The Grind

Genuinely curious as to why you shot with a 2.00:1 aspect ratio by my eye test. It's a minor thing but made the film stand out!

Amusing to me to see multiple films in Wellington this year centred on the love of coffee, and in this film we see a do it himself barista quest for the perfect brew after having his mind blown by how someone else served him ground beans in hot water. Strong performance by the lead.

A really simple idea but Phonetic went to town with their edit, making use of angles of metallic objects and contrasting dials throughout whilst providing almost every camera trick in the book to bring the coffee preparation to life.

Pretty magical really to just sit back and see the mahi of this team come together on screen. It played really well at the heats and definitely this team's best film after years of grind in the comp.

Whilst the music wasn't original it fit the film perfectly. The sound design that was there was good though I think could have been heightened for the diegetic sound ever so slightly if possible.

I also think that a second character or more adversity would have enhanced the film even more, but the singular vision gets my respect as you nailed what you were going for.