Josh

What a shame this was disqualified, it was my #1 out of every Hamilton entry and is as of writing, is on my top 3 nationwide. You guys had everything I want in a 48 hour film, I want to see kids running around with toy guns in a Divergent-style story shot in the school chemistry lab, I want to see dads in trenchcoats playing bad guys, I want to see nods to the Matrix and LOTR, and despite of the essential low fidelity of it all I want the film to take itself seriously, no lame attempts at self-effacing humor, no meta-jokes, no characters winking at the camera, saying "here's our mandatory reaction shot lol!"

The camera work stands out, capturing that young-adult action-adventure tone effectively. I loved the end puzzle, that the queen was on the wrong square, very clever. The performances were fab. The entire thing was finger lickin' good, the product of a team of dedicated people giving it their all to make something cool.

I always prefer the amateur filmmaker teams over the teams of professional filmmakers shooting on RED Rangers with camera jibs and semi-pro actors and WETA VFX guys on their weekends off, I usually find them too try-hard and afraid to let creativity run unbridled, their films usually end up being a snore, nowhere near as good as the young talent dealing in the "backyard filmmaking" aesthetic, a flavour you will never get anywhere else in your movie and TV watching life, you only get it in the 48 Hour Film Festival.

JOSH is the 48 Hour Film Festival at its very best. I loved it, I watched it twice, I hope you guys win best disqualified.

Very fun, Matrix-Ready Player One mashup.

I feel like a POV shot through the goggles would have made for a more immersive experience. Just watching someone fiddle in the air is a little awkward. A green filter and some greenscreen tech effects over a drawn map in his hands would have done just fine.

The use of the fog machine was great and the lighting in that scene really made for a dramatic feel.

This film kept me engaged throughout and had me rooting for the good guys.

Well done :)

Sorry to hear you were DQ'd, this was definitely one of the more enjoyable films out of the Hamilton heats. I was genuinely impressed by the amount of coverage you got for your film. I counted 116 cuts on my second watch just now and it seemed like brand new angles that would have taken endless setups peppered the film, giving it frenetically paced energy to proceedings, but with a smooth edit keeping things on track at all times.

Yes, the inspirations of films were yesteryear were obvious, but you still stuck to your guns and played it straight, giving the film a respectable consistency to the tone. Your villain was larger than life, your gatekeeper ethereal, but the plot was driven by the required elements of the comp such as the invisible map and titular Josh having to show bravery reluctantly.

The location could have easily been given away as a school with the wrong angle or reflection at precisely the wrong inopportune time, but everything was tight to sell the idea of guerilla militants racing to find the key they needed.

I have to say I felt the conclusion to the film a tad confusing with the overlays and chess board etc, but this was classic guerilla film making and I applaud you for it.

Story: 2.5/5
Technical: 3.5/5
Elements: 4/5
Overall: 3.5/5