An Inconvenient Hoof

In this nicely presented shadow puppet film, two sea-horses find to their horror that something is intruding into their reef. The male seahorse also has exciting news - he's pregnant! The danger to the reef is of concern so they decide to visit Dave "The Dirty Old Man" Octopus. He tells them it is an oil rig and the only way to destroy it is to strap on some TNT and "Blow it to f**kery!" It's up to Nicky to save the day! This is the 6th Year for this team and they've delivered a really good film. The voice acting is superb and the story is very well structured, funny and delivers a sweet double ending. Their approach is also an interesting point-of-difference from other end-of the-world films that have been screened. Certainly one of my favourites from all the heats and the audience in Heat 8 really seemed to love it as well.

Great use of shadow puppets and a nice take on "end of World" theme

This one is my favourite of Heat 8. I loved the use of the shadow puppets! Very well made puppets given time constraints. The story was entertaining and funny in just the right places. Voice acting was great too. The only minor downside for me was that I couldn't figure out which seahorse was which until the very end (but perhaps that was just me?) Also, great use of leaf!

This film was a real treat. The team intro was simple, funny and brilliant. The shadow puppet scheme worked brilliantly and to really fantastic effect. The script and story were both superbly written. The audio and dialogue were both really well done as well, which is crucial for this sort of thing. The sound effects were spot-on too. I was laughing through most of this. I really liked the characters, too, as they were all interesting and unique. I was a little perturbed when the octopus pulled out a vibrator, as it didn't really match the tone of the rest of it. I really liked when the dynamite went off and the effects employed there. Clever use of the prop with "Leaf oil". Surprisingly touching and emotional scene after the dynamite goes off, which was brought back to the main theme of humor by the shark coming along during the credits. Really great production all-around, and I enjoyed it immensely. Things to work on: I'd like to see a vibrator-free sea. ;-P Other than that, it was stellar. I hope you guys win a heap of awards.

One way to stand out from the 48Hours crowd is to produce a film using an unusual technique, and the decision of this team to tell a story using shadow puppets certainly did the trick in this respect. But happily once we got past the novelty of the style, the production values and the story held us through to the end. The film also presented a neat interpretation of End Of The World, since an undersea drilling endeavour would certainly spell the end of the world for most little critters living nearby. The story itself was very funny, but then also surprisingly affecting, a really nice balance of mood. The voice actors all performed well in varied ways, and vocal differentiation is especially critical when there are few other markers to tell the characters apart. The craft of the made puppets themselves was fabulous, with some great little details like the differently coloured seahorse eyes and the bubbles rising up (timed to a bubble sound effect). This was a case where seeing the ‘wires’ actually sold the effect better than if it had been more slick, and all-in-all this was a brilliant little film, showing off its homemade stripes and a joy to watch.

In this nicely presented shadow puppet film, two sea-horses find to their horror that something is intruding into their reef. The male seahorse also has exciting news - he's pregnant! The danger to the reef is of concern so they decide to visit Dave "The Dirty Old Man" Octopus. He tells them it is an oil rig and the only way to destroy it is to strap on some TNT and "Blow it to f**kery!" It's up to Nicky to save the day! This is the 6th Year for this team and they've delivered a really good film. The voice acting is superb and the story is very well structured, funny and delivers a sweet double ending. Their approach is also an interesting point-of-difference from other end-of the-world films that have been screened. Certainly one of my favourites from all the heats and the audience in Heat 8 really seemed to love it as well.

This one is my favourite of Heat 8. I loved the use of the shadow puppets! Very well made puppets given time constraints. The story was entertaining and funny in just the right places. Voice acting was great too. The only minor downside for me was that I couldn't figure out which seahorse was which until the very end (but perhaps that was just me?) Also, great use of leaf!

One way to stand out from the 48Hours crowd is to produce a film using an unusual technique, and the decision of this team to tell a story using shadow puppets certainly did the trick in this respect. But happily once we got past the novelty of the style, the production values and the story held us through to the end. The film also presented a neat interpretation of End Of The World, since an undersea drilling endeavour would certainly spell the end of the world for most little critters living nearby. The story itself was very funny, but then also surprisingly affecting, a really nice balance of mood. The voice actors all performed well in varied ways, and vocal differentiation is especially critical when there are few other markers to tell the characters apart. The craft of the made puppets themselves was fabulous, with some great little details like the differently coloured seahorse eyes and the bubbles rising up (timed to a bubble sound effect). This was a case where seeing the ‘wires’ actually sold the effect better than if it had been more slick, and all-in-all this was a brilliant little film, showing off its homemade stripes and a joy to watch.