Code Name: April Fools

Maine South

Seven Day Challenge

Entry Description

Beware! Destruction is imminent!!!

Judge 1

Positives: The distortion of the alien's voice works well distinguish it from the other students'. The typing of the date is a smart tool to help establish the time span of the film, and also helps build suspense as we near April Fools Day.

Improvements: The sound quality of the exterior scenes is extremely distracting. In the first scene it was hard to even hear the first few lines until the boy yells about seeing something in the sky. Even when we can hear the lines, the background noise when we're outside is loud enough to take us out of the film. Some of the dialogue lasts much too long. Some of the back and forth between the students as they decide what to do with the flash drive both after they find it and then listen to the message could be cut down significantly. The narration by the alien also lasts much too long. In this case, keeping it simple and to the point would make for much stronger scenes.

Judge 2

Positives: The alien voice worked very well as a distinctive sound element. The shots are well thought our and the filmmakers have a clear understanding of scene coverage to convey the essential narrative elements of each scene.

Improvements: The second listening/showing of the alien video is drawn out because we have already heard it before. There may be another way to get to the punch line without listening to the audio again. perhaps even cutting in to the reactions of each of the friends could help liven up the scene until we reach the punch line. Also it is unclear how the video changes from the first viewing to the second. The main male characters dilemma over wether or not to view the flash drive is rather drawn out and the scenes leading up to the computer lab feel drawn out. Perhaps there would be a way to escalate the tension or set a time limit on the narrative as to increase the drama and urgency.

Judge 3

Positives:

Improvements:

Judge 4

Positives: Hokay, good little plants and payoffs with the object in the sky at the beginning, in retrospect I didn't see that coming back at the end. Also, fun little twist at the end with it being the U.S. government. Political humor really doesn't get old does it?

Improvements: Do more takes! Don't have an actor slip up in the final film (unless it's somehow better, like in Django with the glass smash lol) You can edit down a lot. Never be afraid to cut down too much, you can always add it back in! If you don't try and trim down as much as you can, you'll never know just how lean a story can be. That applies to script elements and scenes too (I did NOT need to watch two reaction shots of the same speech).