TV: On the Lot

[Killroy]

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/2691/20070422225429zr0.png

ON THE LOT, executive-produced by Mark Burnett (http://www.thelot.com/about/mark-burnett/) and Steven Spielberg (http://www.thelot.com/about/steven-spielberg/), will give aspiring filmmakers from around the world the chance to earn a $1-million development deal at DreamWorks. This unscripted series will feature a cast of undiscovered filmmakers who will compete to win the support of the show's viewers, as their fate will be decided by a weekly audience vote. The competition will air over two nights weekly, with a one-hour "Film Premiere" episode, followed the next night by a half-hour "Box Office" results show.

I am sure everyone has heard of this show by now, but figured I might as well get an official thread going as I will be watching this one. They are following the exact same format used on American Idol.

Here is the official site:
http://www.thelot.com/

[Killroy]

Anyone gonna catch this tomorrow? This is one of the shows I am most looking forward to.

[brokenandtwisted]

Anyone gonna catch this tomorrow? This is one of the shows I am most looking forward to.

I am...as long as the short films aren't completely 'amateur-looking'.

[Killroy]

I am...as long as the short films aren't completely 'amateur-looking'.

I am sure they wont be. A lot of the finalists were already filmmakers. I would also assume they will ensure the shorts are not dreadful...seeing as this is from the AI people and Spielberg, they are pretty good at knowing what to put on TV to get people to watch.

Hell, even this season of AI has been a good season for them, right?

[Killroy]

Not too bad so far. Pretty familiar format so far, but I doubt the three judges will be the same throughout the season.

[Killroy]

Well, this is definitely to movies what AI is to music. I will probably continue to watch for awhile, but after watching some of the pitches, I am left wondering how some of these people got on the show.

Now, with the last challenge being to make a 2 1\2 minute short in 24 hours, a feat I seriously think I could do in 8 if I, like the contestants, had the equipment a location and actors at my disposal.

But I guess I am just more interested in seeing the shorts these people make more than I care about who wins or anything.

[Killroy]

Dunno if anyone is watching the show, but if not, I guess I'll be talking to myself until someone starts.

First off, this show would be much, much better if they would fucking LOSE the reality TV editing of fake reaction shots and dramatic music. I understand that this is all tried-and-true formulas for getting and keeping viewers, but as we saw with the AI finale numbers, people may be getting a bit tired of that format.

I wish they would spend more time on the actual creation of the movies. The behind-the-scenes nature of putting something on film, the directing, the actors, the editing, the score, the effects...and then getting to see it all on the screen once everything has been put together.

That would be far more interesting than the director fights, or the "drama" of whether they will get the film done in time. They used up all the time last night for petty drama and judge shots, that they couldn't even show us the entire 2-and-a-half minute shorts.

But I have watched them all in their entirety and I am a bit shocked at what some of these people came up with. Shocked as in some of it was really, really bad. Now granted, they were put in teams of 3, so creative differences and all that, but still.

So, out of all the shorts, here is how I would rank them:

The Good
Call Waiting (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=2&vd=23) - Actors were great, looked good and was actually kinda funny in parts.
Random Act of Kindness (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=2&vd=27) - Again, actors were great, voice-over was good, some funny scenes.
Time Out (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=2&vd=21) Dumb story, but it looked good and the actors did ok. Completely carried by the efficient, yet easy-to-achieve effects.
Vinny's Vault (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=2&vd=20) (only because of the vault shots, other than that, I'd have it in the Bad list)
Wilted (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=2&vd=25) - Acting was passable, but the photography was pretty damn good.

The Bad
Smile (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=2&vd=29)
Out of Time 2 (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=2&vd=30)
Out of Time 1 (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=2&vd=19)

The Ugly
Reverse (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=2&vd=26)
Sponsored By (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=2&vd=22)
Organized Crime (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=2&vd=24)
Ding (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=2&vd=28)

So, anyone braved this new reality show yet? I think it may get good once they start focusing in on the individual directors. At least that's what I am hoping for.

[Killroy]

I'm still watching. For those of you who are not following the show, the latest task for the directors was two come up with a 1-minute comedy short. I have broken them down into three categories.

The Good were clips I thought not only showed good direction with the actors, but also photography, score and ultimately if I thought it was funny.

The Bad were the clips I felt may show some talent, but were not funny or may have been funny to some extent but was lacking in the other technical areas.

The Ugly were films that pretty much failed on all levels. They were not funny, the acting was horrid, bad editing, etc. Just overall suckage.

While each film in each category varied in quality, taking into account some of these directors may just not be comedic in nature, I broke the films down like this and in no particular order:

The Good
Adam Stein - Dance Man (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=1)
Andrew Hunt - Spaced Out (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=2)
Jason Epperson - Getta Rhoom (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=7)
Marty Marin - The Big Bad Heist (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=10)
Sam Friedlander - Replication Theory (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=13)
Mateem Kamet - Soft (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=11)
Trever James - A Golf Story (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=16)
Will Bigham - Lucky Penny (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=17)
Zach Lipovsky - Danger Zone (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=18)

The Bad
Carolina Zorilla de San Martin - Deliver Me (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=3)
Hilary Graham - Bus #1 (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=6)
Shira-Lee Shalit - Check Out (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=15)
David May - File Size (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=5)
Phil Hawkins - Please Hold (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=12)
Shalini Kantawa - Love in the Year 2007 (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=14)

The Ugly
Claudia La Bianca - Blind Date (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=4)
Jess Billhart - To Screw in a Lightbulb (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=8)
Kenny Luby - Whack Alley Cab (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=9)

Tonight's episode will vote off three of the directors decided by viewer voting of the above films. I am fairly certain the three in my Ugly section are going home. But if I am wrong in my predictions, I do not think any of the ones listed in my Good section will be.

[swivel]

I've watched every episode so far. I mainly watch because there are enough really great "shorts" to make the entire show worthwhile. I agree with you completely that the reality crap detracts from what could be an amazing show. And I'm horrified that they couldn't find better talent.

My pick right now to win it all is the FX wizard. I don't think he is just all about the fx, either. His continuous-take idea was brilliant. I just hope the acting (shitty) in his 1-minute bit was mostly the actors, and not his fault.

The judges on this show, and the host, all suck ass in a major way. Fisher is so fucking hung up on everything having a beginning, middle, and end that you can tell she knows jack shit about film-making and has to lean on the two or three concepts that she learned last week.

The other fuck is so PC is makes me sick. He is so hung up on what gender the director is, as if that even fucking matters. It is PC to the point of prejudice (ironic, eh?). And the hostess is fine to look at, but she is twitchier than a squirrel on speed.

I'll keep watching, but only with TIVO, and pausing to only watch the shorts and the very little making-of shit that they tease us with.

[Killroy]

I may just keep watching this to see what the hell Adrianna wears.

Voted Off:
Carolina Zorilla de San Martin - Deliver Me (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=3)
Claudia La Bianca - Blind Date (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=4)
Phil Hawkins - Please Hold (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=12)

Top 3 Votes
Will Bigham - Lucky Penny (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=17)
Zach Lipovsky - Danger Zone (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=18)
Jason Epperson - Getta Rhoom (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=7)

Not too surprised with the voting EXCEPT that Phil Hawkins got voted out over that shit film Jess Billhart made.

[Killroy]

How in the hell that Whack Cab Alley film made it through I have no idea.

[brokenandtwisted]

The Bad

Out of Time 1 (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=2&vd=19)

What was bad about this clip? I thought it was decent...with the exception of the man's acting.

[Killroy]

What was bad about this clip? I thought it was decent...with the exception of the man's acting.

Dumb story, bad acting. All scenes in the restaurant looked bad. The movie starts in the restaurant, then flashes back to when they were standing outside the restaurant having a conversation that provided no insight to the conversation they just cut from.

The whole thing just seemed way to amature-ish to have come from directors picked from thousands of other directors.

[Morbid]

Lord. The judges are TERRIBLE. Anyone watching tonight?

Tonight will have them picking 5 directors and showing 5 films, one getting voted off (I think). Guest director is Micheal Bay.



Sam Friedlander (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=13) - Broken Pipe Dreams (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=6&vd=70) - The first film was pretty good. It got a bit boring, but was completely redeemed at the end. Costa's boobs look nice.

Trever James (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=16) - Teri (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=6&vd=69) - Meh. Costa has a pretty big ass. Not that I am complaining.

Hilary Graham (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=6) - The First Time I Met the Finkelsteins (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=6&vd=67) - TERRIBLE. Camera work sucked, acting sucked, not funny. Fisher actually made sense with her critique.

Adam Stein (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=1) - Dough: The Musical (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=6&vd=68) - Awesome. Get rid of Carrie Fisher. Marshall completely missed the ending with his remark.

Shalini Kantayya (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=14) - Laughing Out Loud: A Comic Journey (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=6&vd=66) - Surprisingly, not too bad considering the subject matter.

[brokenandtwisted]

I'll be watching it at nine...and then Mindfreak...I'll comment then. :)

[Killroy]

Holy Crap! Why doesn't Costa just come out topless for god's sake.

I missed the first contestant film.

Andrew Hunt (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=2) - Polished (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=8&vd=88) - Swivel gave it a 6 out of 10. Finally watched it. I actually liked the guys editing, it was just the story I hated.

David May (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=5) - Love at First Shot (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=8&vd=89) - Looked ok, but the movie sucked ass. But Carrie Fishers suggestion that the Cupid wear a diaper was strange.

Shira-Lee Shalit (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=15) - Beeline (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=8&vd=92) - Dumb. Not funny. Some good shots with the mom running around.

Marty Martin (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=10) - Dance with the Devil (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=8&vd=91) - Subtitles? Carrie Fisher is a complete moron. The judges were right in the fact that this was style over substance. But they are treating a two-minute film like a two-hour one.

Kenny Luby (http://www.thelot.com/contestants/view/?id=9) - Edge on the End (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=8&vd=90) - This cat is STRANGE. Guy fellates his dead dad before drinking a beer in the snow? His "movies" are disjointed and terrible. The music actually made it worse. Maybe this one that finally gets him voted off.

I absolutely cannot believe Hilary stayed over Trevor. Crazy.

[swivel]

Yeah, bad voting so far. Kenny shouldn't have made it this far. You can tell he hasn't been to film school because that is where you play "artsy" for the first year and get it out of your system. He obviously hasn't done that yet.

He seems to use every gadget in each of his shorts, which makes his style not just horrible, but disjointed as well. And people are kissing his ass like not understanding something must mean that its genius. I guess these are the same morons that let idiots like Gehry design architecture and pay through the nose for a Jackson Pollock.

And Hilary should NOT still be in this competition.

Oh, and I want to squeeze Costa's tits like I have never wanted to squeeze tits in my life. I was mesmerized by them. I will not be deleting this episode until she tops that dress (which might be impossible). High-def never looked so good.

[Killroy]

I went back and watched them all on-line this morning. Terrible. Aside from Marty's, I am surprised that these are the contestants chosen. Maybe it is the time limit that has these directors delivering shit films...I dunno. I am still going to stick it out until the contestants get shaved down some more, and for Costa's wardrobe choices.

[Killroy]

Had to add. Watch Marty's Dance with the Devil (http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=8&vd=91) . Then watch Tony Scott's BMW film here:

jNYSEUOnbPs

Notice any similarities?

Lastly, I wonder where and when was Kenny's film shot?

[swivel]

Wow, with the text and skipped frames and everything. Very fucked up.

I hope it is a case of unconscious plagarism. He saw this a year ago and truly thinks that the style is his own, even though it was residing in his long-term memory.

Fucking depressing, either way. I hate to see this sort of stuff.