Sundown

Love the opening premise. Great pacing of dialogue and awkward low volume from Moonup’s shouting which sets the perfect comedic tone and had the crowd engaged.

As a disclaimer I think it’s possibly a little hard for me to judge the fight as I was on set during much of the filming of this scene and I have my own distinct memories of how it played out, which clash a bit with what I’m seeing on screen.

I think the VFX looked cool, however I found it visually a little overwhelming, making it difficult to follow some of the choreography, and I feel may have taken away from the potential comedy of the stick on stick fight scenario - although the final throw and subsequent thud work to great effect.

I really liked the cheesy western moments at the beginning and would love if you guys had leaned into that a little more when it came to the fight scene, which itself feels neither distinctly kiwi nor western.

Comes with a strong comedic ending though, and I’m glad you explained the gate keeping joke to me afterwards because I was clearly too slow to realise how utterly genius of a joke that was.

I've watched this film a least four times now and I still don't understand the point of the pavlova eating scene at the start - OK, so yeah, Pav-Western & is the wire reference to the old No. 8? Surely, there's more to it than that! It just all seems to chew up screen time without adding anything. I suppose it does pad out and then intercut with a pretty cool entrance from our antagonist - I really did enjoy the use of whisper here.

Overall, my main grip would be that it's all a bit light on story - he comes, they fight, and he leaves. (albeit by delivering a nice joke). We get hints of a previous relationship but it's all just a set-up for a fight sequence that carries most of the film. And, as is the current trend, the male characters are either rather useless or easily defeated - or both.

As mentioned above, the visual effects are pretty cool in the film, the fight is well-choreographed and if the aim was to land a quirky, awkward kiwi comedy, then it certainly achieves that. Performances are really good as usual from this team and there is plenty that audiences will like, I'm sure.

"Sundown" is another successfully made 48HR short from rip focus. Nice work!

Loved seeing this on the big screen. Fantastic pace and the fight scene went really hard. Also had some really fantastic humor that worked well within the universe of the film. Great work team ❤️

Absolutely blind sided by the gate reference. Very well earnt award for that element. The editing was very smooth throughout and the dynamic worked with the power play between the characters.

SUNDOWN!

I absolutely loved SUNDOWN, a hilarious and thrilling little short film and a career best for rip focus - last year's HIM AND HER was a little more technically impressive, but SUNDOWN is easily the best and most thorough work we've seen from one of Christchurch's most reliable teams.

I think the performances are hilarious, the VFX are slick, the editing is top notch and the story, while some have commented felt a bit confusing, I think is actually really interesting and great, though it did take me a few watches to fully take in the alluded to backstory of Sundown and Moonup.

The Pavlova Western elements here are also much appreciated - while the anime inspired fight scene seems to veer off course, the image of two socks and sandal'd feet stepping into frame with the sound effect of spur-shackling cowboy boots, is really a microcosm for what the whole genre is about.

There is so much technical skill on display here and it's coupled wonderfully with hysterical performances and jokes, and an exciting narrative. The cinematography and various VFX tricks in the fight scene, accompanied with the exciting music, made for a very effective climax.

Once again the thing I need to praise rip focus more for than anything else, is they may have the best - or at least the funniest or most unique - world building skills in the competition. So many of their films include characters and concepts which just feel completely lived in, there's an idiosyncrasy to the dialogue and the direction and the sense of humour that at times is ever-so-slightly mind boggling (I'm not sure I understand why there was a wire in Sundown's pav, but it made me laugh nonetheless), but because the sense of humour is consistently slightly mind boggling, it creates an atmosphere rather than confusion. We accept these strange and hilarious worlds for what they are.

Quick shout out to your award winning gatekeeper moment here - while it's always a little sheepish to award to team that did something tricksy with the wording of an element, I thought this case in particular was so well pulled-off in a year where almost every gatekeeper was excruciatingly signposted. What I love about the gatekeeping in this film is the joke works if you aren't familiar with the comp (it's just like, oh yeah right this petty character will take any token to claim some kind of victory), but it's such a cathartic release to see it in the lineup after dozens of lesser inclusions. I also love the sound design on the gate being pulled - was that the natural foley or did you record it after? It sounds perfect.

When I first watched this film, I actually thought it had a good chance of winning or placing, something I still stand by, thought it seems it didn't strike quite as hard with the other judges.

CHALLENGE FOR NEXT YEAR: It's hard to say because rip focus are really just firing on all cylinders. What would take you to the next level? I wonder if there is a way to combine your usual standard with something that is a little more heartfelt? Perhaps a sincere character arc or something that tugs at the heartstrings may push you over from a team that makes us laugh to a team that makes us laugh and cry.