No Time To Die... Again

The most emotional film in the "you only parody twice (twice) series, there is a massive technical leap here, with some truly mind blowing cinematography.
The climax is truly inventive, utilizing kiwi iconography.

Wow I haven't seen this much production value in a 48 hour film since the 2014 winner "pants on fire" where they burnt down a whole house.
Gutted about the audio issues though, this competition can be pretty unforgiving.
But you should be really proud that you guys pushed yourselves to go really big, It really showed up on screen and looked a million bucks, So many cheers in the crowd for the big bungee finale!

I see my future, and it is BRIGHT! Oh you Mad Scientists!! Truly Living up to the name! Nobody, and I mean NOBODY is doing it like you lot! Love the energy, love the commitment! The drone shots were stunning! The cast is HUGE! The crowd went WILD for that ending stunt! But we have to address the elephant in the room, which is the edit. You need to simplify your workflow here! I suspect that you are going overkill with the camera and audio setups, which is fine for a regular short film but can be a killer for 48hours. I want to see you win this whole thing! Can’t wait for the directors cut! Keep it up team <3

Genuinely a delight to see this old lad back in action. Still more athletic and appropriate for this role than Roger Moore and if you think I’m kidding, just watch him trying to climb onto that bomb rig at the end of A View To A Kill. The combo here of Hanmer Springs tourist attractions and inoffensive drum n bass music gives this film the air of a “Visitor Television” promo airing on a loop on a hotel room TV. Loved it.

Yes! Loved it, think you could do a feature of this. The characters are great. Losing audio wasn't too bad. Such fun to watch live at the Heats, the audience roar of appreciation was so so good!

The impressive thing about team Mad Scientists is how Jullian manages to get an entire community behind him – not just a community of actors and artists, but the entire community of Hanmer Springs!

This film was a crowd favourite. It's rough around the edges, but that speaks to the sheer ambition of the scale of this thing!

Mike's throwaway lines this year were absolutely crackers. The character title cards were a nice touch. The characters themselves looked great – all dripping with personality and charisma.

The crowd went wild for the bungy jump. It looks amazing. It would be cool if the cut of Mike's bungy finished at the bottom, rather than on a rebound. Then it could cut straight to him on the boat (maybe with a bit of a drop) to imply one continuous action of him disconnecting himself from the bungy at the bottom of the fall. Connecting it to the lady on the boat and bouncing her back into the air? Brilliant!

Most of the shots in this film look amazing. Here and there, a bit of colour grading wouldn't go amiss. It's a great shame about the audio issues. I wonder if you'd get on better with a wireless lapel or boom mic connected straight into the camera, so you know you can always rely on the on-camera audio, without having to sync up any other files if you don't have time.

Again this year, the images and text in the credits didn't quite scroll at the same speed. Maybe there's another way you can produce the credits for more consistency?

Team Mad Scientists help illustrate a debate that is raging in the 48Hours community about how much preparation is okay, and how important genre adherence is. The team aren't afraid to make the film they want to make – taking full advantage of the relationships they've built and the locations they've arranged. This makes genre a secondary consideration that can be hard to shoehorn into the film. Maybe one day the stars will align and they'll get a genre that fits perfectly with their ambitions, allowing them to sail right on in to the finals. The other option is to come up with a game plan that allows more flexibility, so the genre can be the foundation upon which the story is built.

Hopefully that's food for thought, though I'm sure there are those in the competition who never want team Mad Scientists to change!

Absolutely delightful to get to witness the bungy jump at the heats! The crowd was electric with excitement!

What I liked:
Julian and the Mad Scientists crew have never shied away from being totally committed to their action spectaculars or making the style of film they want to make (I know, Mista Teas cliché that I should have included in my film). As someone who grew up on a diet of James Bond double-features at the Roxy in New Brighton or at the ancient Odean, I really vibe with and am in awe of the total ambition of making something like this. Superb locations, cast commitment and insane, non-stop action. The performances are great, and I loved the notion that this aging agent had “biblical knowledge” of all those attractive women. The bungy jump sequence was incredible.
Take it or leave it:
Obviously, sound was an issue, and the story isn’t 100% coherent, but who cares – action on steroids!
Final hot air:
I was lucky enough to catch up with Julian in Hanmer today, and what joy hearing him talk about the making of this short and the unquestionable cooperation of the Hanmer community – there are literally no obstacles, and it puts CHCH to shame somewhat. An enjoyable film, lots of killing and an effort that deserves more recognition. Check out “One Man Army” if you haven’t seen it too.

Good god this was ambitious! There's a moment in our silly little 'reaction video' that went up on the instagram where I go 'You're kidding me' - this is the film we were watching, and now you know the moment I was talking about!

A lot of the praise/critiques I wanted to give has been said already so I'm going to focus down on the main thing I wanted to feedback - the moment on the bridge is absolutely the biggest set piece in this story (and would a contender for most ambitious moment in 48hours history, definitely in Chch at least), and so it probably should have had more influence on the overall story and been a bigger focus both in your shooting and editing. Maybe it could have been what kicks off this action masterpiece instead of saving it for the end? If it was earlier in the story, perhaps we would have been able to forgive more of the technical faults.

That's my only critique though, mad scientists know who they are, the stories they like to tell and how to impress an audience, and you did all that again this year once again!

THE BEST THING: Probably the single greatest drone shot to come out of the Chch region ever. I'm so mad there wasn't anything we could do to get it more recognition.

THE NEXT THING: Going big is always great, but if it's at the risk of the edit time not being enough, it can easily turn your ambition into a bit of a shambles. Maybe a story that accommodates a simple practical workflow next year could help this team deliver on all fronts.