Wednesday 4 February 2009

Machine Time

something 'bout this crazy world you didn't know before
everyone's a third rate metaphor

The Guardian YouTube challenge shortlist is out. It's an excellent shortlist with several gems and lots of sci-fi influence. The competition was to make a 5 minute film inspired by a short story in the paper.

The final shortlist:

THE BIG IDEA - delightfully silly
DREAMDOG - arty but a bit slow
DRIVE - scenes from the short story set to a cool song
EASY CHAIR - eerie furniture-based ghost story
FAMILY CHRISTMAS - weirder than Easy Chair. Warning: includes sofa giving birth
LAURA FINAL MOVIE - well-made drama about footballs
MACHINE TIME - surreal video montage
MEGA SAVINGS - another piece of silliness
MOTHER - dark and atmospheric drama about televisions
OLD SCHOOL PEOPLE - VIDEO DIARY - film about making a film - how meta
SICK MEANING WICKED - narrative with symbolic video montage, unusual and interesting
SOFA SO GOOD - a mini Twilight Zone episode with references to The Fly.

Sadly our entry Human Touch didn't make the cut.

I enjoyed the music of Drive and the sci-fi touches of Mother and Sofa So Good (I want a big jar of Science!) However my favourite was Machine Time, a clever juxtaposition of H.G.Wells description of accelerating forwards through time with a history of the Internet complete with fake YouTube clips.

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