VF48Hours Lockdown Forum

Christchurch Finalist Prediction Thread

in reply to Andrew Todd:

Of the six city winners, three didn't have Best Director nominations (The Ex, Down To The Wire, and Utka), but EVERY runner-up has had one.

I dont know what to make of this but yes it IS VERY interesting.

2019 Thoughts

in reply to Rastinha:

For example, there are a lot of films I'd want to rate 3, 3.5, 4, and 4.5, but the only choices are 3.6 or 4.3. Most people go for 3.6 when they'd probably quite happily give a film a 4 out of 5.

This is interesting because I recently looked up the reasoning behind the 7-star system again. I've been told in the past why its better but had forgotten. The interesting thing is that with both 5 and 7 most of us think of half that number as being a Par/middle score. Like 2.5 stars out of 5 should be an average pass mark. Which can be frustrating as you feel as though you are forced into either giving an average film an above or below average score. But the way we are meant to think of it is this. THREE stars mean there are two stars either side of that mark to move up or down. So 3 is the middle of 5. The reason 7 is better is that basically 4 becomes the middle point and you get one more star either side for more accuracy between good, quite good and great films. And the same goes for under 4 stars.

2019 Thoughts

A bit late to this chat.

But here's my thoughts too.

I agree that this year is the most wide open and vague the elements have ever been. Although the last 2 years since ultra's introduction the elements have been noticeably easier but as we did Ultra both those years the comp still went up in intensity for us. But this year we decided to opt out of Ultra.

As a result, we were more stumped in the writing process this year than ever before! We threw out our 3rd script at 8 am on Saturday morning and started again with a totally new concept. We've never done that before. I reasoned that it was the Genre that got us on the wrong track. We had buddy movie and for the first time instead of brainstorming plot scenarios to write from we went down the rabbit hole of coming up with funny odd character pairings. When we would hit a good one we would laugh and say YES let's do that. Then instantly get stuck on.... But what are these characters doing? So that was a good learning experience for us this year. Focus more on plot-related writing than character traits.

But in hindsight, I also realize that the wide open elements were also part of the reason we were struggling. We honestly finished 4 scripts and each time would then go "OH wait. What were the elements again?" And then easily slide them in there. They didn't inspire story much at all.

Although I am happy that the heats are so much more enjoyable to watch these days as the elements don't take you out of the story after hearing "My name is and Im a _" 12 times in row.

I think that this also ties in heavily to the 7min vs 5min change as well. Both the elements being more subtle and the time change has meant that the (no offense intended) lower half of the films made each year is better for it. But for a lot of the Vet teams who can thrive off the extra time and extra direction it can be a bit harder. So I guess it's just a balancing act between the two.

Maybe next year there could be some either-or Elements. LIKE "a vague sound bite OR this line of dialogue" And then something like "A double take OR A Spit take"

This way there is the option for those who improve off vague elements and the inspiration for those who thrive off the extra direction?

2019 posters

Team Submission Impossible's Poster
CHCH Heat 8
Now you see me, Now you don't

PJ Wildcards 2018

in reply to Ness Patea:

Yes, please come and introduce yourself, we want to meet all the teams! Still no wildcard, sorry all!

Cool. Will come say Hi for sure. And also wow the anticipation is reaching peak levels!

Ultra 2019 (and why you should do it)

in reply to themorgan:

That rather bothered me. It's very clearly not who the expression is about.

As a team that did Ultra and got HIGH SCHOOL MOVIE I understand why the age had to go up to 17. There was a good 1 hour of our weekend that was wasted while we sat around dejected over the fact we had to make a High school movie (and be true to the genre as often requested by the judges) and somehow use only children or animals. I think if High School movie wasn't one of the genres then they could have taken the "Child" aspect of Ultra even tighter down to like under 10years old or even younger as you say. But with that particular genre in there this year it would have completely destroyed those Ultra teams if the restriction was THAT young.

Although I'm still interested in how our talking Pheotus from inside a pregnant teenager at high school story would have turned out! hahahahaha.

Taupo Halloween Film Festival 2018 (We want your shorts)

Hey. This looks awesome. Do you guys know if it's within 48hours rules to do a re-edit of this year's entry for another film fest? I've seen it suggested to some teams in the reviews by managers so I'm guessing its fine. We have a funny wee Zombie film that I'd love to do an extended cut of for this festival.

Christchurch - fantastic year

in reply to TheNimbleMarmoset:

But mostly, I think, everyone wants everyone else to do really well. (I will celebrate so hard when Submission Impossible and Strang win Christchurch one day).

Nawww this guy! Just as we will when TBALC wins the Grand Apee at Nationals!!!

it's worth noting that CHCH peeps also seem to be over-represented on these forums too. I dunno, do we maybe just have more spare time than everyone else? :)

Hmmm I don't feel like I have spare time..... Maybe its because I'm on the forum again. HAHA

Christchurch - fantastic year

in reply to Rastinha:

Totally agree with on the Ultra stuff. I do believe the whole idea is to encourage the Vet teams to push themselves outside their comfort zone. I know it did for us this year and it took us from almost broken and giving up to our best and most different film ever.

Just have to also add I can't wait to see all the city finalists and the grand finalists. You guys down there in CHCH have such a great 48s community and always produce some awesome films! Been talking to our city managers trying to work out how we can emulate a bit more of CHCH's 48s spirit, but it's hard in a small place with only 15-25ish teams each year!

As a CHCH team I can only comment from a CHCH perspective but the community down here is really close and encouraging and full of energy. Part of that is having a few Vet teams that keep showing up year after year and are still having tonnes of fun and making high quality films like TBALC. Who have then inspired many new and younger teams to strive to catchup to them like Pigs Guts or RIP focus. (Not that I am a part of either of those teams to be able to comment on their behalf). But I know thats what keeps me coming back each year too. Wanting to be able to create something as good as the best teams and to have as much fun as they appear to be having too.

I think some of the ways to increase the camaraderie in the city community is also to organise pre/post finals hangouts. If Vet teams are open to hanging out and discussing their film and other peoples films in person its soooooo much better than only communicating through the review site or forums.

Also this year AJ the chch manager did the rounds around some schools talking to them about joining in the comp. Its a good way to slowly build up numbers from the grass roots up.

Christchurch - fantastic year

in reply to Bloydd:

Yeah good points all round here. We lost the whole first hour this year to debating over what was the definition of a "Child". We thought it meant under the age of about 8 and we were stumped as to how can you do a high school movie if your main characters had to be children. Then we found the clarification the website at 8pm and it was waaaaay more open than it what it sounded like at the launch. To be fair, thats a little on us as a "Vet team" now to have known to check there sooner but I see your point Richard.

I also agree with Andrew as I don't see any difference myself between "your main characters" and "ALL main characters". Both in my mind sounded like ALL. Its the word "main" that was perhaps too loose Or perhaps being too overly scrutinised. Haha. Its one or the other or a bit of both. Man this fence is surprisingly comfortable to sit on!

End of the day, you want to give as much leeway as possible without allowing teams to completely disregard the challenge. Then the judges evaluate their take on it accordingly, just as they would use of genre or elements.

I think this pretty much nails it Andrew! :)

Christchurch - fantastic year

in reply to Mista Teas:

This year: "Are ALL the main characters in this film children or animals?"

Ok yeah I see what you're saying. Main characters is open to interpretation. I see team DQ's now much like the old cricket rule of "the batsman gets the benefit of the doubt". Meaning if its not blatant rules violation and its a 50/50 call the benefit of the doubt should go in favour of the team. Because none of use really want to see teams get DQed.

I know some people have brought up this issue in the reviews with our film this year. We certainly discussed it and we had to change our script and edit to accomodate it. We asked ourselves what is the main plot arc of the movie? The answer was the love triangle between the 3 "teenagers". Secondly the only other character who had a story arc was my character slowly turning into a zombie. The teacher was the question mark one but she has no "story" in this movie. She is used simply to introduce our characters and location and to deliver a joke at the end. We cut several other teacher-centric jokes to keep more focus on the love triangle "kids".

So anyway I also wasn't trying to hi jack this thread to defend our film but just using it as an example of how we interpreted those rules and just how much they affected our writing and editing to end up with the film we got.

I've only seen the films from heat 9 and the final but I definitely haven't seen any Ultra films that I felt blatantly broke the Ultra rules and therefore I am happy to see everyone given the benefit of the of doubt. But it is a good conversation to be had Stu. I'll have to get into the screening room to see how well everyone else did with, and interpreted, the Ultra challenge this year. Cheers.

Christchurch - fantastic year

in reply to Bloydd:

Phew! I was VERY close to feeling victimised there haha

PHEW!

I'd like to see Ultra treated in the same way that we treat the other elements in some ways, especially now that there's a best use of genre award. By which I mean that the award(s) for Ultra shouldn't necessarily go to the best film which happens to be ultra, but the best interpretation or subversion or something more along those lines

Yeah I really like this idea Richard. Last year especially would have been a really interesting one to see whose movie was considered the "best sequel" instead of the best film that technically continues on from the same world as a previous 48hours entry.

Christchurch - fantastic year

in reply to Mista Teas:

Hmmm, I actually think, tonally, it was a pretty standard CHCH finals mix. If you look back, you'll not see a grouping that is too different.

I feel like it felt different this year. For example I brought my brother to the finals this year and he has been to the finals nearly every we have made it through (but never to the heats). And he was blown away by the overall quality and range this year too and he has only ever seen finals films. Every film this year had a really clear and well written script and the execution was on point. I also felt like there were more serious films than other years. But I could be wrong. Maybe the tonal range wasn't wider but it was more just the fact that if you graded every film out of 100 there would barely be more than a few points between 1st to 15th this year. Everyone has stepped it up a notch! YAY CHCH!

My only question mark over this year's final is Ultra. It seems to have not been a consideration in the judges' decision making process. I'm not blaming the film-makers here as the comp dug itself a bit of a hole by creating ambiguity over the "children or animals as main characters rule" but I do think that if Ultra is a thing and teams are signing up for an extra layer of scrutiny, then that scrutiny must actually happen. Otherwise, what's the point?

I'm curious as to how you would have wanted the judges to judge the Ultra teams differently? Especially given the fact that there is basically no award for Ultra (other than whichever national ultra finalist that does best gets a cup). I've seen a lot of people commenting on teams not using actual children and or animals. But the rules said to be creative and to interpret it however you like and that those "characters" did not have to be played by children and or animals. And if every Ultra team made "look who's talking" style voiceover movies with animals and babies I imagine that the complaint will be teams not being inventive enough with the challenge. (Richard please note: Absolutely LOVED Look who's Martin Scorsese talking! haha) It definitely made things harder for the Ultra teams and I think that so long as those teams met the Ultra requirements then after that their film should be judged at an equal level as all the other films.

But again as I have said once before on here, I would love to see a little more recognition for doing Ultra at the regional level. Some nominations and a Certificate? To encourage those who get really stumped by the challenge that they might still make the top 5 for something that year. But its only year 2 of Ultra and its nice to see the 48hours management keeping the competition fresh, responding to feedback and mixing it up.

Christchurch - fantastic year

I'll jump in here and say wow what an amazing final. Every film was high quality with excellent well executed stories. I felt like there were at least 7-8 films I could have seen in the top 3 and I am not surprised one bit the judging results were so close. I would not have wanted to have to rank that amazing group last night one bit.

In saying that Blood and Bone - Hero! WOW! Loved your film and I second what David said, keep acting forever and ever Rico. You were amazing! Also a shout out to the other young fella in the film for his amazing voice over work!

Massive congrats to Andrew Todd. That script in UTKA was insanely awesome and of the highest quality. I hope there is a hand written crayola version of that script lying around somewhere! HAHA.

Some quick other shoutouts -

TBALC - incredible film, amazing script, fantastic concept, LOVED IT!
South Jersey Ghost Research - Such an epic scale film on with such a small central focus! Amazing work and loved it even more the second time
RIP FOCUS - WOW! Possibly one of my favourite musicals (but not a musical) out of CHCH! Well done guys!

And I loved everyone else's too. Ill do some reviews over the next few days for them.

Fingers crossed we get some good CHCH representation at nationals guys!

How did you find your Genre's and the elements for 2018

My two cents on this years Elements. I really liked the elements this year over last and have come around to how much better it is not hearing over and over the same line and same character name in every film. Subtle elements that can be done in a clever way or gently hidden in the background is much better and is creating far more high quality stand alone short films for sure.

My biggest suggestion is around Ultra. I enjoyed the challenge this year although it was one of those things where I was not prepared to be given a requirement that we might not have access to. ie Children and or animals. But the loose interpretation of that rule made up for that.

But what I would like to see in the future to continue doing Ultra is a Ultra nominee catergory at both National and Regional. If you take on the challenge and find it really messes you up then the pay off for that still is that it might still be in the top 5 out of the 10 ultra teams for your city and you might still get to be nominated for something even if you're now not a city finalist. I feel like there is a lot of talk about Vet teams needing to take on the Ultra Challenge and then once the comp is under way its never mentioned again except to announce the NATIONAL winner of it. A little more recognition would go a long way to keeping the VET teams motivated to take it on I believe (well..... it would for me anyway) :)