Starting with the very first Brain Wash Manchester festival, back in Augest of last year. I shall continue to update the page as I track down the films shown.
Let's start with The Ghost Village Project, a short documentary on a never used village on the west coast of Scotland that has simply been empty for over 30 years. The film was made by a group of talented artists called Agents of Change who sought to take this space and remake it into an art gallery.
The composition of the shots are excellent and along with the ethereal music, and the pace of the film, give a sense of the character of this village as a desolate, ghostly ruin. Even before the artists got to work, I find there's a certain beauty in the emptiness, and my first inclination would be that the place should be used to film a horror. Luckily, the artists involved were more imaginative, and have turned a place that was an eyesore for locals into an effective urban space for art. Very enjoyable and informative.
Next up is Faden, directed by Martin Koddenberg with cinematography by Nandor Otvos. The story is a horror that deals with a theme seen in films like Pans Labyrinth in which a young girl escapes into fantasy and dreams to get away from her real life problems. It's a well produced film in that most of the effects look good and the standard of make-up, camera, and lighting are of a professional standard. But I find aspects of the film to be too obvious.
I'm pretty much going to go into full film student snob mode and incessantly nitpick from a film study perspective. But yes, for one thing, I think the music is too much. As soon as it begins, and the piano comes in, it sounds like stock horror film music. That along with the obvious creepy little girl is too much, too soon in the film, and the cut to a flashback is very cheesy, it isn't very smooth at all.
I think that a key element in a good short film, not ALL good short films, but certainly as a general rule subtilty is the key. These aren't feature films. Short films are a different creature. When a film is 3 minutes long, its probably not a good idea to have so many scene changes with different emotions behind them. The visuals are decent though, it would make for a good music video.
The best film of the night was Off Season, directed by Joe Randall-Cutler, nominated for Best Short Film in the BAFTA awards 2010. Everything in this film is on another level, the production is of a much higher standard. It stars Bill Sage, who has acted in American Psycho, and hit US shows such as Law and Order and Boardwalk Empire. Off Season features a lonely vagrant with a dog as his only companion, and a threat that awaits them in the barren snow.
This horror is reminiscent of John Carpenter's The Thing as both feature an isolated snow covered landscape. Bill Sage loots various abandoned cabins, and walks between them seemingly for miles. Each scene is gorgeous. As he sits with his oil lamp in the darkness, the word chiaroscuro comes to mind.
The pace is perfect, there is a genuine rise in tension and suspense. The threat is kept largely unseen throughout and I think the film is a great show case for the art of subtilty. This is evident in the shots chosen and the sound design. It's very nicely cut too, with the camera following the protagonist through the snow into pure white, which cuts to the next scene perfectly. Joe Randall-Cutler really gets it. Highly recommended for horror fans or any fans of good short films.
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