Just Your Basic Hysteria

A seemingly funny garage sale pickup of a Live/Laugh/Love sign proves to be much more sinister than the comedic thrift 20 cent bargain it is at first glance, as things in the flat get more and more out of place.

I liked the confident characters in this film, I thought your line delivery was really good across the whole range of actors. The film also developed nicely, with a plot device immediately engaging us as viewers knowing that the garage sale had a creepy vibe, then story beats let things escalate with the relevant gear shift at each moment.

Also some nice satire on the passive aggressive nature of flat life with the multitude of post-it notes, and the overly dominant art on the fridge, whilst the comedy itself from the script worked well.

A nicely grounded film that looked pretty good and I don't mind that you shot in your flat because your set design was good and you used creative camera angles and lighting to elevate proceedings.

Story: 3/5
Technical: 3/5
Elements: 2.5/5
Overall: 3/5

Funny story with good performances and some cool editing that appropriately establishes the supernatural tone.

I love how the use of elements and genre are integral to JUST YOUR BASIC HYSTERIA - in that respect it has the bones of a 48Hour film which usually does quite well in the competition.

Particularly the marriage of "sign" with "supernatural" feels like the primordial ooze from which this film sprung from, and a piss-take around Live/Laugh/Love signs and the basic white women stereotype which is attached to it, is something I think was really fun to see in the comp.

Similarly, the way the L/L/L's curse manifests being the too-cool flatmates slowly turning into the stereotype is genius. The acting from all the leads is really great as well, very naturalistic in a way you don't often tend to see in Christchurch 48.

One thing I think could have been executed a little better though, would be when the guy drowns in the bubble bath, I feel like the tonal shift from silly comedy to emotionally devastating was a little jarring. This is an issue of tone, and one which plagues a lot of teams. I'm not saying people wouldn't react that way in real life if their friend drowned, but tonally the world you presented felt a little bit more cartoony than real life, and seeing someone respond realistically to a friend drowning (by way of a cursed Live, Laugh, Love sign) didn't fit quite right for me.

I also don't think the character should have drowned at all anyway - I think a much more effective climax would have been 2/3 of the flatmates succumbing to the sign's Basic hysteria, and the 3rd one needing to fight them off as if they were trapped in a instagram fauxtivational zombie apocalypse. Maybe the surviving flatmate converts them back to their non-basic selves by getting them to judge an arthouse film critically, or acknowledge that reality tv is bad for society - conversations 'basic' people typically don't engage with.

Sorry for Script Doctoring, I think I'm over-correcting because this was probably the script I'd have most liked to have been a part of making this year. Hahah.

Challenge for next year: Outside of these subjective storytelling issues, I really really implore you guys to scrub up on your camerawork, sound and editing going forward in the competition. The sense of humour and the storytelling ability is already there, I think the main thing holding you back from progressing to the finals (and, frankly, doing quite well in them) is your low-fi technical side. Get a DoP on board the team, a soundy, an editor. You have great actors, writers and an awesome Director with a distinct voice, improve these other areas and you'll soar. I'd love to see more More Vermouth.