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Barrington

Seven Day Challenge

Entry Description

3 students find themselves trapped inside BHS while a mysterious presence seeks to turn them against each other in this horror-thriller short film. Directed by Alex Gaul and Jack Longo with an original script written by Giacomo Moriondo and Gus Goetze. Cast Meaghan Rivera as Melyssa Giacomo Moriondo as Kevin Matt Lenz as Leo Crew Produced by Gus Goetze and Jack Coombs Cinematography by Sean Moran and Blake Davis Audio by Connor Hillestad and Cameron Cox Effects by Ethan Madison and Jack Longo

Judge 1

Positives: The texting graphics on the screen worked great with the typing and message sent sounds. The effect when the lights go out is also great! Overall sound was really strong. The music, along with the clock ticking, and the sound effects both when the lights go out and when Kevin disappears work really well to build suspense in the story. The distortion of the voice was also great!

Improvements: Watch your continuity. At the start of the film, there are quite a few jump cuts between shots of Kevin where he's in slightly different positions. For example, to directly cut on action, there need to be a few more frames in between Kevin sitting down at the desk and grabbing the flash drive, as well as on the cut where he pulls his phone out of his pocket. There's also a bit of a jump after the line "Melissa, you have to get in here" where Kevin goes from sitting down to already walking over to the door in the next shot. It didn't seem to make sense why Leo was on skype with the teacher's laptop but somehow hadn't noticed. It didn't seem clear if the teacher was the one who had set this up to trap students trying to cheat on tests. I also didn't understand how Leo was involved in this trio, and why his computer had any relation to the other two that Kevin and Melissa were using.

Judge 2

Positives: Great use of on screen text and visual effects. Intercutting between the three different characters works well to drive the story as does the time limit and darkness, which both increase the tension of the narrative. The hook at the end with the reappearance of Melissa is effective and clever.

Improvements: The lighting could be improved in the first scene to better see the initial conversation. The intent of the two breaking in to the classroom at the onset of the film is unclear and the introduction of the third character could be better executed? Where is he? Is he already a part of the game? Why doesn't he react when we first see him on the computer?

Judge 3

Positives:

Improvements:

Judge 4

Positives: I like the computer shot, I think that the group did a nice job pulling those off. I also, like the concept, but I wish there was more time to develop it.

Improvements: Some of the shots are too dark, which can become distracting. I think that the voice is tough to hear at times. Some of the dialogue does not work for me, it does not help add to the suspense of the story.