Birthday Wish

A cool concept. Great performances. Great art direction. A nice pace. Nice lighting. Great use of the portrait for foreshadowing and for building a sinister feeling.

I enjoy the use of sound effects and sparse dialogue to imply a story that we don't see. The "tenant" concept is a little confusing but I think I get the idea. Certainly the sparse sinister elements in this film paint a clear picture in my mind of what is going on, which is exceptionally good storytelling and film-making (regardless of whether my interpretation is "correct").

At times the camera focus isn't as seamless and smooth as one might hope, which highlights the immense challenge of the one-take genre.

I reckon the sound mix needs some attention, as some of the dialogue is too quiet compared with the sound effects. The rumble in particular is exceptionally loud when played through a subwoofer.

I enjoyed this film and I'm looking forward to seeing more from you, Little Frog Studio!

I thought this film had a good concept. The opening scene is standout – the set dressing is really well thought out and fun and contrasts with the lead’s emotional state in a way that immediately pulls you in. Some smooth camera work follows this as we see the character answer a mysterious knock at the door with no one there, and then follow her through the house. The stage makeup used for the figure who appears at the table along with the ominous ‘happy birthday’ whistling are striking and create a real unsettling tone. Unfortunately, from this point story became a little unclear for me – likely because I found the dialogue of this part tricky to hear. The final shot of the ominous figure with the party blower is a fun one to end on!

Little Frog
What I liked:
Great start and setup. Lighting is cool, and the grim tone is well established. The one-shot is controlled well and works great as a horror. Loved the eerie whistling. It’s short and doesn’t overdo things.

Take it or leave it:
Focus pulls or autofocus taking control? These were a little jerky in part and hard to see what it was showing/not showing in an effective way. Death/The Entity revealing the portrait is a good example of this. While I said being quite short was a bonus, perhaps a little more story or threat would have just elevated things. Death/The Entity looks good; just personally not a fan of the stereotypical portrayal.

Final hot air:
Overall, a well-made short with sinister overtones and love me an ambiguous ending. Perhaps a bit unlucky not to have made the shortlist. Well done!

Not a bad effort at all from a team that I understand suffered sickness over the weekend - what a tough gig to have to land a coherent one shot amongst other shenanigans, you should be proud of this! The cinematography is good, the camera knows where it is going, and your lead is confident in their performance.

Where we struggled was the story. We came out of it with more questions than the film seems to want us to have, but we were SUPER interested in the layout of this situation. We had questions like: who is she? how OLD is she? Old enough for flatting, young enough to be wearing a party hat? More importantly though, what does this ghost want? He turns up at the table with almost no reaction from her at all, tells her off for leaving candles unattended, and then seems to want to be her friend - lights out before we get to learn anything else!

If I were to guess, you probably had more you wanted to say. The limits of the weekend perhaps meant stripping things back? The good news is, you clearly have strong story telling and technical ability, so maybe in 2027 when you don't have to put everything in one shot, you'll be able to flesh out a really strong and interesting tale!

THE BEST THING: Strong concepts and technically competent. My favourite moment was the leads realisation about leaving the candles unattended.

THE NEXT THING: More to chew on please! Looking forward to seeing your 2027 creation next year, well done!