Chaos Cabin

Holy heck this is impressive. This sort of thing makes me want to learn 3D animation just so I can understand what kind of insane mental fortitude you need to use it on a 48 Hour film. And what's more impressive is that it's even narratively strong and well paced. A spectacular piece of work team.

The scale of this was quite impressive, but I clocked the snow globe in the opening shot, so I was sort of awkwardly waiting for the reveal.
I think the limitations of the medium make it extremely difficult to maintain a coherent tone.

Such a trippy film, but surely this will win best animation! Also the best team logo by far! I think this style would pair really nicely with something super abstract and bazaar! Imagine a toot toot style film, with this animation! Looking forward to seeing what else you Render Rebels make!

I didn't click we were about to watch an animated film. The beautiful opening shot fills the audience with awe. My first glimpse of the dimly-lit characters lands me in uncanny valley and (to my shame) I wonder if some real-life footage has been processed through AI.

Great characters are at the heart of this film – with witty dialogue, riveting performances, and believable chemistry breathing life into these computer-generated pixels.

Sound is wielded to excellent effect. Even before the imagery lights up the screen, our protagonists' invisible conversation places us in a familiar real-life situation. Likewise, foley paints a picture of the indoor setting before we ever see it with our eyes.

Awesome slow-mo shot, perfectly set to music. I thought the lady must have a cut, but no, she had a broken arm – giving rise to the most iconic line of the film.

I wasn't as clever as Felix. Like so much of the audience, I was swept up by the bizarre physics of this world (thankfully not literally).

The audience's "awwww!" of realisation at the end was immensely satisfying, although I think I was the loudest "awwww!" in the room.

From awe to awwww, this is a very solid 48HOURS entry, and highly deserving of its place on the shortlist.

This was a super impressive film. I really enjoy watching 3D animation - even though how it works is beyond me, I can appreciate so much must go into an incredible piece like this, and in fact not knowing the secrets of how its done just allows for the awesome work to feel more magic. The shots were so well-thought out and visually stunning, with great dialogue and sound creating a really immersive film. I had a suspicion about the snow globe - but didn't expect that ending! Well done team :)

This film was entirly done with one Rokoko Motion Capture suit and an iPhone on a head-rig for facial performance capture using Unreal Engine Metahumans and the final film was rendered in Blender. No Generative AI was used for this film whatsoever - all human hands for 47 hours straight :) - Director.

A couple reach their rental cabin for the night only to find their entire world shaken..

WOW, tackling an animated film with this level of detail and scale in 48Hours is impressive, but also reading that the director used just one motion capture suit and an iPhone just blows me away!
As a blender absolute-newbie (I've made the stock standard tutorial donuts) the level of craft and skill you've utilised to pull this film together I can't see as anything short of (as Meesh.M has noted) magic! The shot choice, sound, foley and reveal at the end were all absolutely fantastic, you clearly have a very skilled, talented and creative team!

My one suggestion would be to build out the world's story a little more. It's been a hot minute since I've seen this in the heats, so I'm relying on my rather poor memory here, but I didn't quite understand who the folk were that were already in the cabin, why were they there? I understand it helped build the lead up to the end reveal, but just understanding why might help build the immersion a little more in future.

All in all, what an INCREDIBLE effort with this film team! Amazing work, and absolutely deserve that spot in the city shortlist!

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!