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Thanks guys for watching. I'm glad you all enjoyed it.

So with Heart Shot, the main issue with this seems to be the acting. It was a hit or miss thing and my actors are not to blame. CJ, my Acting teacher and academic advisor at SDSU, is a wonderful actress and Ashley, when given the opportunity to perform, is a stellar actress as well. So if there is one thing to blame for the acting aspect of this film, it's me.

After playing the over the top No More Heroes, it provided the perfect basis for my final project for Directing I at State in which I had to direct a non-realistic scene or create my own. So what I did was write in the absurdist movement style of theatre (which we studied) by using playwright Samuel Beckett's piece, End Game, as an influence. The final scene with Janis and Steven talking back and fourth in one word sentences that don't make much sense to the audience is the main example of Beckett's style I was aiming for. Combing that with the No More Heroes writing and design, you get an amalgamation of off beat styles that gives a certain challenge to the actors. Heck, I wasn't even sure how to approach my own text. So again, it's my fault if you felt that their acting was off.

The other issue to address is the ending. I actually wrote and filmed the original ending where Janis shoots and kills Steven, but there are several reasons why I didn't use it. First, when I told Joe the main theme of the film was the unity of opposites (ying/yan), he made a good point in that if one of them dies, then the other one has to as well, because neither one can exist by itself. Second, if I had used the original ending, it would have been the third time that a character I played gets shot by a woman (Reunion and Gunpoint 2). Third, I've been suffering from on and off depression for the last six months and I really didn't have it in me to have another film with a downer ending. I really needed something to make me smile. Not a lot of people know that I suffer from that because I usually hide it at school and when I talk to people. Often times I joke about it so no one will worry, but when I'm at home, I just get depressed from a lot of things that occur in my life. Fourth, I wanted to do a sequel to this movie with the co-creator, Joey Min (Zuifeng).

The wrestling scene as noted by Rob was indeed shot as if it were a live televised taping of WWE. I studied the camera angles and editing cuts of the WWE shows and I noticed they used a wide shot of one side of the ring, a camera man on the right side out of the ring, and a camera man on the apron of the ring to the left side. So I tried to emulate that.

All of the randomness in the movie spawned from the fact that I was to create a non-realistic scene for class. It was a good excuse to add lightsabers, western elements, masked men, off beat dialogue, and a lovey-dovey ending in one crazy ass action film.

Ashley is an amazing person. We weren't friends at first, in fact, we would argue about topics in class and make fun of each other from across the tables, but when I asked her to be in the film, she gave all of her effort in every aspect of production, including having to deal with me. She would drill over and over with the gun spinning and the fight choreography. She had no experience in gun handling and fighting (save for some boxing lessons), but she was determind to perfect her action scenes. And I'm proud to say that she did exceptionally well, even surprising her peers at school.

I would love to do a sequel, but at this point it is all up to Ashley. I approached her about it, but things are still up in the air at this point. But if we do go ahead with it, expect a lot more crazy shit, revelations about the characters and the world, more action then ever, and more visual effects. I've been studying After Effects for the past month.

Thanks again guys, till next film.

Jay