VF48Hours Forum

Another is:

- Wilhelm scream being used as a ringtone.

Further to Stu's observations:

Dudes in drag.
Texting, with onscreen popup graphics.
Amusingly uneven ADR.
WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S homages (?!).

None of this is bad, of course (though I could still do with more actual female characters instead of the classic all-male team copout). Just interesting to see what's in the water.

Also: previously lower-tier teams pushing themselves and lifting their game significantly. Really heartening to see, as someone who (obviously) follows the local competition closely.

in reply to Andrew Todd:

WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S homages (?!).

This was amazing that it happened in the same heat.

I love seeing all the random collisions to an extra in the background from teams who didn't have a way to fit it into their story.

in reply to Mista Teas:

yes seen lots of this so far

in reply to Mista Teas:

- crazy person in the audience laughing at everything (this person never dies!)

Hoorah that's me!

What trends/points-of-interest are you noticing in the screenings?

Incoherent stories.

any films so far show the "TAKE RISKS" that Ant was after ?

Yip, Strang Entertainment did: Pandora's Night:Deleted Scenes - Reviews

in reply to themorgan:

Incoherent stories.

That old chestnut...back again!

Poor use of the Wilhelm Scream had to be the biggest running issue with our heat, I think it maybe the worst implemented requirement ever.

The Todd was right, A lot of WEIRD fillms, not so sure about risky, but a lot of weird films came out of Christchurch.

Two drinking game things i noticed.

1. using the Wilhelm screem off camera, or on a cut to black. I’d say over 2/3rds of the films i saw used it during a cut to black.

2. Smash cuts being done as a match cut or something equally as clever, but just generaly not being nailed as a smash cut.

Pending Moderation

Someone mentioned that there where a lot of filmes with women being called bitches, and once I heard this i started to notice it more and more.

As mentioned above, the Wilhelm scream being used as a ringtone, as someone who actualy used the Wilhelm scream as a text tone for about 2 years i found this to be a cop out, its kinda atmiting defeat that the sound effect is so iconic that it couldnt possibably be used as an actual scream coming from a characters mouth,

I’ll be disgruntled if the best use of this element award dosent go to a film that acutaly had a character scream using this sound effect.

Also, (and i put this down to ultra) more films that refferenced 48hours or were self aware than usal

in reply to Sam Spooner:

I think it maybe the worst implemented requirement ever.

It's a hideous sound. There are three I really hate that come up a lot, Wilhelm of course, and there's a particular laughing kids clip, and also a squeaky gate sound. None of them are any good and whenever I hear any of them I feel worse about whatever movie or TV programme I'm watching. But even though I dislike Wilhelm in particular I'm still really glad the comp did it and I hope they keep doing novel things with the required elements.

in reply to themorgan:

It was definitely one they had to include as an element at some point, so I'm glad too. Glad it's out of the way! I'm actually happy with how we used it, but in some films it stuck out so bad it ruins the moment.

in reply to themorgan:

there's a particular laughing kids clip,

Hahah I know this one! Imagine if that was the sound effect next year. Or the Howie Scream. Or that classic screeching cat sound. Or the Goofy Yell.

in reply to Strange:

As mentioned above, the Wilhelm scream being used as a ringtone, as someone who actualy used the Wilhelm scream as a text tone for about 2 years i found this to be a cop out, its kinda atmiting defeat that the sound effect is so iconic that it couldnt possibably be used as an actual scream coming from a characters mouth,

I’ll be disgruntled if the best use of this element award dosent go to a film that acutaly had a character scream using this sound effect.

As part of a team that used it as a ringtone, I honestly had no idea whether that use was an obvious one or not (and I've certainly never met anyone before who used it as a ringtone in real life). But all good, if that was the low-hanging fruit option then guilty as charged.

I do however disagree when you say it ought to be a scream coming out of a character's mouth. In many dramatic contexts, there is no surer way to kill the tone than by chucking in that silly sound. For my money, the Wilhelm Scream highlight of Heat 7 (the only heat I saw) was Submission Impossible's use as part of diagetic background TV sound, very classy.

in reply to TheNimbleMarmoset:

Agreed, Chess Club's film used it as part of the opening theme music for a "Twilight Zone" type show, which I thought was really good.

Cool Story Bro Film also used it as part of a movie two characters were watching, and their film "Under the Bridge" was beautifully understated- any other use of the Wilhelm scream would have severely effected the film.

in reply to fakenews:

In regards to "taking risks" it was an interesting year as we set ourselves risky challenges inside the team (note: risk is relative - we weren't leaning off buildings or climbing mountains or re-inventing filmmaking but we were outside comfort zones!). So yeah, we kinda did do that although it may not be obvious to the audience. Some paid off, some didn't - but that's risk!

We put new people into new roles, had new people on the team, challenged ourselves to do more than one location, and do more than locked off shots. And did Ultra. And adrenalin ran higher because of it - 6mins and 20secs before deadline was the tightest we've been for a while!

More from CHCH:

- Teams who think they're Edgar Wright, slightly outnumbering teams who think they're Quentin Tarantino.
- Car crashes.
- Bottle Lake Forest and Summit Road.
- Female characters without agency. :(
- Trailer-like editing techniques.
- F***ing V Cans.