Thursday, May 11, 2006
The Act Released!
Yes, I know this is 2.5 months late. But it's finally out.
The script didn't win anything. In fact, it didn't even place in the top 3 in terms of votes, which surprised me. The feedback was mostly positive, but there was a large spectrum of reactions. The main issue seemed to be with the religious elements - some people felt it was too preachy, which I did my best not to do. Other people didn't find it preachy at all, and these were usually the people that ended up really liking it.
Some examples of comments:
"While reading the script, I actually found myself wanting to know what the hell was going on. I was eagerly reading on to find out what was the secret that he was hiding. But then after we find out what that secret was it starts to slow down a bit.... Overall nice job."
"I loved it. I couldn't put it down. A couple of lines briefly took me out of the story, but it's all good."
"Where do you religious freaks come from? I don't understand the process. But there you are, writing preachy redemption crap that is... it makes me uncomfortable reading it, and not because I'm going to go to hell. It makes me uncomfortable because I'm assuming this is a tribute to God, a testament to your faith.... and I gotta say, God must be in as much pain as I am when he reads this script."
"It was pretty by-the-book, not horrible or anything, but I too was chagrined by the 'and then God blessed everyone' stuff."
"WOOOOO!!! I say that as an avowed atheist. Why would non-god-fearing folk not enjoy this? I didn't find it preachy or anything. (Aside from his wife being being named Faith...) In fact, I thought it was one of the better scripts of the contest. Real CONFLICT. YES. Too many stories about boys wanting girls or people doing bad things to each other without a worthy purpose. Well this hits the nail on the head. The situation is dire, it is immediate, and unfortuantely, totally believable. This is a nice story of redemption for someone who really needs it to go on living. I would have appreciated an additional scene showing how (or IF) the man's churching career gets back on track, but it still works alright ending where it does. Nice work all around. Very entertaining."
So yay. Overall I'm glad to see it was reasonably well-received.
Unfortunately, the final film is getting a merely mediocre response thus far. I'm not surprised - there are a lot of scenes that were cut out (the entire spiritual crisis and "message" about what "the act" actually is has completely disappeared, for whatever reason), and the editing definitely needs work. I think the directing was fairly solid, considering how pressed for time Deej was. Some things are strong, others aren't. Personally, I prefer the script. However, James Monegan (the actor who plays David) will hopefully be compiling his own edit of the film over the summer, so I'm looking forward to seeing his take on the script and the footage.
You can find the link to the film here. You can read more comments on the script (as well as a rather long post by me going into more details about the writing process) here.
Enjoy!
Oh, and Pride and Prejudice is a pretty good movie.
The script didn't win anything. In fact, it didn't even place in the top 3 in terms of votes, which surprised me. The feedback was mostly positive, but there was a large spectrum of reactions. The main issue seemed to be with the religious elements - some people felt it was too preachy, which I did my best not to do. Other people didn't find it preachy at all, and these were usually the people that ended up really liking it.
Some examples of comments:
"While reading the script, I actually found myself wanting to know what the hell was going on. I was eagerly reading on to find out what was the secret that he was hiding. But then after we find out what that secret was it starts to slow down a bit.... Overall nice job."
"I loved it. I couldn't put it down. A couple of lines briefly took me out of the story, but it's all good."
"Where do you religious freaks come from? I don't understand the process. But there you are, writing preachy redemption crap that is... it makes me uncomfortable reading it, and not because I'm going to go to hell. It makes me uncomfortable because I'm assuming this is a tribute to God, a testament to your faith.... and I gotta say, God must be in as much pain as I am when he reads this script."
"It was pretty by-the-book, not horrible or anything, but I too was chagrined by the 'and then God blessed everyone' stuff."
"WOOOOO!!! I say that as an avowed atheist. Why would non-god-fearing folk not enjoy this? I didn't find it preachy or anything. (Aside from his wife being being named Faith...) In fact, I thought it was one of the better scripts of the contest. Real CONFLICT. YES. Too many stories about boys wanting girls or people doing bad things to each other without a worthy purpose. Well this hits the nail on the head. The situation is dire, it is immediate, and unfortuantely, totally believable. This is a nice story of redemption for someone who really needs it to go on living. I would have appreciated an additional scene showing how (or IF) the man's churching career gets back on track, but it still works alright ending where it does. Nice work all around. Very entertaining."
So yay. Overall I'm glad to see it was reasonably well-received.
Unfortunately, the final film is getting a merely mediocre response thus far. I'm not surprised - there are a lot of scenes that were cut out (the entire spiritual crisis and "message" about what "the act" actually is has completely disappeared, for whatever reason), and the editing definitely needs work. I think the directing was fairly solid, considering how pressed for time Deej was. Some things are strong, others aren't. Personally, I prefer the script. However, James Monegan (the actor who plays David) will hopefully be compiling his own edit of the film over the summer, so I'm looking forward to seeing his take on the script and the footage.
You can find the link to the film here. You can read more comments on the script (as well as a rather long post by me going into more details about the writing process) here.
Enjoy!
Oh, and Pride and Prejudice is a pretty good movie.
# posted by Andrew Johnson : 5/11/2006 07:39:00 AM 
