VF48Hours Lockdown Forum

What kind of rules would you like to see in Ultra next time?

I believe you're forgetting that last year you also had to break the 4th wall..

New reviews / screening room!

The new screening room looks great and having the reviews integrated is a great idea in theory.

Losing the ability to review films before the film is posted online is a terrible shame though. It feels like this will remove any kind of hype or momentum that the competition has between the weekend and the finals. Most films won’t get any kind of reviews, maybe the odd “lol classic” here and there but the constructive reviews are one of the best aspects of the comp imo. 90% of teams will have no idea what anyone thought of their film or what they can improve on etc.

I understand the reasoning and imagine that it’s a final decision, but it doesn’t stop me from mourning it’s loss. Maybe the change in the air refers to some kind of new system for the all-important feedback teams crave.

Christchurch City Finals: morning-after de-brief/-lirium/-tox

Is it just me or was there way more red in people's films this year?

I think for next year as a region we just needa work a little bit on making sure all our films are in focus, we were all guilty of it, guys.

Filling up the screening room

Maybe it could be something like the city finalists are uploaded a week or a month after the comp if they're not already up & you can opt out of having yours go up for whatever reason. I feel like probably 80-90% of the finalists that don't end up online are due to laziness or forgetfulness by the team, but if you had a legit reason to not put it up you could just email your city manager.

Christchurch Finalist Prediction Thread

in reply to Rastinha:

Funny how Ruth proudly declared on the forum that no Ultras were DQ'd this year, when at least both Chch & Taranaki had DQ'd Ultras. I guess she meant none were DQ'd for not adhering to the elements, but still, does add to the narrative.

Christchurch Finalist Prediction Thread

in reply to Bloydd:

Also, as for Ultra

Auckland has 3/9 teams in the final,
Wellington has 4/7 in the final
Chch has 4/8 in the final
Dunedin has it's sole entrant in the final,
Taranaki has 2/3 in the final
& Gisborne had one signup but their finalists aren't on the city info page.

Christchurch Finalist Prediction Thread

Not to do with the predictions, but I always think genre breakdowns are fun. So in Christchurch we have:

3 Finalists:
Time Travel & Nature Run Amok
2 Finalists:
Opposites Attract
1 Finalist:
Gross Out/Cringe, Secret Identity, Holiday, Coming of Age, Buddy, Sci Fi & Musical
0 Finalists:
Wrong Place/Time, Generation Gap, Real Time

I also did the other two main regions:

Auckland:
4 Finalists:
Buddy
3 Finalists:
N/a
2 Finalists:
Gross-Out/Cringe, Secret Identity, Holiday, Real Time
1 Finalist:
Sci-Fi, Musical, Generation Gap
0 Finalists:
Opposites Attract, Wrong Place/Time, Time Travel, Nature Run Amok

Wellington:
3 Finalists:
Coming of Age, Musical
2 Finalists:
Gross-Out/Cringe, Real Time
1 Finalist:
Opposites Atract, Wrong Place/Time, Holiday, Time Travel, Generation Gap
0 Finalists:
Secret Identity, Buddy, Sci-Fi, Nature Run Amok.

So there you have it, take from this what you will. Wrong Place/Wrong Time is the least represented genre, with only 1 finalist (in Wellington) and Buddy, Gross-Out/Cringe & Musical/Dance all have 5.
Also, sorry I didn't have time to do the other regions, I know what it's like to feel like your region is left out in this comp & that wasn't my intention.

2019 Thoughts

Combining the screening room with the reviews site is a great idea I think! As long as it's optimised to review films during the heats when the films won't be uploaded yet, as that is the most valuable time to get reviews.

Re: Stars, I agree with Steppenwolf, I quite like being able to see at a glance which films seem to be the ones to look out for, especially not being able to attend heats, it's good to get an overview. Rather than having to read through 5-10 reviews for all 100 or so films in Chch to get an idea of what's goin' on. I always just kind of look at the star ratings keeping in mind that it's an inherently flawed system since people value them differently.

For instance, I'm such a star whore, whenever I have to rate things I'm quite happy to give full stars if I thoroughly enjoyed it, anything from A- to A+++ would warrant full stars from me, with a major gripe usually pulling it down one or two stars. An average to low rating is my polite way of saying that I didn't really enjoy it and I'll usually try to put something positive or constructive in the review.

1-2 stars is reserved for offensive films or teams or anyone that I just have a vendetta against for whatever reason.

Christchurch Finalist Prediction Thread

in reply to Clayton Hiku:

When I had a look through old noms & winners as far back as I could see, I noticed this too and took that Directing noms are better for runners up, but Script noms are better for a win.

Christchurch Finalist Prediction Thread

in reply to Andrew Todd:

Alright ya got me, my data only went back to 2012

Christchurch Finalist Prediction Thread

Breakdown:

(This is including making the finals as a "Best Picture" nomination)

11 Noms: TBALC & SNACK TO THE FUTURE
10 Noms: THE BROTHERS BOYCE
7 Noms: BORK, DEEP DISH PIZZA WOLF, TOOT TOOT
6 Noms: DRAGON V MOUSE, LITTLE OLD LADY PRODUCTIONS
5 Noms: JAGBOG, STRANG ENTERTAINMENT
4 Noms: TEAM MOON
3 Noms: CRAB CRAB CRAB, DYSTOGRAPHY STUDIOS, NO BUDGET NINJAS, SOUTH JERSEY GHOST RESEARCH, SUBMISSION IMPOSSIBLE

JAGBOG & Snack to the Future are the only teams with both a Director & Script nomination, historically these two categories have contained the winner/runner-up. From my findings a couple of years ago, a Script nomination seems to be the one you need to win/place as IIRC only one team has come runner up without one and that was a non-dialogue film.

Edit: Blood & Bone did it last year too, and they did the best Chch has done in almost 10 years so maybe not being nominated for script is what you want!

2019 Thoughts

in reply to DogsBreakfast:

Idk about Chess Club, but worth noting that two-time national winners Chillybox were also too scared to do Ultra last year as well

2019 Thoughts

in reply to Brendon:

Yeah, other than trying to squeeze more money out of the comp I don't really see a reason for it. I could understand if it was just in Chch with a smaller capacity but it seems to be nationwide even though most places have the same venue as the last few years. They're really trying to encourage those Solo/Duo teams!!

Thread about anything else!

in reply to Zac Neill:

The extra challenge is the part I like as well.

My issues with Ultra aren't with the idea itself, I think Kids/Animals was a great one, but I also think Sequel was awful.
As you say, everyone enters for different reasons, one of mine is I love going into it on a Friday knowing that on Monday I'm going to have this completely new thing that I currently know nothing about. Except in 2017 I was pretty sure it'd be sequel because I had been on the forums, and it also meant that my film that year had to be tethered to another one in some way. Then the comp's handling of it, especially in the first year didn't exactly fill me with hope going forward.

Last year was a definite improvement, and I think there are some steps being made in the right direction but I think I need to have a few years worth of Ultra being an objectively good addition to the comp before I'm gonna do it again. So far we're at one bad year & one "aw yeah" year for my money.

Thread about anything else!

Maybe you’ll get lucky since it’s called Ara now isn’t it?