WHOEVER said comedy had to be clever to be successful obviously forgot to tell the two guerilla film-makers who stole the show at SHOOTOUT 2000 a fortnight ago.
Although the contestants were ruled out of the top 10, the audience of more than 2000, cramped into the Newcastle Workers Club's largest room, roared with approval for the outsiders.
Judges deemed the films a 'must see' despite being out of contention for the first prize.
Boris and his off-sider 'not Boris', who grunted like a demented caricature of a hunch-backed henchman, rampaged across the huge screens of Auditorium One.
Shouting 'Shootout F...ers!', while walloping other entrants with whopping great toy snakes, they held the audience of 2500 captivated with a story line that was as stupid as the performance was inspired.
In the climax they brought the house down when, clearly exhausted from their night's activities, they stripped down to nothing but balaclavas and climbed into bed together, falling soundly asleep.
It was like REN & STIMPY meets Australia's FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS, the exuberance of the actors carrying it off successfully.
Holding their own cameras, directing their own action, writing their own (for want of a better word) script, and flashing their own pink bits, Boris and Co summed up the spirit of ShootOut 2000.
Comedy was a popular vehicle for most of the films, perhaps proving to be the ideal formula for a film of less than seven minutes in length, cobbled together as they were in less than 24 hours.
But despite the restrictions of time, locations and editing, the films were surprisingly high quality. In fact the best comedy, AIR HEAD could have been quite comfortably shown on any prime-time television show.
Actor ROB BADMAN's performance as a man obsessed by his own obvious brilliance at air guitar was perfectly timed and highly polished.
Another film, CHRISTO, also in the pseudo-documentary style, revolved around a pretentious artist character whose 'public art' involved wrapping objects in white mesh cloth.
His piece de resistance cleverly turned out to be the shrouded City Administration Centre in King St.
The best films easily met the competition requirements, including compulsory locales so that they were were barely noticeable from the others.
The only other rules were a choice of two compulsory items, a sponsor's logo and another sponsor's product, and a range of locations from around the city.
While there was criticism in some circles later about the necessity of including a corporate sponsor in the films, most of the entrants complied with a good deal of humour and creativity.
Judging by the top 10 films, creativity is a commodity that does not seem to be lacking in Newcastle.
Winning films can be viewed online at www.shootout.kgrind.com TE
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