Good Boy

[todd-parker]

Interesting concept of a film - a haunted house story from the perspective of a dog. Personally enjoyed this one more than 'Presence' (another haunted house concept film) though as a dog lover, a bit hard to watch as the animal is put into some traumatizing situations. A solid offering from a first time director who took 4 years to make the film using his own dog. The screening I went to had a little featurette at the end with the director showing how he made the film with his wife and the tricks they used to get their dog to "act" in the scenes. Has an Oscar best actor nomination ever been given to an animal? This could be the year.

[3dender]

Interesting concept of a film - a haunted house story from the perspective of a dog. Personally enjoyed this one more than 'Presence' (another haunted house concept film) though as a dog lover, a bit hard to watch as the animal is put into some traumatizing situations. A solid offering from a first time director who took 4 years to make the film using his own dog. The screening I went to had a little featurette at the end with the director showing how he made the film with his wife and the tricks they used to get their dog to "act" in the scenes. Has an Oscar best actor nomination ever been given to an animal? This could be the year.

I like the story idea, I didn't like wondering in the trailer how they could have gotten that footage without seriously and repeatedly distressing the dog. Did the behind the scenes stuff dispel that concern? If so I'll consider seeing it.

[Dicktar2023]

Interesting concept of a film - a haunted house story from the perspective of a dog. Personally enjoyed this one more than 'Presence' (another haunted house concept film) though as a dog lover, a bit hard to watch as the animal is put into some traumatizing situations. A solid offering from a first time director who took 4 years to make the film using his own dog. The screening I went to had a little featurette at the end with the director showing how he made the film with his wife and the tricks they used to get their dog to "act" in the scenes. Has an Oscar best actor nomination ever been given to an animal? This could be the year.

If the dog from "Anatomy of a Fall" didn't get an Oscar, then no animal will. I sat there the last half hour thinking "did they really poison that dog???"

[todd-parker]

Interesting concept of a film - a haunted house story from the perspective of a dog. Personally enjoyed this one more than 'Presence' (another haunted house concept film) though as a dog lover, a bit hard to watch as the animal is put into some traumatizing situations. A solid offering from a first time director who took 4 years to make the film using his own dog. The screening I went to had a little featurette at the end with the director showing how he made the film with his wife and the tricks they used to get their dog to "act" in the scenes. Has an Oscar best actor nomination ever been given to an animal? This could be the year.

I like the story idea, I didn't like wondering in the trailer how they could have gotten that footage without seriously and repeatedly distressing the dog. Did the behind the scenes stuff dispel that concern? If so I'll consider seeing it.

They don't specifically address that in the extra footage. It mostly shows the filmmakers standing off camera making sounds or using squeak toys to get the dog to look in a certain direction or move to a certain spot. However, they do mention that they use the 'Kuleshov Effect' throughout most of the movie to give meaning to the dog's "reactions" through editing so I'm sure my emotional reaction was influenced by that. Again, there are only a few spots where the dog is physically manipulated to drive the action - for instance, there is a scene where the dog is laying on the ground and then grabbed from behind and slid back quickly. The dog definitely looks surprised - but that "shot" probably lasts just one second at most. I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the director/dog's owner that no mistreatment occurred. If it had, perhaps there would be more outrage from the ASPCA or other groups. Again, I am probably being overly-sensitive about it and the moments will appear innocuous to everyone else.

Also worth noting that the film is only about 75 minutes long so not a huge time commitment.

More on the 'Kuleshov Effect':

https://www.nfi.edu/kuleshov-effect/

[Dicktar2023]

Interesting concept of a film - a haunted house story from the perspective of a dog. Personally enjoyed this one more than 'Presence' (another haunted house concept film) though as a dog lover, a bit hard to watch as the animal is put into some traumatizing situations. A solid offering from a first time director who took 4 years to make the film using his own dog. The screening I went to had a little featurette at the end with the director showing how he made the film with his wife and the tricks they used to get their dog to "act" in the scenes. Has an Oscar best actor nomination ever been given to an animal? This could be the year.

I like the story idea, I didn't like wondering in the trailer how they could have gotten that footage without seriously and repeatedly distressing the dog. Did the behind the scenes stuff dispel that concern? If so I'll consider seeing it.

They don't specifically address that in the extra footage. It mostly shows the filmmakers standing off camera making sounds or using squeak toys to get the dog to look in a certain direction or move to a certain spot. However, they do mention that they use the 'Kuleshov Effect' throughout most of the movie to give meaning to the dog's "reactions" through editing so I'm sure my emotional reaction was influenced by that. Again, there are only a few spots where the dog is physically manipulated to drive the action - for instance, there is a scene where the dog is laying on the ground and then grabbed from behind and slid back quickly. The dog definitely looks surprised - but that "shot" probably lasts just one second at most. I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the director/dog's owner that no mistreatment occurred. If it had, perhaps there would be more outrage from the ASPCA or other groups. Again, I am probably being overly-sensitive about it and the moments will appear innocuous to everyone else.

Also worth noting that the film is only about 75 minutes long so not a huge time commitment.

More on the 'Kuleshov Effect':

https://www.nfi.edu/kuleshov-effect/

You can also see extensive use of the Kuleshov Effect with Ice Cube in the recent "War of the Worlds."

[todd-parker]

You can also see extensive use of the Kuleshov Effect with Ice Cube in the recent "War of the Worlds."

In a civilized world, a suggestion like this would result in a permanent ban from the forum.

[Dicktar2023]

You can also see extensive use of the Kuleshov Effect with Ice Cube in the recent "War of the Worlds."

In a civilized world, a suggestion like this would result in a permanent ban from the forum.

No, i mean it. A lot of his reactions in that movie were pieced together and comically mismatched to the context.

That was the joke I was making. Not that Ice Cube is comparable to a dog.

[todd-parker]

You can also see extensive use of the Kuleshov Effect with Ice Cube in the recent "War of the Worlds."

In a civilized world, a suggestion like this would result in a permanent ban from the forum.

No, i mean it. A lot of his reactions in that movie were pieced together and comically mismatched to the context.

That was the joke I was making. Not that Ice Cube is comparable to a dog.

All good. Just giving you a hard time that you would direct some poor soul to actually watch Ice Cube's War of the Worlds "re-imagining". And yes, totally agree that it is a good example of the film effect. I believe it was filmed during Covid lockdown so they had no other choice but to film separately and piece it together. Unfortunately, the Kuleshov Effect was unable to save the viewers from the atrocious line-readings and VFX.