they got the phrase wrong.

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Kuma

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Re: Bitter Lake
« Reply #20 on: 29.08.2011, 09:49:20 »

I >>TOTALLY<< missed the DVD stand! I would buy the DVD but obviously I was too late, I really missed every opportunity to snatch a copy of it. (Yeah, sometimes I'm really so outta luck...) But at least I could witness the premiere of it.

The 'DVD stand' was under the pile of people right outside the exit of the main stage. It was pretty hard to miss IMHO. ;)

They will be available soon through an online shop if I've understood EZ correctly, so just be patient :).

Tsanawo

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Re: Bitter Lake
« Reply #21 on: 29.08.2011, 10:03:26 »

They should come available through http://www.BlackPaw.de if I'm not mistaking, this was also the table which sold them the day after the premier in the Dealers Den.
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Fauho

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Re: Bitter Lake
« Reply #22 on: 29.08.2011, 10:25:26 »

Just a futile thing I noticed but loved a lot; the way the fox tilted his head in some dialogues, this was a subtile yet so very expressional gesture, totally awesome, and foxy too ;)
Apart from that; considering the very limited means they had to make this film the crew did an awesome job.
« Last Edit: 29.08.2011, 10:29:16 by Fauho »
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tiggieandsketchkat

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Re: Bitter Lake
« Reply #23 on: 29.08.2011, 11:38:57 »

IT WAS BRILLIANT :) Can't fault it.
« Last Edit: 29.08.2011, 12:26:27 by Cheetah »
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Cookie

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Re: Bitter Lake
« Reply #24 on: 30.08.2011, 20:28:07 »

I liked this a lot, something totally new :) A bit violent though, everybody dies.


Like in most Korean movies i saw...:)
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GreekYoshi

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Re: Bitter Lake
« Reply #25 on: 04.09.2011, 15:25:19 »

And more sex!


And more tissues! XD
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BluePaw

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Re: Bitter Lake
« Reply #26 on: 04.09.2011, 22:57:27 »

i'm gonna try to keep it constructive and realistic^^
and for starters i think 45min is way short, and it could have been a lot longer using longer scenes with a lot less fixed cameras and more panning.
and allso with more scenery and time-passing scenes in between. after all, that's what most movies use to fill things up with.

I get the choice of a DSLR, it's cheaper and easier to decide what lens to use, and modern DSLR cameras really are quite good ar shooting film, actual film productions DO use them, and lots of commercials allso seem to prefer them.
but now when you know you really got peoples attention and probably have sold, and most likely is going to sell more (after all, most furries in the fandom will want an original of the first furry movie ever). there might be an interest of getting better stuff^^

very well that the eyes were not moving or blinking, the filming and videoediting didn't make that much of a problem, and some psychotics or stressed out people do not blink all that much (such as assasins and good soldiers). but blinking eyes could make more direct facial closeups, and not needing to use the shadows to make things come alive.

and indeed the sword scenes. if doing more of them, you might want to attend some real sword and fencing lessons to make the actors more smooth and able to do it a lot faster. or make a more realistic choreography with more movements and allso use that to lengthen those scenes and by that the whole movie. there are lots of tools for lengthening a movie.

allso, for killing all the characters off in that pace, not very nice.
a pilot movie as this was. the next one must not even be a "one movie".
most movies today come out with "2" or even "3" after their names, and with your skills, i do not think that sequals would get worse then the first, such as often is the case, but only better and better as you get more practice at it.
so even if this first movie you could have opened up for a possible second movie, and still keep the first as an actuall ending with "it might happen something more after" feeling at the end of it, "what happened with the rest of their lives" is allso good.
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Fineas

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Re: Bitter Lake
« Reply #27 on: 05.09.2011, 16:55:43 »

I liked this a lot, something totally new :) A bit violent though, everybody dies.


They wrote it after watching too much House M.D., but then they got the phrase wrong.


It's never lupus
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