what sort of in depth are you after?

Hi Philip, thanks for your reply...
On the same line as Caleb below, there is too much of "I like it", "great job", "cool shot", not enough elaborating on both form and content. Maybe a little insight on how the vision of reality of the filmmaker reaches you or not... how, to you, the message/idea is well or not too well conveyed through film (ex. framing choices, editing, music). So, more info on both the technical aspects and the artistic values feels important. Hope this makes sense.
Thank you for your work (and the work of Steve)

being a brit i am not sure, but i don't think that is good!

Let me clarify.
Phil, I have utmost respect for you and your work. I religiously check your vimeo page and website and value your professional and creative insight. I am in no way attacking you or your work.
But for a show entitled critics, there was very little creative or technical criticism (constructive, of course) into the videos you chose. I just felt like you and Steve just glazed over any actual review and left it to I liked it, cool shots. I would like to see you guys critique and analyze much more deeply the forces that go into the laborious task of creating video and film.

Hi Caleb, It comes down to the films in the episodes. I felt we did talk quite a lot about the films...we don't want to go into tech talk like "what was that shot on etc" enough people do that on Vimeo and that's fine...it's much more about the film as a whole. We both loved A thousand words so we could only gush. Steve hated the last one but before we got a chance to actually discuss the film the whole violence topic came up so will talked about that. Every episode is going to be quite different in it's mix.

I actually liked the dialogue that it opened up on the forums on the Zacuto site after watching it. I got to publicly respond to Steve about his comments on my film, and I was interested in how people responded to it.

It was very educational for me. I knew when I submitted it that it was a completely different context to view the film in. Even though Philip pointed that out. I was actually really surprised that Steve was offended by violent films, but that's personal taste and I totally respect that. The reason I was surprised at Steve's reaction is because his other show, "FilmFellas" is an obvious homage to "Goodfellas"... in it's poster, opening credits and font. And Goodfellas is a yardstick of violence in modern cinema, along with other Scorcese films. So I thought he must like those films.

Oh yeah and I should get in early here. There is no "point" to the piece, other than non sensical violence and a piss take of the Scorsese/Tarantino style of violence. Made as a lark entry to the Angry Film Fest. And it clearly served it's purpose because Philip was obviously putting the wind up Steve with it. ;-)

any more videos to wind Steve up much appreciated! Good exposure for you lot and a chance for me have a bit of fun!

I disagree.
First, our show is not Siskel and Ebert. We sometimes give personal opinions, joke around, talk about our views, comments and critics as well. Webisode 2 gets more critical about work. Finally with the internet, we have a fourm where we can speak our mind, that isn't censored like TV. If anyone should get this it should be our Vimeo crowd because we only look at content on the internet. That's our format. These formats are not in stone, but this one is ours and we are trying to have fun and make it entertaining. Some will like and some won't.

Second, in the final film, a man walks out and shoots someone. There is no story there. Is a bullet coming out of a muzzle enough to get into the angry film festival? To me, as I have stated before, come on, give me something to critique. I need a little more than someone shooting someone. It's just violence for the sake of violence.

It's just one mans opinion.

Steve, as 50% of Newspeak media, I would like to reply to your response to the comment of my colleague.

I could not personally agree more with your views on useless violence in cinema. It has become the staple of American film making and has done more to further the collapse in the art form than any other machine, in my opinion.

I would also like to say, that when I saw the promo for your show, I was very excited to see two reputable men in the industry, whom I respect, giving their opinions on the works created by young filmmakers. I feel that the critique, if you will, given by myself as well as by my colleague and furthermore by other vimeo users was given not because we wanted to discredit your opinions or views, but rather that we wanted an in depth analysis of our works.
Criticism should be held to the utmost regard in all professions, and should be given heavy-handedly, in my opinion. I believe the response to this show is because we want more criticism, we want you to assess our creative visions and works to a greater level than was even put in them by the filmmakers themselves. Because in the end, is that not what a critic's job is? To better the work of the craftsman? Is the critic not a force in the grand process of film making?

That is what I ask of you, to further challenge yourselves to inspire us to be the creators of the one video that neither Mr. Bloom nor yourself can find any flaw in. Help us better our community by not allowing timidity to enter your criticisms.

Thank you for you time and for your rapid response. I apologize for being long-winded. Thank you for providing this show to the faithful community of Vimeo.

With utmost respect,
Caleb Stephens

Why not have a problem with violent films as a genre? I think it's bizarre that films created around violence as a theme are so commonplace that we actually can construct a "genre" around them. I can't speak for Mr Weiss, but I'm not arguing against any depiction of violence. Rather, the degree to which Hollywood (and sadly indie directors) seem compelled to feed our collective fetish for violence is sick. Well this is one audience member who has had enough, and I don't apologize for saying so. Mr Jones (the director of the short) may have been alluding to the work of a famous film maker, but some of us have never seen a Tarantino film, so the joke was lost on us. Instead, we are left with nothing more than some nifty muzzle flashes followed by Philip belittling as a "pussy" his critical colleague like an alcoholic berates a sober companion.

Understood Caleb, what you say makes sense and I will try to be more critical in future webisodes. We do have about 10 webisodes in the can. So, starting with webisode 11 I will make an effort to talk more about screen direction, lighting, editing, etc. while still giving political/social and ethical reviewing. I think all of that will make for an entertaining show. This show is an expression of me as a director and I want it to be entertaining. Thank you for you insightful observations.
Steve

There are many reasons why my products are more than some of the competition. The standards and tolerences, plus making them in the USA, not to mention our lifetime warranty (even if you destroy it by accident). We have 18 people at Zacuto so you can call us on the phone and we will immediately help you. We have a sales team, customer service team. We stock everything so it can be shipped immediately. If you have a product issue we will typically send you a replacement even before getting yours shipped to us. Lastly, we come out with our products fast, we can go from idea to delivery of a new product in as little as 5 weeks, you can't do that when you are making parts in China. All molding, tooling & milling, is made in the suburbs of Chicago, as well as every single component, which gives us speed and agility. Our products are on par with German manufacturers at 1/2 the cost.

I don't have a need for greed but we are not a volume business, we are a nitch business. We don't make 1000's of things we make 100's and consequently that raises the cost, which raises the price. We typically cater to filmmakers who do a combination of paid work and indie work. We realize our products are expensive and not for everyone, but not compared to our German competitors, in fact, our products are 1/2 the cost of theirs.

This program has absolutely nothing to do with Zacuto. I'm not quite sure who you think we are stroking? I've been a director for 27 years and I love working on creative projects and that's why I've decided to get back into production from my 7 year Hiatus.
Steve