The Shirt: Altered

I really liked the style choice here, certainly one that I have yet to see at 48Hours. A little hard to understand the story and motivations through the middle of the film - but something tells me that's just how you wanted it. A laugh-out-loud end to the heat, please review my film kindly tho Stu.

Strong visual style, confidently made I will need to watch it again to fully ‘get it’ and because it was Ultra I unfortunatly couldnt recall the original film over than recognising the art style. Of all the Ultra teams though, this was one of the better ones. The scene in the bar had some quite funny lines.

What a ride! I feel like watching this one before going back and watching the original is a great way to get into the mental state of the protagonist, minus the misogyny. Animation in 48 hours is crazy difficult, especially when you've got 4 minutes of monologue to fill, but a bit more movement/parallax in some of the shots would go a long way towards feeling less like a slide show. That said, the visual style was innovative, and with some clever integration of 2014's compulsory line, it totally nailed the spirit of ultra 48. After re-watching the first film, the plot also became much more clear. Lots of clever references tie the two together. Great to see the same formula taken in a different direction, and the final punchline definitely delivered!

One of the things I loved most about the first ‘Shirt’ is how it went from ‘simmer’ to ‘batshit insane’ with a crazy ending and a philosophi-cool monologue. That payoff really knocked it home. This sequel doesn’t have that ramp-up. Not that it was necessary, but without that lunacy, this follow-up feels a bit tame by comparison. The pace also isn’t as quick-footed, and I feel it’s because the character’s objective isn’t fully realised. Instead of finding a shirt, he’s trying to find out why he has these headaches, but moments like the bar scene don’t add to his progress and end up halting the story. The style change-up was very cool, though. I’m big on that sort of blending. There are some simple things you can do to make the stills blend in with the live backgrounds even better, like add shadows or a bit of manufactured shaky cam added in post. You could even cut off a bit off his feet in some of the beach shots to make it look more like he’s standing in sand. The re-issue of the 2014 line? Also very clever. And for what you ended up doing, the ‘alien’ genre was made to feel like a natural fit for The Shirt Cinematic Universe.