You never knows what’s around the corner...As Roads Cross

carelessly throw it away on materialistic products. This cliché is challenged later on when a twist in the ending causes the audiences perceptions to be completely dis-orientated. I thought the ending was very thought pro-voking and provided the audience with an insight into how the clichés the media creates can be so misleading.

Don’t ever be fooled by the connotations of a student film! This is not your usual badly made, lame, clichéd, mediocre film, made by bunch of average teens that is based on a mainstream film. This is an exploration of how an audience can be so easily mislead. I like that this film has a different way of ending and isn’t so holly-woodised.

Having a budget of next to nothing to make a film of any kind is incredibly difficult. Ask any film-maker and they will tell you the exact same thing! This project was no exception to that rule. It was not without its own dif-ficulties, but this trio of talented, dedicated, headstrong filmmakers have definitely pulled it off. It goes without saying that when you have a project of this kind, you may need to call in favours from others that you know would be of help. Having friends in different places has really helped, they’ve asked parents, family friends, and just had to pull a few strings. Not much has managed to stop this gutsy lot. They had some assistance with their music from a budding musician, and asked favours from friends and family to use locations. Strings had to be well and truly pulled to pull this off. The café used in the pin the opeining scenes is where one of the direc-tors already works at, and the location manager had a hard time when having to keep up with phone calls and emails to head office, to be able to confirm the loca-tions. This is a common concept to young filmmakers with nothing as a budget.

Both actors had had some previous acting experience which has been thier advantage in this production: Dan Homewood has previously taken part in pantomimes, and Lulu Healey was previously in the student film ‘In-tuition’ as well as recently auditioning for a role in the new Disney film. This is the first time that both actors have taken part in a Short Film and I think we can all agree that the hard work paid off. The film-makers have had some experience themselves, previously making a two minute film opening and two of them have made promotional videos for a vast array of companies, char-ities and other organisations. (Some of which are very well-known.) “Having previous experience has really assisted” says Jenny Bridgwater “I used to be totaly clueless with cameras and now I’m really confident and

spot good shots!” “The only real way I think you can learn how to make good films is to just try it yourself.” Chloe Hubbard says. “ Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, just correct them. That way you’ve got the experience you need to succeed in the real world.” The hype for short films is nearly non existant, but I believe that there should be more people spending time and money watching them. Short films are so imaginative and weird and you have much more space for creativity and cliff-hangers than with feature films. And within the duration of the average feature film (2hours 30 mins) it’s possible to watch roughly fifteen short films, all with completely different themes.

At the start of this film, I didn’t know what to make of it, the titles were basic and screamed amateur, they don’t do anything particularly fancy, but that is what these film-makers are. The acting is not at a Meryl Streep standard, but they have more talent than Pattinson and Stewart. The thing that saved it for me was the camerawork and the storyline. I really liked the way that the film-makers experimented with the camerawork and the narrative and I felt that the storyline challenged how people look at others and are quick to judge. Ceratinly some moral aspects here. I feel that the music needs adapting in parts such as the shopping spree, which needs to be much brighter. On the other hand though, I really like the sombre Spanish guitar at the end of the film, which fits perfectly with the intended atmo-sphere.

No, this film is not flawless, but it is an intriguing exploration of what can be achieved on a low budget with imaginative film-makers. This short film is a must see movie with an interesting plot twist and a real crowd pleaser! Laura Rawles

In Short A waitress takes an unexpecting bussiness-mans’ wallet and walks into town to start a shopping frenzy. What happens next is all unexpected and up for debate.

Certificate: 12Team of Directors: Jenny Bridgwater, Chloe Hubbard and Laura

Rawles.Starring: Lulu Healey, Harry Quick and Dan Homewood.

Screenplay: Laura Rawles

Starring: Lulu Healey, Harry Quick and Dan Homewood.

Distributor: Paramount PicturesRunning Time: 5mins 20secs

As Roads CrossYou never know what’s around the corner.

A young businessman ‘Jamie’ quietly sits, examining his phone in a quiet and vacant café, whilst en-joying a nice, hot, cup of coffee. Meanwhile the waitress ‘Sarah’ is busy pottering about, picking up

cups and plates and cleaning up after the messy custom-ers. (At this point I would like to point out that there is not a point in the film that their names are mentioned, but the names are given in the credits.) Next we see Jamie put his phone in his pocket and leave the cafe, carelessly leaving his bulking wallet on the table. After her duties are seen to, Sarah says her goodbyes and is about to leave, but before she reaches the door, something catches her hawk-like eyes. She pauses, picks up the wallet and begins to inspect it, seeing the wad of money stashed into the slot, she puts it into her bag and makes her way out of the door. That doesn’t seem to be the end of her day though; walking past the bus station we follow her journey through thetown and in and out of shops: admiring dresses, shirts, phones and cards. (This is where we see a particularly lovely shot, a close up of her hands flicking through the rail.) As her spree continues, the unsuspecting victim parks up outside a restaurant, where his friend is waiting inside for him, as Jamie and his friend greet each other, we see that Sarahs’ hands have acquired more shopping bags. They sit and chat, and as they do, Sarah walks by the window with her bags. Luckily Jamies’ friend offers to pay for the meal therefore Jamie doesn’t even realise that his wallet has been taken until he goes to buy a pair of shoes. At this point he gets incredibly irritated and walks out the shop empty handed. Throughout the day they each cross paths, at one point they even bumping into each other. Audiences sit and believe that she is the clichéd female in this situation, taking any money found to go and

“She’s behind you!”

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