Unofficial Tex Murphy

Hi guys,

Here's a short film I made for my final year of highschool, influenced by Tex Murphy, as well as old Humphrey Bogart noirs and such.

I used the music from UAKM (thanks to Cubase for looking into that for me), and I thought you might be interested in checking it out.

Here: The Mayor's Daughter

That was really good. One can usually expect things like that to be what I like to call complete crap, but this was definitely some good work.

One small detail which I really loved is how you made smoking look really cool, just like Tex always did. Hah.

Yeah have you noticed this? Some people can smoke and make it look cool, others don't get that... aura, ambiance, feel, whatever it is at all when they light up, they just look like nicotine addicts coughing away.

Humphrey Bogart could smoke. Chris Jones could smoke. Spider Jerusalem could smoke.

Some people just don't get it that smoking CAN look cool. Despite all the health warnings, cancers, what have you.

-Fred

I appreciated the clever use of timing in the piece. A very nice touch.

The voice over work was top notch for filling in back story, exposition, and mood. I think I got the most enjoyment from the narration. Very Noir-ish !!!

So far it's only drawback, is the time of day. It's hard to picture a mystery going on in broad daylight. It's just something about night that makes a perfect mood for detective stories. And your cars are all set up backward. (OK just kidding, I know)

Damn, I'm going to have to agree about the whole pulling out and lighting up thing. In a PI adventure, it's like peas and carrots.

Seamless incorporation of music in with the story. Not jarring, but smooth and appropriate.

“Carried the coffin a fortnight later.” That’s a great line. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised. You’ve got a knack for it, keep going. Besides, there's a perfect mentor for you right here. Our own humble Cubbie.



Oh, and welcome to the board!

Well, the movie Chinatown is an interesting noir movie because almost everything takes place in the blinding Southern California sunlight. It serves as an ironic contrast of dark deeds being done in broad daylight.

Josh, very well done!

As said before; the music was used very well thoughout the film. My favourite part was when the Chandler Avenue music kicked in during the shootout.

Overall I think it was a very solid effort, and it is definitely a step closer to securing you place in filmmaking, so keep up the good work becuase I think you have so much to offer in future projects.

It maintained the noir style very well, and the cinematography was very good. Usually early student projects tend to contain some very jarring camera work and/or editing flaws, but this one was pretty solid (aside from a few minor things in the edit that quite frankly many folks won't pick up on anyway).

He got the girl in the end! But where's the big romantic kiss? It's fair enough they are probably just classmates of friends but I'm sure they wouldn't have minded a nice big Hollywood kiss! After all, it's film!

Anyway, very well done... and be sure to keep us posted in regards to itss progress, and more projects from you as well.

-Cub. =o)

Thanks alot guys, I worked really hard on it throughout the year and your positive comments really mean alot.

Jen wrote: So far it's only drawback, is the time of day. It's hard to picture a mystery going on in broad daylight. It's just something about night that makes a perfect mood for detective stories.

I'd have to agree, but unfortunately restrictions on using locations at certain times of day and not-exactly-top-of-the-range equipment prevented shooting at night.

As for the kiss Cubase, it was suggested but the actors weren't up for it I thought it was a nice hug though, right?

So was the main actor American? If not, the accent was spot on!

Very nice job! I definitely enjoyed that. Makes me wish I hadn't given up acting and movie making quite so quickly. Eh, too many other things to do I guess.

thank u for charing that verry nicely done indeed,

Jerry Dan wrote:So was the main actor American? If not, the accent was spot on!

Haha, no. He couldn't do an American accent, I did the voice-overs myself. Which is why they don't match his voice when you do hear him speak.

I didn't even notice that they didn't match.