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Giant kudos on the score, which was, Score and music wrapped up in a word, great! This was one of my favorite parts of the film. The score was close enough to the scores composed by John Williams, Patrick Doyle, and Nicholas Hooper that it really tied the Harry Potter-theme together and gave it a sense of familiarity. Aside from character names, the score is the one thing that really made it feel like a Potter spoof, which I think helped even though the visuals weren’t as Potter-esque as they could have been. Here’s a note to all filmmakers about using music to score your movie. It is NEVER okay to use your favorite music from a band or from a film without the permission of the copyright holders. I know what you’re thinking, “Duh! Why is Eric saying this?” Well, you’d be surprised at how many people don’t know this little tidbit. The Harvey Putter filmmakers knew what it took and put forth the time and effort to do it right.
Audio quality, especially dialogue, is often the bain of low-budget filmmakers. It’s right up there with lighting. Mistakenly, these are the first two areas where people are tempted to cut corners. So, do you think that if we can just see the actors, that’s good lighting? Or if we can just hear the actors that’s good audio? No! You should always have a sound person on set who knows what he or she is doing to get the best audio quality possible. Here is another area where the Putter people got it right. Perfect, no, but there was nothing that jumped out at me. That’s my first test; can I get through a movie without anything taking me out of it? In the sound department nothing made me stop and go, “What the…?” Again, these filmmakers took the time to try and get it right which makes a huge difference in the viewing experience.
To the filmmakers of Harvey Putter: thank you, thank you, and thank you for setting aside a generous amount of money for food! So many people overlook this line item in their budget and don’t set aside nearly enough money for it. In fact, there are several of my own projects where I’ve been working with friends (who are great at what they do and are willing to help for free to hone their craft) and had no budget, but I always spent money on food and drinks. Of course, the size of the project and budget will affect the amount of money going toward craft services. Ok, off my soap box… wait… a well-fed cast and crew is a happy crew. Well, unless you’re a douche bag, in which case they’ll be unhappy anyway.
Okay, Harvey Putter’s budget went toward travel, food (insert happy face here), costumes, sets, marketing (smart, very smart), supplies, music/ audio, and a couple other things that relates to the media they shot on. will change from film to film depending on what kind of media you’re shooting on. I’m sure their budget spreadsheet is a bit more detailed, but this gives us an idea of what it takes to get a film done. The budget seems to be consistent and appropriately proportioned for what they were doing. I’m sure the Putter people found out, as we all have, that money doesn’t always go as far as you’d like it to, especially when making films.
No matter how big or small the project you’re working on, you should have some idea of what it’s going to take financially to get the job done. Make sure you always keep track of where your money is going, especially if you’re getting your money from an investor.
Here’s where these critiques get the most subjective. For me, as an overall experience, I just didn’t think it was all that funny (Yes, I’ve read all the books and seen all the movies, so I do get the references and jokes). The humor just seemed to fall flat for me and, as such, I wouldn’t watch it over and over again. But, I’m not everyone. Comedy is fickle and difficult to pull off without it feeling forced. That said, I would like to add that even though I didn’t laugh while I watched it, it was much easier to watch than some films I’ve had to watch. So, thank you for putting so much effort into it. I didn’t get the humor, but it’s a solid piece and I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that it will connect with.
Harvey Putter is a solid effort and certainly worth watching. I wanted to be sure to praise the filmmakers for the packaging and presentation of their film (and since there isn’t a section for it anywhere else, I’ll do it here), which is amazing! I received the Two Disc Special Edition shrink wrapped with a professionally printed jacket, and the discs inside had labels that didn’t look like they were printed on my ink jet. Allow me to use two words I don’t normally use: Fabulous job! It looked professional and since it’s the first thing that people see this is very important. Good work!
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Content |
8.0 |
Visual
Look |
7.0 |
Use
of Audio |
9.0 |
Use
of Budget |
10 |
Lasting
Appeal |
9.0 |
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8.6 |
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Eric Henninger is the founder of Bald Brother’s Studio Productions, an independent film company based out of Versailles, KY. Bald Brother’s is currently putting the finishing touches on its first film, Collide, which E. Russell wrote and co-directed with MFM Editor, Jeremy Hanke. He is currently in pre-production for his next project, a feature length film, tentatively titled, Angela: A Vampire Story. |
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