Welcome back for the second installment of the very best short films on the Coffee Shorts network, selected and mini-reviewed for Microfilmmaker Magazine! This month we have two more superb and really unique low budget shorts both from the UK.
Flapwing and the Last Work of Ezekiel Crumb
Acheived on a budget of just a few hundred pounds (about $600) Flapwing is an incredibly ambitious piece of short filmmaking combining CGI, models and live action to tell a dark fantasy tale with plenty of modern expressionism in the mix. Created by a student team lead by Alasdair Beckett-King and Gareth Fielding you can find some more info on the film at flapwing.com.
Although most trained eyes will pick out some budget saving measures and the occasional seam, the entire film is very impressive in it's visual style and consistency with every frame carefully composed and laboured over in post using little more than the consumer edition of Adobe Premiere. Great use of colour with subtle and tasteful applications of CGI create a world I think Del Toro would be pretty pleased with on just a few hundred dollars.
This is an expressionist piece and there's a pretty clear message that casts light on some intriguing and very relevant modern issues. Science playing God, the thoughtless consequences of our actions and our own species' lack of concern for ourselves and most other forms of life are all swirling around Much like the Janitor short film last month the viewer has space to focus on what the metaphors and thoughts really mean to them individually.
Reviews combining student film with expressionism and fantasy may usually fill you with terror but the level of production creativity, subtlety and simplicity keep this free of pretension and breathes some new life into subjects that may have some familiarity, but are still far from resolved in our society.
But in the Voice... But in the Voice is one of a number of films we'll be playing by producers Hum-Drum Films. Prolific filmmakers with a wide team of collaborators their work veers constantly around darkness, experimental filmmaking and a bizarre strain of comedy that is sometimes Monty Python, sometimes League of Gentlemen and definitely always very British.
Following a night in for a creative writer the script skips around those awful short films about writer's block full of "meaningful" philosophy with a lighthearted, fun and almost commercial approach given edge by it's breaks into surreality and confident stylistic approach. Rather than wallow in the depths of writer's block we meet someone suddenly struck with creativity and ideas thanks to the gravitas and meaning given to everyday thoughts offered by a spider that talks with the voice of Peter O'Toole.
Although low budget it's never cheap and full of confidence in the movements of camera, effects and editing. A simple and natural performance from screenwriter Teresa Stenson in the lead role is complimented by a brilliantly accurate and very funny Peter O'Toole impression from producer Miles Watts.
This may be the entirely odd ramblings of someone high on LSD or a smart observation of the ebb and flow of creative thoughts, most importantly to me it's fun, entertaining and fresh. It doesn't demand anything more from the viewer than a few minutes of their time to enjoy a cool little film full of cool little ideas delivered at a perfectly pitched and cheerfully poetic pace that's it's very clear the filmmakers enjoyed every second of making.
Bonus trailer! A Plaster, a Paper and a Cheese & Pickle Sandwich
Coffee Shorts also run trailers for films coming to the network and for indie feature and DVD releases, below you can catch a film noir styled preview trailer for the short film A Plaster, a Paper and a Cheese & Pickle Sandwich from the UK's Crestfallen Productions, catch the full film here in MFM next month!
Coffee Shorts have a unique approach to distributing short films which uses well established social and video networks to exhibit its filmmakers, earning them income through a series of advertising and partnership deals; just watching the films above helps them earn money. So if you have a short film you think is up to the standard and would like to get involved, have a look around coffeeshorts.co.uk and check out the online submission details; they also accept music videos and trailers for indie DVDs or features.
More short films and mini-reviews next month!
Steve
Piper is the managing director of Coffee Films, a production
company based out of England that focuses on all forms
of zero-budget filmmaking. His
company website is: http://www.coffeefilms.com.
Welcome back for the second installment of the very best short films on the 
