Films from this year's 48 Hour Film Project
A large number of the films from this year's 48 Hour Film Project Melbourne are now up online. If you're only interested enough to watch the film I worked on, then check out "Measure Of Success", and let me know what you think of it. Check out my post on the experience for more info about both the film and the festival.
However if you're up for watching some more, there's quite a few that are definitely worth watching. Don't forget that these films were entirely conceived and created in one weekend, because you won't believe it for some of them. I'll break them up by genre. Here's my pick of the ones currently online:
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WESTERN
BOBBY by Wake In Vegemite: Took out the award for best music. Was also a big audience favourite. It's pretty cool. :)
DRAMA
STAIN by Oh My: Nominee for Best Film, this one is a bit dark but I found it compelling and very well crafted. Done entirely in one shot (not counting the opening).
DATES OF OUR LIVES or KINDLING (depending on whether you go by the slate or the closing titles) by From Rushes With Love: More of a rom-com than a drama, this should have taken the award for best editing. Brilliantly scripted and edited, good performances, and quite funny. I'm discovering that I'm very drawn to fast-paced dialogue and editing, which is probably why I loved this short. Unfortunately the audio is not of consistent quality, but the idea and execution help the film transcend this issue.
SCI-FI
WRONG WAY RIGHT by LateNight Films: Winner of Best Film. These guys basically win every year. :) They're a highly skilled production team. Also a little dark in nature, reminiscent of "The Butterfly Effect". While their entry is definitely shot beautifully and skilfully crafted, I thought the ending left a lot to be desired. I can see why it won, though.
FILM DE FEMME (A genre they made up for this year, designed to promote strong female characters)
CASSETTE by 54th Story: The film everyone WISHED had won! Took the audience choice award. Really fun flick. Well shot and acted, and quite funny. It's also amazing they managed to make this film at all. While everyone else started scripting and planning on Friday night, these guys only managed to find their lead actress - via Twitter - on midnight of Sunday. And, in a bizarre life-mirrors-art twist, at one point their car broke down and they had to call for assistance. And yet they still managed to produce this. Pretty fucking incredible.
SUBSCRIBING by Failed Productions: Woman decides whether social norms are for her. Come for the social commentary, stay for the best credits music of the 2014 festival.
FISH OUT OF WATER
FINE by Cameralla: Nominated for Best Film. Funny and quite touching piece, with a very impressive performance from the lead that is emotional yet not melodramatic. I thought this one was really, really fantastic.
FILM NOIR
THE BEARDED DETECTIVE by Blue Box: Took the prize for Best Use of Genre, and you can see why. Hard shadows, desk lamp light, hard-boiled PI, a dame in distress, southern American accents; this thing oozes noir. I think the plot twist is a little bit fuzzy/hard to follow, but overall it's a cool little noir piece.
ROMANCE
THE COLLECTOR by Blazing Arrow Media: Not exactly sure how you can call this one a 'romance' film, it's really more of a drama, but either way it's pretty good. A story that just pleasantly washes over you, well delivered from the main actor, and nicely shot. Nominated for quite a few awards, but didn't manage to win anything.
MUSICAL
TURNIN' TRICKS by AstralVision: Heheh. This is an extremely silly film. You'll only enjoy it if you go along with it. For example you need to buy the fact that the dude complains about how he's never stolen a car before while trying to break in to it, and then in the next shot he is driving it. I guess the keys must have been in there? Ah who cares, just roll with it. ;) They did a good job on actually making the music and lip synching it too, considering the timeframe. I guess that's why they delivered their film past the deadline.
If you only feel like watching a few, I'd say at least check out CASSETTE, FINE and BOBBY.
***
There's some other decent ones if you can be bothered - REBECCA, a touching story about a boy and his goat, will appeal to anyone who enjoyed the "Charlie The Wonder Dog" segments from The Late Show, SHIP OUT OF LUCK is a sci-fi/comedy about a man trying to buy insurance for/repair his currently-crashing spaceship, and UPSTREAM is a bizarre and slightly surreal time-travel film where all of the people either don't know, or don't seem to care that they have just inexplicably travelled through time.
Unfortunately one of my favourites, about a portal to a noir world that just shows up one morning in someone's lounge room, still hasn't been put up online. It was made by someone I'm in touch with on Twitter, so I'll have to bug him about it at some stage. I will update this entry if it's ever put up.
Enjoy! Let me know what you think of any of the shorts that you watch. :)
.:Dominitus:.
However if you're up for watching some more, there's quite a few that are definitely worth watching. Don't forget that these films were entirely conceived and created in one weekend, because you won't believe it for some of them. I'll break them up by genre. Here's my pick of the ones currently online:
***
WESTERN
BOBBY by Wake In Vegemite: Took out the award for best music. Was also a big audience favourite. It's pretty cool. :)
DRAMA
STAIN by Oh My: Nominee for Best Film, this one is a bit dark but I found it compelling and very well crafted. Done entirely in one shot (not counting the opening).
DATES OF OUR LIVES or KINDLING (depending on whether you go by the slate or the closing titles) by From Rushes With Love: More of a rom-com than a drama, this should have taken the award for best editing. Brilliantly scripted and edited, good performances, and quite funny. I'm discovering that I'm very drawn to fast-paced dialogue and editing, which is probably why I loved this short. Unfortunately the audio is not of consistent quality, but the idea and execution help the film transcend this issue.
SCI-FI
WRONG WAY RIGHT by LateNight Films: Winner of Best Film. These guys basically win every year. :) They're a highly skilled production team. Also a little dark in nature, reminiscent of "The Butterfly Effect". While their entry is definitely shot beautifully and skilfully crafted, I thought the ending left a lot to be desired. I can see why it won, though.
FILM DE FEMME (A genre they made up for this year, designed to promote strong female characters)
CASSETTE by 54th Story: The film everyone WISHED had won! Took the audience choice award. Really fun flick. Well shot and acted, and quite funny. It's also amazing they managed to make this film at all. While everyone else started scripting and planning on Friday night, these guys only managed to find their lead actress - via Twitter - on midnight of Sunday. And, in a bizarre life-mirrors-art twist, at one point their car broke down and they had to call for assistance. And yet they still managed to produce this. Pretty fucking incredible.
SUBSCRIBING by Failed Productions: Woman decides whether social norms are for her. Come for the social commentary, stay for the best credits music of the 2014 festival.
FISH OUT OF WATER
FINE by Cameralla: Nominated for Best Film. Funny and quite touching piece, with a very impressive performance from the lead that is emotional yet not melodramatic. I thought this one was really, really fantastic.
FILM NOIR
THE BEARDED DETECTIVE by Blue Box: Took the prize for Best Use of Genre, and you can see why. Hard shadows, desk lamp light, hard-boiled PI, a dame in distress, southern American accents; this thing oozes noir. I think the plot twist is a little bit fuzzy/hard to follow, but overall it's a cool little noir piece.
ROMANCE
THE COLLECTOR by Blazing Arrow Media: Not exactly sure how you can call this one a 'romance' film, it's really more of a drama, but either way it's pretty good. A story that just pleasantly washes over you, well delivered from the main actor, and nicely shot. Nominated for quite a few awards, but didn't manage to win anything.
MUSICAL
TURNIN' TRICKS by AstralVision: Heheh. This is an extremely silly film. You'll only enjoy it if you go along with it. For example you need to buy the fact that the dude complains about how he's never stolen a car before while trying to break in to it, and then in the next shot he is driving it. I guess the keys must have been in there? Ah who cares, just roll with it. ;) They did a good job on actually making the music and lip synching it too, considering the timeframe. I guess that's why they delivered their film past the deadline.
If you only feel like watching a few, I'd say at least check out CASSETTE, FINE and BOBBY.
***
There's some other decent ones if you can be bothered - REBECCA, a touching story about a boy and his goat, will appeal to anyone who enjoyed the "Charlie The Wonder Dog" segments from The Late Show, SHIP OUT OF LUCK is a sci-fi/comedy about a man trying to buy insurance for/repair his currently-crashing spaceship, and UPSTREAM is a bizarre and slightly surreal time-travel film where all of the people either don't know, or don't seem to care that they have just inexplicably travelled through time.
Unfortunately one of my favourites, about a portal to a noir world that just shows up one morning in someone's lounge room, still hasn't been put up online. It was made by someone I'm in touch with on Twitter, so I'll have to bug him about it at some stage. I will update this entry if it's ever put up.
Enjoy! Let me know what you think of any of the shorts that you watch. :)
.:Dominitus:.