Adam Prest
9 Reviews
Reviews
STRANGER STRANGER
Can I review my own film? Well I'm going to... I have seen this film to many times and I can see everything wrong with it. The logline for STRANGER:STRANGER was: A strange loner paparazzo, must capture everything about Harper Harrison to find the secret to his success. If you didn't gleam any of that from watching our film I am not surprised. I have seen a lot of 48hour films and the general vibe I get from the collective films each year tends to be across the same spectrum. We wanted to make something a little bit different to stand out from the crowd. We wanted people to feel something from our film rather than think something. Wow this sounds pretentious. TLDR you were supposed to feel weird watching this movie. sorry. We start off the film following our (anti-hero?) paparazzo. As he is researching his (next?) target. With the help of a mysterious phone-booth he tracks down Harper Harrison to various locations and attempts, without success, to snap a picture of him. We see the game of cat and mouse play out but we gradually shift perspective to the point of view of our mouse: Harper. He is unable to avoid the paparazzo and when he finally thinks he's lost him, he appears once again. The film's closing scene, Harper is no where to be seem and we hear our anti-hero say "we don't need you anymore" The ending needed to be more suspenseful and provide more closure, maybe the paparazzo lifts up the camera and the lens is covered in blood (too obvious?) and then more black to separate the film from the ridiculous credits. Harper Harrison needed a scene to show how relieved he was to have lost the stalker. The film could have been longer, it kind of flashes past. the general vibe I got from the crowd was that people didn't like the movie because they didn't get it. They didn't hate it, they just didn't like it. I am really happy with how it's shot and edited and love our match-cut, it fits the feeling and genre of the film perfectly :) The performances from our actors were great too and most of it was improvised so props to them! Behind the scenes for those who care: This is our first year competing in Auckland having competed in Christchurch and Wellington for many years. I enjoyed the genre, Cat and Mouse Movie, but showing the chase around the city with multiple locations was time consuming. We originally wrote the film as a comedy, but quickly saw that having someone incessantly stalk you with a camera was way more creepy than funny. We came up with multiple endings, all late on Saturday night, such as Harper Harrison killing the stalker with his car. An alternative ending line was "We know what you look like on the outside, now lets see what you look like on the inside" we shot on the gh4 and edited on premiere pro and it didn't crash once all weekend except in the last 10mins of editing, not too bad! we handed our film in with 3 minutes to go and yes there is bread in our movie ;) We briefly showed Harper as thoughtless by having him push away the adoring fan in the night market scene. I wasn't planning on reviewing my own film but no one else has so I just wanted to bring up some talking points. I would rather people discuss the film negatively than not discuss it at all so if you've seen the film please give us some feedback on any part of it.
Bread Winner
So glad I got to see a musical in one of the heats I went to! you guys nailed the genre! And everything is more funny in song. Could have been longer but maybe I'm just being greedy for more hilarious duets. City finalist for sure. All the best!
Toasted
I have to start off by saying the performance by the "do you have a lighter?" guy was the best I've seen in 48 hours this year, genuinely hilarious and genuinely genuine. It looked like you guys had a lot of fun making this and your use of locations was cool too, the large warehouse seemed very other-worldly. The gag about the narrator when reading the note was great! I also liked the creature/monster banging on the other side of the door, a great way to make something scary without special effects or costume! camera work and editing was good enough and suited the style of the film, the crossover with the other film was also a first for me to see in 48hours and was a crowd favourite. I think this film just needed a bit of extra polishing in the writing and maybe a faster paced edit to bring this film to the next level. Great work guys!
Stand Up
I liked this film, it stood out a lot to me in its heat because of its very high level of polish. Great clear storytelling and visually interesting and engaging cinematography. The highlight of this film for me was the lead actors performance (and facial hair) such a great persona to him, was funny and believable, some damn good acting. The golf club hit was also hella scary. Great work Angle3!
Taxidermy Beach Party
Very well shot and edited! Fantastic casting and performances! Started off as a very cute, offbeat, romantic comedy and I was ready to love this movie, but in the end I was left disappointed. You did all the hard work of setting up the characters and setting up plot devices but we never got to see the happy ending. I genuinely felt for the characters (a level of emotional connection not many 48hours films accomplish) and I'm sitting here writing this still wondering what happened to them in the end