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I discovered an interesting short, Oregon, on ifilm today. It’s a twist on a common dystopian theme, is 11 min long, and has tremendous production values. It was directed in 2000 by Rafael Fernandez, who has no other entries on IMDB. Wonder what the story is with this guy…what’s his background and what has he done since?

A nuanced ensemble piece with across-the-board stellar acting, Little Children, directed by Todd Field, is the best film I’ve seen in the theater this year.

(Nevermind that it’s the only film that I can remember seeing in a theater this year — the combined result of Netflix, a toddler at home, and a spouse with a limited cinematic palate. But that’s another story.)

Seriously, this is a tremendously gripping, emotionally complex film. As brocksilvey puts it in his review on IMDB,

Can there be such a thing as a feel-good movie about marital infidelity and suburban ennui? If so, then I believe this haunting, powerful and superb new movie from Todd Field may be it.

Kate Winslet and Jackie Earle Haley especially give outstanding performances, but the stength of the acting throughout the cast is a testiment, I think, to Field’s understanding of human nature and his skill in guiding the actors towards these performances.

Pardon me while I swing over to Netflix to add his first film, In the Bedroom, to my queue.

Although I was unable to participate in the final round of the 48 Hour Film Project, the team I led through the first round, Team Scattershot, completed a fantastic high-definition short, Essence, last weekend. They had to incorporate the following elements into a 5-min short film created in only 48 hours:

• Genre: Horror
• Character: P. Reginald, an author
• Prop: Shower cap
• Line: Life is full of little trade offs.

Download a Quicktime version (132 MB) or a Windows Media version (303 MB) of Essence and check it out for yourself.

Bravo!

Ken Stone, an editor and Final Cut Pro instructor, has compiled an excellent site filled with well-written and illustrated articles describing elegant solutions to common editing problems, as well as some general video production suggestions. From How to prepare for that first Video Safari for the beginner to Color Correction for the more experience editor, this is an incredible resource. Check it out.

Here is the official 48 Hour Film Project version of The Write Stuff (151MB Quicktime file). I posted the festival version a couple posts back in iPod format, but people were having some difficulty downloading it.