I know the previous entry said "Tomorrow" but it's 1 in the morning, so it's still technically Sunday to me.
Ok the Centre For Arts and Technology Film Festival '07 happened on Thursday and had the theme of Golden Age of Hollywood. A few people dressed up, including me. Hopefully they push the theme more next year. Anyway, this year Animation didn't have much of a showing. But thankfully the Film Department really stood up and offered some much better films this year then last year. Improved sound, better locations and away from the school locations. But needless to say not everything was golden. Here are my reviews and ratings. Needless to say they go from A to B to C then F for Failure. A, B and C have + ( ) and - for A+, A and A- grades.
Maple Flavored Irony - A good way to open up the Film Festival. A light hearted slap stick piece. Would have worked better as an animation. A-
Old Time Calamity - The first in several "silent" black and white shorts. This one had 2 jail birds getting free and trying to get away from the cops. Nice to see some locations away from the school. B+
Nathan Hibberd Reel - My classmate Nathan's demo reel, very well done, view it yourself, see the link on the side. No Rating.
Being Ivan Sampson - A complete rip off of Being John Malkovich without a proper ending or reason. Think of it as Being John Malkovich in slightly more then 4 minutes. C
The Neighbour Below - Anpro project that Nathan and several other of my classmates worked on. Due to the Okanagan Film Fest, production values on this short got hurt along the way, but was still good. B
75 Years of BC Wine - An interesting history piece of wine from around the region. Interviews felt a little cut off. B-
The New Janitor - An attempt at some Charlie Chaplin, but fail. Most of the slapstick felt flat and didn't quite have the timing that the master had. Also the film quality was very over exposed. C
Another Whiskey Jack - An attempt at using filters to make the production look like a 3D or comic book piece. Looked extremely grainy and bad, but nice to see it tried. C
Unfolded - Nathan's short he submitted to EA Reveal. I critiqued him along the way and helped it shape form. You can view it on his blog. A
The Black Baron - Another black and white one, this one was very silly and had a very good ending. B
Archie Meets the Punisher - Script didn't work, no real ending, colours were messed up during the Archie scene. Why? F
Impostertute - A very silly short, Ivan must have been very brave to be in this film. Very simple, but funny. A+
Mature Films:
Prey - Good to see some locations other then the school being used. This one was shot in Mission Creek park, just a few blocks away from where I am now. The story was pretty simple, but the thing that got me was the must and camera. The music was too simple and didn't add to the scene. The camera was shaky and in several scenes the focus was off the main character and too blurry. But I give the main actor credit for going down the river... must have been cold. B-
Cannabis Zombies of Death - I was hoping for something so bad it was good. It wasn't quite that. It was bad, but felt too long. C+
InterventioN - Good to see it on a bigger screen instead of the Youtube player (see it HERE). I have made my comments to the director on his youtube page. Acting needed to be pushed a bit more, few sound problems and brightness contrast for the black and white scenes needed to be pushed since they looked very grey. A
Collaboration - Epic failure. Two bad shorts combined to make an even worse one. Horrible location for the part with two guys and mediocre dialog. It was like pulling teeth. F
Highjinx - By far the funniest black and white short. Classic gags and puppets and more! Very well done. A+
Thin Lines Between Us + Nick of Trades - Thin Lines Between Us and Nick of Trades kind of blended into each other. Each had a guy who got beat up because of drugs for some reason or another. Seriously... why drugs? Dialogue was flawed in both. They both left me rolling my eyes and checking my program to see what was next. C- for both
Wes Falls - When I saw this was a 17 and a half minute long film I thought, "Oh no... please not another bad drug movie.." Sure enough this one didn't disappoint like the previous two films. It was well shot and made the school lunch room look like a reasonable set. Music needs a bit of a hand, but it wasn't too bad. Good acting. B+
Retrosepective:
Consummatum Est - Really sad feeling, but didn't feel complete to me. B
Coffeeeee - I've seen this a hundred times and I still smile at the peeper shaker. Hopefully my short will be the 3D equivalent of Coffeeeee (awards and praise wise).
No comments:
Post a Comment