"OFF THE GRID” SHOWS REAL PROMISE!

OFF THE GRID: SEEKING THE TRUTH [Short film]

Directed/Written/Edited by Malcolm Carter
Music by Envato Elements

Produced by MCP Network

Starring Jalal Jamal, Eric Duron, Ahad Thalho, Huberto Villarreal, Malcolm Carter, Brad King, Alexis West, Aaron Phillips, Justin Saxton, and Eric Hunter.

SUMMARY - The opening sequence tells a story of time travel; where a traveler arrives safely into 2018 and then is surprised to meet someone from his time already there. The scene changes to another location where people with masks are trapped in a forest-maze where they cannot escape. One can assume that the people trapped in this 'maze' must align themselves with other teams to survive. 

The first segment is filmed in the dark and the second segment shot during the day; a direct contrast, but something that works with this first installment that could be a nice web series to see put out more information. The wardrobe and costumes are perfect for the story, adding more mystery to the story.

Several posters and ads for this short film have surfaced on the internet and on Facebook that are unique and impressive in a futuristic type of way. It definitely looks like the production team thought out the advertisement sense of this project before delivering it to fans  on Youtube.

PRODUCTION BREAKDOWN

← Lighting

← Camera Work

← Screenplay

← Sound

↑  Use of Visuals

← Time Lapse

← Editing

↑  Rule of Thirds
← Locations

↑  Music

← Ending/Follow through
 
LEGEND   ↑ Excellent   ← Needs Work    ↓ Poor

POST MORTEM - I was truly impressed with the first minute and fourteen seconds of this short film; there was a ominous dark tone which the two actors brilliantly performed to give the start a 'secret feel' of what to expect with the rest of the film. I had a problem that the rest of the film had little color corrections and that the sounds in the background weren't consistently flowing in each take even though there was an apparent attempt to fix it. 

Some of the dialog between the actors sounded 'robotic' and the acting was a little cold in the second segment of the film; there are some serious talented actors cast in this short, perhaps the actors were still feeling out their roles and waiting the proper character development that could happen in due time. Proper training with screenplay can correct this problem and eliminated the 'robotic' feel to the delivery of some of the dialog. Practice makes perfect and this production could easily set a new standard in the Houston Film Scene.

This could be a 'long haul' web series that's in development and there are some interesting variables that could launch this idea into the next plateau of success. The visual effects, opening and closing credits were crisp and totally professional; the music was a nice touch and didn't drown out anything that was happening in the forefront of each scene.

Bravo...and I hope to see more!

⭐️⭐️⭐️[3 of 5 Stars]

"BLADE REMIX" JUST NEEDS TO STOP THE HYPE

BLADE REMIX Part 2 [Short film Series]

Directed, Written & Edited by Marcus Mahud

Produced by A Tone Productions

Starring Marcus Mahud, Nanae Volle, Brandee Barbie

SUMMARY - Not really sure what to write up about this film. The story takes place at a building where an apparent guard is taken out, another dude is taken out; an alarm begins to sound off and a chick is running through a hallway searching for drugs?; another dude shows up; then another set of of dudes show up; I guess the leading dude is Blade meets up with another dude and they duke it out on a dark balcony; then the chick on drugs sees another chick standing in a room starring back at her, then a van full of dudes show up armed to the teeth and, I guess, walk into the building where the others are. I'd really like to add more to this paragraph to balance out this new blog input, but there's nothing that comes to mind to make me describe just how bad this episode of Blade Remix was...so, there!

An actual grab from this episode of
Blade Remix.

No character is ever identified, there's really no talking except in the opening scene where, David Kurfner is shown standing guard by himself and checking the perimeter. There's no reason why anyone is alarmed or anyone is stepping into the building. The location for this episode was impressive; would have been more-so if it was identified what the place was; i.e. a hospital, a bank, a storage facility. Even for an investor it could have gave him a few kudos for helping the local Indie film scene produce a local film/thingie. Maybe if Mahud let people see his intentions through a script, people might figure out what the approach to the series was...?...Either way, the episode looked like a complete jumble of scenes that were put together by a five year old.

PRODUCTION BREAKDOWN

↓ Lighting

↓ Camera Work

↓ Sound

← Use of Visuals

↓ Time Lapse

↓ Editing

↓ Rule of Thirds
↑ Locations

↓ Music
↓ Ending/Follow through

LEGEND:  ↑ Excellent   ← Needs Work    ↓ Poor

Another grab...from slow-mo 4K film?

POST MORTEM - I am honestly not trying to nip-pic on this series, but there is no storyline and there is no plot. Mahud and Volle won "best director", "best actress" awards for this film series at the U.S. China International Film Festival in December of 2018 in Houston, Texas - that coincidentally no longer exists and never existed before then. The film/episode that was submitted to the festival has never been seen. Plus, what hurts the project the most is that the best director and best actress claimed that there was a $10 Million price tag running on this production should it get picked up. The write up for this mess is claimed to be shot in 4K...I'd say more like 4MB. 

8 seconds of Volle's "award winning"
performance at 4:48 of this episode?

The lighting is atrocious, the sound needs a TON of work, the editing crummy, and the slow motion scenes not actually needed at all. There is no screenplay identified in this episode, as there was no interacting between actors; possibly completely produced as an action episode without any dialog between the characters of the episode - nothing I've ever herd of, but in Houston you get what you get. On a serious note. if there was a lot work prepared for the intense fight choreography, which it's obvious that there was, it was wasted on bad lighting and bad camera angles; which is why its a better thing for an Indie director to not act in his own movie, unless he's had real experience and training making films. This is the perfect example of how NOT to produce your first set of films. 

I hope Mahud can grow from this. 

Proof of the 4K claim

A miserable production. ⭐️[1 of 5 Stars]