The Institute

A solid (and dangerously handsom) central performance coupled with fantastic production values, made this basically plotless re-hashing of every other institution-film really enjoyable. The showy cinematography was easily the best of any film I've seen this year - and the action sequences were well paced. The film stood out amongst formidable competition.

This was a crazy good heat but The Institute stood out for me. Amazing performance. Great art direction and costumes. Loved the restrained use of dialogue. Looked good. Was good. Well done.

I somehow spaced between the title card and start of the film that it was action-adventure. The first two minutes are a FANTASTIC slow burn with a strong lead performance ... and then it goes action, which is often quite nicely shot, but feels like it slightly squanders the intrigue and promise of the beginning ... nature of the genre, I know. Also the young actors as security guards don't quite sell. Still, slick, engaging work and a technically impressive product for the timeframe, even in a heat with quite a few technically impressive films.

Very impressive production value. This film was thoroughly entertaining with some incredible special effects.

The look of this film was great. I really got the sense of isolation the character was feeling. I also liked the monochromatic color choice. White on white on white would be enough to drive anyone to murder. The effects were great as well. Where this film fell down was the story. There was no real reason to care for Victor one way or the other. The only thing I took from this film is "be sure to kill the hot girl too even if you don't want to." The production values were awesome. The writing needs some work.

So glad these guys weren't DQ'd this year, with a film that showed some of the strongest technical ability I've ever seen in this comp. The decision to have so little dialogue was a great call, and the lead carried the film brilliantly. Like most action flicks the story took a backseat during the middle, but the slow-burn beginning and payoffs at the end more than made up for it.

This film had top notch production values across the board - cinematography, visual FX, art department, costume, audio etc A good performance from the lead and the story had a promising start but got a bit lost as it went on. Felt like it needed a little bit of heart and emotion injected into it for the audience to care for Victor's journey. The action was mostly well executed but some scenes, especially towards the end, fell into Hollywood cliche.

A good effort for this film, the cinematography was beautiful. I really like what you did with the use of the character name, a great reveal at the end. Solid work, congrats!

Nicely styled movie with some cool effects. Goodfellas was a tough act to follow.

Lead was great. Opening location was fantastic as was most of the camera work. His first kill was a little awkward, could have sped it up or jump cut. Muzzle flashes could have been integrated a little better, great blood effects though. Gutted that you missed that one fx shot. Overall pretty solid effort genre wise, nice!

Victor is pat of a sleep trial and is fed pills by a faceless hand that puts them through a slot in the wall. He eventually breaks out after not sleeping for a considerable length of time and kills many people during his escape attempt. A very slick film that was well played with some strong acting and great overall. I think the only reason it may have suffered is it screened immediately after Goodfellas. Great film, well acted and I thought deserving of at least a place in the audience favourite but this was also the strongest single heat in the competition. It could have almost been a final by itself.

The beginning and the end were awesome and promised for something really interesting, the action sequences could have been a bit more original and there were a few problems with the editing/foley, but I guess that's just 48 hours for you. Despite the strong heat this short still stood out and held its own. Looked awesome, acting was great.

Very cool little action flick, with all the action cliches (NOT A BAD THING!) - a few sound problems made me realize that "yes, this was all done in 48 hours!" The only thing that stopped this from scoring higher in my opinion was the story didn't really go anywhere. Saying that I'd love to see this back online with all the added polish that can't be finished in the competitions time frame, and a more conclusive 3rd act. Well done guys.

Awesome film, shame about the soundie on the stairs I now guess it's his shout forever. as for the helicopter wtf! please tell me it was cgi if not do you know god as well? nicely paced shot and edited well done

Impressive action movie. I thought the set-up was quite good, and the actual action very well-handled. Obviously the kind of visual effects (and sound) you can do in the 48 hour time-frame aren't going to be the slickest ever, but these were pretty good and, most importantly, believable. The direction was strong as well, choosing to shoot everything clearly instead of go in for the shaky-cam/quick-cut approach a lot of action movies use these days. I think the pacing could have been just a bit tighter to start with and a little slacker at the end, as Vic's final confrontation didn't quite feel tense enough. This heat must have been insane...

The beginning and the end were awesome and promised for something really interesting, the action sequences could have been a bit more original and there were a few problems with the editing/foley, but I guess that's just 48 hours for you. Despite the strong heat this short still stood out and held its own. Looked awesome, acting was great.

Very cool little action flick, with all the action cliches (NOT A BAD THING!) - a few sound problems made me realize that "yes, this was all done in 48 hours!" The only thing that stopped this from scoring higher in my opinion was the story didn't really go anywhere. Saying that I'd love to see this back online with all the added polish that can't be finished in the competitions time frame, and a more conclusive 3rd act. Well done guys.

Impressive action movie. I thought the set-up was quite good, and the actual action very well-handled. Obviously the kind of visual effects (and sound) you can do in the 48 hour time-frame aren't going to be the slickest ever, but these were pretty good and, most importantly, believable. The direction was strong as well, choosing to shoot everything clearly instead of go in for the shaky-cam/quick-cut approach a lot of action movies use these days. I think the pacing could have been just a bit tighter to start with and a little slacker at the end, as Vic's final confrontation didn't quite feel tense enough. This heat must have been insane...