Frank DanCoolo

     Frank DanCoolo, is this week's short of the week. This film was a total fluck. I literally sat at my computer like what the flip and thinking this was total trash. The concept was a bust, but the creativity was very cool. I like the futuristic, Toyko feel it had. Also the line "the power of my uterus," was the best line in the film. The film was about this reporter getting the "story of the century" about an alleged murder/drug dealer. She finds out that he was dealing pills that contained stuff that will be able to give the user an insight of the future. But the users who overused the drug died. Then the film went into this weird thing about the drug dealer guy fighting with weird aliens. Even the editor, I guess of the nbewspaper, was an alien as well. At the end, the drug dealer guy saved the reporter and they made a plan to get high. Confused? Yeah I was too. This film was a total fluck and had nothing to do with anything.

The Third and the Seventh

     The Third and the Seventh is very different from the previous shorts of the week. This one is shots of different places. The director is capturing the essence of the place; different and unique places. He used different and obstruct views to capture it. He did that by not using dialogue, characters, and little and light background. I liked the horizontal lines, bright and clear colors, and bright contrast. The focus was clear and the movement of the camera was precise. It was boring, but the essence captured my attention.

Please Say Something

     Please Say Something, is very interesting concept wise. It is a story of a cat (the female) and a mouse (the male) and their relationship. The mouse is a writer and a very abusive partner to the cat. The cat in my opinion is a naive character. She is blinded by love and keeps taking the abuse the mouse gives. When she does threaten to leave, being the deciever he is, the mouse offers to take the cat on vacation. While on vacation everything is fine and they seem so in love. On the way home, they argue over the radio and the mouse looses control of the car. The cat is harmed and is hosiptalized. The mouse reflects on how badly he has done her and begins to miss her. He sits at home and the scarf the cat lost magically appears again. The mouse returns the scarf and everything changes for the better. Although the film had a nice concept and nice shapes, the noises were kind of annoying. I do feel they executed the concept creatively.

Deus-in-Machina

     This week's short of the week, Deus-in-Machina, was interesting in it's context. I usually don't watch foreign films for the simple fact I don't like to read subtitles; I miss somethings in the film trying to process the words I just read. I really couldn't keep up with everything, but I did catch some stuff. I caught the fact the guy was trying  to find a way around the system and get his points he lost back. He knew the task wasn't going to be easy and he risked being caught. Indeed he did get caught and the consequences of getting caught for such a crime is being locked in his own personal nightmare. In a way he really didn't get a bad punishment, because he still found a way to find comfort in his nightmares. I like the videography of the film and it's direction. The film was very high tech and had futuristic characteristics. It had a Star Wars feel to it. (I love the Star Wars films). I would suggest this film to people who like to watch science fiction films, but for ordinary viewers of movies, I wouldn't bother.

Nuit Blanche

     Nuit Blanche is a very interesting short film, as far as it cinematography goes. It was a black and white silent film, which I'm not too fond of. But it's actions, effects, and music in the background kept my attention. The slow motion action of everything; the actors, the car, the glass breaking was very cool. It gave the film life.
     The story behind the film is two strangers catches each others eye and began to move towards one another. They risk being hit by a car and breaking through glass for that one simple kiss. But in reality they both were imaging it. For that simple concept, the filmmaker made it very dramatic, which made for a great short film.

Old Fangs

     Old Fangs, which is this week's short film, was an interesting film. This one unlike the past shorts actually had dialogue between characters, although not much. The young wolf was on a search to mend his relationship with his father. Him and his friends drove far and walked through the scary woods in order to get to his father's house. The woods is a scary place and the creator of the film displayed that through sounds and noises to create suspense. As they journeyed along, the moods changed; as the moods changed, so did the colors of the woods. It went from green, to blue, to yellow, and so on. That aspect of the film was very interesting and exciting.
     They finally reached the house and the young wolf enters. He is a little uneasy about talking to his father and you could tell through the sounds and the tone of his voice. As he sat there, he reminisced about his childhood when everything was okay. But he had one memory that might have shown why the relationship with his father was estranged. I really like how this animation film used different shapes, colors, sounds, little dialogue, and creativeness to tell a story.  Unlike the previous film, Between Bears, this film had a main purpose and clear concise story to tell and it told it well.
   

Bottle

     This week's short film was entitled, Bottle. Bottle was a very interesting, fresh short film. I loved every minute of it. It's story line is much more impressive than that of Between Bears. Bottle showcases a typical love story of beings unable to be together. The ocean separates the two love birds, snow-woman and sandman. Because of their separation they began sharing different aspects of their environments with each other through the use of a glass bottle. I love how the director used the beach (which is hot) and lake (which is usually cold) as locations to film. That was really innovated and cool.
     The natural lightening from the locations was great. The way the sun hit the ocean and gave it a nice glare was a nice touch. The way the waves hit and crashed gave interesting sounds to the film. The structure of the snow-woman and sandman were awesome. The director turned a simple story line into a new, unconventional short film. This one has to be my favorite so far.

Between Bears

     Between Bears as a short film was okay. I really could not find a purpose in it's message, figuring it had one. Aside from that, the composition of each frame, the sound and music, lighting, shapes, and the overall animation was great. I love animation films and I really liked this one as far as it's direction. I love the shapes of the characters and objects in the film. It was really different and unique. The lines the sunlight created in the film added depth to the frame.It made the frame fresh and interesting.
     The music that played in the background added calmness to the film and made me feel relaxed. The film overall was relaxing, besides me not finding a purpose or meaning. The colors that were presented in the film were soft colors, except for the bright red scarf that were on the characters. That, to me, added flavor. I did like though, how the bears went through the different seasons and landscapes as they journeyed along. The landscapes were drawn perfectly. I think the film's overall composition was great, but it lacked purpose and meaning.

Pivot

     Pivot started off soft and positive. The guy was out and about taking pictures of his surroundings. The animation was different, but a good different, I haven't seen an animation film quite like this one. I liked how when the guy moved, his movement was shown. But just as some bad things happen to good people, this happened to him. As he was walking and snapping pictures, he stumbled upon a murder. His camera began snapping away at the murder scene capturing the criminal and the victim. The criminal gets upset and begins to chase the guy with the camera. I liked how the director decided to shoot the film from a third person point of view. It gives the audience the choice of forming their own opinion about the situation.
     As the criminal continued to chase the guy with the camera, the sounds of them running, opening and closing things, panting, and running into things created more intensity. All of a sudden the tables turned and the roles changed. The camera falls in the criminal's hands and the gun falls in the camera guy's hand. The chaser became the one being chased. The new criminal finally catches the guy with the camera. He kills him. Just as he murders him an on looker with a camera captures the situation. And it continues.

Plastic Bag

     After watching the short film Plastic Bag, I was inspired. The film made me really think. I think the director did a good job in making the plastic bag take on human characteristics. The life of the plastic bag can easily be related to a person who is lost in the world with no direction in search of it's purpose. I took two very important messages from the film. The first, the most important, was to recycle. I feel if the bag was properly disposed then it would not had to make that long, lonely journey across the world. Secondly, finding purpose out of life is very important. 

     In my opinion, I felt the director used the life of a plastic bag to signify a person who is lost in the world trying to find purpose. The colorfulness of each scene clearly represented the world and all the wonderful things it has to offer. The plastic bag, lost in that world, takes notice. The bag begins to embody the world, after being disposed of, rolled over, and left unnoticed. Nothing could stop it on the search for it's purpose, even after trials, tribulations, heartbreak, and loneliness. With great use of space, natural lightening, and natural scenery the director conveyed the message of searching for purpose in the world very well.