Joel&Rachel

For When You Wake

On the first watch, we were SO convinced this was the winner. It was like 1am, Rachel was balling her eyes out, I was kind of chuckling to try and avoid crying myself, it was excellent. This was a film that sort of cemented for Rachel and I our desire to manage chch for a while, cause how rare is it that you can connect with your partner in such a uniquely intimate way, thanks to work that someone else made in hopes of winning a competition hahahaha

Here’s the thing - if god forbid something were ever to happen to Rachel, this is exactly how I would process the grief and cope with that kind of loss. It was like looking into a mirror of what life would be without her, and this internal wiring we have (and I suppose therefore, a fairly huge bias) made us feel that this was the one to take on for top spot, and we’re happy to share there were some judges strongly in your corner too, which was so awesome to see.
Now the trouble with this competition is you have to watch the top films more than once hahaha

Before we get to that though - other notes. beautifully shot, wonderful performance and some real standout dialogue - check, check, check. Stunning work. Love me some little elephants.

Unfortunatelyyyyy the more times we watched it, the more it felt less like ‘found footage’ and more like ‘curated footage’. A subtle but important difference that was noted by some judges quite strongly, who once again were really scrutinising genre use this year. So perhaps a version of this story where it doesn’t appear so polished would have played better for the panel.

What might this have looked like if you’d leaned into the rawest moments? The highest of highs, the lowest of lows - surely the lead would have recorded some stuff he wouldn’t have been so fond of putting in the final product. Perhaps anger that he’s not around? Maybe some reckless choices? It’s a bold thing to ask, but the found footage genre really is all about the things that get ‘caught’ rather than the things that get created.

THE BEST THING: A sincere, moving story that connected deeply with us. A rare piece of vulnerability in the comp, and one we won’t forget.

THE NEXT THING: Sincerity and calmness has been consistently at the forefront of this team, and it’s appreciated. But chaotic evil Joel and Rachel are really crossing their fingers that Screen Qweens gets a horrifically not calm genre next year hahahahaha. Action, Horror, Musical, something to really make you squirm and try tell a different kind of tale. Can’t wait to see what you make!

USBrie

Oh - and what does this title mean? USBrie? lol

Gates To Castle Yonder

There was a good chunk of time early on during our vetting process that this film was in our stop spot. We were gobsmacked by this. Definitely the best Cactus? story - maybe even the best Crab Crab Cactus? story too? We were absolutely blown away.

You’ve nailed one of the best uses of the genre this year. Fantasy can so easily tip into tired clichés, but instead you leaned into the silliness with wit, charm, and a storybook ending that felt deserved hahaha. Amazing locations and costume, great cinematography, and the performances across the board were excellent - charismatic, funny, consistent. Also that slow mo? Brilliant. As mentioned above, this whole thing had a Python-esque energy that kept it bouncing along with momentum, and the audience was right there with you.

What we also loved is that you didn’t tell the story of the king, the damsel or the mighty hero on the quest. You told the story of the everyday folk, the NPC, the workforce! And you made it matter. What an achievement!

I note that there aren’t too many criticisms from your fellow reviewers, which is a bit of a shame because we were hoping to get some insight from others on what you could do to improve, but it would appear you’re really firing on all cylinders!

Okay actually - here’s our critique. Loved the ending, but it was quite abrupt. In a world where you had 7 minutes to tell this story, would have been great to see more of the knight overcoming bigger obstacles, ones that really push the boundaries of his frustration with the workforce.

THE BEST THING: The sheer charm. Performances, humour, and genre all coming together in a beautiful way.

THE NEXT THING: I guess keep it up! only a matter of time before you land a genre and story that tickles the judges the right way and pushes you right to the tippy top - you were pretty close this year, so be encouraged!

Emergency Key

Bahhhhhhh guyyyyyysssss!!!!

Look — it’s a great film! Lots of fun, with some great choreography and moments of tension. Plenty of strong feedback above about all that yadayadayada. Given we know who you are and what you’re capable of, we’re totally grading you on a curve here — haha — but please hear our cries and take the notes below with all the love in the world:

Your night shooting days are over! We lose too much in these dark scenes with torch lighting, and it cripples the quality of your shots. You’ve got it in you to smash out some excellent choreography, action, and story — but the night scenes are killing that potentiallllll.

A great twist here, but it’s just too long. This would have landed better as a shorter 2–3 minute chase to get to the point faster. Story is king! We want to know why we should care about this lead and his precious key. Give us more to chew onnnnn.

THE BEST THING: Another great action flick from a dependable team on that front.
THE NEXT THING: If the moon is in the sky - you're writing, editing, or sleeping :P That is all!

Stick

Hey this was a great concept! We loved the hide-and-seek moment the most. We’re glad you chose to submit in the end, it was a wonderful addition to the school heats. Technical bugs certainly pulled us out of the story a bit, but it was a really solid effort and we hope you’ll return next year and give it another crack!

THE BEST THING: Good performances, we really enjoyed the sneaking around.
THE NEXT THING: Get your film in on time, even if it’s not finished :) And come to our schools workshop next year, we’d love to see you!

The Pursuit Of Murder

Some really excellent gags here! And pumpkin dude's dialogue when talking to himself was also really well put together.

As far as theme is concerned, this felt a bit more Cat & Mouse than 'road' (I guess that line you threw in 'this journey must end' is how you justify the road part)

THE BEST THING: Pumpkin head! And fun gags
THE NEXT THING: Continue to refine your technical skills and tighten your edits up so it's nice and lean, and the pace keeps up!

I have a buddy for that

Not sure if I should be offended or honoured. I wonder what the principal will have to say about this! tsk tsk tsk :P

Amazing use of colour though, what a great idea. So cool also to see all 6 of you perform for camera! What fun.

THE BEST THING: Great idea, great execution and great commitment.
THE NEXT THING: A few technical glitches that I'm happy to show you next time how to avoid, and I think we needed a stronger understanding/motivation for committing the crime here. But for real, you guys are well on your way to making an even better film next year! Well done.

LARVAE GIRL THE ROAD TO REVENGE PART 1

*sigh*

It truly breaks my heart to be writing this review now instead of after finals. I had the utmost confidence that Herms Heroes would be not only the biggest crowd pleaser in the heats but a worthy addition to the city finals. These guys are everything this film competition is about in my opinion, from knowing their audience, to creating a tight and entertaining story, to being the most ambitious in terms of scope and bending the boundaries of the comp to your will. It’s always impressive, and it’s always exciting to see what you make.

And we were half right - the crowd lost their MINDS. This was carnage. This really was CINEMA. This was Herms Heroes unleashed. The fact the judges couldn’t understand it made us feel like someone robbed ChCh 48 of a crown jewel, and we’re still very, VERY salty about it, angry even.

Nobody does 48 like Herms. You don’t just turn in a film, you summon a whole goddamn event. Guerilla chaos, melodrama dialled up to 11, miniatures caught on fire, sequels to existing characters in the Herms Heroes Universe (HHU) and a knowing wink to the audience that says, yeah, we know this is ridiculous, now strap in anyway. That’s the good stuff. That’s why people cheer the loudest when your names come up.

But, okay, fine. If we have to take the judges seriously for a moment, then yeah, the “story clarity” box didn’t get ticked - or at the very least, because of your plan to do a double feature, as a film it is incomplete. The judges this year were genre cops with a ticket quota, and instead of saluting the flag of “Road Movie,” you charged through their checkpoint with “I’m driven by revenge”. Which, to be clear, is iconic - but also explains the no.

If we were going to touch on an objective challenge from this film that we hadn’t considered until after chatting with the judges - it’s simply that making this a sequel for a familiar character, for a bunch of judges who didn’t know that - probably not the best move to win them over. “Who tf is Larvae Girl and why should we care” came up, and while Rachel and I were seething at the question, cause why should it matter, I guess they’re not incorrect in suggesting that perhaps the judges just didn’t feel “in on it” as much as audiences and 48hours regulars do. Being self referential has risks, Neato Productions ran into this too in a small way this year, so I suppose that’s where the clear divide in the sand is between the culture of 48CHCH and the judging panel - a panel that is likely to have high turnover year after year, making it impossible to build culture and community with them, resulting in films like this being risky to make, but a risk that we still feel strongly is worth taking!

Here’s the challenge: don’t lose the chaos, don’t sand down the edges, don’t you dare stop being Herms Heroes - but perhaps what the judges are after is just a steel rod of genre right down the spine of the madness. Give the audience the wild ride and give the judges just enough sense to keep them from clutching their pearls. Do that, and you’re not just in finals - you’re bulldozing your way to Nationals with a grin on your face and blood on your boots.

THE BEST THING: Utter, gleeful anarchy delivered with total confidence. Nobody else could have made this film. Also, it was an honour to be featured, genuinely, we feel cemented in history, this did it more for us than becoming city managers bahaha

THE NEXT THING: Keep the wild and wacky, keep the gags, keep the madness - but I suppose if you’re wanting to gun for a finals spot, you’ll have to bolt it all to a story/genre engine that even the most boring judge can’t ignore. You’ll still be insane, just unstoppable and undeniable.

Spoiler Alert

To Ian, Julian, and the whole RAJ team, I am so SO happy you won this year. I go back and I watch your 2024 film every couple of months. My review last year left me in pieces, I felt awful, I know it’s a me problem, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around what it was about this film that I didn’t understand. I kept going back to it, wanting to understand and feeling saddened that I could never write an updated review that said ‘hey! I understand now!’

But now, 2025 is here, and you’ve returned with a story that I absolutely, 100% understand hahahaha and I loved it. I really really loved it. Well, I loved a lot of it, there’s things I would have liked to see different versions of to figure out what might have been the best choice, we’ll get to those here soon.

Once again you’ve strolled into the competition and delivered a film that feels like it was made with a calm hand and complete confidence in your craft. This year, though, it’s not just another strong entry, it’s a straight-up masterclass. I’m happy to report that unlike pretty much every other film in the shortlist this year that was polarising for the judges, this was the film that had consistently confident feedback from every judge, and it’s unsurprising given we know what the judges were looking for - a strong use of genre, and a simple clear story with a character you could root for.

It’s one of the cleanest, most satisfying Cat and Mouse stories we’ve seen in the competition ever. The premise is instantly funny and relatable. You take that simple idea and build it into a beautifully absurd, deadpan escalation. The lead performance anchors everything with just the right mix of charm, menace, and obsessive focus. The apple motif is sooooo much fun: somehow both sinister and hilarious, a detail that makes the character linger in your memory long after the credits roll. I also want to shout out those binoculars, no reason in particular, binoculars!

Cinematography? Gorgeous. Editing? Tight and purposeful. Sound design? Punchy and alive, always in service of the story. You take simple Christchurch locations and, once again, transform them into something fresh and threatening.

Now - let’s not pretend it didn’t have some gripes here and there, depending on who you talked to. Judges did bring up questions about the choice of ending, for example. And I did ponder this myself. In my head I can see many different avenues and ways it could have gone, did you guys pick the strongest? Perhaps that’s up for the grand finalist judges to decide. Personally? I wonder how this might have looked if Shay did get his chance to spoil the ending, and then Emma just goes ‘Oh yeah, I know, I see it coming a mile away, still, good read’. And that’s that! I dunno, maybe that ends the chase and therefore the genre isn’t as strong.

The way she does get spoiled though, it was puzzling, was the booked really successful enough that other bookworms were picking it up? Was he making money off of his efforts!? That would have been an interesting thing to see now that I think about it, he becomes a world class author but doesn’t give a shit about that because all he wants to do is spoil the ending for this one woman? Oof, there’s something there I can feel it hahaha, but that’s the rip focus energy in me wanting to make a simple story too ambitious.

We could go on and on about particular moments and whether the right decision was made, heck if I had the energy to do this for every film I’d be writing 20 page reviews for the next 3 years before I was done. At the end of the day, it’s welcoming, it’s funny, it’s tense, it’s entertaining, and above all else, it’s confident.

THE BEST THING: The city winner needs no introduction! Congratulations. You didn’t just win Christchurch. You cemented your place, once again, as one of the most consistently excellent teams in Aotearoa. We look forward to seeing you in Wellington and hearing more about how the hell you pull this off year after year, we want to know!

THE NEXT THING: You guys wanna make a musical too?

Substance 1

FELLAS! What a film! Best ending of a Christchurch film this year?? lol.

Ambitious, wacky, and absolutely the film you wanted to make. Some great practical effects throughout.

But uh, don’t ride a bike without a helmet! Please!

THE BEST THING: Great effects and high energy.
THE NEXT THING: Register next year as a school team! We’d love to include you in our workshops and training so we can help set you up for success!

Precision Response Enforcement Command Intervention Operative Unit Specialists

YOU CHEEKY BOYS - YOU DIDN'T THINK YOU'D GET THAT THROWBACK PAST ME DID YOU?

On first viewing, we were sitting there, absolutely fixated on the plot of this masterpiece, when we were completely blindsided by a track that took me back to 2021 - I turned to Rachel and said "oh my God, I thought I recognised these guys!!" and low and behold, the motherfucking killer robot returned!

Seems to me like these commenters need a bit of educating! *ahem*

The year was 2018 - I was merely child, making silly movies about someone ordering too many pizzas. Keen to try go to all the heats of the competition for inspiration, my world would be turned upside down when the team name "Aaron's Anal Lube Vacation" would come across the screen. Their style - bonkers, their not-giving-a-shit attitude - mesmerising, their desire to terrorise their viewers in the theatre was beyond matched - dare I say it, not even the likes of Herms or Carmen Road could haunt us the way Aaron's Anal Lube Vacation had successfully done so. On one hand they bitch about the max length of the titles, and in the other they'll make you sit through credits the same length as their film. I was immediately in love, and wanted to watch their films forever.

We would see their return as "Aaron's Censorship Trial" in 2021, another absolute banger of a film (if you can call it that) and their original song, the motherfucking killer robot, would hit the Tempero charts in a big way. It was in my head for MONTHS after the competition.

and then after that - silence, as if they disappeared off the face of the earth. I was heartbroken, where had Aaron's Anal gone? Why no more Anal Aaron? I was devastated.

But now, out of the shadows, come's Tasteful Misogyny!! The return of Aaron's Anal under a sneaky pseudonym! And you would have got past us all too it seems - if it wasn't for your 48hours addicted city manager knowing the last decade of Christchurch like the back of his hand!

I must admit, it did take me a moment to cotton onto who you were, but I was suspicious the entire time! And then after a few minutes of total insanity, you resurrected our robot lord and saviour, and it all fell into place.

TO BE CLEAR - FOR THOSE THAT DIDN'T REALISE IN THE CINEMA - THESE GUYS TOOK AN ENTIRE SCENE FROM AN OLD ENTRY OF THEIRS AND CRAMMED IT BACK INTO THIS MASTERPIECE! AND THEY HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO DO SO WITHOUT BREAKING THE RULES! AND IT WAS AMAZING!

It was by far the absolute highlight of the City Manager role this year - being the one to watch this return before audiences got a chance. What an honour!

Beyond how stoked I am that you're back - I also want to say this is the best film you've made so far hahahahahahahahahaha

THE BEST THING: That you've returned
THE NEXT THING: Never leave me again! And never change who you are!

And I promise from the bottom of my heart I will be looking into the title lengths to see if there is any wiggle room, I will try team! I will!

Unspoken Words

We really enjoyed connecting with this team at B-School and seeing you work on your story Friday night. Given this comp is a great chance for you to dive headfirst into something you want to carry into your future careers, we hope you’ll take on this feedback from your city managers with all the love in the world (and the knowledge that we’ve probably written this a little harsher than we would if we didn’t know who you were — and that you’d want clear-cut feedback for how to better yourselves next year).

The shooting, editing, and pacing of the film overall is good, and it’s clear you’re all well on your way to developing these skills as you continue to study and practice — so no major notes on this front. What we really want to feed back on is the story.

It’s a really fun concept that is ultimately bogged down by some mind-boggling choices. Given the importance of the rings to set the scene, we're rushed through the concept of them super fast, and that — combined with shooting in the dark — muddied the story’s waters pretty quickly. But once we caught up, we were very interested to see how it would play out, and the gag of them not being able to keep their thoughts to themselves in front of the ladies was a fun one.

Then came one of the biggest tonal swings we saw this year — “Nah, we can’t go look for our INCREDIBLY POWERFUL MAGICAL RINGS because we have to go do chores!” While hilarious in the moment, ultimately this was a real downer for the arc. We wanted to see them struggle to communicate while finding the rings — not struggle to put salt in boiling water!

And then the girls turn up again and tell them off! And then suddenly the burglar is back! And he shrinks the phone — because miniature! And they get back the rings (that they clearly need)… but then they throw them away! A lot of choices that feel seemlingly forced in rather than asking the question 'so what might they be feeling now, and what would they want to do'

THE BEST THING: Well shot, the sound mix was pretty good
THE NEXT THING: Make sure every plot decision is justified!

Pop's Precious Pranks

Wow! You guys already have a lot of this figured out! Love that. You’re a very selfless team and generous with your love for this comp and this community, and it shows here - can’t ask for more than that really.

You’ve got fans! Including us! And there are some great reviews above singing your praises, perhaps a little tooooo generously- so maybe we won't feel too bad coming in a little harder and twisting the knife a little further hahahaha. But please know it’s out of love and a desire to really see you smash it out of the park in the future. So, with that being said...

This was a really great idea! Or at least we thought it was - the judges, as you’ve already suspected, weren’t so hot on the April Fools angle. Genre really was a sticking point for many judges this year, so while the cinematography, sound design, and editing were all of high calibre, the subversion of the genre and choice of story just wasn’t enough to keep judges on board, unfortunately.

Before knowing how genre-obsessed the judges would be this year, our main concern was the overall pace. For a film about a guy obsessed with pranks and gags, there weren’t really a lot of them, and so the story is just too slow.

The accidental “murder” of Pop feels pretty unjustified - three pranks is all it took for the daughter to lose her cool and set up one herself? Really? Cups, glad-wrap, small pizza? Surely there’s more! And that’s probably the biggest gripe we had with it. We would have loved to see a montage of the daughter just absolutely SUFFERING joke after gag after prank until she can’t take it anymore. Then Pop can dance around (to a great song), fall over, *die* and have his body chopped up into pieces or whatever haha

But then the final reveal — oh man. The comments above suggesting that the long, uncut slow-mo of Pop walking up and removing his hat being a *good editing choice* are just wronggggg. We're sorryyyy! But 23 seconds to hit that punchline?! The one we see coming the moment Scott says “go wash your makeup”? Guys, c’mon!! Ahahaha.

THE BEST THING: Technically, this team is in our top tier - no doubt about that. The performances were great too.

THE NEXT THING: At this point of reviewing I suppose our feedback is going to look quite similar for shortlisted and finalists teams - story, pacing and genre! But it seems like you’ve already learned everything you need to for next year. We can’t wait to see what you put together, and we’ll visit again to scare the shit outta Casey again ahaha

In Light of the Day

Some beautiful shots in here, team! The opening shot really had us hooked.

And thennnnnn… we kinda got a bit lost in the empty space, unfortunately. Earnest films are hard to make, so kudos to you for giving it a shot, and your lead performer is really committed to it which we have mad respect for. The office scene and firing of the main character felt pretty jarring compared to the beautiful outdoor work, and the flashback shots of that firing at the end felt so out of place they actually made us chuckle. Just a bit hard to follow in the end! But reading these reviews above do help us piece some of that together...

THE BEST THING: Some great cinematography.

THE NEXT THING: We noticed no writer credit at the end of the film — we suppose that means you all contributed. Perhaps that’s a pair of shoes for someone to step into! Bring someone on board with writing as their dominant strength and we’re sure it’ll take Bruce’s Babysitters to the next level. Well done and we look forward to seeing next year's entry!

Come Die with Me

Really loved this! It was great to meet you and learn a bit about your team. Knowing you guys have young ones to care for while balancing that with making a film is always tricky - so we were very, very impressed!

THE BEST THING: Excellent dialogue - Jerry’s awkward nature was perfect, and the VFX were pretty good too!

THE NEXT THING: Hard to say what you should focus on - the angles comment above is a good note, and we always like to see the story dials turned up more than they often do in 48Hours. How much crazier could this have gotten before he tripped? Still, a solid short! and we look forward to seeing you return next year!

G.P. Taylor

What style! What pizzazz! What a fun little story.

Genuinely - “I don’t think you’re real” was one of the best lines written and delivered this year. Well done!

Great use of colour, and a fun conversation between mates and machine. Proooobably got a little silly at the end - perhaps the stakes could have been a bit higher? But regardless, a solid little short, and we agree with everything suggested above about how to improve for next year.

THE BEST THING: That line about the fake plant hahaha

THE NEXT THING: It was cool to visit you guys over the weekend and check out your setup and workflow. Our main advice: download and learn DaVinci Resolve! It’s free, and it’ll take your editing skills to new heights. Say goodbye to CapCut (or whatever that was you were using) and join the dark side!

Glove Box

Whaaaattt - no more Sons of the Broadmeadow?? So sad! We wish you well - and hope you come back again one day!

A beautifully shot little story. Possibly our favourite drone shot this year - one with a story purpose! Well done.

Great lighting, great performances, great cinematography - great, great, great.

And then the story hahahaha

Honestly, we don’t think it needs too much more to get it across the line. The biggest drawbacks from the judges were just two things. Firstly, genre: yes, they’re “being chased,” but the story isn’t really about that, so judges said no no no.

Secondly, that ending with the polaroids really weirded us out - and the judges too. Everyone we’ve discussed this film with seems to think those pictures are of uh...victims, to put it mildly, and we’re just not convinced that’s what you were going for. And if it was… uhhhh, no thanks, hahaha. So yeah, perhaps the reveal in that glovebox could have just been something really silly instead - like a collection of Pokémon cards, or a Spice Girls album, or anything other than a secret polaroid stash that we only get to see a policemen gag over...

THE BEST THING: You have a real sharpshooter on this team - we envy their talent.

THE NEXT THING: Don’t stay gone too long! We’ll miss you!

A Helping Hand

It's great to see this film getting so much review love. This was by far the most heartbreaking moment during our first watch through. You guys should be SO proud of this work, it's so polished, and in another universe where you had a couple more minutes, it would have been a firery competitor.

THE BEST THING: Incredible cinematography and performances.

THE NEXT THING: Beyond getting the film in on time next year, this is the second year in a row this team has chosen to go light on story, and we'd love to see what you can do when you sink your teeth into something with a thick juicy plot and clear arcs for your characters.

Hi Santa, it's Charlie

This is the best one. This is it. I don’t care that you didn’t win, this is the best film hahahaha.

It was so high on our first viewing, and then on second, third, fourth viewing it just got higher and higher, and before heats even began, we had this locked in as the one we wanted to see win. But alas, we weren’t judges, and even if we were, our picks wouldn’t have shifted the results in any dramatic way.

As much as I respect everyone above who may have indifference to this one (except for Breadwinner’s outrageous suggestion that you should lose the hair - that take is criminal), the fact is that in a sea of stories being too convoluted, over-ambitious, squished and squandered, here we have this earnest, humble, simple story. A moment in time where you see a man tormented by his ambition for something great rubbing up against his desire to just be happy no matter what. This is Paterson meets Merry Christmas Mr Bean, and it’s the best film in Christchurch hahahaha. I haven’t had a chance to watch any other regional entries yet, but I’m calling it now that this is the best film in Aotearoa, I’m willing to bet my Disney Infinity collection that it could not just make the Grand Finals - but maybe even surpass our Chch winners. Yep, I said it, that’s how much I love this film hahahaha. And I know many will think I’m dreaming here, but when one can dream, one must dream!!

If this was a full-length feature, this would be the most rewatched moment. Perhaps that’s part of why I love it so much - it feels so lived in. There was story for Charlie before this moment, and there will be story after. But even within these five minutes, despite it being only two shots, there is SO much going on inside Charlie. How dare it be suggested that it’s light on story when you have distinct moments of change in Charlie’s position about the train model: a confident start where he knows what he wants, followed by seeds of doubt that kick off as soon as he messes up the second call, and then a coming to terms with realising that it just doesn’t matter, and that it’s going to be great, whatever size the train is.

Obviously, a story like this does require a strong performance to pull it off, but I reject any suggestion that it’s a “shame they had to lean on that” - as if we’re not meant to be encouraging teams to lean into their biggest strengths! Charlie was amazing. The dialogue delivery is inspired, the voice is perfectly suited to this character, and the *physical comedy* (yeah I said it, fight me), while restrained to accommodate the calmness of the scene, is so incredibly intentional. Pair this with a beautiful production setup, a charming and proper use of the holiday genre, and you have yourself the best film in Christchurch hahahahaha GUYS I CAN’T STOP SAYING IT HELP ME.

I guess I should do a nitpick to offset all this love — a creative decision I would have cut if I was directing is the final call back at the end. While a fun gag, I felt it did the character a disservice as far as him really coming to terms with and accepting his model train–size fate. But hey, it worked for the crowd, so who really cares, I don’t care anymore, my manager role is complete and I’m feeling chaotic. Did I mention this is the best film in Christchurch?

I do really like that it’s divisive to be honest. A film that has half the crowd declaring it tedious and the other half calling it genius? These are the things that make a community like this really tick. When we come together to see how others see things, whether they make sense to us or not, the most important thing is we have opportunities like the one Olax has provided to engage in these debates, hear each other out, and go away from them hopefully learning something. We need films that have the risk this one took, films that make a choice so bold they stick forever. And that’s the thing — this film will stick. You’re another example of the kind of bold choice one can make that leaves a lasting imprint on the future of the competition (alongside Singularities set design, I MetaMans genre twist and Toot Toots 24 hour film comp method)

One can nitpick about story arcs or joke escalation or whatever else, but for me this is one of those rare pieces where the purity of the idea and the boldness of the execution outweigh everything else. This is why I watch 48Hours. This is why I will keep coming back forever.

THE BEST THING: hehehehebestfilminchristchurch2025factsarefactsgetoverit

THE NEXT THING: Can we have a series titled ‘Charlie Calls’ please? 10 phone calls all roughly 3-5 minutes long. Different seasons and events. Different people Charlie is leaving a message for. I have a draft for you already. Episode 1 you’ve already made and it’s perfect. Then we move to a call to the council to dispute a $3.17 fee over something Charlie was tracking himself, maybe his water usage. Then Episode 3 he’s calling his local airline to check if he can bring his own kettle or vacuum cleaner on board the plane. Episode 4 he can call a pizza shop to order his favourite garlic bread but he’s unsure if that’s allowed cause it’s not really a meal. Episode 5 he can call a vet to see if humans can get worming tables (inspired by me looking at a photo of my doggo just now). Episode 6 We could do maybe another festive one like the easter bunny asking about some sort of obscure egg delivery need or New Years day and he’s trying to get in touch with someone who oversees timezones to confirm some unusual detail idk I’m running out of ideas here. Episode 7 he leaves an order for the fish and chip shop with specifics about his fish needs that are more complex than his model train needs. Episode 8 he wants to leave feedback to a bus company about their bus drivers. Episode 9 he calls the EntX theatre in Christchurch to reserve an ice cream for his movie going experience annnnnddd finally for Episode 10 he’s leaving a message for his mum. I’m not kidding around here by the way, make this please. We’ll fund it somehow. I’m not joking.

You broke my space laser!

MAD SCIENTISTS have truly taken their incredibly BONKERS style and taken it to new heights!! The green screen hands going backwards down the mountain was certainly an audience highlight, and this action packed adventure was as wonderful as your previous efforts.

We did get a little lost on how the 'found footage' aspect played into the story (seemed more like just a POV of someone, took a couple watches to take it all in) and while it would have been a worthy shortlist this year it jussstttt got beat out by some films that had a bit more structure and clearer storytelling.

THE BEST THING: Great action, awesome aerial shots and a fun closing credits song.
THE NEXT THING: Mad Scientists has it in them to give us a story about a character that we truly want to root for, I want to connect with and be able to follow a super clear character arc amongst the wacky and wild - if you can pull that off, it'll take you to even newer heights! Bravo.

A Delicate Situation

A very earnest and sweet story, and one of only maybe two or three films this year in Chch that really made a Man vs. Machine instead of weird AI or other vague tech nonsense.

Wonderful performance from your lead - we particularly loved that overhead shot with the tiny sweater, very nice. The washer and dryer voiceovers were also good fun, and those puns hit the mark for us. The story overall was a little slow; we wonder what could raise the stakes a bit more before reaching the end?

THE BEST THING: A great idea paired with sweet performances made this one a crowd-pleaser.

THE NEXT THING: Great storytelling chops from this team leave us convinced that if you spend some time in the technical realm you could really pack a punch in this competition. Hire some gear next year with Lightchasers and get 50% off for the weekend haha and see where it might take you! Well done, and we look forward to seeing next year’s submission!

Little Re-Writing Hood

THIS EFFECT REQUIRES GPU ACCELERATION! ;)

THE BEST THING: An inventive twisty concept of the Fairytale genre, nice job!
THE NEXT THING: Technical bugs really let the clarity of this film down unfortunately! It was pretty confusing. Be sure to give yourself plenty of editing time!

Data Management and Security Training

#justiceservedforthesexwizards

Boy oh boy did you have us sweating at first. On the initial watch, we honestly thought this might flatline and crawl into the shortlist - but the more we revisited it, the stronger it got. And the judges clearly felt the same, praising its consistency and clarity of vision. You chose your course and committed, and it paid off.

The performers did a solid job with the material but uhhhh yeah, it was pretty hard to ignore that they kinda looked like kids in oversized suits. Funny to be telling an adult team to “act your age,” but here we are. Both your actors are great - there’s no doubt - but casting characters more in line with their presence would have taken this up another notch - particularly the experienced worker, make em look worn down. Sometimes the right face in the right role is the whole game and we wonder whether that may have been a thing that knocked you down a few spaces this year.

That said, what you did achieve is no small thing. The aesthetic landed. It’s rare to see a team really nail that retro-corporate training video vibe with so much style and technical polish, and the “SLOMO” acronym was so fun, and a great way to dodge using actual slow mo to ensure you don’t break consistency of the style.

The intensity and absurdity of the story is fairly steady and then has a pretty sharp ramp up at the end, it left us feeling a bit lost and took a few re-watches to soak that in. We’ve talked a bit about that ending already - maybe a cut or a zoom of that writing on the hand would have been *handy*, but how does one achieve that without breaking consistency? A tough nut to crack.

Lots to celebrate, lots to try out next year. Pie Face is a team that has been robbed historically, so it’s nice to see you receive more recognition this year for your talent.

THE BEST THING: The clarity of vision. A consistent aesthetic, sharp direction, and a concept carried confidently throughout. Also those credits were awesome.

THE NEXT THING: I think Pie Face could really do with bringing in a writer that is able to turn the dials up on everything a bit more. Take a page out of the absurdity of MO Productions or rip focus 2, maybe a dash of Cactus? Or An Evening With. You’re on the cusp of being able to tell a story that really hooks us in and what we really want more than anything from Pie Face is to be able to really get behind a character and see them achieve - or fail to achieve - a goal.

One Star

What a crowd pleaser! Huge congrats to you guys on your finals slot.

There are some real standout moments in this film - particularly the driving scene, which was really well constructed and one of the best technical moments we saw this year. Some great gags throughout too: love a bit of fruit ninja in the morning, and your antagonist’s iconic tongue waggle - there were audience members mimicking that to us after the heats haha

Now, this is gonna sound a bit backhanded - but in a year where the judges were pretty hardcore on story structure, character motivation, and genre usage, this one we feel slipped by a number of those criticisms - which we’re actually quite happy about. But we can’t let you escape that so easily! So here’s the main note…

The motivations of the characters are suuuuper messy. Uber drivers have a job to do! And he was on his way! Slow, sure, but like your lead says, he’ll be there! Chasing him down saves you what, a couple of minutes? Your guy has to drive back still hahaha. And then the shift from night to day throws a lot of the initial setup out as well. Wasn’t the whole point of chasing this guy to get the food faster?? Why is this antagonist so adamant about being a total pest? What’s going onnnn. We’lll give you this though, great to see the cat loose, even if it made no sense, it was true to the genre on that front.

THE BEST THING: An action-comedy hit that delivers gag after gag, all with confidence and technical style.

THE NEXT THING: Story is king! Keep all the madness, but anchor it with a clearer arc so we’ve got someone to root for amid the chaos. That way you keep the laughs, keep the gasps, but also give the judges something to chew on beyond “this was fun.” Bring all this together, and you guys will be guaranteed a top spot next year! And we’ll be rooting for you!

PREG-GO!

This was awesome! A worthy shortlist entry!

Great gags, surprisingly committed performances hahaha and a wholesome ending with a clearly plastic baby. Was so cool to come visit you guys over the shoot weekend!

Only two things we really want to bring to your attention:

A lot of the pacing is great, but there are some choices that work against the overall product rather than enhance it. In particular, that McDonald’s joke just pulled us out of the intensity and pushed the film into something sillier than it maybe should have been.

The interior stuff was just a bit too dark! Have a crack at your colouring skills over the next year, and make sure your exposure settings are good before you shoot.

THE BEST THING: Bonkers idea paired with high energy and commitment -good stuff!

THE NEXT THING: Come back again next year and bring that same energy! It was so much fun, and we can see real promise from you in the future.

Scrambled

Hey, congrats on the audience win! You clearly had a lot of connections and supporters behind your team, that’s so awesome. It’s clear you had a lot of fun putting this together, and the audience was entertained - particularly with that egg drop, which was a nice ending.

There were a couple of things from a technical point of view that pulled us out of it a little. Speeding up footage for no reason is a big no-no in our books - if you need to get through something fast, just cut the fluff. Also, while we’re always in awe of original music being made in this comp, the classic GarageBand/Logic Pro rock drummer sound was quite distracting for us.

THE BEST THING: Probably the drone shots, to be honest! I wonder how a cat-and-mouse film would look entirely from a drone perspective — that would be interesting...

THE NEXT THING: Continue to refine your editing until you have a lean, mean story. We reckon you could easily cut a minute or two out of this film and it would still be in tact. Looking forward to seeing next year’s submission!

Music To Die For

Guys, this film made no sense hahahahahaha.

However! Still a significant step up from Will and team from both a technical and storytelling perspective compared to last year. We want you guys to keep returning and competing, so here are some thoughts on the next things to crank it up a notch.

Show vs. tell! A group of boys sitting around a table talking about this dystopian world where CDs are a rare commodity wasn’t particularly convincing from that one master shot.

Why does this dude keep dying!? We’ve watched this five times now and we’re still completely lost.

Random car accident at the end. Lol — we’re gonna go out on a limb here and say this probably happened because you didn’t know how to end your film, or ran out of time to end it the way you wanted to.

THE BEST THING: A great technical leap forward for this team.
THE NEXT THING: Story is king! Makes sure the film makes sense haha.

Unspoken

A really excellent idea with two leads that gave it a solid performance! The dialogue was mostly on par with how we’d expect a conversation like this to go, and the stakes of the conversation rose at a rate that felt pretty natural. We LOVED the little toy falling off at the end.

Now, it would appear that this version of the film shown in the screening room has a significantly better colour grade than the file we received — perhaps there was something in the export settings when you rendered it out for submission? The one we have on our computer has the exposure on every single shot set extremely high — and to be honest, this was probably the single biggest thing that took us out of the viewing experience. We’re gutted for you if it was something you didn’t discover until later, but glad you chose to put a fixed version up here.

Beyond that, just a couple of small notes — the actress threatening to leave at the end didn’t really seem to care that much about it. Perhaps that was an intentional choice? But we’re not sure we’d be able to stomach being so calm when threatening to leave over such a difficult issue.

Perhaps you didn’t have the time, but the thing that would really elevate this to the next level is a bit more variety in the shot choices. The back-and-forth is fine, but some close-ups of the faces and different angles on the conversation to keep the pace moving would work wonders for this story.

And the last little thing that made us chuckle at the start was the ambient sound of birds while the shot was inside the car...

THE BEST THING: A great swing at a difficult topic.
THE NEXT THING: We were going to say fix your exposure settings on your camera, but it looks like you already did that! So the next thing is to double-check your exposure on your final MP4 before uploading??

Really looking forward to see what Art & Experience cooks up next year!

Stuck in Invercargill

Another wonderful entry from MEME TEAM! It blows our minds that you guys make your way down south just for this, and to see friends too I suppose. How good!

The setup to this film is one of our absolute favourites from this year - it was so, so funny, and it really set the tone for an excellent adventure throughout the wonderful town of Invercargill.

And then, sorry to say, things get a little bit shaky. Turns out when you don’t have much to say about Invercargill, and neither character is really rooting for Invercargill, the tension isn’t quite there, and then after walking around for a bit, some magic water resolves their issue, and the film’s kind of over. There was soooo much potential here from the setup for a buddy film where two different kinds of personalities have to work together, find common ground, learn to accept each other, etc. But instead we’re kinda, well, stuck in Invercargill! and it leaves the story a bit stuck too.

THE BEST THING: The setup is a slam dunk.

THE NEXT THING: And this was echoed by the judges, the story just needed a bit more to it - more edge, bigger moments! I know you have it in you! Well done once again, a worthy shortlist, and we look forward to next year’s entry!

Party Disrupted

This film truly warmed our hearts!! What an achievement.

Chester told us about some of the groundwork you did ahead of the competition to practice, and discovering that everybody on the team, with the exception of your sound editor, uses NZSL as their first language was amazing!

This film has all the best qualities you want to see in a first-time competitor. You clearly developed a great understanding of pace, what’s important to show vs. what doesn’t matter, and how to raise the stakes in a natural way. We were thoroughly entertained the whole way through.

Your performers were all excellent, the relationships between everyone felt very real and - most importantly - as a school team you were very careful to choose a story that felt incredibly realistic for your age, instead of playing characters that were too old or too silly. You also handled some more interesting things like partying without adult supervision in what we felt was a very appropriate way - acknowledging that kids do this sometimes, but not overdoing it or indulging in it, just showing enough to communicate the story but continue to focus on the interesting characters.

We also loved the opportunity to caption the other films in your heat so you could come along and enjoy the night. What a privilege to be able to support you! And oh the fun we had writing the captions for all the other silly films, such a great time.

THE BEST THING: An undeniable achievement from a team that deserves the biggest round of applause.
THE NEXT THING: Come back next year and do it again!! We can’t wait to see what you do next.

Nothing Personal

Some great stuff in here team! It was awesome to come visit you onsite, and check out your shooting process, glad you had fun! (hopefully)

The action is great, the pace is well kept, and all this film is really missing is just a bit of context. The beats go by so fast that it’s unclear why the chase has begun, how many are on the hunt for this location, and why they’re so desperate to be the one to get there first.

THE BEST THING: That piggyback ride.
THE NEXT THING: Less running, more story! And you’ll find yourselves well on your way to stardom - well done!

Brunch Solstice

I had to wait until after finals so I didn’t spoil this team’s score win hahaha, thanks for your patience! Here is your review.

Brunch Solstice was such a tasty treat. A clever idea with some fun twists that earned its shortlist spot. This film had so much going for it, and was a hot contender for the best school spot, you should be very proud of your achievements!

The biggest achievement of course being the score. Absolutely phenomenal. That Icelandic 7/8 time signature cult music elevated the whole experience, giving it a lived-in feel that was truly a step above everything else we heard this year. A technically brilliant piece of work, and a real feather in your cap - it’s not often that a non-finalist takes out an award of this calibre! And it was well deserved.

The performances were also a real highlight - by far the strongest from the school pool this year. Goofy, awkward, and charming in all the right ways, with dialogue that struck that perfect balance between dry and ridiculous, but also fully committed! Some excellent setups and payoffs too, with the foreshadowing sprinkled throughout. Would have loved to see more from the character of Leviticus ahaha I understand something had to be cut for time? Gutting.

We’ve gotta give a special shoutout to your “all four elements at once” moment though — an absolute gem, and something that would’ve maybe gotten more love if you’d been a finalist.

On a technical level this was the most competent from the schools this year - great shot structure, composition, lighting etc. But it’s a shame you had to squash/noise isolate so much of your dialogue, particularly at the start, it was quite distracting.

Sadly the story itself ended up too clogged and for the judges to really embrace. Also there were critiques that it’s not holiday enough/didn’t really align with the expectations of this genre, something that many films got called out on this year. We also feel perhaps this story would have been better set outdoors, in an environment that allows the whole cult vibe to really be embraced, as opposed to what is clearly just a teenager's home.
At the end of the day, story is king, and when you’re up against death itself hahahahahaha

THE BEST THING: That music! And an overall very strong contender this year, wonderful given how young you all are.

THE NEXT THING: Given you have so many great things going for you as far as performance and technical is concerned, all you need is a tighter story. Don’t break our heart and not come back next year, we want to hold onto as many graduating teams as we can - don’t let us down!

The Road Not Taken

What a great little pre-show before the main event from Rolly this year! So cool to see you stretch your creative muscles in this digital realm and try this medium out.

THE BEST THING: A great re-telling of a classic piece of culture
THE NEXT THING: A fully animated story from rolly next year????

Misplaced Death

Well well well Dennistribe! We were blown away by the incredible step up this film is compared to last year (though last year was amazing for very different reasons hahaha). We’re so happy the judges recognised the achievement this was! In a sea of complicated and messy stories, this simple tale really stood out.

The best part of this film is obviously the twist - a twist so brilliantly executed I’m sure it made even the strongest competitors in this competition jealous. You had the audience absolutely hooked and rooting for Death to win! How hilarious. The technical step up from last year was also massive. Framing Death’s perspective in a distinct style was a great choice, the physical comedy was peak, and the final moment where he slips his scythe into the other pocket was a slam dunk.

Now - given you made finals, that means you’ve not only cleared the threshold for best school team this year, but you really are playing with the big boys! And I’m sure you want to stay here, so with that in mind, here are our notes for next year (in other words, on the assumption you’d appreciate it, we’re about to grade you on a the biggest curve out of every team hahahaha).

“Death” really is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this film. Outside of his performance and arc, every other performance and technical aspect falls a little flat. Continued development of technical and writing skills is a guarantee for this team though, so we’re not worried about it. The sound mix was mostly okay (and way better than last year), but there are lots of moments where it’s just music, and adding some ambience and other foley would have made everything more cohesive. The rest of the cast are all very warm and cheerful, but the dialogue and dancing around muddies the waters - both narratively and because they’re quite a stark contrast to the very strong Death character.

Your shortlisted rival Brunch Solstice was nipping at your heels for best school - particularly around technical elements, structure, and performances - and it wasn’t until judges clearly praised your concept and story that you ran away with it in the end. So, there’s still a wee way to go as far as what you’ll need to do to continue landing a finals spot, but the good news is the steps are pretty clear cut:

- Recruit team members whose biggest strength is acting. You’ll want to guarantee your performers can deliver, even if your next idea isn’t as lightning-in-a-bottle as Death losing his scythe.

- Hire or buy some camera and sound gear that can elevate your visual look. You’ve won a tour with Lightchasers! So take advantage of this and get advice on what to upgrade to for future films.

- Continue sharpening your editing chops. Watch some of the top-tier films this year and figure out how they did what they did - then try it yourself. (iMetaMan is a great place to start.)

THE BEST THING: A hilarious, tightly told tale with one of the best ideas this year and some great uses of the elements. We’ll be backing you for the Best School in Aotearoa award, and we hope the judges agree!

THE NEXT THING: Dennistribe is here to stay. So long as you keep coming back, learning, and improving with the commitment you clearly have, the sky is the limit. Take on our notes and go hard. We’re super proud of you - keep going!

Ghost PTSD

ScryptTeam returns with another war-themed story! Interesting!

There’s a lot of really great stuff in here. It’s well shot, the lead delivers a solid performance, and the costuming and set are excellent.

Two things to take it to the next level:

The story is a bit light and ends too quickly. Perhaps you had plans that didn’t work out over the weekend and had to cut it short?

Already mentioned above — trust your audience! The biggest drawback is the fading away repeated three times and then the death at the end. We all knew what was happening well before this. Continue to focus on the characters! How does this guy come to terms with what has happened? When does he realise he’s dead? There are so many cool directions it could go.

THE BEST THING: A bold idea with some great set pieces and costume.

THE NEXT THING: Trust your audience to pick up on the subtleties and continue to move the story forward! Please come back next year and we look forward to seeing what you create!

A Silence In Sam's Town

There was something about this film that really got to our core and we both went 'hmmm, that's a real contender this year' on our first viewing.

And then the judges said no! Well, most of them, you did have one squarely in your corner! And it did put you guys pretty close to finals territory, but sadly, wasn't to be, and we'll get to that in a second, but first -

The cinematography is GORGEOUS and your performer is really strong, or at least we really felt that he was and do still feel that, even if others weren't so convinced, you had us convinced.

We thought it had just the right amount of story to stand on it's own two feet, and the way the editing cuts between the flashbacks and the reaction of your character were in our opinion just a spot on choice. The wide shot of Sam kneeling with the pier in the background is S tier. For us personally, our only gripe was the walking in the sand shots with the socks and shoes coming off, the shaky cam just didn't quite match everything else in terms of the calmness in that moment before the reveal of the storm. But honestly that's all we really have for you in terms of what we'd change...

The judges however were all like 'uhh no it's not a holiday movie' >:(
Made us mad hahaha

Oh and they noticed the underwear thing too, which we feel is silly, but I guess if the audience noticed and the judges noticed, it's worth noting. They did say the final shot should have been that hand taking the beads away, perhaps they're right, but we liked the closing shot haha

We love this team, and we want to see you come back and smash it out of the park next year!

THE BEST THING: Great performance and sharp shooting

THE NEXT THING: Genre genre genre, apparently, bleh.

Burnt

Always happy to see Stu return year after year with both the film he wanted to make and the reviews he wanted to give! You’ve become a pillar of 48Hours ChCh traditions, and so beyond the film itself we want to start by saying thank you - for the support you give to the teams with your reviews, and the support you’ve given us taking on the manager mantle this year. You’ve been very kind, and we’re grateful for that!

The film is good! And given the context we learned from your radio report about what it took to get this done, it helps clear up some questions and elevates the overall delivery.

It was close to shortlist! There were definitely things about it that would have made it a worthy earner of a spot - in particular, the cinematography! Which is cool given you lost your camera guy. We’d have to go back and double-check, but this might be the best-looking film made so far by this team. How good! Also, in a year where most of the man vs. machine stories in Christchurch were pretty sub-par, this one really *Sticks* out as being an actual man vs. machine. Excellent!

Here’s our take-it-or-leave-it...

Interesting to hear you like close-ups! It was certainly… a choice! Maybe a tad overused for us to really grasp the relationships between characters and get a sense of physical space. Did your lead get electrocuted by the toaster at one point? We thought we heard something fall down, but the focus was on the toaster close-up, so not sure...

For a film called BURNT there wasn’t really a lot of burning of toast hahahahaha. We kinda felt a bit ripped off! A story of a guy constantly burning his toast no matter what he tries - and then when he finally gets it right, he drops it in the sink? That would’ve killed! Instead, it felt a bit convoluted with a toaster that was clearly not plugged in refusing to work, and then these women being super rude to the poor man! (Oh wait, was that the “burning”? Ohh hold up… hmmmm…) Idk, we don’t want to be too nit-picky here, but perhaps this film just needs a different title or something? Idk what though, Burnt is such a great title!

Already been mentioned so won't bang on about it but 48hours fanatics probably aren't the audience for that generative AI stuff. Live and learn aye - I (Joel) was hot on the AI train for like six months before realising it was making me feel dead inside.

THE BEST THING: Great use of genre, and even though it was all close-ups, they were very beautiful close-ups!

THE NEXT THING: It does seem like a common theme the last few years that your characters are just really mean to each other ahahaha. Maybe next year it’s time to switch that up! Not sure to what, but something!

See you for year 18! That's genuinely remarkable.

Tiny Pricks

A really solid solo effort! What a feat to tackle the action genre as a one man machine. Like many action films this year, it does bleed a little into a more cat-and-mouse type story, but given you had only yourself to tell the tale, it’s very impressive. We particularly loved the moment with the slow-mo plant falling — that was a lot of fun.

Specific feedback as requested above...
The story is a tad unclear. We get that the cactus is due to be somewhere by 3pm — but where is that place? And when it gets stolen, where is the robber going? Why? All things that are hard to answer without some dialogue and close ups of the faces etc.

The main thing we always suggest with solo creators is: simple is best. Having to do an action movie doesn’t really accommodate that for a solo shooter. Whatever genre you get in the future, perhaps a really solid performance on a smaller scale will take it to the next level. (We’d refer to Olax’s film from this year as an example of that, or Fox Emoji Wolf Emoji’s duo film from last year.)

THE BEST THING: Always amazing to see one person pull off a story with two characters.

THE NEXT THING: If you plan to keep going solo, it’s better to scale back and do small things really well to preserve your energy — and may the genre forever be in your favour!

Chaos Cabin

What an achievement! As a very casual animator myself, I have a huge amount of respect for anyone willing to take on the animation challenge for 48 - and this year it’s in a style we haven’t seen in Chch before! That’s a huge deal. The sheer scale of the challenge is mind-blowing, and the fact you pulled it off in 48 hours is nothing short of wizardry.

On first viewing we were hooked, with the only niggly thing being that the characters looked a little PS3 cutscene ahaha but after the first few shots you get over that pretty quickly. The scenery is fantastic. Especially in a year of white walls and cloudy weather, a snowstorm scene was such an excellent addition to the finals. This was a great take on Man vs Nature, and the strangeness of the whole thing really pulls you in. Then the awesome reveal lands, and the whole crowd goes “ahhhh” in a moment of appreciation for the concept - well done!

Now, it’s been mentioned already, but the biggest head-scratcher here is what to make of the supporting characters. It’s easy to let the absurdity wash over you in exchange for the punchline, but it would’ve been nice to have a bit more to chew on. What are the father and daughter doing in this cabin? Why are they there, seemingly aware of what’s happening, while the leads are clueless? I wonder if maybe you did have more story to tell, and it was simply the gruelling rendering times that forced you to cut it back to the bare bones just to get a film out in time?

THE BEST THING: The sheer audacity of doing motion capture in a 48. Absolutely insane, and you pulled it off with style.

THE NEXT THING: The overall style and designs of these characters did have a little bit of an uncanny valley thing going on. Our suggestion? Try tell a story that doesn’t need realistic looking people. Go weird and wacky - aliens, spiders, cartoonish or highly stylised characters. Do something that suspends reality altogether, and maybe even lets you render faster. That way, you can lean into your strengths and tell a story with more depth, and maybe sneak in a lesson we can all learn!

Congratulations on this achievement - we are absolutely fizzing to see what you produce next year!

Turn It Off

An accurate depiction of a bunch of blokes messing about with a camera in hand, and then stumbling into something they didn’t mean to. Nicely done!

Story-wise, there are two things that pulled us out of it, and it happened every time we watched:

The idea of it being a YouTuber’s prank show didn’t quite land. Ding-dong-ditch is a child’s game, and these fellas don’t really reflect that demographic. Perhaps it would have been a more convincing setup if it was simply the dudes hanging out, not trying to shoot anything in particular, just being assholes and filming it!

The ending should have been the guy saying “Turn it off!” The following text and images were so far removed from what we had just watched. Ending with that shot of the killer's hands would have been a slam dunk! Alas, instead we were tossed this other thing that went on too long, and then the credits were quite long too, so it sorta stumbles to the finish line.

THE BEST THING: A great interpretation of the genre!

THE NEXT THING: We remember Ginger Ninja from last year and thinking you guys are onto something. We reckon your craft is continuing to improve, and as long as you keep thinking about pacing and honing in on the key beats of a story, you’re one to watch! We look forward to seeing your submission next year.

RED RAIN

WHAT A HUUUUGE STEP UP FROM LAST YEAR! SOMEBODY HAS BEEN TRULY SHARPENING THEIR SHOOTING/EDITING SKILLS IN A BIG WAY!

We were absolutely blown away by the creativity, pacing, and comedy from this crew. It was so much fun! So silly, and perhaps a little confusing, but it’s films like this that really make the competition what it is.

THE BEST THING: 3 wives!!
THE NEXT THING: As mentioned above, the story was definitely pretty unclear, and we think a lot of that comes from peaking audio and blurry, distracting shots. But man, you’ve come so far in a year - we are FIZZING for Handsome Moustache Productions in 2026! And if you haven’t already, do yourself a favour and check out films from teams like Herms Heroes to be inspired for future endeavours!

This team is one to watch!

MILK!

Ahahahahahaha oh mannnn, this was an absolute hoot. We figured this one could go either way - would the judges appreciate the punchline, or would they be turned off by it?

Sorry to say, it wasn’t for them - although not for the reason we assumed. We thought they might just be grossed out, but nah. This is another film in our collection that fell prey to the judges being completely obsessed with genre usage this year. Not nature enough I guess team! Sorry...

But we loved it, and genuinely have no real notes for improvement for next year - other than stick as close to genre as you can if your goal is finals, apparently...

The performances were great! Don’t sell yourself short on that. The silly song was awesome, and we absolutely adored that ending.

Okay, actually we do have one note - we absolutely loved your reference to AJ’s comment from last year (we did that once too), but our advice would be to put that sort of thing in your team intro, not your film. That way the film stands on its own two feet without needing comp history to carry it (there’s another team that fell prey to this in an even bigger way this year - wonder if you can guess who that was...)

THE BEST THING: Honestly this team we do feel is firing on all cylinders, and it’s sad you're not getting as much love as you probably deserved this year. The best best thing though the paintings' foreshadowing hahaha

THE NEXT THING: We think it’s time to see Neato Productions get out into the big wide world and take your characters on an adventure — one that goes beyond the four walls of a townhouse and really sinks into something grand. You have it in you!

PS. Awesome to see you Luca at every heat and review every film! You've made this years comp better for it, thank you!

The King of the Playground

MY TOWER IS IMPREGNABLE!

A truly solid performance and a really heartfelt little story! We loved the chips gag, and the lizard - although it’s a shame that reveal wasn’t in focus!

It was great to see you focus on going fairly small with the story but doing it really well, as opposed to biting off more than you can chew - which can be a common trap for school teams.

The main thing that pulled us out of it was the final few shots of the dead king, which made the rules of this make-believe world a bit confusing. Ending with the reveal that the kids consider the grumpy teacher the “king,” and smashing his cup on the way to class, would have been a stronger finish.

THE BEST THING: Telling a short story really well, with good pace and a committed performance.
THE NEXT THING: We reckon you’ve got the skill to turn up the dials next year and raise the stakes of your story. Would have loved to see some actual combat with your teacher!

2025 national 48 hours winner

Yes yes yes and more YES.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you all proof that it doesn’t matter whether you spend months prepping, or barrrreeelllyyy use the 48 hours, sometimes a sharp, simple story and a unique voice will land beautifully. And land it did!

It still blows my mind that this film was shot in about an hour on Saturday, handed in that evening, and still cruised straight into the finals with like literally no opposition.

The absurdist meta-comedy is exactly what we’ve come to expect from Toot Toot — quick, dry, a little chaotic, and perfectly tailored to both audience and judge alike this year. The lead’s commitment to the absurd delivery paired with the ridiculous fourth-wall breaks and use of elements had the audience in stitches.

By self admission it’s not a film that expects to be taken very seriously in this competition - but I think that makes this feat all the more impressive. I want to say it again - this film was VERY comfortably in the finals, it’s not a case of like 1 or 2 judges just really liked it, but it was an across the board agreement, and that makes it all the more special. They were literally like ‘Yeah I mean, it’s not really a film is it, but I really enjoyed it!!’ hahahahah

Maybe it’s really is as simple as they thought you used the genre well! You were one of the only teams they thought did genre well. Despite it being a silly Man vs Nature, it was built around the idea of a silly man trying to do a class Man vs Nature trope, and it was enough for judges and audience alike to respect it!

THE BEST THING: It’s a Toot Toot film! Your humour is distinct, absurd, and consistently crowd-pleasing. In the same way nobody does a Herms film like Herms, or a Carmen Road Academy Films film like Carmen Road Academy Films - nobody can put in an entry like Toot Toot, and it will forever be respected. What a perfect way to wrap up Chch.

THE NEXT THING: lol it feels offensive to even try to think of something, so I won’t bother.

Reset Day

THE BEST THING: A really interesting concept that we would have loved to see fleshed out further to show how it impacts the world - your neighbour scene was particularly intriguing! Very well done.

THE NEXT THING: Lots of exposition at the start of this film takes us out of it pretty fast. “You had an accident, we had to put a chip in your brain, also it’s our anniversary, and you’ll be fine” are things that perhaps could be shown in other ways rather than just chatting about them. The main thing for next year though, is to work on your audio mix, make sure you have level dialogue levels throughout, please! We missed a lot of it even on our second and third viewings.

Promising stuff from this team! Looking forward to next year’s submission.

Kingdom Animalia

Well well well! Staircase Nation bringing down the house with a brilliant conceptual trailer! We’d love to see this film fully produced...

Great energy, loved the costumes, and the commitment to the style! The sound design is also a step up from last year, and we’d love to see those technical skills continue to develop.

THE BEST THING: High energy and great pacing.
THE NEXT THING: Give us a full character arc next year, fellas! Inspection was funny but not enough happened; this film is also funny, but we’d argue even less happens. We reckon you’ve got it in you to tell a fuller tale next year. You’ve got this!

Flat Meeting

How bizarre to be reviewing a rip focus film! What alternate universe is this?
It’s kind of impossible to review fairly, and we’re grateful that your finalist spot and subsequent nominations and award were not a burden we solely bore - we’re not interested in propping up our own biases, but we’re happy to report that rip focus 2 got what it deserved.

The biggest win for you was definitely that script nom - how good! And a testament to something that kept coming up again and again this year from the judges: we want to be taken somewhere, we want to see characters learn things, we want story structure to make sense. Is this the best concept in the comp this year? Nah. But do the characters actually learn something and grow from their initial thoughts and ideas? Yeah! Is it really that simple to get the judges’ favour? I suppose so!

Well done also on that miniature win - a pretty tight contest that ultimately tipped into your hands with that shrinking of Marcus, and your self reflection at the end, both excellent moments.

I’m also very - VERY - jealous that this edit is as tight as it is but had nothing to do with me hahaha. Especially that sound mix - almost no distracting bugs. It’s insane you pulled that off as a first-time editor on a project like this.
That’s enough of the praise though - you know we’re fans, and biased ones, so let’s try to offer some critiques.

While the miniature usage was narratively very good, particularly how you tie the concept at the end to ‘shrinking Stephen’s feelings,’ this film still needed more shrinking of stuff! That giant tree should have shrunk, the cars when you were running down the street should have shrunk, James’ shirt should have tightened as the action went on. Really leaning into this point of the story would have elevated the overall thing, but a lot of the shrunk items felt like a bit of a cop-out. At the very least, the escalation from smaller shoe to a teeny-tiny person wasn’t as smooth as it should have been. Now, did you have it in your skillset to achieve more shrinking? Probably not - so a pivot to a story that didn’t require as much shrinking may have been a better choice.

Which leads to the second thing - just not enough action for it to be an action movie. First thing judges said was “not action enough.” And so it’s a lesson that not only this team, but I suppose every team in the comp needs to take on board next year: make films that are true to the genre, or if you’re going to subvert it, be prepared to roll the dice. Unfortunately, this film doesn’t really do either, so it falls flat in the judges’ eyes. Still, it’s very rip focus-coded, and the last few years have been lucky for rip focus in terms of that crossover of making films that we wanted to make and the genre we were given. This year, not so lucky I guess.

THE BEST THING: The fact you did this and didn’t need your Best Editor winner to pull it together is pretty great :P It proves that story is king in this comp, and that’s a great thing for everyone to take on board.

THE NEXT THING: I guess it’s to make a story that is truer to the genre and make sure your ideas can fit squarely within your strongest strengths. But also, we know you’re a team that cares mostly about having fun and making something to entertain crowds, so if you feel like ignoring everything we’ve said next year, that’s also still fine. The rip focus story continues!

Studio Mask

Hands down the best jump scare in the comp this year - well done! Your tone was creepy as, and your school's media area was a cool place to shoot. Very nice.

The story itself, though, was pretty confusing - what we're they trying to do? were they just breaking in to look around? was the killer one of the kids? Was this a trap? Did he become possessed? Why? So many questions!

THE BEST THING: That jump scare was excellent, and overall the monster was very tense - well done!
THE NEXT THING: Story is king! Give us more to chew on and help us connect to your characters.

Pariscope

Normie here! and I fully agree with Felix ahahahahahaha

This was great - but man oh man were we completely lost - loved it though, wouldn't change a thing. Prime example of making what you want to make and having a good time doing it.

THE BEST THING: The character with the guitar was the highlight for us

THE NEXT THING: Depends what your aim is, if you're here to compete for a finals slot, then you gotta work on your clarity of story. If you couldn't care less about that and just wanna make something with vibes, then you don't have to change a goddamn thing

LARVAE GIRL THE ROAD TO REVENGE PART 2

AND THE CROWD GOES WILD AS ‘PREVIOUSLY ON’ APPEARS ON THE SCREEN! “IT’S A FCKING SEQUEL” WE HEAR CALLED OUT IN THE AUDIENCE, “NO WAY THEY ACTUALLY DID THIS” WE HEAR FROM THE OTHER CORNER OF THE ROOM. AND JUST LIKE LARVAE GIRL SLICING A GHOST CLEAN IN HALF LIKE IT’S NOTHING, WE ALL ARE SPLIT IN TWO AS THE ENDGAME OF CHRISTCHURCH 48HOURS IS THRUST UPON US.

This wasn’t just a screening - this was a riot disguised as cinema. The most punk-rock, blood-soaked sequel drop in Christchurch 48Hours history, and you pulled it off in broad daylight like a gang of filmmaking outlaws.

Ghost cults. Saveloys. Fantastic animation and lighting effects. Bows & Arrows. Water gun flame throwers. Revenge! The whole thing moves like a fever dream shot out of a cannon, and we were grinning ear to ear the entire time. If Part One was chaos unleashed, Part Two is chaos unleashed with a chainsaw taped to its arm.

And look - the judges moaned. “Ten minutes, not five.” “Neither are a complete story”, “Not in the spirit of the comp.” Cry me a river. You made two full films in a weekend that actually carry a story across both entries. That’s not against the spirit - that is the spirit. That’s standing in the town square, chugging a V can, and screaming “48HOURS, BABY” until your voice gives out. It’s dangerous, it’s deranged, it’s absolutely glorious.

What really blew us away though was how Part 2 DOES WORK on its own. Larvae Girl in full hero mode, the cult getting ripped to shreds, the revenge arc dripping in blood - it’s all there. The fact that the judges couldn’t see that, nor respect the effort, fully devastated us in a way that we genuinely won’t be able to recover from. “Not a fairy tale”, cries the judges. “Up yours”, says the city managers (but if any of them are reading we do still love you and respect your decisions hahahaha)

THE BEST THING: The audacity. The reveal. The absolute joy of watching a theatre dissolve into chaos. This is what legends are made of.

THE NEXT THING: If you want to make the judges happy next year, maybe you do have to condense the madness into one five-minute atomic bomb. But honestly…Just do whatever you want, cause that’s what audiences will want to come and see, and it’s what your city managers (and undisputed biggest fans) want you to do.

#JusticeForLarvaeGirl

Walk It Off

In the good ol’ days of the early 2010s, THE HAZY PALE MALES would have cleaned up from start to finish. The performances are earnest and convincing, with excellent chemistry. The cinematography and editing are seamless — nothing in this film ever pulls us out of it. On the second and third watch, we enjoyed it even more, and as we refined the longlist, it climbed higher. We think all this really needed was just a bit more of their story! The tension resolves a little too quickly; perhaps if we were still doing 7-minute shorts, they could have actually split up and then found each other again?

THE BEST THING: Definitely the performances — your two leads really sold it, and the story felt lived-in. A great slice of a bigger story.

THE NEXT THING: Given we know you all personally and what you’re capable of, next year we want to see something with the dials turned way up. You have the technical prowess to deliver something truly special, and you’re already sharp enough to have figured out halfway through this year’s comp how to improve next time. We’re super excited to see what comes next!

The True Story of Billy the Horse

JUSTICE IS SERVED FOR PLANETFOX! After a season of being snubbed, rightly or wrongly, this year not only do they find themselves sooo comfortably in the finals – but they’re climbing the ladder of those top tier noms and, by my ears, were possibly the biggest crowd-pleaser on finals night.

This was my favourite story setup in the entire competition. He’s allergic to apples. Solution? Fake horse. So silly, and so perfect. It’s such a confident idea that the whole film rides on it, and it never buckles.

The performances were stunning and well deserving of their nomination, and it’s worth saying that last year the thing that didn’t quite convince us about PlanetFox was the casting - mostly to do with age. But this year the concept is pulled so far away from reality, into this fairytale-western hybrid, that the characters don’t need to be a certain age or type to make sense. That writing choice makes the casting absolutely perfect.

Now, you’ll have to tell me… did you dub this whole thing later? I didn’t notice anything odd until maybe the fifth or sixth watch, but then one or two little moments made me go “holy smokes, is this all dubbed?” If so, it’s incredible work - practically seamless (except that I caught it, which makes me a legend).

And what a costume. Did you build that horse over the weekend, or did you just happen to have it waiting in the cupboard for exactly this moment? Either way - just stunning. The miniature saloon on fire was also inspired, you should’ve probably gotten a fake award for the best title screen with that title being tracked to the shaky cam, and these sorts of handcrafted touches are what elevate your films beyond just being funny gags.

“He’s allergic to lead” was a standout line and a fitting punchline, but we’ll be honest - it flattened the character arc a little and probably is what cost you a script nom this year. Still, in every other department, this was firing on all cylinders.

THE BEST THING: The best PlanetFoxFilms entry to date: a maturing of technical skills, a sharpness of performance, and a confidence in storytelling that took the audience on the wildest ride in the west. Is this my favourite team in the competition? It could be…maybe I’m biased because we’ve been rooting for each other for a decade now. Maybe the best thing is it’s clear your team is so close and so caring for each other, and having good reliable friends is one of the greatest things you can have in life. I could go on but I’ll stop haha

THE NEXT THING: Hard to say what the appropriate ‘Next Step’ is after such a stunning film. I genuinely hope you make the Grand Finals - if not by judges, by Peter Jackson. It’s probably a case of deciding what you want to gun for in the future - do you wanna win Chch? You may need to think about simplifying your story into something more grounded in reality if that’s the case? But would that be at the cost of making films you want to make? Possibly! Idk, giving advice to the top end is kinda silly because all we really want for you to do is keep entertaining us year after year, regardless of what judges decide.

What an achievement, and what a privilege to be an audience member for this.

The Plot Thickens

Incredibly charming! An excellent showcase of buddies trying to solve their own little niche thing - with a clear, consistent tone throughout the film. Bravo to this team for their commitment to their performances and for getting the film in on time this year - great to see!

We think the slam dunk this film needed was a clearer shot of the expert gardener getting hit in the head. It’s a challenging shot to achieve, and while the suggestion is there in the film, it would have landed even better if it was more clear-cut.

THE BEST THING: Committed performers really carry this well and keep us hooked.

THE NEXT THING: Continue to sharpen up those technical skills! A step up from last year for sure - we can see this team going to new heights with the right support in the camera/sound/editing department!

The Loch Nest

Ahahahahahahaha you naughty kids! The fact that a school team had the most vulgar and shocking language this year is just delightful - although, as alluded to above, perhaps overall a bit unnesecary and more of a distraction from the overall product.

We think the premise here was pretty strong — and in the first 15 seconds the setup for this thing was very promising!

The biggest drawback would be the shooting style. Outside of the interview chair, everything else doesn’t really land from a “TV show” perspective. It has more of a “student with a phone hiding behind a potted plant” vibe, which pulls you out a bit. That being said, you used your limitations well to still get the message across.

THE BEST THING: That final shot of your lead actress was the strongest part and really sold the subversion of the monster genre.
THE NEXT THING: We’d love to see you return next year and keep going hard with your style! Get a camera, grab some sharper audio gear — you’ve got the knack for telling a fun story, now you just want to sharpen up how you share it!

The Little German Boy and the Cave

The main event from Rolleston College was an absolute delight! The battle of the house and ship was truly spectacular. We've heard other competitors quoting this film at other heats and trying to do the voices ahahaha

THE BEST THING: The story was a lot of fun and the accents were excellent.
THE NEXT THING: We reckon if you guys pick a style and stick to it for the entire film, you'd be well on your way to seeing it climb the ranks in this competition! Worth considering!

I MetaMan™

This is fascinating. Truly fascinating. This is a film that feels like such a massive step up for An Evening With compared to last year’s Zero Mum Game - and yet it didn’t quite grab the absolute top spot this time around. That alone tells you something about the competition this year: the bar is sky-high, the judges are scrutinising over things that you don’t always expect, and even when a film improves in every measurable way, sometimes it still ends up fighting uphill for recognition.

For me, the “step up” comes from the literal journey this film takes you on. The variety of locations, the transitions from one beautiful space to another - it’s cinematic worldbuilding at a level we rarely get to see in this comp. The pacing flows beautifully, and the way we travel alongside the story keeps us engaged from start to finish. Watching this again at finals, I found myself thinking: yeah, this has been a bit snubbed.

Some obvious bullseyes: The performances are excellent. The leads carry the weight with charisma and vulnerability, while the supporting roles add colour and comic relief at just the right beats. This film looks expensive! Way more than last year. Whether in the Court Theatre space, on the street, or in intimate closeups, every frame hums with intent. And let’s not gloss over the sound design and editing either, well deserved awards and these guys make it look easy.

Now, of course, the elephant in the room is genre. As I told Chester in person, the judges were exhausted by the time we were talking I MetaMan, and I can hardly blame them. This really was the year the judging panel lost its collective mind over genre adherence, or maybe it always is like this and I just have a lot to learn about this side of the comp still.

Their comments about genre were basically: “not really Man vs Nature, but at least it’s absolutely gorgeous.” And honestly? Fair enough. But personally, I really enjoyed the choice of subversion. Not every audience member will read it that way - some have already exclaimed it to be much more Man vs Machine. To me, though, after watching it many times, I understood and respected that the point was the commodification of human connection, and that is a form of nature being resisted, reshaped, and packaged. Maybe that’s over-reading, but that’s the joy of a film that actually sparks conversation.

Also, I had feedback from more than one judge that was essentially ‘because An Evening With is at the top of the list alphabetically, it set the tone for my watching experience, and made everything else following it quite disappointing’ hahahahahaha, isn’t that a fun thing to be responsible for :P

THE BEST THING: A tour de force in every aspect that deserved more love than it got. I’d be shocked if it doesn’t make grand, but who knows, maybe the judges for grand will be even more butthurt over genre subversion.

THE NEXT THING: I think it’s time for a musical! No, seriously, that’s what you need to do!

SCUM

THE BEST THING: Cool use of the drone! That last shot was killer...lol

THE NEXT THING: Lots of technical bugs in this film left us pretty confused! Be sure to take your time with every take, check things over, adjust settings if sound isn't working - or if you do have to dub dialogue, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to make those things work so it's nice and clear for the audience what's happening.

Singularity

Felix and Luke (and team) find themselves in a similar position to Rabid Aunty Jean in 2024 - the team with the most nominations of anyone, only to experience what I imagine must have been a fairly brutal awards night tally, before pulling off runner-up in Christchurch. That is no small achievement, and it’s awesome, and you should be super proud! Underdogs I say! A deserving reward for a team that pulled a massive creative hail mary and it worked, it freggin worked!

When we came to visit you over the weekend, walking onto that build was the closest I’ve felt to walking into Disneyland since the last time I went to Disneyland. It was remarkable. And knowing the heart behind it - the homages intended to previous competitors, the commitment you had to your location choice no matter what genre got drawn - it’s no exaggeration to say it was one of the most memorable things Christchurch 48 has seen in a long time.

Now, visiting the set was a treat. I wouldn’t trade that experience. But I do think it meant our expectations of the final film were skewed. As soon as we saw the world you’d built, we started imagining what it might become. Then the screening came, and while Singularity was obviously still a massive achievement, it didn’t line up with the version we’d built in our heads. That left us feeling flatter than we expected on first viewing. But that’s on us, not you, so don’t feel bad about that, the good news is none of the judges visited your set to suffer the same consequences hahaha

Speaking of judges though, unlike the majority of the reviews here singing your praises - the judges were polarised. As the scores came in, you were pendulum swinging the whole day. Some said “How on earth did they pull this off in 48 hours?” And then when given the full context of the mahi they went, “hmm, maybe not so excellent then.” But then others judges came to your defense very strongly - who actually cares? They cried. Teams overprepare all the time. There’s no penalty for loving this competition enough to pour your time and energy into it. I think that passion should be celebrated. The scale of what you pulled off here isn’t a trick; it’s a testament to loving this competition.

There’s also an argument to be made that preparing a set for three months means you end up mentally preparing for every possible outcome. How will we tell a Christmas story? How will we do a musical? How will we do the standard on a dessert island movie? (lol imagine if you got that, perhaps I nominate that as a genre next year to really mess with some people) The mental work that comes with building a set like this is impressive in its own right, but was it worth it? Now that you’re on the other side of it all, I wonder how it all feels. Will this set and the enormous effort required to make it happen haunt you like a kind of filmmaking PTSD, every blinking light and cardboard panel reminding you of sleep deprivation and looming deadlines? Or will you look back fondly, proud of the madness you pulled off and the legacy it leaves behind? Personally, I hope it’ll be the latter! Time will tell I suppose.

Honestly, Singularity so fascinating. On one hand, it’s full of absolutely jaw-dropping moments: miniatures, compositing, analogue effects, lighting that feels both claustrophobic and cinematic, an actor who holds the screen with poise and vulnerability, and an overall look that would be impressive even for a short shot over six months, let alone a weekend. On the other, it leaves just enough cracks — in story clarity, in pacing, in polish — that you can’t quite call it untouchable. Which is probably why, despite so many nominations, it wasn’t able to clean sweep.

Okay, I hate to do this, because I do love this film a lot, but it would be dishonest to leave out the gripes that appeared for me the more I watch it. To be clear, like we do with all the top tier films, I’m grading you on a curve here, and Singularity invites that level of scrutiny because of how great it is. There are just little things: a shot that lingers just a beat too long before “what are you, my therapist,” and other little moments that either seem to just slightly drag, or just slightly rush (Am I being that asshole from Whiplash right now? I think I am)

Speaking of rushed though…While the edit is mostly tight, and the score and sound mix was very well designed and impressive, I have an eagle eye and an eagle ear(?) and on first viewing I thought to myself...something's wrong with the lead’s movements, she's moving funny, is it just me or is she just pushing forward ever so slightly in the frames? and further to that, something is up with the sound export, did they crunch the high end frequencies intentionally? Was it a stylistic choice? And then, at a later date, it was confirmed that there was a little trickery to make sure it was a qualified film ;) and that may or may not have required some maintaining of the audio pitch, which then would have crunched the track in a way that made it sound the way it did. Most people maybe wouldn't notice that, but I did! - or at least I think I did, perhaps I'm wrong! Feel free to send me a copy of the first render before you did the thing you had to do, I'd be curious to know how if I did indeed catch that, or if I just didn't actually like the sound mix that much hahaha

For me, the little things add up, and it makes me feel like the set maybe is doing more heavy lifting here than we are all willing to admit. But it doesn’t diminish the achievement. This is one of the most ambitious, audacious, and technically impressive films ever to come out of Christchurch. It forces other teams to think big. And it puts Felix and Luke in a lineage of competitors whose love for this comp completely transforms what we think is possible.

THE BEST THING: The little robot hahaha. Actually I do want to call out a specific shot, the moment the escape ship leaves the mothership is possibly the best looking thing in the competition this year, absolutely outstanding.

THE NEXT THING: Whatever the hell you want. I know you love this comp more than most in Christchurch, and you made this film this way because it’s what you wanted to make. Next year, you can make whatever you want, make it good, make it bad, make it the national winner or make it a shitpost. Whatever you make, make it yours.

There Came a Big Spider

Good Lord Almighty. Weird as? Yes. Good fun? Absolutely.

We echo some of what has already been said about this film bridging the gap between the truly bizarre and the quality work we expect from shortlist/finalists! It was gutting not to be able to bump this film higher up on our list — we promise we wanted to!

Sheepishly, we must admit the subject matter was a bit distracting, and took away from acknowledging the brilliant location, use of colour, 4:3 aspect ratio, and solid performance on our first viewing. On the second viewing, a lot of that fell into place and it began to climb the list — but alas, it didn’t quite hit the shortlist. Thank you very much for your email where you said you wanted to know how you can improve!

Knowing you want solid feedback on how to turn the dials up and get to finals-level storytelling, here are our points on how to make the spider sex movie better — a sentence we never thought we’d write.

The shock of the spider on top of your lead is a truly bizarre moment, with a horror-esque soundtrack to support it, followed by very sweet piano music, the table-setting sequence, and a wonderful proposal performance. This part of the film is the strongest — but we would have liked to see a bit more of what was going on here. More shots of the spider sneaking into the room and doing the deed (yes, believe it or not, we would have liked to see more of that) and also at the table, listening intently to the leads words. During the proposal, more angles of the face sweating as he stumbles over his words, close-ups of his hands — intentional choices that really make the whole scene feel lived-in. As it stands, we only had the one locked-off shot of the lead looking directly into the camera with a couple of inserts, so it seemed to lack intentionality.

Outside of this scene, everything else on rewatch didn’t quite hit the pace it needed to keep up with other stories in the comp. The sequences of him coming and going from the house without music or tonal guidance pulled us out, and we were left with too many questions about our lead. That pushed the film more into the “just accept the bizarreness of it” category rather than the “be curious about what we don’t know” category — which is what you want to gun for when building a shortlist-worthy story.

Why was he so sad about the spider dying initially? How does that tie into the loss of his wife? After they’re engaged, he wakes up on the couch smelling someone’s blanket — is that the smell of his wife, or the spider? (Another crazy thing we never thought we’d type.) And why does the spider end the relationship?

The concept is great, but for it to climb the ranks, we need more of those story beats to make sense. Funny as it is to recommend this after a film like this, as inspiration for how to do completely fucked well, we’d point you to these films:

Wheat Myself & Rye by Crab Crab Crab

Inflamed by Team Moon

We’re Dead and Gay by… wait a minute!! You guys!

Okay, genuinely — if you can combine the goofy energy and beats of something like We’re Dead and Gay and raise it up with the wonderful camera work, lighting, and intentional choices you made in There Came a Big Spider, the sky truly is your limit. We’re Dead and Gay has this charm that carries audiences along for the ride — despite not being as technically impressive as this one, its bizarre story has a lot more meat on the bones. Take heart, fellas! This means you have it in you to truly bring all your skills together and knock it out of the park in 2026. We believe in you!

THE BEST THING: The boldness of the idea.
THE NEXT THING: Give us more to play with, take us on more of a ride, and stick the landing.

Oh and one last thing - come to the heats!! We missed you and wanted to meet you, so we could climb into your brains and understand how they work! And so we could pass on our therapy bills to you! It's also a great way for you to be inspired by the competition in a fresh way and take what you learn into your future work. Come to the finals! We'd love to see you.

USBrie

USBRIE is a fun chase-’em-down short, led by a very charismatic performer! Right from the start, when we saw this guy’s brilliant facial expressions, we knew we were in for a good time.

“I’M IN PURSUIT!” — probably one of our favourite lines this year.

Great to see you’ve had some self-reflection about the overall product. You’re on the money with the key thing this story lacks — it’s just a little unclear what happened at the start, and beyond the chase, we don’t get a whole lot else to sink our teeth into.

Gotta say though, that walk-away celebration at the end, which goes on for waaaayyy too long, was a real hit with the audience. It was awkward, but hilarious.

THE BEST THING: Great to see this team commit to high energy and an enthusiastic performance.

THE NEXT THING: Continue to sharpen your shots and editing so that you can communicate the story beats to the audience with a bit more clarity.

Looking forward to seeing next year’s submission!

Nature's Calling

Inclusive Performance Academy returns to finals! And once again, they bring a whole lot of heart to the screen. It was great to see more superstars step into the spotlight alongside the returning cast. The pacing is strong, and the voiceover work provides a great bridge between some funny and heartfelt moments.

On a technical level this film was a step up from last year, going outside and sending your crew off on a little adventure really does make the whole thing feel more lived in compared to last years entry - although I’d say perhaps the ending of last years film was more of a slam dunk than this one.

Judges had similar feedback for this one as they had with almost every finalist - too light on story, with a good chunk of the runtime given to poo-related gags, and no real solid conclusion or arc beyond failing their mission to camp out. Perhaps wilder weather, spooks in the night, or getting lost amongst the trees and bushes, would have been ways to really raise the stakes.

THE BEST THING: The performers bring authenticity, humour, and energy, making this film a crowd-pleaser through and through. It was also so cool to be able to visit your set and see how you bring it all together - what an incredible support team you have!

THE NEXT THING: This team has earned its stripes! So the next thing is to see what dials can be turned up to 11. We reckon it would be to really commit to your genre as tightly as you can. We’ll be rooting for a crazy genre for you next year - action, horror, crime… something you can really sink your teeth into and tell a story that's a bit bolder than people having a chat. It would bring with it some new challenges, but ones we know you can take on!