OFF THE HOOK!!!!!!!!!

Whoa. This is SUPERIOR. A riveting short film, with an equally intense and interesting actor. Subtle and provocative moments; the line about his mother, nuanced with the sound of a woman's laughter and high heels walking. Brilliant ending. The police siren! The score! PERFECTION!! I can't stop watching it...

This is phenomenal! The performance, production, and editing just took this contest to a new level. I love the first shot! It's brilliant! And the last one is just incredible. Absolutely visceral! I get a chill up my spine everytime I watch it.

Well done. Great performance and stylized filming. "Midnight Cowboy" meets "The Graduate" meets "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" meets "T.J. Hooker" (season 3, the edgiest one). Seriously, this is a quality performance and quality work. Encore!

I agree with Trojanman. Season 3 of "T.J. Hooker" was by far the edgiest thing on TV - the "Mad Men" of it's day.

And by the way, THIS CLIP KICKS ASS!! I'm totally blown away. Great job, Todd!

BRILLIANT !!! It was like watching a mini-film...Awesome performance and great quality, too, Todd....Great Work !!!

Awesome!!!!! I can't believe how different this is from the Don Draper you did earlier...he was so cool and self assured and this guy is coming apart at the seams. You are an incredible actor! I really feel for this guy. That last shot leaves me wondering if he'll pull through. All I can say is WOW! Great job!

Just Awesome !! What more can I say ?
Oh , the lights & siren was a great touch !!
Just Me.

Hi, I'm Todd's friend Phil - I've known him since we were in 7th grade! I filmed and edited this piece for him. If anyone has questions about the production (i.e. camera, locations, editing, etc.) feel free to post them here and I will do my best to respond.

Let me tell you we had a blast making this video and it's great to see so many truly impressive submissions on this site. Best of luck to everyone!

Formidable!! (That's French for f---ing amazing!)

How did you guys get that first shot where everyone is moving so fast in the background? And where is that location?

Dude!!! You're killin' me here! The whole thing is so friggin' phenomenal I wanna come pull an intervention on you and throw your crazy butt into rehab. Really spectacular and incredible interpretation. Definitely the one to beat!

A Tour De Force Performance!

Todd - You just won in my oppinion. You blew me away - that was heart wrenching - moving - I got chills. Your best work. You're an amazing talent. This was beautifully shot and edited and I love the music - A-List Production for sure. When you talk about your Mother and I hear the footsteps of a woman walking by (that gets me everytime) - and the police car with the siren going off at the end. WOW - I would love to see the whole movie - it's just amazing what you captured in 60 seconds - just AMAZING. You've got me coming back to see it again & again. Harry Mastrogeorge would be very proud. Mad Men needs a guy like you.
Avis Wrentmore

Riveting, compelling.....and the Emmy goes to...

nice work......................don't forget us 'little people ahen you hit the big time'!!!!!!!!!!!

nice work................
don't forget us when you make it 'BIG'

Todd, that was truly compelling, in every sense of the word. Loved the tone, the tension, the subtle hidden aggression. And the music, well, that was the icing.

Amazing! You Blew me away, YOU WIN!

Hey Tina88, we got the first shot at the corner of Hollywood Blvd and Highland Ave, one of the busiest intersections in all of LA, right in front of the Kodak Theatre where they hold the Academy Awards.

Todd and I wanted the first image to be something arresting that hinted at the character's unstable mental state. I asked Todd to stand as still as possible for several minutes while everything around him continued at its normal pace. I rolled off about 3 minutes of tape. At times he had to blink and swallow. What you see is about 40 seconds of raw footage sped up 1000% (10x) resulting in the 4 second shot in the final edit.

We also thought it would be cool to start with his eyes closed and have them open in the shot - it added something to the tone that we were trying to establish.

Hey, thanks everyone for your kind and supportive comments. This "Mad Men" community is a lot of fun. If you like, check out my "Don Draper", which I did earlier. http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men-contest/2008/08/toddandrews-as-don.php
Todd

TODD JUST SAW IT AGAIN - OOPS YOU DID IT AGAIN - ANOTHER WINNING PERFORMANCE - TODD, YOU TOTALLY ROCK. CAN YOU PLEASE ASK PHIL SILVER IF AN CAN AUDITION FOR THE NEXT FILM YOU TWO COLLABORATE ON. I WOULD LOVE TO WORK WITH BOTH OF YOU AND LETS ADD VALERIE LONG TO THE MIX - WOW HER JOAN HOLLOWAY TOTALLY ROCKED.
AVIS WRENTMORE -
OH & CHECK OUT MY DON DRAPER - IT JUST MADE EDITORS PICK AND MY JOAN HOLLOWAY IS CLIMBING THE CHARTS TOO:)
AVIS WRENTMORE

todd, thanks for checking out my video and commenting. it made me see yours which was so very well put together. i like your eyes the best. keep it up and keep in touch.
Greg
mockrevolution.com

Todd, nice production work, which really shines when the acting is this good!

thanks for breaking my heart.

the music, the mood, the acting and camera work were all gorgeous, spare and very effective.

Again - great job Todd and Phil. I was just curious how you were able to get that final shot with the police car whizzing by. It was amazing!

Trojanman, regarding your question, we slipped a guy a 20 to commit a petty crime down the street, works every time...(just kidding!)

Seriously though, we approached this shoot like a documentary project which means we kept the camera rolling, we shot a ton of footage, and we tried to work with whatever we found in that Hollywood Blvd environment.

Specifically, it was the end of the shoot, I was getting some shots of Todd staring out at the traffic, circling him there at the intersection, etc. I heard a siren in the distance and told him to just stay in character and by that point he was fully inhabiting the experience anyway. I don't think he even knew which direction the police car was coming from, he just did his thing.

It wasn't until we loaded the footage that we saw how well that shot worked. Just goes to show that sometimes you get lucky. I marked the clip and stuck it at the end of my timeline. Right from the beginning of the edit we knew that would be our final shot and it served as our emotional beacon while putting this piece together.

Ok, I know unstable/crazy. That was unstable/crazy. Talk about a blessed scene, the action around it did not overpower the acting, but only cranked up the anxiety. Using the classic hollywood blvd. (dreams vs. dispair), briliant as always. Great stuff.

Thanks for sharing your shooting stories and secrets - so interesting!! Everytime I watch this clip I feel like crying! And I can't stop watching it!!

Wow, some really good comments on this video.

AMW - Yes, I hear those footsteps too, very subtle, very effective, I wonder if they added them in post??

JJR - great observation about the Hollywood Blvd location. That idea resonates throughout this scene. Love the shot in the beginning when he steps on the star.

What camera did you use to shoot this? I'm wondering if you guys lit this?? It looks too damn good for available light.

Yeah, this is pretty hot, buddy, one Betty to another. Congratulations.

http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men-contest/2008/07/donpugsley-as-betty.php

Congrats on becoming an Editor's Pick a second time around! You're amking a habit out of it!

Thanks, Todd. But I don't think my video holds a candle to yours in terms of cinematic quality. You obviously put a lot of time and thought into your video, and it shows. Congrats on being selected as an editor's pick.

This is so completely haunting.
Want to know the meaning of lonely? It is right there in his gestures.
This is exceptional. Any part they may give you will not be enough. Thank you for letting us see inside.
Reminds me of Neil Young's lyrics...

"See the needle and the damage done,
a little part of it in everyone"

Congratulations on having your performance recognized as an editor's pick.

USCFilmGeek - We used a Sony HDR-FX1 in the cinema (30P) mode. I left it on auto mode most of the time. The camera's pretty sensitive so no additional lighting needed, we just sought out well lit areas.

Todd!!! Editor's Pick! Congrats! Way to Go! Rock On!!!!!

You are the MAN!!

awesome work! love the shot selections, the performance and the filmmaking.

Todd what a marvelous proposal you made! I think that is a fantastic idea and that we could both bookend the ads between Mad Men! You to represent the men and me the women! Your latest entry is superb and I take my beehive off to you!

Thanks for the nice comment Todd. Congrats on making the Editors Picks! I got buried in the avalanche of lat minute entries so I think I'm screwed. I'll be rooting for you.

http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men-contest/2008/08/alanthomson-as-betty.php

This is a complete little film. Really excellent work on all fronts. Bravo!

I see you used the Sony HDR-FX1 to film what program were you using for editing?

Packard - I've got Premier Pro 2 on my laptop and an external 250 gig firewire drive.

Really like this one. You are great at your craft.

I love this performance, absolutely heartbreaking!

Superb performance! You really brought it home with those last few lines. And it was all there in the eyes...excellent, truly excellent.

Just checking in on ya...great feedback but you deserve waaaaaaaaaaaay more votes than this! Come on people, give it up for him!

TODD YOUR WORK IS STELLAR - YOU DESERVE WAY MORE VOTES - -

COME ON MAD MEN FANS -

SHOW THIS GUY SOME LOVE -

HE PUT HIS HEART AND SOUL INTO THIS AND HIS PERFORMANCE SPEAKS VOLUMES - THIS IS AN OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE - AND BY FAR ONE OF THE VERY BEST.

GOOD LUCK TODD
YOU TOTALLY WITHOUT A DOUBT DESERVE IT.

AVIS WRENTMORE

Todd/Phil - just wondering who your favorite filmmakers are. Any particular works that inspired this scene?

Love your earlier film references trojanman. you nailed it. Ironically, TJ Hooker, season 3, was in fact the edgiest season. I was of course inspired by TJ, but Hooker, somewhat of a cross between a mother and a waitress, has special resonance for me. And the rest of the films that you mentioned, well...

Trojanman - I'm inspired by all the films you mentioned. In addition I really admire:

Coppola - Godfather 1 & 2 / The Conversation
Scorsese - Mean Streets / Goodfellas
Wenders - Paris Texas / Wings of Desire
Herzog - Aguirre / Fitzcarrraldo
Innaritu - Amore Es Perros / Babel
Soderberg - Traffic
Gaghan - Syrianna
plus so many others.

In particular though I was thinking about John Cassavettes' and his masterpiece Faces when filming this entry. He was a true independent.