Treble in Paradise

Another morning, another day of suburban bliss in love for a couple of carefree coffee loving vegans, only not everything is as it seems when eyes on the ground face budget cuts. This wouldn't be so bad if the rhythm of their lives didn't rely on harmonies from above.

This was a really damn clever script I thought, importantly with good music and singing, but even more importantly with a genre subversion of THE TRUMAN SHOW that really worked wonders for the film.

Comedic pacing was on point, with the uniform takeback a particular highlight, and I particularly enjoyed that the best musical number in the film was saved as a centrepiece as the boss boomed out needing to make changes due to budget cuts brought on by clients, a sharp meta comment on the tough nature of the entertainment industry for small companies.

Really clean camerawork, I loved some of the dynamic angles on display here to give the film cinematic weighting.

Gatekeeping aspect great, I just genuinely didn't note stand out uses of the other requirements but they were definitely all there.

Does eating honey make you not a vegan? Hard for me to say!

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

Damn, how does steelpotato come up with such excellent blurbs?

Hilarious film. Love the premise and I love that even outside of the “musical” the characters still break into song and the film becomes something much bigger than you originally thought. Real great subversion of expectations I think.

It’s got a strong story that follows through with it’s crazy concept via great confident performances and musical compositions, and the film ends really well, both heartfelt and comedic.

I had to think though with the whole point made about how the couple was paying a subscription, does that mean the boss who claimed that they were all out of money was just a big fat liar?

This subtle piece of messaging makes for a real intimate and daring insight into the toxicity of all too commonplace work culture, that I appreciate people bringing attention to the masses.

The idea of people subscribing to a personal musical service is a pretty clever one and certainly not out of character for Dragon V Mouse to come up with something like this.

I've always had certain unshakeable expectations when it comes to 48HR musicals - namely that the music is sustained throughout and as such the pacing moves us along quickly giving the whole thing a lot of energy. For me, "Treble in Paradise" starts that way; the opening song sets things up and is followed by the best track of the film - the firing rap and subsequent shirt joke which was brilliantly executed. So, two songs pretty quickly and then we get quite a wait for the third one which feels pretty similar to the first. I get that musicals had gone from the couple's lives but perhaps them attempting a song (badly) or our musician singing about his plan would have hit the musical thing a bit harder. It just felt a song or two short.

Technically pretty strong, camera, editing, tone, although the volume of the last song seemed at odds with everything else - maybe just my ears.

A crowd pleaser at the heats and should see its way into the CHCH final.

I really liked the story in this film. Some great lines and delivery from the cast. Nicely shot and edited, and the music was really great too!

I hadn't seen this film before the finals and when the trailer was released and the boardroom sequence (incredible song) was featured in it, I was super intrigued. It certainly didn't disappoint. Very well made on all levels. I don't know Richard but what a powerhouse! The best part of the film for me was the song and jokes in the middle but also his brief performance as a hypnotic tank. Something about the gaze reminded me of Oliver Reed. (Hope he's available to hire as an actor). Very well performed. Dragon V Mouse never disappoint with their films. One of the essential Christchurch teams for me. Excited to see what they do next year.

One thing I know for a fact, musical is HARD, and the subversion of the genre in this film made my heart soar. Using the musical requirement as a plot point really played to your teams strengths, a really impressive overall achievement.

Big praise for the way you used the sign & gate keeper elements so seamlessly with the story too, and I thought the absurdity of that final scene was a slam dunk.

This is genuinely the sort of concept that I could see turning into an office style series, where musicals are made for the upper class of a dystopian society or something ridiculous like that. I'm gonna steal that if you don't mind, or you guys can beat me to it, ready set go!

Another great short from a great team, I hope the day you stop entering is the day the world ends.

Cementing their streak as the team to make the city finals the most years in a row, Dragon V Mouse are back with a film which boasts their reliable strengths and their daring ability to try something new.

TREBLE IN PARADISE is, quite easily, the best traditional musical in the competition this year, which is funny considering that the plot itself is a rather unique approach to the genre, diving headfirst into the administrative backend of a Personal Musical app, creating a rare 48Hours musical that could ONLY BE a musical, and not just a story with music dropped on top.

That music in question is great as well, especially the award winning NO MONEY rap, which, while initially I found a bit odd that musical logic exists in real life outside of those using the app*, is such a powerful adrenaline pumping
performance it sets whatever room or theatre its playing in on fire every time. The other two songs are also great - especially the finale, maybe a little let down by some undercooked vocals from the actors (though, considering they're users of this strange app, it could be argued this is intentional).

*Oi what if after the NO MONEY rap we zoom out to see they're ALSO using the app and the boss is like "See it's not really working for me either"?

A couple areas in which this film could have been improved would be the colour grade, which looked a little flat. Some deeper shadows and highlights would have really made the film's dynamic range pop, and added some dimensionality and texture to the image.

In a more narrative sense as well, the world building in the film is effective, but focuses almost solely on the big picture, and world building is often made more convincing by the small things. For example, could we have seen other customers using the app to varying degrees of failure? Do the couple need to be shown trying and failing to write their own music after the app is canceled in an attempt to save their relationship? Was the app once more popular than it is now? I think alluding to some of these finer details would have fleshed out the world in a really fun way.

Ultimately though, the final film is one which is dripping in style and flavour and one of the more recognisable directorial voices in the competition. Dragon V Mouse is a team everyone loves because it's always so exciting to see how they tackle different genres year to year.

In general, TREBLE IN PARADISE is a great case study for watching a 48Hours team evolve and grow and change based on interpersonal feedback and the desire from the filmmakers to tell new and interesting stories - finding their style in sarcastic/deconstructive narratives before moving into telling more human stories, TREBLE IN PARADISE could be seen as a marriage of the Dragon V Mouse of old and the Dragon v Mouse of today. The flash red hot subversion of a dragon, and the quiet sincerity of a mouse.

This film should have been titled MUSICAL: THE MUSICAL.

Challenge for next year: Every year you're improving on all fronts, so I'll say this, keep drilling into your cinematography. You've graduated to using better cameras, and that's great, but have a crack at some more subjective filmmaking, deeper colour and interesting shot composition (which you are already dabbling in anyway). Take it or leave it, but could you go whole hog into visual story telling and next year do a SILENT FILM that is still unmistakably imbued with your style and flourish?