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Dark Cellars & Big Lizards

by Ultimation Studios

Reviews

At the train station near the railroad tracks a group of friends becomes a guild of adventurers following a NARNIA-like earthquake whisking them away to a parallel world. Only the omnipresent overlord of the realm is playing a dangerous game with them.

I liked the initial location and how you subverted my expectations for the group moving between dimensions. Obviously at a transport hub you might expect some form of physical transportation rather than mystical. It was something that did not need to be explained, the few shakes of the camera, rumbling sound, and costume changes being plenty to tell us what had happened. Excellent story beat.

Once inside the D&D inspired game however I did feel the story became quite generic, with a straightforward plot where lessons needed to be learned. Even with it being relatively straightforward I thought the resolution was a bit sudden.

What I did like about your film was you going outside and going for it. It's a massive positive to me to get some landscapes and costumes in 48, and get away from a plain old house or flat. Well done there. Also BIG ticks for getting decent sound despite shooting on a windy day!

In terms of what could have had some slight improvements, I felt the blocking and framing could have been improved. Just little things like focusing our attention as a viewer by only having characters actively talking or reacting as part of the shot, as there were a few instances of characters standing around not doing much whilst others talked, and a couple of times where you did go for the focused shot there were accidentally chopped off heads or legs.

Story: 1.5/5
Technical: 2/5
Elements: 2.5/5
Overall: 2/5

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