Four Shorts from Andrew J.D. Robinson

12/17/2017 11:34

Film: Sightings

Year: 2017

Director: Andrew J.D. Robinson

Writer: Andrew J.D. Robinson

Starring: Angela Parent, Hayden Rose and Chantel Kloosterman

 

Review:

This film begins showing a young woman who is dead and it looks like for some time. We then see the light of a car turn off.

Inside are two women. The one in the passenger seat is clearly upset about something. She has had a daydream of someone close to her. We learn that the person she is seeing has been missing. There is then a call from a woman crying with some horrible news.

This short is only running 2 minutes, but it is quite effective for what it does in that time frame. I like the first images we get are of the dead woman, yet we don’t know what it means. The interaction is emotional and you wonder what has happened. What I really like is that we can figure out what happened without being told. We see the images and we can piece the story together.

The acting is well done. I’ve not heard of any of the actresses, but I believed the emotion. It is slightly hard to gauge the voice over the phone. Her sobs did come off as being realistic.

The make-up effects done on the dead woman look very real. I was quite impressed by this. The editing of the film is well done intercutting the images to explain and fill in what has happened. There really is a story that is conveyed despite being as short as this is. I also felt the score selected for this was very well done. It fits the mood and helps to build the tension.

Now with that said, I would recommend seeing this short done by Andrew J.D. Robinson. I will state he reached out to me to view four of his shorts. This isn’t my favorite by him, but I did enjoy it. The story is simple, but it is told and shown in an interesting way. I liked the acting in the film. I thought the make-up effects were top notch. Editing was great, it helps the story be told in the interesting way that it is. The score fits the scene as well. I would recommend giving this one a viewing. It is a good short film.

 

My Rating: 8 out of 10

 

 

Film: A Walk Home Alone

Year: 2017

Director: Andrew J.D. Robinson

Writer: Andrew J.D. Robinson

Starring: Maura Stephens, Jurgen Vollrath and Jenn Nangle

 

Review:

This short starts with a news report about a woman’s body being found in the river. We then see a woman walking down a hallway while she on her phone. She doesn’t see the odd man that watches her walk by and then follows her. She goes into her apartment.

She then calls a man on the phone. This was her boyfriend, who moved out when he found out that she was pregnant. It would appear that she had an abortion, not wanting to raise the child alone. We then realize that she couldn’t go through with it. There is a knock at her door and the weird man is there, wanting to have her fill out a survey. He might have something else in mind though.

This is my favorite of the four shorts I watched from Robinson. I love how we are introduced to the murders through a news report. We don’t see anything with it, we just hear it. The film then really introduces this main character and gets us to like her, even though it happens very quickly. When the door closes we get another news report that gives us some horrible news. I loved this reveal and found it to be quite interesting.

The acting was again good. I believed the sadness in the woman. I felt bad for her and the difficult choice she had. The creepy guy was well done as well. I thought he was up to no good when we first see him.

This film really didn’t have anything in the way of effects. I thought it was effective though to have it filmed in black and white. Especially with how the reveal is done, it makes it almost seem like we are seeing something that happened in the recent past. Like these events had already transpired and we are just seeing what led up to the conclusion. I felt the editing of the film was tight and builds tension, which is tough to do in only six and half minutes. This one goes for a more simplistic approach with not having a score. We instead get the sound of texting and messages going back and forth.

Now with that said, this is a heartbreaking story. There is a feeling of hope for the main character and you want things to get better for her. It is quite tragic in the end though. The acting was well done. I thought the use of filming in black and white was effective. The editing was good, building tension to the conclusion. The lack of a score makes it more powerful in my opinion as well. Again, I would recommend seeing this short film from Robinson. I found it to be very good.

 

Rating: 9 out of 10

 

 

Film: Placebo

Year: 2017

Director: Andrew J.D. Robinson

Writer: Andrew J.D. Robinson

Starring: Aileigh Karson, Jennifer Trudrung and Maura Stephens

 

Review:

This is a haunting tale of a woman wanting to get a surgery to make her look like her favorite celebrity. The surgery entails actually removing her face and replacing it with a new one. The problem being that even after she has it done, she still doesn’t know if she looks like her.

This one as I kind of stated is haunting. It is very short, but in that time it really embodies a couple of issues we see in today. We have obsession with celebrities. We have wanting to be someone we aren’t. There is also striving for perfection as well.

There isn’t a lot in the way of acting in this. We get the voice of the doctor. Outside of that, we have the woman and how she looks to start, then how she looks after the surgery. It is creepy the facial expressions used by both before and after. I think it helps to be much more effective.

There isn’t a lot in the way of effects, but I love the practical effects that were used. The one I am referring to is the pile of skin that is the original actress’ face. It is bloody and looks quite real. The editing again is tight with just a short running time. It builds tension as you see that she isn’t satisfied and might not be the first time she’s had this done. The score is once again quite haunting, helping to build the tension.

Now I would say that despite the short running time of this film, it has a haunting quality. This brings up issues that are quite relevant in our society. The acting is simplistic, mostly being a voice-over and the facial expressions. Despite that it still was effective to me. The effect of the removed skin is gross. The editing of the film builds tension as does the score. I found this to be another good short from Robinson and would recommend giving this one a viewing.

 

Rating: 8 out of 10

 

 

Film: Something Scary

Year: 2017

Director: Andrew J.D. Robinson

Writer: Andrew J.D. Robinson

Starring: Aileigh Karson, Jesi Jensen and Tristan McIntosh

 

Review:

This film follows GamerGurl as she is going to film a reactive video while she plays the beta version of a game called “Something Scary”. She gets a call, but ignores it. She starts to play the game and gets another call. She is given some interesting news about the game she is playing and a text message from someone who shouldn’t be able to send one.

Of the four, this one was my least favorite. I think it has a good concept that is similar to a film like ‘Stay Alive’. I like that about it. I wasn’t a huge fan of what the game play looked like, because it looked very much like old computer games. The twist was good as well as the how the film ends.

The acting was decent in this one. I feel the actress was slightly annoying to start off with, but does well at the reveal. The only other person that we really get is the person that calls her. We hear their voice, but they don’t do much in the way of acting there.

The effects of the game were pretty poor. I think that could have been shored up somehow. That’s all it had in this category. I do think that the editing of this like the rest of these is pretty tight. It builds tension all the way to the climax and ending. The score of the film helps to build this as well.

As stated, this is my least favorite of the shorts I watched. Now with that said I still enjoyed it. I thought the concept of this was good as well as the reveal and how this ended. The acting was the weakest of the four to me also. The editing was good. The effects could have been much better. The score also helps to build the tension to the climax of this film. I would still say that this short is worth a viewing and still think this one is above average.

 

Rating: 6 out of 10