Party Disrupted

Move over Sam Raimi, the camerawork on this film is so smooth I genuinely had to ask if they used a gimbal. With fantastic editing and some of the most confident swagged out performances from kids I've seen in years this film brought me absolute joy.

Whilst parents away time to party works as a great central conceit, what really made this film an absolute smash for me was just how well the ensemble worked together. 5 friends all get their moment to shine with expert direction giving rise to shyness and yearning, rambunctiousness, cheekiness, awkwardness, bold rebellion and held together by an ever so kiwi mum and dad.

All competition elements hit with aplomb. A superb accident had me chortling hard whilst the miniature may have been even better and the precious thing well that was just a chef's kiss moment.

What I really loved about PARTY DISRUPTED was just how bright and colourful the whole film was. Shooting largely in daytime with a lot of bright pastels can often lead to a hint of saccharine. But not for Piece Of Sign, whose fantastic eye meant unicorns and rubix cubes absolutely popped on screen. Driven of course by performances radiating charisma so that the story came to the fore first and foremost.

Coming back round to how the film was cut I loved how naturalistic your management of time and space was throughout the film. I believe you used the full 5 minutes available to you yet there's not a frame of wasted on screen material. You came in with beautiful intentions via the sun and left with a curtain call that made me want to give you a standing ovation. Thank you team <3

The pace of this one was quite strong; there are lots of characters, so events unfold quickly, with energy.

I would have liked some really unexpected, big, emotional, payoffs towards the end... Things wrapped up in a very "gently quirky" way, as opposed to a satisfying emotional payoff.

There were some pretty awesome performances here! All the characters felt quite defined; everyone had their little quirk/ niche. This might seem like a small touch, but the filmmakers really keyed in to what makes an ensemble film work.

A fun examination of teenage rebellion and coming of age, with a brilliantly executed ending. Great to see some NZSL in the competition. Thank you for finding a way to tell your own authentic story with some jokes along the way.

Full disclosure - I work for the school that produced this film. And having that insider knowledge makes me all the more impressed by what was produced. None of the people involved in Party Disrupted has made a film before and I found it astonishing how bang on the performances, comedy and pacing was in this piece.

There are not a lot of models of how to produce deaf content for a hearing audience. But by producing a film that was largely show-don't-tell, excellent physicality with strong story-telling, this film sails along with plenty of twists, stakes and surprises.

What especially impressed me about this film was the sophisticated use of subplots within the film. To tell an overarching story of a chaotic party, but also weave in a failed seduction, theft and a lock-out all within 5 minutes is no small feat.

Finally I want to give a big thanks to Joel, Rach and the 48 Hours folks for captioning the heat and providing an interpreter. It was a great night and everyone from the team is buzzing.

I particularly appreciated in this film how the characters did not try to act as anyone else, but all leaned into who they actually are - normal teenagers who happen to communicate in sign. The story was somewhat cliched, but the fact everyone was deaf made it novel - the lockout where nobody could hear him banging on the window, the flicking of the light to get everyone's attention - lots of little details that just jumped out and made it fascinating to watch, as so many details played out just that little bit differently to how they would in the same situation with individuals who could hear.

Wow, amazing work from Piece of Sign. You guys did such an excellent job of giving every story line the attention it deserves without getting too messy overall. I'd love to see another film from this team next year. Tino pai!

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.