'Colton's Big Night' by Molly Ingstad

First Edit

This film was shot on 7D and I had a great crew behind me. We all graduated from The Los Angeles Film School in August and became like family through out our 18 months there. Sara Bravo DP'd it, and Deguie Sanabria was production designer, both of whom played a huge part in my thesis film "Jackalope."

Read 'Colton's Big Night' HERE

First cut: Producers notes for the filmmakers

  • Trim shots that are not needed – why do we need him to check out his muscles twice at the start. Keep it tight, tight, tight… (do we really need him to put on both shoes?)
  • Lack of foley kills atmosphere – try adding some
  • Strange atmos outside the door? Can you replace?
  • You have nice end credits music, I think the film would benefit from a little of that used in key places, but not too much or too loud.

First Cut Comments... have YOUR say!

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Comments: 7
  • #1

    Adolf El Assal (Sunday, 04 November 2012 15:37)

    the beginning is way too long. the sound design is completely missing, work on that plus add some music.

  • #2

    Mark P (Monday, 05 November 2012 10:23)

    Hi Guys,

    This is cute. I like the boyfriend at the door with his cheesy smile! It does feel quite slow at the start. I think you could try it with some very rapid cuts: the foam, the faucet, tie, shirt, shoes. Bam bam bam. Get them over and done in 10 seconds or so and then boom straight to the door. Maybe you don't even need to him setting it up? You could save that as a reveal when she says 'holy crap'.

    On the sound, I quite like the fact that it isn't scored. There's a lot of stock tracks in the comp, but I do think you need to have a think about maybe playing with the mix a little bit to take down some of the background rumble.

    I said this in a comment on another film, but you might want to try making a 60 or 90 second version, just as an exercise in seeing how much you can cut whilst keeping the heart of the story.

    Anyway, well done and best of luck.

  • #3

    Catherine (Monday, 05 November 2012 13:34)

    Great acting! Colton has a great face. But as with other entries - it needs to be shorter. The beginning is too long so takes a while to get in to. And as above the atmos needs work - foley will help.

  • #4

    Mark (Monday, 05 November 2012 18:34)

    Defo a slow start, and feels cold - maybe foley and some music? Perhaps the editing down to a shorter length will help, some nice moments though!

  • #5

    Stephen Cooper (Tuesday, 06 November 2012 00:26)

    Sorry to say so, but I found it very boring. Think alot of work needs to be done on it. The beginning is simply to long and takes you out of the story before it has begun. The whole film lacks energy which the script didn't.

    I would suggest cutting the opening in a more dymatic way and adding a soundtrack and some foley work. The fathers voice is barly audible so maybe get rid of it.

    I personally would try and cut it down to under 2 minutes. You need to bring the whole thing to life. Sorry to be so down on it, i'm not usually. Just feel you could do alot more with it.

  • #6

    Nathan Gower (Tuesday, 06 November 2012 16:16)

    Hi Molly and crew. First, a big thanks for tackling the script. I think you have a really solid cast, and at least one of my friends said that your Jackson was too beautiful to be across the country from her. : )

    I do feel like this could be trimmed quite a bit, and the absence of foley and music are noticeable (I know through private correspondence with you that you had some difficulty with your sound team). I also wondered if the ending might be reorganized, as Colton doesn't seem victorious without the kiss.

    Anyway, I really appreciate your work. Looking forward to seeing a re-edit!

  • #7

    Shaun Bond (Wednesday, 07 November 2012 16:48)

    Agree with others that it would greatly benefit from quicker cuts as it takes a long time to get into the bulk of the story so far. And as mentioned in the Producer's notes, once the front door is opened a strange sound hums throughout the rest of the piece. Judging from the comment above, I guess you know about that problem already, but there needs to be a way to cover it up because I think this is quite strong once it gets going.