Lost

Now here we go, genuine contender this one as our lead struggled to make his way to his party destination in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. Of course he also happens to be alone in his car with only an Alexa-type phone for company... Seriously awesome sound design in this film, barely an ounce of fat to it, sublime camerawork and a lead performance by Jordan Rivers that is going to take some beating to stop him taking out the top Wellington award. Hints of CHRISTINE, IN FEAR, 2001 and KNIGHT RIDER but absolutely it's own beast and all the better for it. I mean jeepers creepers this was a thriller and it actually gave me goosebumps at a certain key dramatic point! I've been impressed by Stock Standard's continuing maturity in this competition and this is their most sublime effort yet. Just shy of 7 stars but that may change after the Wellington final.

Late one night, a young man is driving to his mate's house when his cell phone begins to play up. At first his map app starts repetitively telling him to do a u-turn, then changes the music randomly. But what initially seems like a series of irritating technical difficulties increasingly becomes sinister. Alone on the road in the dark, the tone changes and frustration turns to fear. This was a great film, and deserved its track through to the Grand Finals. It was a small story - one actor, set in a car, and Jordan's performance really took us on a journey, from humour, right through to dread. There was one moment where he looks around that you felt the character shift into vulnerability. The sound design on this film was also really great - changing the music volume unexpectedly threw us off and was a big part of carrying the audience on the journey. I wasn't sure the ending needed the figure to appear, there was already a sense of aloneness that was really threatening and for me I wondered if you could have left the audience to imagine what might follow but thats just my feeling. Great work - its been a pleasure seeing this team develop over the last few years and I look forward to seeing more from you.