Texture
Well-known member
Now that the votes are out, I'm reposting this list, though I am aghast to see that one of the most powerful competitors has been disqualified. This competitor must have been caught taking performance enhancing drugs, because I've personally never witnessed a more powerful performance.
For the sake of this community, I hope this competitor acknowledges whatever sins they have commited and are willing to continue being a member of the group, for it seems it would be a terrible loss, to loose such a valuable teacher.
Back to my original post, which has not been altered by the disqualification and includes all original participants.
ORIGINAL POST:
I'm too young to vote!
So I hope you all don't mind if I list my favs...
Moderators: If this is a pre-election faux pas, I apologize in advance and will understand the removal of this thread.
BEST SCREENPLAY
1. Similo
2. A Briefcase
3. We Are Not Alone
4. The Sequence
5. In the Beginning
6. CPU
7. Dead Inside
8. Odd Squad
9. John & Gustav
10. Inspection
Comments regarding this catagory:
I imagine, in a short film there should basically be three mini 'acts'.
1. INTRODUCTION 2. CONFLICT 3. RESOLUTION
The major challenge for everyone was to reach a conclusion or resolution that felt complete. As you can see, this was the hardest part for everyone.
I thought the dime theme in 'We Are Not Alone' was a very cool forshadowing thread that began in the earliest establishing moment of the film. It united and tied up the end very nicely. Very nice writing. Although 'Not Alone' was a far more complex script than 'Similo' and 'A Briefcase' I felt it couldn't beat the simple and straightforward power of the other two narratives. Similo's opening moments begin within the climax and through flashbacks, lead you to the reality of that unbelievable climactic moment. I suppose 'A Briefcase's clue to the end was within nosey Ted checking out his cubile neighbor arriving a little late and the moment Dan Samiljan first opens the case.
So you can see from these front runners, a powerful technique is to both subtley and clearly sow the seeds of your conclusion, within the introduction.
A note to Phil Grasso. It took several viewings to figure out that I was looking at a star chart in the opening moments of 'In The Beginning,' I guess at normal monitor size it would be clearer, but at .wmv size this establishing fact was lost to me. What's my point? A lesson to all writers and directors: When delivering an establishing fact like this, assume your audience has no knowledge and no interest in the subject at hand. I'm not saying Phil should have printed the words, 'ACME STAR CHART' on the diagram, but don't take it for granted that everybody knows what a star chart is...
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. Similo
2. Distraction
3. We Are Not Alone
4. The Sequence
5. A Briefcase
6. Basscops
7. Signal Decay
8. In the Beginning
9. Synthetic Love
10. CPU
Comments regarding this catagory:
This is cinematographers site, so I'll leave the comments to the cinematographers.
BEST ACTING (AND CASTING)
1. Similo
2. Distraction
3. A Briefcase
4. CPU
5. We Are Not Alone
6. Odd Squad
7. Pandora
8. In the Beginning
9. Signal Decay
10. Basscop (That Basscop was COOOOOOOL)
Comments regarding this catagory:
I put casting in parenthesis, 'cause watching all these shorts made me realize how important casting is. It was hard for me to submerse myself into a some of the story lines when the characters were clearly too young to be believable in their role. Several shorts would have been so much better, if their characters were a bit more 'weary and weathered' looking. This is why antique dealers don't like the finish to be polished and restored on furnture, they call it 'patina'. The characters in your production need an appropriate patina also.
Honorable mention: In VISITOR, the excellent spoof on SIGNS, I could watch Bradley Jones 'riffing' on a paniced Joaquin Phoenix in front of the TV, for HOURS!!!
BEST MUSIC
1. Similo
2. A Briefcase
3. Pandora
4. The Sequence
5. In the Beginning
6. Tipper vs The Red Hornet
7. Robot Trouble
8. Bass Cop
9. Dead Inside
10. Signal Decay
Comments regarding this catagory:
I enjoyed the music in these for varied reasons, to many to list here.
BEST EDITING AND POST
1. Similo
2. CPU
3. A Briefcase
4. Signal Decay
5. Synthetic Love
6. The Odd Squad
7. We are Not Alone
8. The Sequence
9. Dead Inside
10. Jon & Gustav
A note to Alexander Lewis: Take some time to learn about lighting and your work will SHINE. You should reshoot this script with better lighting and older actors. You could have had a hit!
BEST EFFECTS
1. Similo
2. We Are Not Alone
3. Tipper vs the Red Hornet
4. Odd Squad
5. CPU
6. In the Beginning
7. Visitor
8. The Wooligans (I'm a sucker for those little puppets...)
9. Are We There Yet
10. iMute
Note to Brian Kaz: Everything was top notch, but that 'Day of the Triffeds' 'Little Shop of Horrors' shadow on the window scene should be redone
Note to Daniel Wojcik: Your spaceship needed a light source. Think, distant sun. Better lighting in the cockpit also. I know every light source added increases rendering time, but bro, gimmie just one light please. The ship also should have been lit up in the color of the worm hole as it approached.
BEST SOUND
1. We Are Are Not Alone
2. Signal Decay
3. Similo
4. In the Beginning
5. Odd Squad
6. Pandora
7. Synthetic Love
8. Insurance
9. CPU
10. A Briefcase
I image many sleepless nights, for our front runners, mixing and remixing, over and over and over till they got it just right. As you can see, Similo has been a favourite of mine in all the other catagories, but I think the other contestants had a lot more to contend with, dealing with live audio, and need to be recognized for that... Still, no doubt due to its sublety; I can't help but think that Macgregor's sound track is a lot more complex than one might realize.
See my other thread regarding audio comments...
For the sake of this community, I hope this competitor acknowledges whatever sins they have commited and are willing to continue being a member of the group, for it seems it would be a terrible loss, to loose such a valuable teacher.
Back to my original post, which has not been altered by the disqualification and includes all original participants.
ORIGINAL POST:
I'm too young to vote!
So I hope you all don't mind if I list my favs...
Moderators: If this is a pre-election faux pas, I apologize in advance and will understand the removal of this thread.
BEST SCREENPLAY
1. Similo
2. A Briefcase
3. We Are Not Alone
4. The Sequence
5. In the Beginning
6. CPU
7. Dead Inside
8. Odd Squad
9. John & Gustav
10. Inspection
Comments regarding this catagory:
I imagine, in a short film there should basically be three mini 'acts'.
1. INTRODUCTION 2. CONFLICT 3. RESOLUTION
The major challenge for everyone was to reach a conclusion or resolution that felt complete. As you can see, this was the hardest part for everyone.
I thought the dime theme in 'We Are Not Alone' was a very cool forshadowing thread that began in the earliest establishing moment of the film. It united and tied up the end very nicely. Very nice writing. Although 'Not Alone' was a far more complex script than 'Similo' and 'A Briefcase' I felt it couldn't beat the simple and straightforward power of the other two narratives. Similo's opening moments begin within the climax and through flashbacks, lead you to the reality of that unbelievable climactic moment. I suppose 'A Briefcase's clue to the end was within nosey Ted checking out his cubile neighbor arriving a little late and the moment Dan Samiljan first opens the case.
So you can see from these front runners, a powerful technique is to both subtley and clearly sow the seeds of your conclusion, within the introduction.
A note to Phil Grasso. It took several viewings to figure out that I was looking at a star chart in the opening moments of 'In The Beginning,' I guess at normal monitor size it would be clearer, but at .wmv size this establishing fact was lost to me. What's my point? A lesson to all writers and directors: When delivering an establishing fact like this, assume your audience has no knowledge and no interest in the subject at hand. I'm not saying Phil should have printed the words, 'ACME STAR CHART' on the diagram, but don't take it for granted that everybody knows what a star chart is...
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. Similo
2. Distraction
3. We Are Not Alone
4. The Sequence
5. A Briefcase
6. Basscops
7. Signal Decay
8. In the Beginning
9. Synthetic Love
10. CPU
Comments regarding this catagory:
This is cinematographers site, so I'll leave the comments to the cinematographers.
BEST ACTING (AND CASTING)
1. Similo
2. Distraction
3. A Briefcase
4. CPU
5. We Are Not Alone
6. Odd Squad
7. Pandora
8. In the Beginning
9. Signal Decay
10. Basscop (That Basscop was COOOOOOOL)
Comments regarding this catagory:
I put casting in parenthesis, 'cause watching all these shorts made me realize how important casting is. It was hard for me to submerse myself into a some of the story lines when the characters were clearly too young to be believable in their role. Several shorts would have been so much better, if their characters were a bit more 'weary and weathered' looking. This is why antique dealers don't like the finish to be polished and restored on furnture, they call it 'patina'. The characters in your production need an appropriate patina also.
Honorable mention: In VISITOR, the excellent spoof on SIGNS, I could watch Bradley Jones 'riffing' on a paniced Joaquin Phoenix in front of the TV, for HOURS!!!
BEST MUSIC
1. Similo
2. A Briefcase
3. Pandora
4. The Sequence
5. In the Beginning
6. Tipper vs The Red Hornet
7. Robot Trouble
8. Bass Cop
9. Dead Inside
10. Signal Decay
Comments regarding this catagory:
I enjoyed the music in these for varied reasons, to many to list here.
BEST EDITING AND POST
1. Similo
2. CPU
3. A Briefcase
4. Signal Decay
5. Synthetic Love
6. The Odd Squad
7. We are Not Alone
8. The Sequence
9. Dead Inside
10. Jon & Gustav
A note to Alexander Lewis: Take some time to learn about lighting and your work will SHINE. You should reshoot this script with better lighting and older actors. You could have had a hit!
BEST EFFECTS
1. Similo
2. We Are Not Alone
3. Tipper vs the Red Hornet
4. Odd Squad
5. CPU
6. In the Beginning
7. Visitor
8. The Wooligans (I'm a sucker for those little puppets...)
9. Are We There Yet
10. iMute
Note to Brian Kaz: Everything was top notch, but that 'Day of the Triffeds' 'Little Shop of Horrors' shadow on the window scene should be redone
Note to Daniel Wojcik: Your spaceship needed a light source. Think, distant sun. Better lighting in the cockpit also. I know every light source added increases rendering time, but bro, gimmie just one light please. The ship also should have been lit up in the color of the worm hole as it approached.
BEST SOUND
1. We Are Are Not Alone
2. Signal Decay
3. Similo
4. In the Beginning
5. Odd Squad
6. Pandora
7. Synthetic Love
8. Insurance
9. CPU
10. A Briefcase
I image many sleepless nights, for our front runners, mixing and remixing, over and over and over till they got it just right. As you can see, Similo has been a favourite of mine in all the other catagories, but I think the other contestants had a lot more to contend with, dealing with live audio, and need to be recognized for that... Still, no doubt due to its sublety; I can't help but think that Macgregor's sound track is a lot more complex than one might realize.
See my other thread regarding audio comments...
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