Short film's, Vol 10. Connected

hello, and welcome to this review.

Today I will be venturing back into an apocalyptic theme but in a diffrent way. As this film Connected, is rather interesting.

Another film with little dialogue  but still manages to have a strong effect on the audience, with the 3 characters each being very different, but the main characters actually being opposite to what you think.

The characters names also inspire a debate to what they are, where to me they seem like they stand for Alpha  Omega and 43.

Omega seems to want to go out alone and see's Alpha as a hinderance, and seeing that 43 has this device which is for a single person goes after it. where 43 see's them and knows that his oxygen suple will run out soon. so tricks Omega into violently swapping with him. which questions which one was good in this situation, by Omega ditching Alpha for good, and 43 tricking Omega into doing this swap so he can actually live.

Its quite an interesting film. Camera angles are really good showing good wide angle shots as well as over the shouter shots making it seem like its taken inspiration from game's. Also using many close ups of the characters eyes as its the only part of there body that you see, as well as many POV shots seeing the Breathing apparatus as well as the Fight.

Editing cuts through seamlessly and quite well, for the film. flowing from point to point, where it seems to be in only one location. But the things combined makes it seem like a much larger open location. With the mix of cutaways with other shots flows perfectly.

Another question that is raised is about the gender of the character's  where the question is raised are they all male, or are there 2 males and one female? The Costume design dosent reveal too much which adds to the mystery about them, which is a good added aspect towards the film.

Have a watch and see what you think, i hope you enjoy it.

     Will

Short films vol 9. The Happy Duckling and Zombie atualy

Hello and welcome to this review.
Today we have a change in genre with this short film, firstly a family friendly short and i must recommend it to anyone, its quite cute and funny and seems like something that should be on a children's TV show.
But if it was would also need to come with excuses for adults to watch too.
Then onto a Zombie comedy short, Which is quite clever.



This short film is a nice animation, the use of the pop up book style inside the film itself was a good touch, as the boy pulls on levers lowering or summoning objects allowing him to move was really clever.
It has a cute story which dosent give up, flowing from scene to scene in a inventive way seems perfect.
The story was quite mellow how it flowed seamlessly actually seeming like the boy is walking home from school or just walking though the park, sharing his food with ducks and having one get attached to him. the ending was quite charming but is explained why the boy didn't want the duck following him home.
Quite sad which did give it a nice effect with "The End" section. quite funny and pleasant.
I sent this film to a few people because I didn't want to wait to upload this. And one of the comments from sam a colleague from college was.
"It seemed like a game"
which dose ring true as it dose have a game feel and would be a nice game, I know I would get it.

And next up we have this short zombie film. I stumbled across this and it turned out to be brilliant, was quite witty and clever. it had a odd comedy aspect to it but it just seemed to work perfectly.
Called Zombie Actually, having a joke towards the film Love Actually, of love within a zombie apocalipse.
The quality could have been a bit better but thats just a youtube thing. the camera work was great, having good shots and angels, at times did seem like it would go out of focus but that could be because of the quality issues  the editing was quite good also, with good use of effects within the opining credit sequence, and cut's. The acting could have changed slightly but for the style and feel it has it goes with it perfectly.
It dose have the classic's in there with the gore from cutting zombies heads or, aswell as the amount of blood and over kill which is used.
A good comedy short zombie film which is simple and too the point. A must watch I think.

Short films vol 8. The Survivor collection.

Hello.
In todays review i will be reviewing 3 short film's from the Post-Apocalyptic genre.
I'm doing this because I was looking for a short film called The Last Post and couldn't find it. but there 3 films came up, which all look promocing and good,

First up.

The last whimper

Its a nice short film but honestly to me it seemed a bit boring  as I reached for the guitar and even got up to check how much time was left but none the less it was still a good film.
The camera work editing and sound was all perfect and continuity was flowing brilliantly.
but to me the acting wasent the best but thats no problem, it still managed to do its thing. having a nice conversation that seemed very real.
Another thing about this video is the way that it uses locations which suit the theme very well, with credit going to location scouts. Another aspect of this is the way the charcters seem, such as the woman seeming like a victem and the sinster looking man is useing her as bait, with a twist showing that she is atualy working along side him, by palying this act and seeming like a victem luring in people who are lonely and just want to help.
Have a watch and see what you think.



Next up

Last Strands of Man
Now I havent even begin to watch this yet, but with the fact it had a text box pop up telling me there is a fight scene at a surtan point into the film seems stupid. As it has ruined the suprise but also seems like it has not got much promis by telling us about this fight scene.
After watching this film in the beginning it looks really good it dose hold your attention, but as it goes on it begins to seem worse and worse, where the fight scene was interesting it did seem like a Over the shoulder shot of one character, who seemingly didn't have much to do with it.
The camera work was nice with interesting effects added it, as well as the opining scene was perfect. Yet in some areas the editing was a bit jumpy at time's. Another aspect it has was a POV shot from the main characters' perspective which had a strange red effect on it which wasn't explained, even a hint of make up by having blood shot eyes would have been a clue to what may be wrong with him.
Have a watch and see for yourself.



And our final film.

The Last Survivors.

This film has many quality's, seeming very profesional yet very unprofessional as well. as the intro promises to be a perfect film was quite gripping and very good, where the camera work was alright but could maybe of been improved by having a better camera, as it dose seem to look like it was filmed on a digital camera. The acting and actors were amateurish and too young but with older actors it would of seemed more interesting and have a better effect. But I can understand where there coming from with this as its a group of friends making a film.
Appart from that it was a really good film,  would like to see it remade with older actors and updated equipment as it has allot of potential. As the director and editor clearly have tallent.
Have a watch and enjoy see what you make of it.



Thats it for today, I will be back on saturday with more reviews.
      Will

Short Film, Vol 7 The Last Human

Hello and welcome to this review.

*Warning this review contains spilers, which are at the end fo the review, after the video, Plase watch the video first then read, Will*

Now to the review. this week, I will be reviewing the short film The Last Human, by Tom Walsh. Now, I had planned to review two other films today rather than this, but accidentally came across this while searching for  another, and i'm glad I couldn't find the other film as this find was much much better.

Immediately I was gripped by this film which straight asway is a good sign. Right from the start it showed the history and background of the film, and what was happening. a simple introduction with nice insert's then right into the film, the transitions and effects that were used are spot on and brilliant, fitting the film perfectly.

The main bulk of dialog is spoken from a small device the main character has, telling them order's then later used to playback messages from there love intrest. this all fits into the film brilliantly as well  having three sections, the arrival, the mission, then the finale.

The different angles used were interesting this may be from a technical point but it did leave me wondering what was used to film this short underwater clip. As this clip can't be more than 7 seconds long but fits perfectly within the film.

But after thinking it could be simply under a glass casing. 

This is a brilliant short film, I would recommend this anyone.

Place check this film out, and I hope you like it as much as I do.

Now here comes the spoilers section so I hope you've watched it.

Throughout this film I was left wondering who the main character is, while watching I was asking is it a woman. When I showed this to my class this was brought up as people didn't expect it to be a woman. Which is a nice touch as you wouldn't expect it to be a woman.
Another thing is how people were confused about the story. Where to me what i think it is that the woman has been sent back in time to leave a blood sample/DNA or organism's left so that the human rase have another chance. I think this as it shows at the beginning that there is a riff in time which could mean no human life on earth.
If you have your own theories on the story please leave a comment and start a discussion.

Short Film, Vol 6. Slayer, Playing With Doll's

Hello and welcome to this review.
Firstly an update on how often i'm going to review short film's, I will be releasing a review twice a week on wednesday at saturday.

Secondly, I must issue a warning about this video, it may be to violent or graphic in its own way, so  Parental Guidance is advised. The review itself is safe but the film itself may not be, be prepared for suggestive violence and gore, and not suitable for some viewer's.

Today I am going to be reviewing a short film. Now this is an interesting one, because its was created to go along with the release of the Slayer album World Painted Blood. Containing short clips from each song from the album to go along with the storyline, which with this to me works really well, at some points it dose seem a bit iffy, such as a slow fade out where a straight "halt" of the audio may have fit better, such as when the music kicks in. but this may have been tried in the making and seemed different so we'll never know.

Moving onto the films story. With this film it is very well structured, almost like a gnarly horror novel. By separating the scenes into Chapters and giving each scene a song title which gives a nice effect. With each song fitting into the scene perfectly, with a film like this, it may be odd of me to say my favorite one was for the song Playing With Doll's/Chapter 3 yet the best executed in my opinion was for the song Hate Worldwide/chapter 5.
This film has a nice story line, showing how the main protagonist was affected as a child with a simple transitions to show him in the present, then onto how he becomes this murdering serial killer. slowly building its way up through the songs of the album up to the final chapter, almost in a way sweet and innocent which is quite moving and sad, yet also disturbed. but in its final moments having a realisation on what the protagonist has done, and leaves you with the question, where did his creation go?

Another thing with this is that they could of filmed it completely differently, having live action rather than its "comic book" style feel. but having it in this way seems more effective, by cutting out all the other aspects of films that are important, such as the sounds and visuals that go along with it. It uses a method of interesting stop motion, and basic sound effects to for fill a powerful impression on the viewer.
With this stop motion method it is also quite effective, having an almost melodramatic feel to the characters actions. but with this method, possibly taking influence from the Psycho shower scene by taking a still frame and slowly zooming out, having the same method applied through this film. offering a unique way of the use stop motion, which would be hard to recreate as a stand along project without  music as an influence.

Below is the film itself, check it out, I hope you like it. and if you like the music, go buy the album, don't download music.

Short films, vol 5. Play Dead

Hello, and welcome to this post, thing.
Today I will be discussing the short film Play Dead.
Now this film has a interesting concept, having what animals in this case Dogs, do during a zombie apocalipse. Where in most Zombie films there are often no animals seen other than the 2004 remake of Dawn Of The Dead, where they find a dog in a mall carpark.
Now getting to the film itself, it has a nice way of introducing the character's showing them with their owner and how they ended up roaming the street due to the owners being eaten, or in one case turning into a zombie. This film introduces them with a nice title scene for each character, but seems abit rubbish at times introducing them in such a way but dont seem to do much with their profiles, adding a comical effect at times i'm guessing dog owners who can relate to them. But with this they also introduce characters at all points for what seems to be no reason, such as introducing a new character dog right at the very end of the film, where all they did was run off as a pack.

Other than this the film is very good, having a nice story line, from the beginning being a clear indication of character's and showing who they are in a simple way, without making the dog's talk. A nice middle section where the dogs are roaming around by themselves with some of them grouping together usually in pairs. and finally showing survivors who are taking in and "rescuing" dogs off the street, and what they do to them, which makes the conclusion think they deserve it.
Here is the short film, give it a watch and see what you think, now i like dogs but i'm not sure if this has many "Doglover's" inside jokes there, if so do tell in the comments.

short film, vol 4. Geries Game

Hello,
Now time for a change and an "old classic" as it were, a pixar short film called "Geris Game".
the idea is simple, nice, yet has a quite sad undertone to the entire thing. By having an old man playing chess alone in the park by himself is an interesting thing to watch, "if its sped up in time such as the film" yet also seems like a sad thing as well  leaving you to think, why is he playing alone is he the only person he knows left alive, or you could go deeper and ask, what if he is actually the last man on earth.
But anyway, this short film is interesting with the use of only one character taking the roles of two characters  the only change being the white chess player wearing glasses and the black chess player not having glasses. But with having both characters in shot may be confusing but dose add an effect making you wonder if there are actually two people there, when you clearly see Geri playing by himself at the beginning. Yet finaly showing you at the end of the clip by zooming out showing geri alone playing this game of chess by himself.
Here is the clip, and see if you can spot the "pixar" plug

short film, vol 3. Prick

Hello, this week i give you the short film "Prick"
A psychological thriller about a murderer who begins to feel empthaty in his already unstable mind.
a strange film with no dialog yet its able to grip you fully, with strong use of sound effects on diagetic sounds such as screaming, crying and geese quacking. which all adds to the films strong gripping effect.

short films, vol 2. Zombie Musical.

Hello, here is the second blog update, below we have the short film Zombie Musical.
This is an interesting take on the zombie film franchise, by mixing together the awesome zombie genre, and the acceptable musical genre. "fyi, manly man"
This seems like a concept which would be difficult to produce but has been created perfectly, with a well designed animated introduction sequence, which seems like it belongs in a future length film. where in a zombie film you expect to see violence and at the least, a zombie head smash. but as with this it dose seem like a student film with a low budget, by cutting away from the final head crushing seeming like a low budget.
A nice touch on this short film are the songs themselves  cutting away from the action with there lyrics, at times seeming as if they belong in a disney musical, but with dance moves to fit thriller, action and horror to fit a romero film and humor to fit a pegg/wright film.
But there are rumors that this will be produced into a feature length film, which seems like a definite watch.

short films, vol 1. Archtype and Tears of Steel

Hello,
I'm will currently at Stratford-upon-avon college thats in stratford FYI you know, just encase. Anyway, this is a blog about short films... anyway. The main idea of this is each week add a short film or 2 which has been sudgested or brought up in discussion, for the first few weeks i have 6 film's lined up. From si-fy to horror. First up is showing what you can do with no budget with Archtype by asron Sims, but i suspect they already had the use of some equipment.




Another short film is in the same Genre as this, being set in the future with a quote being "be awesome in space" which if i was ever going to be an astronought "which i found i can still be one because i am under 6ft2"" i would say it alot when people ask, "why?"
Anyway, its a short film using the Blender Softwear, really intresting short film with both film script and effects used.


This being filmed in amsterdam and also to its target being to improve and test a complete open and free popeline for visual effects in film.