Out Loud

I reckon the whole idea of a single location with some sort of implied rift/portal in between parallel universes was a really smart take on the Multiverse genre for telling a short film story (as opposed to the frenetic multi-location storytelling that I've seen elsewhere this year with this genre). Your simlper setup gave you a nice focussed platform to tell your personal story in.

In execution, establishing the 'rules' of this multiversal connection was a bit vague - I'm not talking about lots of dialogue exposition to explain things, more using cinematic language to visualise what is actually happening from their respective points of view. The characters also seemed to go from confused to 'oh okay, you're in a parallel universe' surprisingly quickly (were we maybe skipping the "you're a voice in my head" and "are you a ghost" steps?), although ultimately I appreciated that time wasn't wasted in getting to the main part of the story.

I liked the reveal of them both being in a relationship with the same woman, which is a sort of inversion of what is perhaps more common, ie seeing the same character in two different realities, and how things are different for them. Part of me wonders whether it would have been more interesting story-wise for each of them to have a different secret they needed to share with their girlfriend, rather than exactly identical crises. But not a biggie, because the two different actors brought different energies to the same situation anyway.

The splitscreen shot of the girlfriend arriving at the end seemed weirdly cut short - I was left feeling like either she needed to be featured more, or not at all. Regardless, the beat that the film ended on, about to open up with someone, felt perfect for this story.

I appreciated the earnestness of this film, and its actors. One thing to be careful of is to avoid being overly demonstrative in your acting, especially in emotionally heightened moments. Trust that the camera will catch everything - in fact, the camera will pick up on emotion in your character even when you're doing nothing at all, it's a weird magic trick like that. And with subject matter like this (which you clearly care a lot about) the old less-is-more mantra really is a good one to follow.

Last thing to say is that there were some lovely establishing shots in Mona Vale opening the film. And those shots included aquatic wildlife that got an excited "Duck!" from a friend's 14-month-old who was in the audience. So that's one more viewer you won over.

A pretty interesting take on this genre and certainly quite a smart one given the sometimes limitations of a team in terms of numbers or resources. Great to make things work with what you've got and succeed than over-reach and fail. That's not to say that there's any lack of ambition in this film - coordinating a multiverse in the same place at the same time has its own production challenges I'm sure.

The performances are good and there's a lot of dialogue to deliver. I made a film last year with two actors on a park bench that received feedback that not enough happened. I'd say that was the case here too and the film is padded out in places with some unnecessary cut-aways to ducks and flowers.

The dual reveal at the end suits the serious tone of this short and can perhaps, be taken a couple of ways - either a great message, well-delivered; or something not really as such a big deal in 2022. And while they've admitted their secret to themselves it's actually relatively low stakes at that point and we never find out the reaction from their girlfriend. I love an ambiguous ending so it's not necessarily a fault I'm pointing out, it's more that some viewers might shrug their shoulders and think, "So, what?".

Among the ocean of comedies it's always good to have something more serious and for that alone, "Out Loud" will stand out at the CHCH final.

Well performed parts by the two leads. I felt invited into understanding the emotions of the characters through the close ups - which worked very well. Just a small technical note with the integration of the drone. I felt somewhat drawn away each time from the small table setting by the use of those shots, perhaps from the quality difference between the two sensors or the grading change.

In a sea of comedies, OUT LOUD really makes its mark in the line up this year. A really beautiful film which feels so deeply personal and nuanced.

I love the location for this film - anything set outdoors automatically piques my interest, and the Mona Vale location was particularly pretty. One of my favourite aspects about OUT LOUD was the cutting away to shots of the scenery and wild life - showing us the duckies or the leaves waving softly in the breeze give great spacial awareness and command the pacing of the film - and pacing can be a very easy thing to get wrong.

The application of genre is interesting - I think this is a really unique use of Multiverse, though as Nimble said above, I feel like the film stops just a little short of establishing its multiverse's rules - I didn't need a beat-by-beat breakdown, but maybe a little more indication as to what is actually going on here. The characters themselves seem completely unfazed by meeting someone from a parallel universe - does this thing happen often in the world of this film? Or was the 5 minute max duration looming over and you decided to skip the world building foreplay? Not the worst thing in the world, just a note.

The story itself has some wonderful highs, and the conversation felt very organic after the characters figure out what's going on. I'd be curious to know what the filmmakers were trying to communicate about the subject matter as I was a little lost - is this a darkly comedic look at how a woman is doomed to date gay men in every universe? It feels more like the boys' story, but we end just as they were approaching the threshold they needed to cross and the conflict they needed to face.

This probably all sounds like heavy criticism, but one thing I will praise this film over maybe any other in the city finals this year was tone and atmosphere, which is so palpable and so prevalent it does a lot to stop me wondering about all the above questions and nitpicks. The film is a masterfully directed tableau and while it can feel like just a taste of a much larger story, it's one that absolutely stays in your mind after the credits roll.

Challenge for next year: I'm looking forward to seeing more from ScreenQweens in the future, and I encourage you to experiment with different styles and different stories, but keep a hold of the personal and intimate nature of OUT LOUD - I'd love this sensitivity to be seen as your trademark going forward. But that's up to you!