22 Jul 2013
5 Jul 2013
Steve The Christmas Freak ★★☆☆☆
Length: 03:58
Logline: A Christmas obsessed nutter keeps trying to celebrate the festivities much to the annoyance of his flatmate.
Writer/Director Poole takes on the lead role here but instead of demonstrating his acting abilities, he possibly just be comes across as deranged. Submitted to the CIFA Xmas Shorts Competition, this is a festive story with a twist. Comedy is purely objective of course, but this verges more on the side of being disturbing than funny. (At the same time, it is very laugh out loud)
Bad lighting makes a lot of the visuals difficult to see so this doesn't get off to a very good start. That's eventually resolved when the annoyed flatmate, Tom McCarthy, turns the light on in the living room. The plot is bizarre and surreal making me think this was probably just thought up during a heavy night of drinking. Poole's character is creepy enough but with plot holes a plenty, it's unclear what this character is actually trying to do. It's all about the punchline here but the daft ending doesn't satisfy.
Best Bit: McCarthy's contempt for irritating Poole.
Writer/Director Poole takes on the lead role here but instead of demonstrating his acting abilities, he possibly just be comes across as deranged. Submitted to the CIFA Xmas Shorts Competition, this is a festive story with a twist. Comedy is purely objective of course, but this verges more on the side of being disturbing than funny. (At the same time, it is very laugh out loud)
Bad lighting makes a lot of the visuals difficult to see so this doesn't get off to a very good start. That's eventually resolved when the annoyed flatmate, Tom McCarthy, turns the light on in the living room. The plot is bizarre and surreal making me think this was probably just thought up during a heavy night of drinking. Poole's character is creepy enough but with plot holes a plenty, it's unclear what this character is actually trying to do. It's all about the punchline here but the daft ending doesn't satisfy.
Best Bit: McCarthy's contempt for irritating Poole.
Worst Bit: The wagging tongue. Make it stop!
Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.
4 Jul 2013
Diary Of A Pregnant Dad ★★★☆☆
Length: 03:57
Logline: Music video for 4-Eyez (feat. Callum Smith)
This is a fun little ditty, which is playful and humorous. Whether this is an amateur musician trying to make it pro or someone just mucking about, is another question. The level of audio equipment being used tells us that this guy means business but the easy listening style and tone of the music means it's hard to take this very seriously. 4-Eyes does however come off as a multi-skilled artist as we see him take the helm and pretty much do all of the instruments, singing and probably everything else too.
Good quality video equipment gives us a clean and crisp look on screen with nice bright colouring and good lighting. But mimicking the in house music arrangement, which sounds close to a one hit wonder charity single, there's also a homemade feel to the video as well with the photo stills swiping across the screen like it's been created by any bog-standard iPhoto or iMovie app. (added to by the home video style sequence of course) Editing does well to keep our eyes busy with a decent selection of shots being used along side including a nice opening sequence although it looks like they may have been running out of ideas by the time they start filming the pet dog.
There's an attempt to follow the narrative of the lyrics in a visual manner but this errs on the side of being just a bit too long (guitar solo for example) and runs into a bit of unnecessary repetition to fill in the time.
This is a fun little ditty, which is playful and humorous. Whether this is an amateur musician trying to make it pro or someone just mucking about, is another question. The level of audio equipment being used tells us that this guy means business but the easy listening style and tone of the music means it's hard to take this very seriously. 4-Eyes does however come off as a multi-skilled artist as we see him take the helm and pretty much do all of the instruments, singing and probably everything else too.
Good quality video equipment gives us a clean and crisp look on screen with nice bright colouring and good lighting. But mimicking the in house music arrangement, which sounds close to a one hit wonder charity single, there's also a homemade feel to the video as well with the photo stills swiping across the screen like it's been created by any bog-standard iPhoto or iMovie app. (added to by the home video style sequence of course) Editing does well to keep our eyes busy with a decent selection of shots being used along side including a nice opening sequence although it looks like they may have been running out of ideas by the time they start filming the pet dog.
There's an attempt to follow the narrative of the lyrics in a visual manner but this errs on the side of being just a bit too long (guitar solo for example) and runs into a bit of unnecessary repetition to fill in the time.
Best Bit: Highlighting 4-Eyez's varying skills.
Worst Bit: Naff tune with cringeworthy lyrics.
Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.
3 Jul 2013
Another Film In The Woods ★★★☆☆
Length: 09:07
Logline: A woman is transported into the woods where an evil demon preys on those who have sinned.
Amber Brookes takes the lead, (trailing off to the shops in her bloomin' pyjamas of all things) and although she delivers what feels like is a naturalistic performance, lacks confidence on screen. Although having characters talking to themselves isn't always the best way to convey information, it kind of suits the protagonists character here so doesn't stand out too much in the grand scheme of things. Dialogue varies between being realistic to being bizarre as exposition on what the heck is actually going on gets delivered through lines which sometimes feel out of place. There's some sound recording problems which leaves some dialogue annoyingly inaudible but the overall sound design works well with the genre with layered sfx's and atmospheric drones, and nice changes in tempo.
A change to a colder colour scheme marks the arrival of Brookes into the surreal wood landscape and the pacing of the edit is also modified to signify this transition. The running scenes, which are visually dramatic and distorted are good at showing urgency but could also quickly becomes tiresome for the audience as the camera gets frantically jolted around all over the place. Lighting isn't the best and there's a lot of washed out looking shots to be had along with hard to make out blacks.
The plot is left with a few holes as it's not clear what Brookes has done to deserve her transportation to a reality where demons hunt those who have sinned or how she magically gets out of there and back home. This could do with more clarity in terms of story and character arc to prevent baffling audiences any more than they probably are. Overall, this low to no budget horror lacks scares if it's a horror and laughs if it's a comedy-horror, while the technical difficulties and story flaws distract from a potentially decent short.
Amber Brookes takes the lead, (trailing off to the shops in her bloomin' pyjamas of all things) and although she delivers what feels like is a naturalistic performance, lacks confidence on screen. Although having characters talking to themselves isn't always the best way to convey information, it kind of suits the protagonists character here so doesn't stand out too much in the grand scheme of things. Dialogue varies between being realistic to being bizarre as exposition on what the heck is actually going on gets delivered through lines which sometimes feel out of place. There's some sound recording problems which leaves some dialogue annoyingly inaudible but the overall sound design works well with the genre with layered sfx's and atmospheric drones, and nice changes in tempo.
A change to a colder colour scheme marks the arrival of Brookes into the surreal wood landscape and the pacing of the edit is also modified to signify this transition. The running scenes, which are visually dramatic and distorted are good at showing urgency but could also quickly becomes tiresome for the audience as the camera gets frantically jolted around all over the place. Lighting isn't the best and there's a lot of washed out looking shots to be had along with hard to make out blacks.
The plot is left with a few holes as it's not clear what Brookes has done to deserve her transportation to a reality where demons hunt those who have sinned or how she magically gets out of there and back home. This could do with more clarity in terms of story and character arc to prevent baffling audiences any more than they probably are. Overall, this low to no budget horror lacks scares if it's a horror and laughs if it's a comedy-horror, while the technical difficulties and story flaws distract from a potentially decent short.
Best Bit: Last scene and Brookes reaction to her ordeal.
Worst Bit: Werewolf soundbite taken straight from the 'Drive' soundtrack.
Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.
1 Jul 2013
Short of the month - June 2013
Another short month on account of the EIFF interrupting it but the clear winner this month has to be...
'Coward'
Excellent in every way, this superb short really shows us how it should be done. Not only does it look and sound brilliant, there's an emotionally resonant story to boot. An absolute must see. Find it here on Vimeo.
Logline: Two Irish cousins brave WWI trench warfare at its worst.
Read the original review here or read a condensed review on Twitter here and an interview by the film's cinematographer Stephen Murphy here.
'Coward'
Excellent in every way, this superb short really shows us how it should be done. Not only does it look and sound brilliant, there's an emotionally resonant story to boot. An absolute must see. Find it here on Vimeo.
Logline: Two Irish cousins brave WWI trench warfare at its worst.
Length: 28:27
Written by Terry Donnelly, Steve Handley, Mark O'Halloran and Dave Roddham. Directed by Dave Roddham
Genre: War
Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★★
Rating: ★★★★★
Read the original review here or read a condensed review on Twitter here and an interview by the film's cinematographer Stephen Murphy here.
30 Jun 2013
EIFF 2013 UK Trailers Part Three
Title: The Nether Regions
Written by Lesley Farrow. Directed by Maria Lee
Genre: Animation
Full Length: 03:15
Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★☆
Title: The Search For Inspiration Gone
Written & directed by Ashley Michael Briggs
Rating: ★★★★☆
Title: The Search For Inspiration Gone
Written & directed by Ashley Michael Briggs
Genre: Animation
Full Length: 09:00
Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★☆
Title: The Port
Written & directed by Rory Alexander Stewart
Rating: ★★★★☆
Title: The Port
Written & directed by Rory Alexander Stewart
Genre: Documentary
Full Length: 17:00
EIFF 2013 UK Trailers Part Two
Title: Rushcart
Written and directed by Tom Chick
Genre: Documentary
Full Length: 07:00
Date: 2013
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Title: Seams And Embers
Written and directed by Claire Lamond
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Title: Seams And Embers
Written and directed by Claire Lamond
Genre: Animation
Full Length: 06:00
Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Title: SNAP
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Title: SNAP
Written by Thomas G. Murphy. Directed by Thomas G. Murphy & Hilere
Genre: Animation
Full Length: 07:00
Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★★
Title: Sweetie & Sunshine
Written and directed by Will Anderson
Rating: ★★★★★
Title: Sweetie & Sunshine
Written and directed by Will Anderson
Genre: Animation
Full Length: 05:00
Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★★
Title: The House With No Doors
Written and directed by Oana Nechifor
Genre: Animation
Rating: ★★★★★
Title: The House With No Doors
Written and directed by Oana Nechifor
Genre: Animation
Full Length: 07:00
Date: 2013
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Title: The Hungry Corpse
Written by James Pout. Directed by Gergely Wootsch
Genre: Animation
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Title: The Hungry Corpse
Written by James Pout. Directed by Gergely Wootsch
Genre: Animation
Full Length: 10:00
Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★★
Title: The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat
Written and directed by Ross Hogg
Genre: Animation
Rating: ★★★★★
Title: The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat
Written and directed by Ross Hogg
Genre: Animation
Full Length: 03:19
Date: 2013
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
EIFF 2013 UK Trailers Part One
The shorts programme at this years Edinburgh International Film Festival was a lot better than last years with a much higher standard. Here's a collation, in no particular order, of shorts that showed and which have trailers online. Shame on you, those who don't have one.
Title: Beat
Title: Beat
Written and directed by Aneil Karia
Genre: Drama
Full Length: 12:00
Date: 2013
Rating: ★★★★☆
Title: Getting On
Written by Liam Stewart & Ewan Stewart. Directed by Ewan Stewart
Title: In The Air Is Christopher Gray
Written & directed by Felix Massie
Title: Little Brother
Written by Martin Kreuch. Directed by Andrei Staruiala
Rating: ★★★★☆
Title: Getting On
Written by Liam Stewart & Ewan Stewart. Directed by Ewan Stewart
Genre: Drama
Full Length: 09:00
Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★☆
Title: Hart's Desire
Written & directed by Gavin Robinson
Rating: ★★★★☆
Title: Hart's Desire
Written & directed by Gavin Robinson
Genre: Animation
Full Length: 06:00
Date: 2013
Rating: ★★★★☆
Rating: ★★★★☆
Title: In The Air Is Christopher Gray
Written & directed by Felix Massie
Genre: Animation
Full Length: 10:00
Date: 2013
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Title: Lagan
Written & directed by Peter Shaw
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Title: Lagan
Written & directed by Peter Shaw
Genre: Animation
Full Length: 04:00
Date: 2013
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Title: Last Breath
Written & directed by Ying Ping Mak
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Title: Last Breath
Written & directed by Ying Ping Mak
Genre: Animation
Full Length: 08:00
Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★★
Rating: ★★★★★
Title: Little Brother
Written by Martin Kreuch. Directed by Andrei Staruiala
Genre: Drama
Full Length: 23:00
Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★☆
Rating: ★★★★☆
20 Jun 2013
EEEEEEEIFF
Taking some time off to galavant up to the Edinburgh International Film Festival to do some roving reporting.
Apologies to folks waiting for their film to be reviewed. Will get to it on return.
Apologies to folks waiting for their film to be reviewed. Will get to it on return.
19 Jun 2013
Showcase: Domestic Wrestling
Length: 02:18
Logline: An untidy bloke feels the unusual wrath of his miffed girlfriend.
The latest effort from Writer/Director/and Short Film Festival extraordinaire Neil Rolland brings us a low budget surrealist comedy featuring none other than his very own wife. While possibly acting out some bizarre fetish, this is also a fun twist on wife beating. I can only imagine what the neighbours must have been thinking when they were filming this.
Best Bit: Like the costumes.
Worst Bit: That end celebration sequence is awfy awfy long.
Final thought: Possibly concentrate more of keeping the camera in focus too.
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