Title: D-I-M, Deus in Machina
Director: Axel Ricke
Hit or Miss: Miss.
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/03/07/d-i-m-deus-in-machina/
While I typically really enjoy films in the Sci-Fi genre, I couldn't get into this short as much as I wanted to. There were just several things about it that just seemed to fall through for me. While I applaud the team behind this short for having the bravery to attempt to take on this project, as Sci-Fi on a low budget isn't always easy to do, I feel that there were still a few more negatives that outweighed the positives in terms of originality that unfortunately I must give this short a a "Miss".
The story is set up as your typical dystopian future. Bleak, cold, technology laden. I kind of felt like I had seen this story before and while this is the general set up for many sci-fi movies, I feel some are able to play with this set up better than others. Still, all in all, there was some originality in the story despite visually looking quite familiar to many other sci-fi stories I've seen such. The plot picks up with Lutz, a dreamer discontent with the controlled world he lives in ( "1984", "Brave New World","Equilibrium", " style) where life is dictated by the number of social points you have. Trying to rise above this, he sets off to "Fight the system" embarking on a race around technology to break into the office that controls the social points (feeling just a little bit like "Gattaca"). Overall, despite offering something a little different (although I'm not entirely sure what that was considering the plot felt a bit uneven to me, dragged on a bit, and was a little unclear) it still rang all too familiar and didn't feel that original to me. Although, I can accept it is hard to make an original story out of the old standard "Dystopian society run by rules and technology", maybe that's why they maybe should have gone with something else.
When it comes to technicality, science fiction can be extremely hard to tackle and make successful. Understanding that this was shot on a low budget and that is is just an independent film and not a big budget Hollywood "Minority Report" style movie with the financial capabilities to be able to have impressive visual effects, I still found myself wrestling with enjoying the film with mediocre-bad visual effects. I applaud them for their hard work, but for my taste personally, I just couldn't get into it. A lot of the time the animation went from average to somewhat terrible, and I just couldn't really enjoy that. I felt like a lot of the time they tried to focus on using their visual effects which felt forced in what felt like "Look at our impressive visual effects, look how much we have here!" when in reality it never really looked that impressive to begin with.
My biggest complaint still was honestly the music, which I found to be pretty cheesy and made it harder for me to take it seriously. I did however like the Title and Credit sequence even though I felt again like I had seen it before. Another minor complaint I had was with the editing which in some instances it just seemed to cut weirdly or almost too abruptly with weird transitions.
Overall, I applaud them for their attempt to make something original out of the Sci-Fi genre while not entirely getting there.While I have taken budget into consideration, and understand that it is very hard it make an impressive looking sci-fi short, perhaps if they could redo it they should spend less time trying to make it look more impressive and try to cram in all of their visual effects as frequently as possible and focus more on the story, which doesn't take a lot of money, they might have something better.
Hit or Miss: Miss.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Hit or Miss: Nuit Blanche
Title: Nuit Blanche
Director: Arev Manoukian
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/02/05/nuit-blanche/
Hit or Miss: Hit
It was honestly a little difficult for me to find the right words to review "Nuit Blance" as it somewhat left me speechless. With excellent direction, writing, cinematography, and music, this film is just a phenomenal example of what shorts should strive to be and is probably my very favorite one to review to date.
The story is simple: what it feels like to feel love at first sight. But the feelings associated with this moment are not quite so simple as we see the two characters lives changed in one moment.
What makes this film work wonderfully are is the fact that it is so emotionally powerful. They take the idea of love at first sight and plunge it into hyperdrive by creating these intense feelings. Love is not just love, a look is not just a look, attraction takes a much more powerful feel. Water plunges up in slow motion, a wine glass shatters to the table in a moment of forgetting all cares and being only able to focus on her one true love. The man drops his suitcase and the whole entire world and focus to him becomes her. He steps in front of a car and it even shatters around him as she shatters through glass. These dramatic events all happening around them evoke a lot of emotion from the viewer as they feel love as a much more dramatic and powerful thing when it's presented in such an intense light. This really makes you feel love on a very powerful level.
The film itself is shot beautiful with fantastic lighting, costuming, and set decorating, they are really able to give you this feel of the 1940's/50's film noir scene. It works absolutely perfectly. The music in this film also helps enhance the intense drama and romance felt by the actors. By using appropriate music to enhance the scene, you could really feel what they felt without having to have any unnecessary dialogue. When you're able to provide and evoke a lot of emotion without the use of dialogue, you know you have done something great with your film. It's strongest point perhaps, in addition to music, was really the cinematography. This short had breathtaking imagery and the high speed camerawork was incredible. The overall look of this film, the lighting, the shots, the color, are absolutely beautiful to watch. I also really enjoying seeing the classic "Fin" at the end of the film paying homage to classic French new wave cinema.
This short will be both a treat for the eyes and the heart. A definite "Hit"
Director: Arev Manoukian
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/02/05/nuit-blanche/
Hit or Miss: Hit
It was honestly a little difficult for me to find the right words to review "Nuit Blance" as it somewhat left me speechless. With excellent direction, writing, cinematography, and music, this film is just a phenomenal example of what shorts should strive to be and is probably my very favorite one to review to date.
The story is simple: what it feels like to feel love at first sight. But the feelings associated with this moment are not quite so simple as we see the two characters lives changed in one moment.
What makes this film work wonderfully are is the fact that it is so emotionally powerful. They take the idea of love at first sight and plunge it into hyperdrive by creating these intense feelings. Love is not just love, a look is not just a look, attraction takes a much more powerful feel. Water plunges up in slow motion, a wine glass shatters to the table in a moment of forgetting all cares and being only able to focus on her one true love. The man drops his suitcase and the whole entire world and focus to him becomes her. He steps in front of a car and it even shatters around him as she shatters through glass. These dramatic events all happening around them evoke a lot of emotion from the viewer as they feel love as a much more dramatic and powerful thing when it's presented in such an intense light. This really makes you feel love on a very powerful level.
The film itself is shot beautiful with fantastic lighting, costuming, and set decorating, they are really able to give you this feel of the 1940's/50's film noir scene. It works absolutely perfectly. The music in this film also helps enhance the intense drama and romance felt by the actors. By using appropriate music to enhance the scene, you could really feel what they felt without having to have any unnecessary dialogue. When you're able to provide and evoke a lot of emotion without the use of dialogue, you know you have done something great with your film. It's strongest point perhaps, in addition to music, was really the cinematography. This short had breathtaking imagery and the high speed camerawork was incredible. The overall look of this film, the lighting, the shots, the color, are absolutely beautiful to watch. I also really enjoying seeing the classic "Fin" at the end of the film paying homage to classic French new wave cinema.
This short will be both a treat for the eyes and the heart. A definite "Hit"
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Hit or Miss: Old Fangs
Old Fangs
Directed by: Adrien Merigeau
Hit or Miss: Hit.
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/10/11/old-fangs/
Adrien Merigeau's short "Old Fangs" is one of the best I've seen, period. His style and writing help create one heavy and aesthetically beautiful short that takes a hold of you and keeps you engrossed the entire time.
The story follows a young wolf who goes with his friends into the woods in search of reconnecting with his estranged father. As he goes deeper into the woods his friends ask him if he knows where he's going. As he goes deeper he starts to remember until he finds his father's house. Hoping for something a bit more positive as he reminisces on the old times, he is disappointed to find that his father isn't exactly what he hoped for. He lives a life much different from his son and these differences don't mesh well for either. His father proves to be too powerful and forceful as well as being a bit dirty and slob-like. Disappointed, the son leaves and begins his journey home. He separates from his friends for a while and in his lone journey has flashbacks of why their relationship failed. As he goes home with his friends, the audience sees the father wolf one last time as he sobs in his house proving a glimpse weakness. The once powerful father wolf sheds his "all too tough" exterior in this final scene as he proves that even the strongest and meanest can be vulnerable as he misses the very son he pushed away.
What makes this film work is not just it's powerful and emotional storyline but it's sense of blending realness in a surreal place. As the son wolf is in this new place he feels a bit lost as he can't remember where exactly he is going. This helps to create a feeling of being lost and confused, very dreamlike, a bit surreal. Still, as he journeys into the woods and finds his father and is able to remember and feel these very powerful emotions, the dreamlike feeling of anticipation and wonder into finding home, begins to lose its magic. Anticipation is gone. Reality has struck, and this is a very real feeling. The emotions he is feeling now are very strong and relatable to a lot of people. When you lose your sense of anticipation and realize that everything you were dreaming for is everything you didn't want it to be and you are reminded as to why that is, it hits hard. As for the protagonist here, he feels reality hit as he remembers why he is estranged from his father. As these powerful feelings flee from dreamy anticipation to confusion to finally recognizing, remembering, and accepting the truth and reality are very real. The emotional rollercoaster felt by the wolf from wonder to anticipation to confusion and finally sadness are very powerful and helps create a great display of emotions for the viewer to also feel themselves as they watch his struggle.
Although filled with a lot of emotion, the storyline was able to remain simple and understandable enough for the viewer to understand without any real questions. It was concise and to the point. Despite having a simple plot and relatively simple characters, the characters themselves were developed well even in their simplicity. We don't need much story or overly complex characters to understand the insight and what is going on in the minds of each character. Even with little dialogue, we can tell that the wolf's friend share empathetic and show concern for their friend. Even as the wolf son doesn't speak very much in his journey, we can see the emotions and feel as if we can read his thoughts along the way. When he walks home, we can sense his disappointment without having a lot of dialogue needing to explain along the way. Being able to portray emotions and thoughts without having to explain it in words is something every filmmaker should strive to be able to do.
The artistic element of the film without a doubt plays a very large role in this short. The shots of real images, photographs of the woods, intertwined with the animation gives us a very aesthetically beautiful look and also helps to tie in nicely with the surrealism blended with realism theme that is present throughout. While the photographs are lovely, the hand drawn animation which is shown predominantly in the film is very visually appealing. The style of the animation is unique and I personally really liked the way in which the characters were drawn. By giving the animals anthropomorphic features, the wolf and his friends having tall and slender bodies standing upright and wearing clothes, was not only interesting in an artistic and stylish way but also helped make them feel more human which in turn helps us as the audience empathize with their emotions when we feel we can relate to them. I also found it interesting to see that whereas the son wolf and his friends wear clothes the father wolf is shown to be naked. I believe that this is an artistic decision made purposefully by the filmmaker to help portray the wolf and his friends as more human and the father wolf to be shown as much more savage (which ties in perfectly with his personality as the brash and beastly personality).
The use of color was also another stylistic element that I found to be used very well in this film. As the emotions of the character changed, the colors would change to help reflect the mood of what was going on at the time. Depending on the scene, there could be yellows, reds, blues, or greens used to help convey the feeling. This deliberate and particular use of color worked wonderfully.
One of my favorite things about this short was it's use of sound and in particular, the score. It was beautiful and powerful and worked perfectly, altering slightly to fit each feeling and mood appropriately. Music can really make a big difference in conveying emotions and in this case it was a brilliant touch.
After finishing this short, I believe that this was absolutely one of my favorites that we have watched this year. The beautiful imagery, developed characters, original and emotionally gripping plot, excellent use of color and sound, really helped work together to create a fantastic short.
This is absolutely, without a doubt, a Hit.
Directed by: Adrien Merigeau
Hit or Miss: Hit.
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/10/11/old-fangs/
Adrien Merigeau's short "Old Fangs" is one of the best I've seen, period. His style and writing help create one heavy and aesthetically beautiful short that takes a hold of you and keeps you engrossed the entire time.
The story follows a young wolf who goes with his friends into the woods in search of reconnecting with his estranged father. As he goes deeper into the woods his friends ask him if he knows where he's going. As he goes deeper he starts to remember until he finds his father's house. Hoping for something a bit more positive as he reminisces on the old times, he is disappointed to find that his father isn't exactly what he hoped for. He lives a life much different from his son and these differences don't mesh well for either. His father proves to be too powerful and forceful as well as being a bit dirty and slob-like. Disappointed, the son leaves and begins his journey home. He separates from his friends for a while and in his lone journey has flashbacks of why their relationship failed. As he goes home with his friends, the audience sees the father wolf one last time as he sobs in his house proving a glimpse weakness. The once powerful father wolf sheds his "all too tough" exterior in this final scene as he proves that even the strongest and meanest can be vulnerable as he misses the very son he pushed away.
What makes this film work is not just it's powerful and emotional storyline but it's sense of blending realness in a surreal place. As the son wolf is in this new place he feels a bit lost as he can't remember where exactly he is going. This helps to create a feeling of being lost and confused, very dreamlike, a bit surreal. Still, as he journeys into the woods and finds his father and is able to remember and feel these very powerful emotions, the dreamlike feeling of anticipation and wonder into finding home, begins to lose its magic. Anticipation is gone. Reality has struck, and this is a very real feeling. The emotions he is feeling now are very strong and relatable to a lot of people. When you lose your sense of anticipation and realize that everything you were dreaming for is everything you didn't want it to be and you are reminded as to why that is, it hits hard. As for the protagonist here, he feels reality hit as he remembers why he is estranged from his father. As these powerful feelings flee from dreamy anticipation to confusion to finally recognizing, remembering, and accepting the truth and reality are very real. The emotional rollercoaster felt by the wolf from wonder to anticipation to confusion and finally sadness are very powerful and helps create a great display of emotions for the viewer to also feel themselves as they watch his struggle.
Although filled with a lot of emotion, the storyline was able to remain simple and understandable enough for the viewer to understand without any real questions. It was concise and to the point. Despite having a simple plot and relatively simple characters, the characters themselves were developed well even in their simplicity. We don't need much story or overly complex characters to understand the insight and what is going on in the minds of each character. Even with little dialogue, we can tell that the wolf's friend share empathetic and show concern for their friend. Even as the wolf son doesn't speak very much in his journey, we can see the emotions and feel as if we can read his thoughts along the way. When he walks home, we can sense his disappointment without having a lot of dialogue needing to explain along the way. Being able to portray emotions and thoughts without having to explain it in words is something every filmmaker should strive to be able to do.
The artistic element of the film without a doubt plays a very large role in this short. The shots of real images, photographs of the woods, intertwined with the animation gives us a very aesthetically beautiful look and also helps to tie in nicely with the surrealism blended with realism theme that is present throughout. While the photographs are lovely, the hand drawn animation which is shown predominantly in the film is very visually appealing. The style of the animation is unique and I personally really liked the way in which the characters were drawn. By giving the animals anthropomorphic features, the wolf and his friends having tall and slender bodies standing upright and wearing clothes, was not only interesting in an artistic and stylish way but also helped make them feel more human which in turn helps us as the audience empathize with their emotions when we feel we can relate to them. I also found it interesting to see that whereas the son wolf and his friends wear clothes the father wolf is shown to be naked. I believe that this is an artistic decision made purposefully by the filmmaker to help portray the wolf and his friends as more human and the father wolf to be shown as much more savage (which ties in perfectly with his personality as the brash and beastly personality).
The use of color was also another stylistic element that I found to be used very well in this film. As the emotions of the character changed, the colors would change to help reflect the mood of what was going on at the time. Depending on the scene, there could be yellows, reds, blues, or greens used to help convey the feeling. This deliberate and particular use of color worked wonderfully.
One of my favorite things about this short was it's use of sound and in particular, the score. It was beautiful and powerful and worked perfectly, altering slightly to fit each feeling and mood appropriately. Music can really make a big difference in conveying emotions and in this case it was a brilliant touch.
After finishing this short, I believe that this was absolutely one of my favorites that we have watched this year. The beautiful imagery, developed characters, original and emotionally gripping plot, excellent use of color and sound, really helped work together to create a fantastic short.
This is absolutely, without a doubt, a Hit.
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