Length: 08:53
Logline: A teddy bear and his best mate have a fall out.
Filmmaker Swaby wrote to me asking for his short to be reviewed (all films welcome btw) but sorry mate, I don't think you'll be overly pleased by what am about to write...
First off the bat, I had difficulty in pinpointing which genre this should come under. The opening sequence is really abstract so I've shoved it in as experimental to cover that but this is more likely to be intended as a comedy as by three and a half minutes in you're thinking this is just plain daft.
The editing is unique. The use of sliding opaque coloured rectangles is a bold choice. A distracting one, but a bold one. Having to read text instead of hearing dialogue when unnecessary takes the viewers eye away from the on screen action too. I wanted to hear the banter between Swaby and fellow performer Paul Bamgbose as it would have added a more comedy and realism to the piece. Static camera shots and stills was probably a wise choice, the camera quality is decent and the tint over the external shots gives it a better look but doesn't quite cover the fact that shots are being reused.
The dialogue in those text overlays immediately throws the audience into an obscure and ridiculous plot. There's a bit of a 'made up in two seconds' feel to this production. I really hope alcohol was involved, if not, it should have been. Would be interested to know what audience this was aimed at and the intentions of the film. On the whole, although the concept is daring as it strays away from traditional story telling, the weirdness of the plot and the (can't say it enough) terrible decision to have text on screen, means this scores low. Saying that one or two lines did force a chuckle and the title's at least an accurate description.
Filmmaker Swaby wrote to me asking for his short to be reviewed (all films welcome btw) but sorry mate, I don't think you'll be overly pleased by what am about to write...
First off the bat, I had difficulty in pinpointing which genre this should come under. The opening sequence is really abstract so I've shoved it in as experimental to cover that but this is more likely to be intended as a comedy as by three and a half minutes in you're thinking this is just plain daft.
The editing is unique. The use of sliding opaque coloured rectangles is a bold choice. A distracting one, but a bold one. Having to read text instead of hearing dialogue when unnecessary takes the viewers eye away from the on screen action too. I wanted to hear the banter between Swaby and fellow performer Paul Bamgbose as it would have added a more comedy and realism to the piece. Static camera shots and stills was probably a wise choice, the camera quality is decent and the tint over the external shots gives it a better look but doesn't quite cover the fact that shots are being reused.
The dialogue in those text overlays immediately throws the audience into an obscure and ridiculous plot. There's a bit of a 'made up in two seconds' feel to this production. I really hope alcohol was involved, if not, it should have been. Would be interested to know what audience this was aimed at and the intentions of the film. On the whole, although the concept is daring as it strays away from traditional story telling, the weirdness of the plot and the (can't say it enough) terrible decision to have text on screen, means this scores low. Saying that one or two lines did force a chuckle and the title's at least an accurate description.
Best Bit: Some of the music was good.
Final thought: Sorry Damien. Don't hate me. What do I know, eh?
Worst Bit: Text on screen forcing you to read poor lines.
Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.
