I missed Tues. night's exhibition, but I heard that the entrants shown were heads-and-shoulders above last year's.
Wednesday night's showing was, at least to me, most impressive. It was exciting to see what kind of array of talent, funds, and creativity went into each one.
Synthetic
I don't know how many lesbian movies will be made because of the softball prop, but it came as no surprise when I saw the opening seen of the two women smooching. This film's strong point was the writing for some choice lines between S. Steven's and his girlfriend's lover. Some of the action shots(opening a phone, closing the phone, all the phone shots) seemed too long. But let's be honest, a 7 minute film completed in under 48 hours really cannot be criticised. Sometimes it takes me that long deciding what I want to do on a weekend.
Organized Art
This was from the winner of last year's competition. A well-done and genuinely hilarious mockumentry about the life of the mafia in the art biz. This one had a killer intro. and good film quality throughout. Dialogue was on average funny and choice in some places. My only missive is that one seen where they throw someone off a building. We found out during the Q&A that they photographed the guy and inserted him in for about 5 frames falling from the top of the screen behind the car. Quite clever work, it looked just like someone threw a dummy and had we never had the Q&A, that's what I would have assumed happened. But that was the only thing about it that I found odd. It was one of the early favorites of the evening.
Where are the flying cars?
This was a sci-fi short that the director tried to do as a 'period piece' because he couldn't create a spaceship(in his own words). The story was unique in the use of the phrase, since they split it between two sentences(quite creative). The big thing about this one was that they drove 5+ hours to Jockey's Ridge in Nags Head to film a beach scene. That's 10-12 hours for those shots alone.
The Super Best Buds
This, in my opinion, deserves some sort of honorable mention. The group shooting this short was mostly high school kids, 4 of which comprised a team of super hydrophilic individuals known as the super best buds. They had a lot of creative pluses working for them. First of all, they incorporated the prop(softball) as a character in the story(probably the most integral of any use of a softball in any of the films), which I thought was spot-on for this type of short. Secondly, their crew seemed to be keen on their technical capabilities and time constraints used whatever they had to their advantage. Third, the story and the character execution seemed to be a lot of fun for the kids and everyone involved, which I thought transferred well to the audience. Their use of the line I thought was the funniest of the evening. Their humor, I thought was the most genuine.
Silo
This short had a good idea as far as a buddy movie, but the script needed more fleshing out. Good production value and acting overall.
Scarred
Many people liken this look to Japanese horror, although I caught more of a Se7en vibe to it, myself. This team was honest in the Q&A and said they had no acting pool, and played the film to their strengths. It works really well as an abstract piece with some great shots and sound. Good use of the required line as a physical prop as well.
Strangers
This script had a good concept but was dangerously close to stalling out in the first couple of minutes. But it got better as time went on and the ending was honestly a good albeit predictable twist. I agree with Woody in that a good editor could have really made this one a contender. Sadly, this one was submitted late and couldn't be considered. But this one had it in the script dept.
The Gift
Ike's film this year deserves a better adjective than "tour-de-force", but it's the first word to come to mind. Lighting, acting, color, sound, post, makeup, all of it I thought came together to make something formidable this year. One of the main things that I heard people comment on was the transitions used(and the fact that they were the only movie with transitions). I , myself, was really impressed with them, but thought it was a little overused(At least during the course of 7 minutes. Here again, read my 48 hour disclaimer, hindsight being 20/20). My biggest gripe was that something happened somewhere between the rough and final cuts where the whole thing was more pixellated than the other shows. I'm not technically savvy enough to point at what step of the process and say what happened. Hell, it could have even been something that happened at the presentation that night, but the overall picture quality had become more pixellated than I remember the rough's being. Nonetheless, Ike's was the Spielberg short of the evening, and my #1 pick, not just because I know him.
Unforced Entry
This was another team that had very little budget and manpower behind them. If they were first-timers, I would say it was a very solid start that had an ending I was pleased with(I love twists). Two major points about this movie that none of the other movies had.
That being said, the movie(like many others) could have used more time at the editing table. The sound had some bad ambience at times and was just not present in others. Here again, reference my 48 hour disclaimer.
My votes for audience favorites were as follows
In hind-sight, I should have voted for Organized Art, and I may have had I watched it after Super Best Buds, but it didn't work out that way.
On the whole, I don't believe anyone who had their show presented last night should feel anything less than proud for accomplishing such a feat. I've already offered my services to Ike as a PA for next year as a show of support and just because it all looks like a lot of fun and a great learning experience.
Congrats to all, and I hope all the teams come back next year!