Riccardo

When Space Hears You Scream

Don’t be fooled by the reviews above. This film eclipsed all others shown in heat 3 and deserved to win audience favourite. Unfortunately, the audience watching online were programmable (and rampantly racist) bots hard coded to not accept foreign language films.

On the technical side, many of the shots were tighter than the conditions of my poverty-stricken childhood. The film opened with what is unmistakably and the most single handily, in this competition’s esteemed 20 years of existence, emotionally stirring dialog that continued to resonate with me days after viewing.
Take it from me, the man who watched this short in the live audience. There was not a single dry eye or booger-free tissue in the theatre after this film played.

It made them laugh, it made them cry, and nevertheless, there is a conspiracy at foot. Why did this film not win the audience favourite? The film had tension so tight and stakes so high, yet it also had heart and remembered to slow down so we could appreciate the small moments and rich character development between the captain and his crew.
The gender diversity was much appreciated, with the casting of the role of the killer doll to a female doll and although the shape of the spaceship was risk-ay to say the least, they handled it with great taste and respect.

Now let’s break down the required elements:

The whisper. My gosh! Very deserving of a 5/5 the tension it created and that it came completely out of nowhere.

The gatekeeper. 5/5 I’ve never seen such smooth and convincing rotoscoping in my life and to see you pull it off with such ease and without the use of the refine brush tool. Simply fantastic!

The sign. You really had to look for it and I’m so glad that they didn’t spell it out for the audience. The genius of it is frankly frightening 5/5.

Let’s talk about the credits… F**K me dead, your musical talents can’t be topped. If you’re not nominated for best use of song, it’s probably because of the rampantly racist bots.

Story: 5/5
Technical: 5/5
Elements: 5/5
Overall: 11/5