cakebakejake
"Old Man And The Flea" by Skitzo Studios - Reviewed on July 13th, 2010

Love this peice. I love Hemingway, and the writing is spot on immiataion, and a great story, though it looks like you adapted it from someone not-affiliated with your film group, or are they? Great voice acting on the narration... and good actig by the dog. Some lackluster shots... like the "biting" of the man's hand. But you guys are my favorite film group submitting right now, keep it up.

Yellowtractor
Replied on July 13th, 2010

I located the author of, "The Old Man and the Flea", which was the winning entry in Hemisphere Magazine's 2002 "Ernest Hemmingway Imitation" Contest. That entry was read on planes everywhere in 2002. She graciously granted me written permission to use her work as a script for this film contest. She has a DVD of it as we speak. I'm sorry my thumbnail isn't larger- I put Ernest's face in the eyes of the dog but it's hard to see. Thanks for your kind words! Sammy says "wolf".

cakebakejake
"Mute" by Volatile Productions - Reviewed on July 13th, 2010

I usually don't like entries that are action films with younger kids playing the roles of spys and agents, etc. but this kept my attention, and manages to be pretty suspenseful. Should have stayed tighter on the video survelience guy, so as to not reveal he's in a bedroom watching a TV that's not on. maybe have him wearing sunglass with a TV glare on them. Some cool shots, love the London scenerey in your stuff, wish you had a nicer camera. Some poor, off center shots towards the end, where your heads are barely in frame. but, yeah, decent amount of story, suspensful, entertaining.

Volatile Productions
Replied on July 15th, 2010

Cheers Jake! We're really glad we achieved the suspence we were aiming for. The annoying thing is how we put the monitor Specs is looking at on it's maximum brightness - and it STILL didn't come up on the camera! The room actually was an office, but the fact you all thought it was a bedroom means we obviously did something wrong hah. The idea was to have the room as dark as possible while still having the actor's face lit as well as the monitor visiable - didn't quite work out to plan...

cakebakejake
"A Mission Of..." by Random Axe Entertainment - Reviewed on July 13th, 2010

nice camera, good shots. haha the bike on the sidewalk thing is funny. funny payoff, but the editing and suspensful music at the end were a bit weird, should have ended with happier music and quicker cuts. (and i dont see the fish in the last shot? should have waited til he swam higher... guess goldfish aren't great actors)

RandomAxe
Replied on July 14th, 2010

Hey Jake! Thanks. I actually felt kinda the same about the end. Felt the editing was not too bad, but the music was off. I was going to change it, but I wanted it in in time to be possibly considered for FFTV. Anyway, I think I'm still going to have someone re-score it before I throw it around to some other festivals!

cakebakejake
"Muted: 1 in 10000" by Somewhat Awesome Films - Reviewed on July 14th, 2010

gross looking cereal. i'm guessing this is austrailia? the visual effects and sound effects are very good. like the silly justification (or non-justification) for all the violence. this is an action film that goes over-the-top enough to be entertaining the whole way through. turns out to be quite an epic battle. hate the shot of the grenade landing on the carpet though. needs to bounce or something. but anyway, yeah, this is a great entry, headin' to FFTV.

Jarradcody
Replied on July 14th, 2010

Thanks Jake, Yep Australia. What gave us away? Yea the cereal is not nice...no one eats it, everyone just uses it as a prop :)
Good to have you take on the Grenade landing. We toyed with it a bit, did a bundle of shots with it bouncing but then thought it would be funny to make it land like that, we kind of drew the cards on that one. But thanks again for the review.

cakebakejake
"Silent Justice" by Manasewitsch - Reviewed on July 14th, 2010

some good comedic acting in this one. love the first minute of dialog. the clone jury is weird, but pretty funny, like most parts of this piece. the judge is funny. "well, the facts have changed." the thing about this entry is that it's supposed to be in a court room, but it's clearly a bedroom, and not much work went into concealing that. there's books and lamps and doors and posters. plan your shots better to conceal that... the ending with the darker hue would have looked better for the whole film as well. anyway that's the only major flaw (though a lot of people will find it hard to look past it), but other than that this is wacky and silly enough to be quite enjoyable. good job!

cakebakejake
"Look Up" by Fat Llama Productions - Reviewed on July 14th, 2010

haha this is how most people live these days-- walking down the street on their phone/ipod, not noticing the life around them. looks like he could have gotten a date too. good effects. dissapointing ending (or lack thereof)... but, overall, great concept, well done.

thewot
Replied on July 14th, 2010

Yay! You got our message!
Thanks for giving us the feedback!

cakebakejake
"MUTED " by Jersey Unleashed Films - Reviewed on July 14th, 2010

lame title at the begining. very violent. not bad, well done. though she could still blink to reveal the killer, like in the diving bell and the butterfly

yodertrey
Replied on July 14th, 2010

Or "Untraceable."

cakebakejake
"Muted" by Red Handed Rejects Productions - Reviewed on July 14th, 2010

very cute. self scored? is this a house? a coffee shop, or both? don't like the use of copywritten music, but the one song was very fitting. yeah this was a very good and cute entry. good job.

RedHandedRejects
Replied on July 14th, 2010

I did do the guitar in the beginning which I kind of regret. Would have sounded better without it. And the location was a old farmhouse made into a coffee shop. I loved how it looked.

Thanks for the feedback!

cakebakejake
"Who Wields the Staff" by EvilGenius - Reviewed on July 14th, 2010

the animation is pretty good. well drawn characters and mouthing. but this seems to go on for hours, despite being only 2 and 1/2 minutes. should use some music for the establishing shots to break it up and keep pace. humor wise, it borders on really funny, but never quite gets there.

cakebakejake
"Mute Love Triangle" by Spencer Strauss - Reviewed on July 14th, 2010

the racier humor is a breath of fresh air at FFs. generally humorous improv/dialog, maybe a bit too over the top to really enjoy. some clunkers of jokes in there (streetsmart/salt) storywise it just meanders, as improv does. maybe you just made up the story as you went. anyway, this was OKAY, but i'd like to see tighter and better from you guys.

cakebakejake
"Extinguish" by 17th Letter Films - Reviewed on July 14th, 2010

obviously trying to set a mood, but so gloomy and boring, hard to get through this one. the guy totally looks like a chick, which makes this even gayer than it already is. can't even really follow what i'm seeing. so emo. this should be a LW in my opinion

GeeksAhoy
Replied on July 14th, 2010

Wow Jake, that was harsh!

GeeksAhoy
Replied on July 14th, 2010

In fact, that review is downright insulting to the film makers!!!

RazorDragon
Replied on July 18th, 2010

I don't think there was a need for that.

cakebakejake
"Muted" by Robotic Willy - Reviewed on July 14th, 2010

The supermarkets are closed, and people are cannibalizing, but Dominoes Pizza is open for business? haha the pizza guy was funny. like the gas mask shot. i don't get this. an earthquake kills thousands and yet life is going on like normal in this man's suburb. i dunno if i think about it too much my brain will hurt, so i'll just say well done but extremely nonsensical.