Student Production Reviews

 Introduction

    This year for symposium day, I had the pleasure of attending the Augustana Student Films Award Show. This highlighted student made films that excelled in qualities such as cinematography and storytelling while dealing with heavy subjects like drug abuse and suicide. I am taking this opportunity to express my thoughts, praises, and critiques of these productions.

Overall

    To begin my review, I want to start by going over the event as a whole, outside of just the quality of the films. I thought that the event was set up very nicely and felt very professional with ballots and being in the actual theater made the experience very worth it. The only issues I had came from some members of the audience who were being a little disruptive but, they were way in the back so it did not take away from the experience of everyone I do not believe.

Films

Film 1    

The first film I want to talk about is Bounty: Chapter 1 by Aron Stewart. This movie had some very hit or miss aspects to me, the standout being the cinematography. This movie had some really awesome shots in it, my favorite being when the main character would be backlit in a way that his face was not visible due to the brightness of the light. It made him feel menacing after watching him execute his target and looking like a faceless phantom. Another one is the shot from the trunk of the car having him open it then close it while the camera was inside, which is a very stereotypical action movie shot. Cliche or not, the shots worked with the tone of the film. Some parts I did not like were the story and action scenes. The story was pretty barebones, which was disappointing because the shots were so cool. The silly voice effects were a turn off and the poor special effect gunshots made me laugh a little, but for being a student made production, I thought the strengths outweighed the weaknesses and I can tell Aron Stewart put real effort into making his shots perfect.

    Film 2

    The next film that caught my attention was Love Bites by Ludovica Chiovini. This movie I thought was awesome, the story caught my attention instantly and it used film tinting that was very reminiscent of some of the German expressionist films we have gone over in class. As it slowly showed the main character eating throughout the film and the dialogue about having his partner inside of him started to get more literal, I was genuinely shocked. I was expecting a corny gushy love story but as the character developed and it was slightly implied that he was weird, it was nothing that couldn't be chocked to being obsessed with his lady friend. Turns out that the obsession was very weird and he was a freak that ate her. The dialogue became very obvious and over the top, and if you hadn't figured out what happened, the pan up to her heart in his bowl was just perfect. This film had more than I would've ever expected from a student production.

   Film 3

 The final film I thought worth discussing was my least favorite one of them all, Pets in Hot Cars PSA by Molly Bath. The message of this movie is obviously great and it does a good job of being informative, but I could not stand the human in place of a dog. A lot of people in the audience found it funny so maybe I am just being super critical but I was stone faced during it. I had no complaints with the visuals I just did not find it funny like it was supposed to be. Again, this is 100% subjective, none of my complaints are about the objectivity of this PSA, I just did not like that weird human dog, it made me weirdly uncomfortable.

Comments

  1. SBartonArtFilmNovember 10, 2024 at 10:40 AM

    This is a great review that clearly engaged thoughtfully and critically throughout the whole show. I really like how you dole out praise where it's due but are not shy to look more closely at how something engaged you or didn't, and why. This is such important perspective from a filmmaker's pov (at least one who is serious about creating movies - FOR AUDIENCES). There is no where I disagree except to say that you are, from where I stand in a dark classroom lol, usually stonefaced in class too, and we watch some pretty professional clips! While I agree that a real dog could have been really powerful, using comedy to incite an audience member to action and to remain memorable is a key component of a PSA, which you will soon consider in FILM 250, so let's see you solve the problems you point out in your review and SLAY the next showcase!

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