Homegrown: Drama on Video

A series of short films made by New Zealand, which I saw on the Sunday morning.

I have to say, I chose to see these films for their educational value, rather than because I thought I'd genuinely enjoy them. There were other options that I thought I'd enjoy more, but since we only make short films at uni, I wanted to see what the festival considered to be the best short films made in New Zealand. After all, I can't afford to make a feature length film, so I'm relying on the ability to make great short films to be my ticket to bigger and better things.

Unfortunately I was disappointed. The films started off very well, with a short about a little boy in America who is both bright and studious, but can't do well at school because he only speaks Spanish, not English. Sadly though, the film started brilliantly and I was totally engrossed, until.... it ended. It just ended without an ending. It was such a sad way to ruin a wonderful film! The concept probably could have been made into a much longer film, and it was nicely shot and directed. Maybe it will be finished properly at a later date.

As for the others, they were generally quite nicely shot, although there were some focus problems in The Big Happiness, but on the whole they were sorely let down by poor scripts and poor pacing. I really hope I can make better, one day!

Lessons learned: No matter the length of the film, it still needs a beginning, middle and end. Slowness is not suspenseful unless the stakes are high.