Justin
"TICK TOCK MY BALLS" by VIPERFANG - Reviewed on December 26th, 2009

This is by far your worst entry yet. How are you getting more and more TERRIBLE??

Justin
"TICK-TOCK" by Redhand Studios - Reviewed on December 26th, 2009

I think we could have had bit longer opening shot setting up the bomb, and the car, and the guys talking before we actually see them. More shots to setup the surroundings. The cut in to the rookies face is a bit blurry, I know you may be trying to setup a panicked feeling, but it just looks like sloppy focusing.

I like the crowd chanting in the background, and the fake screen on the 'bomb' Good additional touches.

Not really sure what happens at the end - the rookie passes out from stress? They knock him out and take his money?

Overall, love the work on the bomob prop, characters arent the best actors, but they look very believable. Ending could be cleared up a bit.

I give his film a B-

Jeremy
Replied on December 27th, 2009

I was guessing that he fainted in anticipation of potentially cutting the wrong wire and they had a bet going that he would faint...or maybe that he would snip the wrong wire. I wasn't really clear on the ending, though, either.

Justin
"Tick-Tock" by F.A.S.T.films - Reviewed on December 26th, 2009

Very tricky! I like that you used the FF intro to get a couple extra seconds, trickkkyy, haha. Also, I like that you're the DJ on the radio - the omnipresent genius. I like the shot of them getting out of the car and running.

Too bad they're not like JUST dying as they walk in - like some guy sees them and there's foam coming out of his mouth and he's like "youuurr''eeee herrreeeee!" before finally expiring. That is some fast acting poison!

Realy a GREAT concept - love the twist that you think they're going to a nice dinner party but it's actually totally fucked. Would also have been funny if they were in some kind of odd costume and you thought 'oh is this a costume party?' but it turns out to just be a cult thing.

Anyway - a great idea always sends my mind spinning into other ways of executing it. One of your better flicks, Jeremy!!!

I rate this an A-

Justin
Replied on December 27th, 2009

Also I realized that you cheated and used the 5 second intro instead of the standard 3! Tisk tisk, haha.

Jeremy
Replied on December 27th, 2009

Ha. I swear I didn't know I had a different version of the intro. It's the new one you emailed me and Rex. I have been using it since then. I will download the new one.

Justin
"New Year's Mission" by EmmerekEntertainment - Reviewed on December 26th, 2009

Love the pacing on this. Great writing too, as usual! "All of our weapons are made out of plastic!!!" Love the guy with a fake drawn on goatee, haha, so ridiculous. You guys and your drawn on facial hair, I love it.

Not sure exactly WHAT the guy is opening up that happens to have GI Joes in it? Is this some kind of weird new years tradition I'm unfamiliar with?

Overall, enjoyed it, great pace, lots of fun dialogue not sure on the ending, but I can still suspend my disbelief and it's not too bad.

I give this film a B+!

Emmerek
Replied on December 27th, 2009

Justin!
you dont know what a new years cracker is?

Justin
Replied on December 27th, 2009

Haha ... no ??? Never heard of it. It's like a present you get on New Years or something? Or is it like one of those popper things you shoot off on new years? Maybe we just didn't have 'em in Wisconsin ...

Emmerek
Replied on December 27th, 2009

yeah, its a popper, you pull the edges and theres like a present inside. maybe its a canadian thing

Jeremy
Replied on December 27th, 2009

Must be a Canadian thing, cause I have never heard of that, either.

Justin
"Tick Tock" by Headhunting Hobo Productions - Reviewed on December 26th, 2009

Freaking COOL. All your shots are beautifully composed. Pacing is frenetic and insane, matches the subject matter very well. I like that we set up the character's despondency in a smart way without needing to have any spoken lines.

The room looks particularly dreary - awesome casting, awesome locations.

I wish we would have been up closer on him as he was about to pull the trigger - I don't like that we feel disconnected from him at the pivotal shot. Seems like his fear, or wish to die, should be ours as well. To see the sweat on his brow, to see his eye close and clenched hand pull the trigger.

Overall I give this an A+! Outstanding. This will be a tough one to top.

On a technical note - looks like you submitted a full screen 4:3 video with bars on the top and bottom, when you should have submitted a wide screen 16:9 video with no bars so it looks proper in our player. Feel free to submit again with a properly formatted file so it can look the prettiest on the page. email me with questions

Justin
Replied on December 27th, 2009

** I wrote "disconnected with him" instead of "connected with him" - oops!

headhuntinghoboproduction
Replied on December 27th, 2009

That final shot was a big debate amongst us. Where to cut to the tighter shot. I have 11 different cuts of this video, and it's tighter on him much earlier in 10 of them.

Justin
Replied on December 27th, 2009

Wow! That's a lot of versions! You guys are intense!

Justin
"Red Night" by CyFy - Reviewed on December 26th, 2009

Okay, so the good things --- I like the music, I like the overlay, but I have no idea what it means. The font pf the timer should be the font of the rest of the graphics. (I see it is in the poster frame, but not in the video. Love the look for the monster bursting out as well, even though it's pretty obvious it's a flat unmoving image. May be better if it was some kind of animated creature that jumped out at him. Regardless, it still looks neat.

My main qualm with this is --- what the heck is the story? Is the world ending? Who are these monsters? Who is holding the camera? Why are they holding the camera? Something so we feel like there's a reason to care that we don't get eaten up. It's not impossible to do in 30 seconds - all the heavyweights did a great job of it. You have a lot of the technical aspects down, now you need to conquer the story aspects and you'll be a juggernaught!

I give this film a C+

Justin
"Tick-Tock" by RS17 Production - Reviewed on January 3rd, 2010

Very dramatic. Interesting thoughts at the end of the year. This one came in late and didn't seem to have enough content for me to put it heavyweight though. I like your angle, however.