Oogabooga

Instant Classic M8

Wow! I very much loved this film. Each aspect worked together perfectly, commending the film team. From the script to the post production, all elements helped tell the story perfectly, which is astonishing considering the very limited time to make this. The dialogue was a stand out for me, each scene was perfectly written. I loved the relationship between Dug and the stranger, in having two perspectives, with consequential humour in misunderstanding. It all displayed how well it was executed. To top it all off, the sweet message of helping someone, no matter the circumstance or perception, truely helped emphasise the story and overall response. This was memorable and I would happily watch again and again.
10/10 for Dug!

A job well done to the filmmakers behind Oogabooga! From the lovable characters, line deliveries, jokes that isn't forced and to the wholesome ending really completes the film. Despite it being a comedy, Oogabooga touches on some real life issues of being there for someone which is a very nice touch.There are some technical issues and drastic lighting changes I noticed but it wasn't enough to bother me as much because of how invested I was to the story.

Such an amazing film :)

Really heartwarming and I was keen to know what happened next in their adventure.

Some solid work from a team who show a lot of potential. Effective camerawork, acting and storytelling here, though some stuff worked more than other stuff.

Conceptually, this is a good idea for a swap movie, and Encino Man riffing story which sees a caveman fish-out-of-water in the big scary world of central Christchurch 2022. I think these are great ideas, but I'm not sure the film lives up to this greatness.

Structurally, the story very much has a "we couldn't think of a middle" middle - the only thing of consequence that happens is we meet the friend, and I think this friend needed to be introduced a lot earlier, and we should have gone straight to smoking drugs. The character mentioning this was the most fun he'd had since yesterday is hilarious, I would have loved for you to lean into this faux-sincerity of this character who I get the feeling grossly overinvests into every relationship in his life. The mystical stone being the conduit for time travel was fun too.

There are a hundred ways to take this story, and it all depends on who the caveman meets in modern day. A stoner isn't a bad choice, but I think it would have been worthy to explore some others as well.

A big fault in the film too, is your production value - while I'm delighted to see a film shot outside and in public no less, with a wide variety of locations, it would have been cool to see the world the filmmakers were clearly imagining in their heads instead the ramshackle vision we have in the final product.

What I mean by this, is the Caveman is clearly wearing a fake beard, his timeline is clearly just a beach, and judging by the superimposed yelling lines from off screen cavemen, you maybe had some trouble casting any other cavemen? I know it's a frustrating note, but I think these scenes would have been dramatically improved by actually casting someone with a scraggly beard and messy hair, and in fact cast multiple cavemen, and film IN A CAVE, instead of just asking the audience to believe New Brighton is the stone age.

I know the rebuttal to this is "But AJ we didn't have any actors that look like cavemen, we didn't know where to find a cave to film in", and yeah it's hard. I'm sympathetic to these troubles, but a great 48Hour film is one that works with the assets the team has access to - whenever we (the audience, judges) see a scene or character which was clearly supposed to appear a lot more authentic than it actually was, we understand, but we don't forgive it, and unless your film is going for a Z-grade aesthetic (which I don't think this one was), this production value issues is one of the biggest things which separates the good teams from the great teams.

I'm saying all this because this team strikes me as one who would love to get better and improve and make something with more clout in the competition, and this is one of the best ways to do it. If you have a scene set millions of years ago, I want it to look like millions of years ago, and if you're character is a caveman, the comedy of him being in modern day is going to be intoxicatingly funny if he looks authentic, instead of a dude in a shiny wig and fake beard.

Challenge for next year: Keep practising your craft, and make some more films outside of the competition. Learn how to make a technically flawless film (you're close already) and also explore how to tell an effective story with the assets you have access to - this might mean simplifying things and if you only have access to a house or a classroom, focus on telling a really cool story in that environment - or, double down on your fantastical concepts, but use actors and locations and props which sell this idea authentically.