Nearest and Dearest

Well thought out and put together movie. Obvious talent with camera, sound and editing evident in this movie. The actors worked well at their parts, but there were times when they fell out of character. Easy to watch, but not an original story line, but in saying that with a crime genre it is hard to come up with an original idea in 48 hours. Well done.

Pleasantly surprised by the quality of the camera shots. Unfortunately having young people play older people is a pet hate of mine. Some funny bits in this short. But as a whole It needed just a little more work on the plot and movie as a whole. 48hrs is a short time. Good work guys!!

This young team have come a long way since their debut 6 years ago. High production values with a complicated plot for 6 minutes, but easy to follow.

Nice job guys, the film had a nice look. the shaky camera let you down i feel. and the story was a bit predictable. But Great effort :)

The production values were high at times, but some of the shaky camera work let it down. Story was good, but ultimately predictable, not quite sure why he shot him self at the end? Seemed a strange ending. good job for such a young team though

Very good, liked the camera work and charaters, well done guys, loved how you killed Bobby multiple times.

great directing and editing. the initial age inappropriate casting became less distracting as the story progress. always look forward to what you guys come up with!

Agree with moose raccoon that it quite hard when younger people play older characters, however thought you guys did a good job. Little bit cheesey for me but definite talent in the camera shots and editing. Good stuff!

This was a good film, well written and structured. With age appropriate actors, it could have been a real contender.

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Absolutely Brilliant. A low rating is just ridiculous.

*Viewed in the Screening Room* Damn this was good. As a teen film-maker myself (my 48hours short was godawful), I can really appreciate the amount of talent on display here. The cinematography and editing were both truly great, not just good for a teen team. But what really stood out for me was the sound, and how well it was used. The music was really well-mixed and actually complemented the scene effectively, and the sound really helped sell the various cuts into the imagined murder sequences and other things around the film. As I said earlier, I thought the cinematography was fantastic, except for the shaky cam. I can see that you were trying to go for a sort of verite-style, like a lot of police procedurals do these days, but your film was so stylised in the other elements that it really didn't gel so well with everything. I think you could have improved the cinematography by either using some sort of steadi-cam rig to ensure that you could move around without the dodgy framing that the film sometimes had, or by locking the whole thing down and trying to really stage your scenes in longer takes. Again, I thought it was great, but for the future you might want to think about some different approaches. The story was simple, and really well-told. I feel that your acting was quite good, but a few iffy line-readings created awkward moments. I didn't mind the age-inappropriate casting, because you sold it really well, and that definitely reflects on the ability both in front and behind of the camera. Overall a really good short, except for my minor gripe with the cinematography. I can definitely see why you made the finals ahead of stiff competition and were able to pick up cinematography and editing awards.

*Viewed in the Screening Room Two detectives arrive at a house to investigate a break-in. As they're looking around, one of the home-oweners is brutally murdered! It's been said in other reviews - looks and sounds fantastic - certainly a high level of skill on display here. Polished editing and a well thought through soundtrack. It's been interesting to read the contrasting views on the age-inappropriate casting- 1) didn't matter as the story progressed; 2) detracted throughout. I fall into the latter category. Two detectives looking like teens put me off from the start and I really don't know how anyone could believe that the couple were married homeowners. The only thing that was believeable was that they went to school together! I was also confused by how the film turned rather light-hearted after the murder (when the cops discuss the how of the murder), only to lapse back into as serious tone. The jusification as to why the wife was the killer was flimsy to say the least too. But does all of that matter? Not really 'cos you made the Auckland finals though. Well done!

Agree with Peter Parker above. Loved this film at the finals and was stoked to see it clean up in awards and nominations on the night. On the age factor: I do agree that it's strange watching younger people play what are clearly roles for older characters, but I think the standard of both the production and the acting made it easy to overlook this issue. I always feel a bit strange trying to offer advice to films that I feel are superior to my own, but if I was to suggest anything it would be to write characters that can be convincingly portrayed by younger actors - my team is also faced with the problem of having ideas that require younger-looking people to play older adult characters so we try to write our characters as teenagers or young adults to avoid such criticism. Maybe if the husband and wife were changed to be brother and sister whose family were away? I dunno. Regardless, it was a brilliant film. Props to Pickle Thugs. Looking forward to seeing a few awards going their way at the GF coming up.

Well thought out and put together movie. Obvious talent with camera, sound and editing evident in this movie. The actors worked well at their parts, but there were times when they fell out of character. Easy to watch, but not an original story line, but in saying that with a crime genre it is hard to come up with an original idea in 48 hours. Well done.

Pleasantly surprised by the quality of the camera shots. Unfortunately having young people play older people is a pet hate of mine. Some funny bits in this short. But as a whole It needed just a little more work on the plot and movie as a whole. 48hrs is a short time. Good work guys!!

This young team have come a long way since their debut 6 years ago. High production values with a complicated plot for 6 minutes, but easy to follow.

*Viewed in the Screening Room* Damn this was good. As a teen film-maker myself (my 48hours short was godawful), I can really appreciate the amount of talent on display here. The cinematography and editing were both truly great, not just good for a teen team. But what really stood out for me was the sound, and how well it was used. The music was really well-mixed and actually complemented the scene effectively, and the sound really helped sell the various cuts into the imagined murder sequences and other things around the film. As I said earlier, I thought the cinematography was fantastic, except for the shaky cam. I can see that you were trying to go for a sort of verite-style, like a lot of police procedurals do these days, but your film was so stylised in the other elements that it really didn't gel so well with everything. I think you could have improved the cinematography by either using some sort of steadi-cam rig to ensure that you could move around without the dodgy framing that the film sometimes had, or by locking the whole thing down and trying to really stage your scenes in longer takes. Again, I thought it was great, but for the future you might want to think about some different approaches. The story was simple, and really well-told. I feel that your acting was quite good, but a few iffy line-readings created awkward moments. I didn't mind the age-inappropriate casting, because you sold it really well, and that definitely reflects on the ability both in front and behind of the camera. Overall a really good short, except for my minor gripe with the cinematography. I can definitely see why you made the finals ahead of stiff competition and were able to pick up cinematography and editing awards.

*Viewed in the Screening Room Two detectives arrive at a house to investigate a break-in. As they're looking around, one of the home-oweners is brutally murdered! It's been said in other reviews - looks and sounds fantastic - certainly a high level of skill on display here. Polished editing and a well thought through soundtrack. It's been interesting to read the contrasting views on the age-inappropriate casting- 1) didn't matter as the story progressed; 2) detracted throughout. I fall into the latter category. Two detectives looking like teens put me off from the start and I really don't know how anyone could believe that the couple were married homeowners. The only thing that was believeable was that they went to school together! I was also confused by how the film turned rather light-hearted after the murder (when the cops discuss the how of the murder), only to lapse back into as serious tone. The jusification as to why the wife was the killer was flimsy to say the least too. But does all of that matter? Not really 'cos you made the Auckland finals though. Well done!