Shorts and T Shirts

Ooops

2013-07-22T17:00:00.002+01:00

Yikes, forgot to mention am on holiday.

Steve The Christmas Freak ★★☆☆☆

2013-07-05T22:17:00.002+01:00

Review of 'Steve The Christmas Freak' which can be found here on Vimeo.

Length: 03:58

Written & directed by Nick Poole.

Genre: Comedy

Date: 2011
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

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.

Worst Bit: The wagging tongue. Make it stop!

Final thought: I can only hope no one ever paid good money to watch this. REFUND!

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

Diary Of A Pregnant Dad ★★★☆☆

2013-07-04T15:57:00.002+01:00

Review of 'Diary Of A Pregnant Dad' which can be found here on YouTube.

Length: 03:57

Written & directed by Joseph Monahan & Callum Smith

Genre: Music Video

Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★☆☆

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.

Best Bit: Highlighting 4-Eyez's varying skills.

Worst Bit: Naff tune with cringeworthy lyrics.

Final thought: Wonder if that tiny square of egg boxes on the wall is really doing anything or is just another homemade attempt to make the room look like a professional studio?

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

Another Film In The Woods ★★★☆☆

2013-07-03T11:45:00.000+01:00

Review of 'Another Film In The Woods' which can be found here on Vimeo.

Length: 09:07

Written & directed by Danny Naylor.

Genre: Horror

Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★☆☆

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.

Best Bit: Last scene and Brookes reaction to her ordeal.

Worst Bit: Werewolf soundbite taken straight from the 'Drive' soundtrack.

Final thought: No one in real life would throw their precious mobile away after one tiny failure of it to work properly.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

Short of the month - June 2013

2013-07-01T10:55:00.000+01:00

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.

Length: 28:27

Written by Terry Donnelly, Steve Handley, Mark O'Halloran and Dave Roddham. Directed by Dave Roddham

Genre: War

Date: 2012
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.

EIFF 2013 UK Trailers Part Three

2013-06-30T15:09:00.001+01:00

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

Genre: Animation

Full Length: 09:00

Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★☆

Title: The Port
Written & directed by Rory Alexander Stewart

Genre: Documentary

Full Length: 17:00

Date: 2013
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Title: Cold Warrior
Written & directed by Emily Greenwood

Genre: Drama

Full Length: 19:00

Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★★

Title: Joyride

Written & directed by Eva Riley

Genre: Drama

Full Length: 10:00

Date: 2013
Rating: ★★★☆☆

EIFF 2013 UK Trailers Part Two

2013-06-30T14:30:00.005+01:00

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

Genre: Animation

Full Length: 06:00

Date: 2012
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

Genre: Animation

Full Length: 05:00

Date: 2012
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

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

Full Length: 03:19

Date: 2013
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

EIFF 2013 UK Trailers Part One

2013-06-30T13:59:00.000+01:00

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

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

Genre: Drama

Full Length: 09:00

Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★☆

Title: Hart's Desire
Written & directed by Gavin Robinson

Genre: Animation

Full Length: 06:00

Date: 2013
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

Genre: Animation

Full Length: 04:00

Date: 2013
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Title: Last Breath
Written & directed by Ying Ping Mak

Genre: Animation

Full Length: 08:00

Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★★

Title: Little Brother
Written by Martin Kreuch. Directed by Andrei Staruiala

Genre: Drama

Full Length: 23:00

Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★☆

EEEEEEEIFF

2013-06-20T09:05:00.003+01:00

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.

Showcase: Domestic Wrestling

2013-06-19T09:19:00.000+01:00

'Domestic Wrestling' which can be found here on YouTube.

Length: 02:18

Written and directed by Neil Rolland

Genre: Comedy

Date: 2013

Starring: Kerri Rolland & Tom Wilton

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.

Sync ★★☆☆☆

2013-06-18T11:45:00.000+01:00

Review of 'Sync' which can be found here on YouTube.

Length: 04:03

Written & directed by Chris Ashton

Genre: Music Video

Date: 2011
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Logline: Music video for Johnny And The Giros track 'Sync'

There's not much in the way of narrative in this film and it's more or less a traditional music video, which is completely made up of the band performing their song. (In a small room with the odd shot of a woman waving about in front of a light) Four minutes is a long time to watch when the only other visual variation comes from some coloured strobe lighting. The visuals do at least kind of mimic the mixed style of the music, which is part dance track and part indie track.

Lighting is done well and it's a nice crack at constructing an atmospheric setting. There's plenty of different camera shots and the edit keeps good pace although you can tell that even the editor gets bored half way through as it's just the same thing over, and over, and over again. (No wait, there's a wee bit where the band stand in the dark in black and white)

Am not sure whether the camera quality isn't up to scratch or whether the video upload may not be the best grade. Probably the camera, as when it moves about really quickly, the slow shutter speed creates picture distortion. Overall, the uninteresting visuals aren't complimenting the up tempo track and the repetitive nature of the shots makes for quite monotonous viewing.

Best Bit: Nice music track.

Worst Bit: Repetitive imagery gets boring after a while.

Final thought: Ironically, it sometimes looks like lips are out of sync.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

Capture ★★★★☆

2013-06-17T09:04:00.000+01:00

Review of 'Capture' which can be found here at Virgin Media Shorts.

Length: 01:48

Written & directed by Liam Treacy

Genre: Fantasy

Date: 2013
Rating: ★★★★☆

Logline: A photographer uses his unusual camera to stop criminals.

This looks good and it sounds good. I've pegged it as a fantasy though rather than a sci-fi (although it's tagged as being an Action & Adventure?) as to me, the camera has more of a magical power than a scientific one but without reading the logline first, which describes this film, I'm not entirely sure I'd be one hundred percent clear on what is actually going on. That's not a good thing.

The part that flummoxed me was the wall of previous polariods taken by photographer, Ben Clegg. The camera lingers on these blurred photos. You struggle to read how they're labeled. You strain to see the images. But when focus is finally pulled, there isn't a great deal to suggest that this is a collection of criminals caught in the act. They have obscure titles, some even look like family photos and you don't get long enough for a good look without pausing the video. As this is a fairly short film, it's quite important that information is delivered quickly and clearly. This set-up exposition (nicely delivered in a visual way) isn't giving the audience any real useful information on who this character is or what he's doing. That may be the downfall of this piece.

As mentioned, this looks good. It's very atmospheric with out of focus perspectives, great use of lighting on a night-time shoot, and interesting shot compositions which pull the viewer's attention into important details. The special effects are done well. The contrasting bright flash of the camera is a good way of highlighting the sfx to its maximum potential. A delicious soundtrack also adds weight to the quality production and the good sound design and sound effects all add to the dangerous mood of the film.

It feels like there's some important pieces of information missing from the plot so while informed viewers will enjoy this, people without any knowledge of the film may struggle. Maybe re-shooting that one shot would help.

Best Bit: Special effect freeze frame.

Worst Bit: Plot unclear unless you read up on it before hand.

Final thought: Terrible handwriting.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

Joe And The Genie ★★★☆☆

2013-06-14T15:17:00.000+01:00

Review of 'Joe And The Genie' which can be found here on YouTube.

Length: 14:11

Written & directed by Kieran Moore.

Genre: Comedy

Date: 2013
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Logline: A jilted boyfriend thinks a weegie genie can help him win back his true love but that's against the rules of magic, apparently.

If you can get past the shoddy opening sequence, where a tripod certainly wouldn't have gone amiss (apply that to the entire film btw), this is actually quite good fun. This is typical Scottish humour and the good dialogue reflects that. Sean Howie and Bobby Graham play wish-maker and wish-granter respectively and both get into their roles with gusto and are entertaining to watch. Graham stands out as the more comedic but then, he does have the better lines. These two work good together on screen and the Glaswegian banter flows well between them. The terrible sound recording and constant wind blowing into the mic is compensated by the fact all the actors seem to be shouting out their lines.

Music is used to great effect too, the fantasy jingle works especially well and the music quality helps counteract the bad audio. The exception being that rotten introduction, where no music is used and it's so quiet you can practically hear the camera recording. Visual effects are cheesy but work surprisingly well within this piece where the nice camera quality and vibrant colours help lift this out of the usual drab and dull colour scheme that Scotland often has to offer. The edit is competent enough to keep a good pace as well as accentuating some of the comedic moments.

With clear attention to structure, good use of the rule of three, and a well defined arc, the work put into writing the script means that all the technical difficulties and not so great camera work are quite forgivable, showing that if your story's good enough, you can get away with a lower level of production no problem. The ending is corny as hell and could maybe have done with more of a comedic punchline, but overall, this isn't as bad as you think.

Best Bit: Good dialogue and story.

Worst Bit: That opening sequence isn't a good start for the film.

Final thought: Look at the state of that white van parked next door to the girlfriend. Bringing house values down immediately.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

Coward ★★★★★

2013-06-13T15:40:00.000+01:00

Review of 'Coward' which can be found here on Vimeo.

Length: 28:27

Written by Terry Donnelly, Steve Handley, Mark O'Halloran and Dave Roddham. Directed by Dave Roddham

Genre: War

Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★★

Logline: Two Irish cousins brave WWI trench warfare at its worst.

You only need to look at the video still above to know immediately that this is a five star film. This harks back to the traditional style of short film making where folk literally made cinema quality movies but shorter than feature length.

Needless to say, production values here are to a very high standard. Pulling off a period piece is no mean feat never mind creating a realistic battlefield with war torn trenches and extreme weather conditions. The attention to detail in the costume, set design and makeup departments is evident and the crews passion for the project comes through clearly on screen. The lighting, sound design and cinematography are all of a superb calibre and everything gels together well to make for an outstanding visual treat. A nice soundtrack bookends the piece but the sound of battle as well as the good use of silence are as effective as any music could be.

Martin McCann and Sean Stewart play the lead roles of two small town country boys who predictably look forward to joining up only to quickly suffer the crashing realities of fighting on the front line. Performances (by all cast) are powerful, emotional and raw. That might have something to do with the horrible conditions they're acting in mind. Everyone does well to maintain form while being subjected to torrential rain, engulfing mud and bitter snow. Dialogue is realistic, evocative of the period and has a morose poetic tone to it. Heavy in subtext, there's a lot to like about this.

Structure-wise, there's a kind of mystery subplot regarding which member of the division is up for being shot because they deserted. I'm not sure if keeping the audience continually guessing about who this character is was the best decision. It could provide to be a distraction from the emotional content of the film. War genre pieces are usually driven by a 'who will survive and who won't?' question anyways, and that might have been enough to carry this plot forward without adding in the mystery element.

Overall, this takes (for me) a compelling topic and treats it with the respect it really deserves. There's a lot of heart in this and the tragic ending is by no means a negative. Very much a visual masterpiece, they haven't scrimped on providing excellent emotional content as well.

N.B. If you're listening to this with headphones, be prepared to jump out of your skin a couple of times with all the unexpected gun shots and bomb explosions.

Best Bit: Creates an excellent emotional impact and looks fantastic.

Worst Bit: The introduction sequence at the start is a bit long and slow paced.

Final thought: I well thought that the wifey at the beginning was giving her son the precious iPad mini that his father would want him to have.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here and an interview by the film's cinematographer Stephen Murphy here.

Short of the Month - May 2013

2013-06-12T15:48:00.000+01:00

A belated monthly award goes to...

'First The Worst'

I didn't have too much to say about this short as it's all good. Great performances by a young cast, superbly written, and a fine production. Find it here on YouTube.

Logline: Two school pupils argue over which of them is the least popular.

Length: 02:14

Written & directed by Bevan Walsh.

Genre: Comedy

Date: 2011
Rating: ★★★★★

Read the original review here or read a condensed review on Twitter here.

Anne & Juliet ★★★☆☆

2013-06-11T16:10:00.003+01:00

Review of 'Anne & Juliet' which can be found here on YouTube.

Length: 13:40

Written & directed by Carmine Pariante

Genre: Drama

Date: 2008
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Logline: A woman's dream of being a professional photographer is hampered by her guilt over her sisters death and her commitment to run the family business.

Something isn't working for me in terms of the structure of this drama. It feels like there's perhaps been a missed opportunity to really heighten both the conflict and the emotion by deciding to give more precedence to the reveal instead. While this makes for a fresh perspective on an old idea, without letting the audience in on the protagonist's internal conflict right from the beginning, it means that the effect is somewhat lessened.

When watching for the first time, the sleeping in the water with clothes on scenes may be seem a little odd and confusing, although the concept is a sound enough way of delivering exposition about the sister's relationship. There's some nice use of symbolism and metaphor as the theme of following ones dream becomes quite literal.

Isabelle Defuat as Juliet, is competent and engaging. She's good at adding emotion to the well written dialogue. Eleonora Pariante as older sister Anne, is more controlled and rigid but this works well with her icy character. Anne having a much heavier accent than Juliet takes a bit of getting used to but the writing makes sure that audiences can understand why this is.

The poor lighting lets this down a lot. Internal shots are too dark and the lack of lighting makes this look washed out and dull. In contrast, the external shots, which have relied on natural lighting, are much more vivid and look better. The rest of the production is of standard quality and there's an impressive camera pan in the end sequence. The soundtrack is forgettable but sits nicely unobtrusively in the background when used.

Overall, the underwhelming arc means this remains a bit flat. We don't really see Juliet suffer enough and this means her end success isn't as powerful as it could be. She just looks a bit tired and drained and we don't see how not being able to follow her dream has effected her in a negative way. Other than that, it's okay.

Best Bit: Second last camera shot and the death scene.

Worst Bit: Bad lighting

Final thought: I used to like the saxophone. Now I hate it.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

A Film About Poo ★★★★☆

2013-06-10T19:06:00.001+01:00

Review of 'A Film About Poo' which can be found here on Vimeo.

Length: 01:30

Written & directed by Emily Howells & Anne Wilkins

Genre: Animation

Date: 2009
Rating: ★★★★☆

Logline: Musical animation about the do's and don'ts of doo doo.

There's a nice mixture of styles in this quirky cartoon, which tells us to wash our hands after dropping the kids off at the pool. Stop motion, hand drawn sketches, text, paper craft, and graphic art all blend together well to make this continually visually interesting.

A catchy little acoustic guitar ditty accompanies the imagery, which is both appealingly harmonic and humorous. Similar to the animation, there's variation between singing and talking which gives a good change of tempo and tone. The home recorded sound quality and innocently delivered lyrics goes hand in hand with the childish fun of the animation and they compliment each other well.

It's very simple in concept and will no doubt be appreciated by both adults and kids. Lyrically, this feels underwhelming and could perhaps have been written stronger but musically it hits the right note. The collection of styles on screen is a nice way to show off the animation skills, there's a good flow of movement without it ever feeling overcrowded. Good effort.

Best Bit: Breeks round ankles.

Worst Bit: Lyrics not always perfectly clear.

Final thought: A few little germs never killed anybody.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

Runaway Journey ★★★★☆

2013-06-07T11:06:00.000+01:00

Review of 'Runaway Journey' which can be found here on YouTube.

Length: approx 28 mins

Written & directed by Kyle-Ian Surgenor

Genre: Drama

Date: 2011
Rating: ★★★★☆

Logline: A depressed teen tries to run away from her depression but suicidal thoughts soon follow.

This decent attempt at tragedy is well written and features a compelling story. It comes in three parts unfortunately so structure analysis might be a little off I'm afraid.

This is very much a character piece. Nicola Rainey plays suicidal Kayla and does a fair job of maintaining a look of dour dissidence throughout with Leanne White as the eternally optimistic girlfriend Leanna. Both feel natural and are very much your typical teens. There's some nice glances full of subtext between these two as Kayla clearly can't be bothered with Leanna who slowly begins to realise Kayla simply doesn't care about her or anything else. This interpersonal conflict creates an interesting plot but it's slightly unclear on whether we should be rooting for protagonist Kayla or her doormat partner Leanna. Does Kayla allow Leanna to fall down that embankment? It certainly looks that way. Turning your main character into an antagonist is risky. That single head shot of Kayla could be enough to turn the audience against her.

This doesn't feel as long as it is due to the fascinating voice over (and the three part thing) which is played over what could sometimes be described as walking about and doing nothing shots. Saying that, the narration does turn a bit heavy poetic and audiences may tune out during those obscure word combinations. The death scene is fairly repetitious and could do with being shorter. Saying the same things over and over again diminished the tension and drama which is key in that climactic scene.

What this film kind of keeps ramming down your throat is the fact it was filmed in a single day. Whether this is a selling point for the filmmakers or a reason to excuse the quality, I'm not sure. This is a shoestring production with no thrills whatsoever. The handheld camerawork does work in it's favour though and aids that grungy feel. Sound recording suffers at some points but the quality soundtrack, tailoring to several different moods, is good at compensating for it, although this did feel like it was slipping into music video territory on a couple of occasions.

Overall, although this looks a bit shoddy, has some technical flaws and isn't terribly visually interesting, it's the story, which pulls this along nicely. Performances by both actresses aren't perfect but they feel real and have depth. The good writing is delivered well by these two, who work well together on screen. Some end credits might be a good idea mind.

Best Bit: The writing.

Worst Bit: Camera quality and sound recording.

Final thought: Worst overdose ever. She's fine like two minutes later!

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

DEADline ★★★☆☆

2013-06-05T10:47:00.000+01:00

Review of 'DEADline' which can be found here on YouTube.

Length: 07:03

Written & directed by Malcolm Rumbles.

Genre: Horror

Date: 2013
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Logline: A stressed out student suddenly has a good excuse for not doing her essay when a masked attacker goes on a killing spree on campus.

This is a fairly good example of what can be achieved given a limited time period (or deadline!) to work with. There's a clear 'Halloween' influence going on here which flies straight off the bat with the introductory John Carpenter-esque soundtrack which neatly establishes the tone. The comparisons don't stop there; with a silent masked killer on the loose chasing a likely virginal young lady around and teens having their necks snapped right left and centre, it's a classic film to look at if you're filmmaking on the fly.

Katrina Allen plays the diligent student who immediately starts typing her essay without first logging in. There's a nice switch to her looking bedraggled and stressed later on but there's too much time spent on these establishing shots and pacing suffers slightly at the start. Once the killer turns up, it gets much more interesting. Allen carries the role well given that this is purely a physical performance as no dialogue features. I really felt that fall in the corridor and her breath holding scene becomes quite powerful thanks to her acting.

Sound is an important feature of this short. Silence is used to good effect, builds tension and makes the end sequence very effective. There's some nice visceral sound effects added in but the guy with the music blearing out of his headphones was a bad choice as it ruins the built up tension and takes the viewer out of the story momentarily to wonder why we cant hear his voice even though his lips are moving. Similarly, you might feel the silence becomes a little unnatural as there's a lack of screams to be heard, which is a slasher staple.

Considering the constraints of the limited location which makes this visually uninteresting, not having the greatest lighting, and the sometimes too silent parts means that this is a good effort which is perhaps worth re-shooting with more time spent on it.

Best Bit: Hold your breath scene.

Worst Bit: Headphones guy.

Final thought: Another example of my review process accurately portrayed on screen.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

Trust No One ★★☆☆☆

2013-06-04T13:41:00.000+01:00

Review of 'Trust No One' which can be found here on YouTube.

Length: 06:10

Written by Christelle A & directed by Jermaine Toublez.

Genre: Drama

Date: 2012
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Logline: Some bad gangster shit goes down between two teenage girls.

The bad audio on this will leave you wondering what the heck's going on in this urban tale of gun crime, sitting in parks and talking about fashion. That and the fast talking street dialogue which is also hard to pick up, even if you watch it a few times. Having bad picture quality is more forgivable than bad sound so don't underestimate the importance of good audio in a short. We all take it for granted but when it's poor, it can ruin a production and alienate the audience significantly.

The plot is also lacking in this as well. Two girls hang out in a park then for some unknown reason, they fall out and one of them decides that shooting her is clearly the best way to teach her a lesson. Too much time is wasted on idle chit chat between characters which isn't advancing the plot, no matter how naturalistic it is. Christelle "Chrissy" and Lauren S play the warring teens and at least look comfortable in front of the camera even though this is fairly amateur. The chase scene is good with a nice laugh out loud easy disarming of a gun incident too. (Yeah, put the gun in her dead hands, it'll really look like she's shot herself in the back, lol)

Adding in a good soundtrack does pick this up a little and seems to add some richness. The gun shot effects are well done and in general, the camera work is acceptable with nice colour depth. But with the plot having little in the way of arc or satisfying conclusion, this is left feeling too made up on the spot for me.

Best Bit: The behind the scenes outtakes.

Worst Bit: Bad sound.

Final thought: I like Troubles website. It has many photos of him.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

Happy Holidays? ★★★☆☆

2013-06-03T09:58:00.000+01:00

Review of 'Happy Holidays?' which can be found here on YouTube.

Length: 07:40

Written & directed by Steven Patrick.

Genre: Drama

Date: 2013
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Logline: A night of heavy drinking ends with disastrous results for one married couple.

This is the next instalment from Scott Watson's team so let's look and see if there's any improvement. There's not much to the plot here. SPOILER ALERT - A guy gets hammered then hammers his wife to death. But the lack of arc is thankfully saved by the public awareness message at the end. Structure is clear with a nice verbal inciting incident, change of tone at midpoint and definite climax. There's a big problem with pacing tho. Everything feels very drawn out. The drinking scene could be about a third of the length and is there really any need for the camera to continue to swirl around the dead wife? Yes, it's building atmosphere, but today's audiences all have my goldfish attention span and may be put off by the repetitive imagery and lack of advancing plot.

Elizabeth Baillie turns up again along with Craig McEwan, she is by far the more naturalistic of the performers. McEwan sounds like he's come straight from the panto. Baillie's Scottish accent feels more at home than McEwan's River City one. Audio isn't perfect. It's a bit echoey and perhaps too sensitive to movement. Camera too isn't as good as it could be. Handheld probably wasn't the best decision and the last sequence flounders due to McEwan not being in shot clearly as he lies on the sofa. The end music works very well and delivers a sombre tone. The warped Christmas jingle stuff also aids in the "getting pished" scenes where the slow-mo edit also adds to the effect too.

Without knowing the ins and outs of where this piece was to be shown or who it was for, the long length feels detrimental to the message delivered at the end. If anything, this makes you want to have more drink, not less. Saying that, there's good emotional resonance within the second half of the film. That appears to be one of the strong points of this production unit. They just need to bring their technical skills up to that level too.

Best Bit: Throttle scene.

Worst Bit: Really drawn out.

Final thought: This is quite an accurate portrayal of me watching short films and contemplating having to write a review.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

Deception ★★★☆☆

2013-05-30T10:28:00.000+01:00

Review of 'Deception' which can be found here on YouTube.

Length: 20:44

Written & directed by Stuart Mower

Genre: Crime

Date: 2013
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Logline: A bunch of criminals try to outwit each other

This is a fair attempt at being a twisting tale of deception and double crossing but for the keen eyed audience, there's too many obvious giveaways in the plot, making it less clever as it should have been.

There's good performances from Calum Swan, Rowan Birkett and Alan Cairncross (who looks like the least convincing hardened criminal you can get) but each does well to deliver the suitably well written dialogue, work great together on screen and bring a semblance of professionally to the production. It's a good genre piece; bumbling bad guys, dilapidated locations, guns and shit. (look out for the really plastic looking knife tho) But there's also a mixture of comedy in there too which doesn't work well with the central tone.

The film feels longer than it should be. A lot of shots could be cropped, not all scenes advance the plot (Cairncross berating his lackey for example) and the camera lingers too long in places. There's a hard balance to keep between building tension, creating atmosphere and keeping audiences engaged which a faster edit could perhaps help improve.

A major stumbling block in this production is the poor lighting on the external shots and the pub scene. It's hard to make a lot out and as these scenes account for a great portion of the film, it's a real let down for the audience. The internal flat scenes however are much clearer and you can appreciate both the acting and the camera composition a lot more. Really liked the fight scenes where good sound effects plus Cairncross's flowing locks combine together well to add realism (thought the scissors were going to give the hair a bit of a seeing too at one point). Similarly, the subtle make-up on the cuts and bruises has been done to give a nice effect. There's an odd mixture of music on the soundtrack. Some tracks work well, others don't; the pub music and the end credit song for example.

The plot is okay but as mentioned, it's not too hard to figure out who's double crossing who. The lengthy shot of the lipstick on the mirror in the first scene gives it all away really. Having stupid characters is fine but it's risky when you're making your central protagonist as stupid as the rest of them. It could make the audience feel equally daft for having rooted for him. Overall, there's many points that let this down but had some technical and plot points been executed to a higher degree, this would have made for a good effort.

Best Bit: The cast and the dialogue.

Worst Bit: Poor lighting on half of the film.

Final thought: Stuart wants me to email him to tell him I've reviewed his film. Shame on you Stuart. Read the blog.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

Pub Dogs - Babies ★★★☆☆

2013-05-29T17:40:00.000+01:00

Review of 'Pub Dogs - Babies' which can be found here on Vimeo.

Length: 01:24

Written & directed by Dave Anderson

Genre: Animation

Date: 2004
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Logline: Some dogs discuss having kids vs having a wife.

This concept is great in theory but it doesn't quite come together that well in practise. Gotta love talking dogs drinking beers and playing pool of course but while this is playing, all I'm imagining, is the real life blokes standing about, probably in much the same positions, doing all the talking.

It feels really like this is just a fly on the wall audio recording which has been animated. That's all well and good but to me, this could have done with some decent scripting to fine tune it. There's too many instances of people talking over each other, dialogue that can't be made out, and daft ranting that hinders the pace. The dialogue on its own probably isn't that funny. It's only with the well constructed animation on top that any humour is added to the piece.

The dog characters are created brilliantly. This is very much a 2D animation but there's good attention to changing perspectives, differing shot compositions and some nice details added which all combine to make a good 3D look. The edit brings some much needed action via zooms, pans and quick cuts. Colours are vibrant with good lighting used too. Even though this is a great concept where the visuals have been put together really well, ultimately, it's the poor dialogue that lets this piece down.

Best Bit: Aw, cute Westie.

Worst Bit: Talking over each other dialogue.

Final thought: Yeah, pub talk should just stay where it belongs. In the pub.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

Secret ★★★★★

2013-05-28T19:52:00.000+01:00

Review of 'Secret' which can be found here on YouTube.

Length: 09:49

Written by Oliver Morgan. Directed by Rob Birks.

Genre: Drama

Date: 2009
Rating: ★★★★★

Logline: A young schoolboy suffers in silence at the hands of an abusive teacher.

A problem shared isn't necessarily a problem halved when it comes to this depressing story. Refreshingly, there's no happy ending here, although that does make it a bit harder to see the moral, which in this case, seems to imply that even if you talk to someone about being abused, they'll probably just tell you to put up with it until the fella gets bored.

Reece Webster and Kieran Hocking are both excellent young actors and superbly cast. Webster is particularly adept at providing us with a naturalistically oppressed performance. Each handles the well written dialogue giving careful attention to the subject matter. The handheld camerawork helps give a more intimate feel when watching and good shot composition and editing is key in highlighting the emotional story beats. A simple and economical soundtrack is also used to great effect.

There's an immediate hook as the storyline almost immediately delves into a somewhat shocking scene which is handled very well. There's some nice symbolic imagery in amongst it all and the soft focus provides a dreamlike (or nightmare) feel to the tone. An all round professional and competent production, which treats the disturbing plot line incredibly well.

Best Bit: Opening sequence and Reece Webster.

Worst Bit: Somewhat unresolved plot.

Final thought: "Just say No!", oh, sorry, that was for drugs wasn't it.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

Archie: A Wee Ghost Story ★★★★☆

2013-05-27T18:49:00.000+01:00

Review of 'Archie' which can be found here on YouTube.

Length: 12:05

Written by Steven Patrick. Directed by Steven Patrick & Scott Watson

Genre: Horror

Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★★☆

Logline: Thinking there's an intruder downstairs, a couple find a former resident instead.

This is a decent first effort from ITiz productions, which presents a modern twist on the old haunted house plot. Elizabeth Baillie and Paul Massie are good on screen. Both act naturally, keep the Scottish accent well maintained and deliver their reasonably written lines with good effect. But Archie, played by Steven Patrick, is a little more hammy which takes us out of the story more than it should. The story sometimes delves into unbelievable territory though. The couples unusual reaction to finding an auld codger in their living room is off putting, Archie's unclear intentions, is he good or evil? He doesn't warn them about what I think is a gas leak, and it's not too clear what the flash and bang of him disappearing is either. When the friend calls round in the morning, her actions are also rather unrealistic. She doesn't even check for a pulse for gawd's sake. And trust me, phone calls to the emergency services don't sound like that in real life.

The atmospheric blue tint is a nice touch and there's some good use of lighting in the night shots. Camerawork isn't always brilliant but does well to cope with the limited space. The soundtrack feels a little misused and although the music is rich and evocative, (bloody heartbeat effect slips in there mind) it's not always used to maximise tension. The exception to the rule is in the end sequence where it works extremely well with the visuals to end on a really good note. That last scene is probably the highlight where there is a good strong emotional resonance between the film and the audience.

There's some rookie mistakes of course. Some staggered lines, an edit making up for missing shots, cheesy swipes on the introduction credits etc. Watch out for that dodgy special effect at the end too. Overall, although the story has a few plot holes and it's not always clear, there is a good attempt to create an emotionally engaging piece of work.

Best Bit: Emotional end scene.

Worst Bit: Not altogether clear plot. What's Archie's motivation here? Why's the pal so desperate to get in?

Final thought: See the size of their telly! Takes up most of the wall, lucky gits.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.