After catching a bathroom science experiment in the eyes, young Harry realises that the chemical reaction has given him heat vision! Forward to a year later with a clear refinement in his powers and he now has a folley to catch - The Barefoot Bandit!

This was an entertaining little film that laid out all the tropes you would expect from a superhero film with an origin, some vfx, and a supervillain to contend with. Done by a younger team they were inventive and had a transparent plot so definitely showed up a lot of the adults.

The actor playing Harry did a fine job, with an excellent reaction in particular when his eyes got invaded by chemicals. The PREDATOR-like vision immediately after was a lovely touch to show his powers developing.

The main things that would have helped improve the film further were to do with editing and framing. The ideas were there, they just needed to be streamlined a little bit more. For example the opening scene was long and had a jumpy edit whereas a snappier single take starting after the first cut with him looking up the experiment in the book would have had the audience immediately engaged in the action. Also a close up on the experiment book would have helped a great deal I think.

In terms of framing, I just noticed a shot or two were actors involved in action or running were obscured by a fence shot from a distance. Just for keeping things engaging for action shots, getting a little bit closer to your actors may have helped. Lastly lighting did have some inconsistencies indoors, though I really appreciated the neon bulb that jazzed things up in the opening scene.

But the thing is you did get outdoors! Made the effort for your costumes! Used the invisibility element really well! And after the slowish start really made a fun superhero action film where the inventiveness shone, such as a paper written "explosives room" sign. Well done and thanks for entertaining me.

Story: 2/5
Technical: 2/5
Elements: 3.5/5
Overall: 2/5

Great short, held my attention throughout. It was a good story.

WOW great film
and to anyone reading this I would recommend checking out the other videos on this guys channel, VERY COOL

Love it, the story line, voices, songs all come together so well ....simply awesome and incredibly well put together. My favorite bits are every time the ghost responds with a muffled word (makes me crease up / belly laugh). Seriously smashed it out of the park. Yours sincerely awkward animations ;o)

I loved this; clever, funny, authentic and the music was top notch! Made me laugh and made me think, great work !

Big props to going for Ultra, this year was definitely not an easy requirement but this film was visually stellar with clever design decisions giving proceedings such a fantastical quality through the use of neon lighting.

The basic plot of the film was of potential alien contact, as sounds came through over the monitor for a girl who used to have earth as a home. This was contrasted with a couple of astronauts landing on a planet and reporting back that the terrain should be good to live on.

I'm not going to lie I think this leaned way more into sci-fi than fantasy, and realising this on second watch does detract points from the film for me big-time. I think that just including the alien voice sounds and having a fantastical tone pretty much skirts around the actual fantasy genre requirement.

Editing was in my opinion a mixed bag. There were some beautiful flowing dreamy transitions yet at other times slightly out of focus footage was left in, and then the astronaut dialogue scenes were wild as we had several cuts even mid sentence as the two people kept talking whilst sitting down. I personally found it distracting, and whilst I appreciate trying to keep up the energy in the film I think there needed to be more of a reason to edit the dialogue.

The actors delivered their lines well, but it also was expository and I just personally wish that we had a clearer narrative arc. As I said I liked the design and a lot of how the film looked and sounded, but was ultimately a little confused.

Story: 1.5/5
Technical: 2/5
Elements: 2/5
Overall: 2/5

Ok so first of all I see that what's in the screening room here is an extended cut running 6 minutes 22 so I have to ask the question did you write a 6 and a half page script and have to cram it into the 5 minutes? Because my first piece of advice would be to write no more than 5 pages next year. I get and massively appreciate a 'go big or go home' mentality, but if you view this competition as asking you to make a slice of life film then what you produce is probably going to be a lot tighter. I know that this probably comes across as massively preachy and condescending, but when I see extended cuts jump out at me I feel obligated.

The film itself is a fun take on vampires, bursting with energy from the opening frame with guerilla camerawork as a baseball wielding Frog-brother type strolls down the street seemingly driven to drive out bloodsuckers from his neighbourhood, only to form an unlikely connection with the fanged undead as they welcome him into their home with open arms.

I appreciated the in jokes to tie this into the WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS universe and subverting all expectations straight off the bat by having a flat full of vamps who love garlic, though wished the film had a bit more to say than riffing off the expectations of the audience.

Got to say though, the actor who played the party crashing Ivan was absolutely outstanding. What a great performance! Just stole the whole show for me and elevated the short from average at that point to enjoyable! Cows blood jokes, understanding physical performance and line delivery was just sensational.

Technically a few issues for me with some camerawork that felt unfocused not in terms of the actual focus of the lens, but more just leaving a lot of negative space in the scene. Audio whilst easy to discern what was said also felt a bit echoey due to shooting in larger open areas of the house I felt.

But a fun film and for that I give you credit.

Story: 2.5/5
Technical: 2/5
Elements: 2.5/5
Overall: 2.5/5

A technically really strong film, with excellent camerawork, editing, lighting and in particular incredibly strong sound design, that presented a slightly abstract tale of inviting oneself to save humanity. Very much verging into the sci fi realm over the assigned genre, but it is hard to take away from how beautiful the film ended up being.

Having been invited to his future new home and given an enternity key, a young boy then interacts with a HER-like interface in 'E.T.I' where he is given a series of timeline tasks to analyse and solve. But staying on track for his quests proves more difficult than expected for our protagonist.

I did really enjoy the meta moments and surreal weird tone of proceedings, but similar to Time Saver by Pie Face in Christchurch, the overall presentation of the film ultimately felt like style over substance, though I will grant you a strong ending did pull things together well, for mine. A stronger, clearer story and you would have been contending at the very least in Taranaki, if not higher up.

Story: 2/5
Technical: 4.5/5
Elements: 2.5/5
Overall: 3/5

Brilliant showcase of your slice of paradise! A fun film that you can tell was a bunch of fun to make. Hope to see more from these film-makers in the future:)