Embers of the Past

A bunch of Super Teen Detectives (STD!) catch the bad guy, but did they? Place your bets for Best of the Bunch right now. Bus of the Undead (what the hell does that mean, anyway?) pack a mean punch. These guys are on the steep, steep rise to fame & glory. Their fifth entry in V48, I think, and they're getting better all the time. Multiple Mothra winners keep these guys in the clover. Crisp, never-out-of-focus camera, tight clean audio and what looks like the Big Box of professional graphics and music tracks packed into a well crafted, funny and engaging story. Great line gags, sight gags and running jokes too! Good, no, GREAT direction, and casting. 'Call me ...' gag had the audience laughing all the way. A clearly likeable film. Place your bets!

Pros: The film looked and sounded great. It also had a cast who could act - lines of dialogue you could actually hear! Good gags had the crowd responding - not surprised they got the audience award. Add to this some bloody solid camera movement and you've got a great short. Cons: The newspaper exposition was a little fast. It took a while to figure out who was who until the end.

First off, this is a really good-looking film. Nice genre touches (especially in the 30 second intro), and just generally great style. Story-wise, however, it was less consistent. Great use of genre tropes, often funny dialog, and nice acting for the most part, but I felt that the plot lacked some substance, and was, to some degree, just going through the motions of the genre. All in all, quite a polished film stylistically, but a little disappointing in the story department. You guys rock though.

These guys totally hit the 'mystery' genre on the head straight away (with an awesome intro as well!). The production quality was superb, and it just keeps getting better every year. The acting was well done, although the plot seemed to fall away throughout the film. Getting the audience to laugh when you want them to is a fine art, but the humour was spot on in this film ("Call me" - classic!). I am looking forward for next year's entry.

A team of kid dectectives investigate an arson, end up getting kidnapped, but evntually saving the day. Haha, I really liked this film. It was satricial, funny, and original. The writing here is what stood out for me, it seemed like every second line was cleaver, witty or origional and that's saying a lot. The actors were top notch, the whole thing had the feel of a hollywood movie 80% of the time through slick cinematography, sound was great, editing great (loved the batman style logo) and great ending. Ok so it wasn't ground breaking subject matter, but was very well made for what it is and made me laugh. It had a lot of twists and diologe I did not expect, and kept me entertained throughout with smooth transitions between scenes, a broad location base, and nice flow. Constructive critisism: The only thing I can say is apply your amazing film making talent (especially writing) to an interesting subject matter (kidnap/murder is interesting, but old hat) and you will have a finals worth film on your hands next year!

A bunch of Super Teen Detectives (STD!) catch the bad guy, but did they? Place your bets for Best of the Bunch right now. Bus of the Undead (what the hell does that mean, anyway?) pack a mean punch. These guys are on the steep, steep rise to fame & glory. Their fifth entry in V48, I think, and they're getting better all the time. Multiple Mothra winners keep these guys in the clover. Crisp, never-out-of-focus camera, tight clean audio and what looks like the Big Box of professional graphics and music tracks packed into a well crafted, funny and engaging story. Great line gags, sight gags and running jokes too! Good, no, GREAT direction, and casting. 'Call me ...' gag had the audience laughing all the way. A clearly likeable film. Place your bets!

First off, this is a really good-looking film. Nice genre touches (especially in the 30 second intro), and just generally great style. Story-wise, however, it was less consistent. Great use of genre tropes, often funny dialog, and nice acting for the most part, but I felt that the plot lacked some substance, and was, to some degree, just going through the motions of the genre. All in all, quite a polished film stylistically, but a little disappointing in the story department. You guys rock though.

A team of kid dectectives investigate an arson, end up getting kidnapped, but evntually saving the day. Haha, I really liked this film. It was satricial, funny, and original. The writing here is what stood out for me, it seemed like every second line was cleaver, witty or origional and that's saying a lot. The actors were top notch, the whole thing had the feel of a hollywood movie 80% of the time through slick cinematography, sound was great, editing great (loved the batman style logo) and great ending. Ok so it wasn't ground breaking subject matter, but was very well made for what it is and made me laugh. It had a lot of twists and diologe I did not expect, and kept me entertained throughout with smooth transitions between scenes, a broad location base, and nice flow. Constructive critisism: The only thing I can say is apply your amazing film making talent (especially writing) to an interesting subject matter (kidnap/murder is interesting, but old hat) and you will have a finals worth film on your hands next year!