The Deal

[DQ'd - corrupt file] Two young men negotiate a property deal with a shady character. It all feels a little dodgy and one of the young men starts to have second thoughts. This short maintained a consistent tone throughout, sucking the audience in with its sense that the two guys were in over their heads. There was some nice camerawork and the lighting mostly worked well - at times I thought the shadows were just a touch too big across the faces. The performances were good from all the cast and I was pleasantly surprised to see a cameo from a former student of mine - nice one Laura! Overall, a well thought out little film that set-up its ending superbly - shame about the DQ. I enjoyed your One Directionesque intro too Nice job!

This had a good start with some strong performances and powerful lighting. I got a bit bored in the middle, however, as the filming seemed to focus on face washing. A great twist at the end though!

Great twist at the end, and also an amazing team intro. Was gutted that the storyline meant that most of the film consisted of a dark table scene; because the team intro indicated this team could really pull off some great shots. Can't wait to see what this team pulls out next year.

A great little short. Its a shame about the disqualification. I was impressed about the choice of lighting. Was executed very well, and the tone and mood was consistent. The only thing I found was the train station property comment gave it away for me, so I saw the end coming, and I guess when you have a genre that people are expecting a twist it makes it quite hard. You did a great job at building that contrast enough to deceive people :). Overall enjoyable. Great effort

Some of what I enjoyed: Great work by the sinister property baron. Great lighting on him. Great work selling the atmosphere of uneasiness and doubt. Fantastic reveal at the end of the board game. Great short. Fun.

Great short, sharp story, with a great twist that had me laughing properly. Well done. Story wise you had some things going for you, dialogue was pretty much spot on. The him and us thing worked well for the story. And you stayed due to your genre very well. Great stuff. A couple of things let you down. - A couple of microphone bumps where heard. - The lighting, I agree with the idea, however you can 'light for dark' better than just using one key/back light. Dump the ISO and Shutter Speed and bring up blacks when editing. Use a few more lights, not to see characters but to see outlines, shapes better. Film Riot has a good video on "lighting for dark" - My last point is a pet peve of mine, voice overs. If you dont know why then have a look at Robert McKees stuff on screen writing or watch the scene in Adaptation where Cage does a voice over while attending a Mckee leacture. Remember film is about character interations. Voice overs work in story and theatre, not so well in film.