Creative Arts Film Review: Student Shorts at No. 6 on Thursday 28th May

Last night was a first for some of our Film Studies and Creative Writing final year students who saw five of their completed projects on the big screen at No. 6 Cinema in the Historic Dockyard. Three films explored the horror genre and displayed copious amounts of tomato sauce (we can only assume..) together with a dominant zombie presence (I blame that Lincoln Geraghty for putting ideas into their innocent little heads). 

One film was a gritty short about a recently released prisoner trying to go straight with a satisfying twist at the end; but I hope the other ex-cons don’t catch up with him especially if the train line is down between Haslemere and London.  There was also this great film about an automated teller machine that was, in fact, a man. It was a quirky, dark drama from one of our shelvers Ben Cook and another student. It had a moderately happy ending although, unfortunately, the hero will now look like a human zip for the rest of his life! There was also a moral to this tale: money doesn’t always bring you happiness.

Looking at the closing credits, each film showed the number of family members who were involved in the making of these films. Ben’s credits seemed to list his entire extended family but fortunately too many Cooks did not spoil the broth on this occasion.  So a big round of applause for their support! Even our humble library got a mention in a dark, Harry Potter sort of way. The final film referred to some satanic books that had been borrowed from the University Library for ritual murders. They were displayed on the table for all to see but I couldn’t catch sight of the shelf marks. I must ask Greta if she remembers ordering these books because I can’t recall them…perhaps I will take a look in the Rare Books Collection as we don’t have a Restricted Section… unlike Hogwarts. If I find them I will have to remove them otherwise we will lose half our student population.
After the event I followed a couple of students down the road and they were voting Ben’s the best film because it was so unusual (even if the hero was seriously sick in it several times!)  What is it with these students – don’t any of them like Beatrix Potter?!

SO ANYWAY, WELL DONE BEN AND HIS TEAM!
The cost for entertainment was just £3. The cinema was almost full which was unprecedented; the exception being Blade Runner: The Final Cut a few weeks ago when I understand people were sitting on the stairs. Well done No. 6 for trying something new; it worked. Keep the films rolling for next year’s show.  Note to Lincoln – please can we have fewer zombies next year – they give me nightmares!