Promises

Two hoods in a car take on one last job. Nicky, in particular, is reluctant and thinks about his pregnant wife. However, it's his last job so he goes for it! Predictably it goes wrong and the duo must escape in order to fulfill their promises. Very stylish. This all looked and sounded good (apart from some of the dialogue at the disc exchange) which must have been a relief after the disqualification in 2011. There were some excellent tracking and dolly shots, especially during the escape, but at the same time a really odd pan to the sniper later in the film. I felt that the "One last job" concept is a little bit tired, especially since it usually ends predictably. The dialogue was a bit stunted and why the fight scene was black and white escaped me. Also did I hear the line as "I did it"? Maybe you used it elsewhere! You've got the style. If you nail the substance then you'll really be on to something.

I liked your film. You had some fantastic shots and camera work in there. I particularly liked the way you did the fight scene as if it was caught on a CCTV camera. It fitted the Crime genre well. The downsides for me was that the story was a bit cliche, and an Uzi as a weapon of choice by the sniper seemed unlikely. Also, I thought the actors were very good -especially the Nicky Brick actor. He pulled off being nervous very well in the opening scene.

I'm reviewing my own film the same way I'm reviewing all the others: without reading any of the other reviews, just going off the notes I wrote during the screening. I just thought I'd leave my own thoughts here to let others know what I think we did right and wrong, without reading other opinions first. ;-) The audio was good for the opening dialogue, but the "flashback" scene needed some boosting that never happened. I wanted to do some color-grading as well but that never happened either, so the opening scenes are a bit flat. The shot from behind, dollying into the parking garage was great. The audio in the parking garage isn't great, and the dialogue was mediocre, though the actors performed well. The fight scene wasn't quite as clear and exciting as I'd hoped, but the slow-motion worked decently. The slow-motion escape scene is probably my favorite shot of the whole thing, and worked really well (though I don't know if anyone other than me caught the stuck green pixel! :-D). The music throughout this part is amazing. Our musician/composer did an awesome job on the whole score. The sniper scene at the end is a little flat (yes, clearly not a sniper rifle), and there's nothing that ties it into the beginning to any satisfying degree, leaving the story a bit thin (though at least fairly clear). A dying Nicky muttering "I did it" shows acutely just how unlucky he (and us) was. Things to work on: Put more effort into making a more engaging story. We were so focused on "keep it simple" that it meant a down-played story. Remember to increase the mic gain levels when filming a quiet scene. Make double/triple/x-ple sure we get the required elements right next time.

One of the oldest and most popular tropes in the Crime genre: just one last job – what could possibly go wrong? This was a slick and stylish production, with a simple, focused narrative and some great action sequences. The use of the underground carpark space was again a good use of a familiar element of the genre, lending a sense of claustrophobia to the environment. The backwards tracking shot of the two guys running away through the carpark looked incredible. And in four heats of viewing I saw a lot of silly fight sequences (as boys in front of cameras are wont to do), so it was refreshing to see a piece of hand-to-hand combat choreography that I really believed. What’s more, this sequence incorporated the film’s required slo-mo effect, and yet the apparent contact looked plausible (because, as I later learned, there was actual contact going on – pro-tip: if you want to convince an audience that you’re punching someone, actually punch them). The coda of the film with the sniper felt a little bit tacked on, and was probably a bit condensed and hurried due to the 7-minute time limit. Also, I think the structure was teetering a bit between being a single-location story and a broader multi-scene crime thriller, and I would have liked to see it settle on one or the other. As it was it was almost single-location, and maybe a bit more time could have been spent holding the tension of the carpark rendezvous, and keeping us in that claustrophobic space as long as possible. Still, these are minor quibbles, and overall there was plenty to love about this short.

The short is based on the idea of two criminals pulling one last job, a well-worn trope of the crime genre. I felt that the narrative was a little thin and would have liked to see a little bit more development before the parking lot scene to better establish the characters. the flashback which preceded the scene was a good idea but it only really introduced Nicky and gave us his motivation in very broad strokes. The ending was a little weak and I feel that had we known more about the characters it would have been more resonant. The technical side of the short was quite strong, in particular the cinematography and the original score. Those dolly moves in the parking lot were very cool and so was the shot where Nicky beat up one of the bad guys with his hits slowing down on impact (I was a little confused as to why that shot was in black and white though). That being said the opening shot didn't need to pull focus for every single line and the continuous focus pulls were a little distracting. The score was also very good and nicely established the mood throughout the short. The audio had a few issues, namely that the bad guy in the parking lot was too quiet and the dialogue didn't fade in and out of the soundscape very well in the final shot of the short (probably because there was some wind noise on it) but apart from that the audio was pretty good. The elements were well integrated, especially the use of slow motion in a nicely staged hand to hand fight. Overall I enjoyed it but feel the story could have been a little stronger.

A visually stylish, slick crime-thriller about one last job. The other reviews cover the salient points very well. I was particularly impressed by the original score and that awesome, awesome slow-mo dolly shot with the protagonists running out of the underground garage. And the kid in the balaclava was badass.

Two hoods in a car take on one last job. Nicky, in particular, is reluctant and thinks about his pregnant wife. However, it's his last job so he goes for it! Predictably it goes wrong and the duo must escape in order to fulfill their promises. Very stylish. This all looked and sounded good (apart from some of the dialogue at the disc exchange) which must have been a relief after the disqualification in 2011. There were some excellent tracking and dolly shots, especially during the escape, but at the same time a really odd pan to the sniper later in the film. I felt that the "One last job" concept is a little bit tired, especially since it usually ends predictably. The dialogue was a bit stunted and why the fight scene was black and white escaped me. Also did I hear the line as "I did it"? Maybe you used it elsewhere! You've got the style. If you nail the substance then you'll really be on to something.

One of the oldest and most popular tropes in the Crime genre: just one last job – what could possibly go wrong? This was a slick and stylish production, with a simple, focused narrative and some great action sequences. The use of the underground carpark space was again a good use of a familiar element of the genre, lending a sense of claustrophobia to the environment. The backwards tracking shot of the two guys running away through the carpark looked incredible. And in four heats of viewing I saw a lot of silly fight sequences (as boys in front of cameras are wont to do), so it was refreshing to see a piece of hand-to-hand combat choreography that I really believed. What’s more, this sequence incorporated the film’s required slo-mo effect, and yet the apparent contact looked plausible (because, as I later learned, there was actual contact going on – pro-tip: if you want to convince an audience that you’re punching someone, actually punch them). The coda of the film with the sniper felt a little bit tacked on, and was probably a bit condensed and hurried due to the 7-minute time limit. Also, I think the structure was teetering a bit between being a single-location story and a broader multi-scene crime thriller, and I would have liked to see it settle on one or the other. As it was it was almost single-location, and maybe a bit more time could have been spent holding the tension of the carpark rendezvous, and keeping us in that claustrophobic space as long as possible. Still, these are minor quibbles, and overall there was plenty to love about this short.