It was nice to see the resurgence of craft. These days everything seems to be a 3 minute case study, so to see great writing, kick-ass music, laugh-out-loud humor, stunning cinematography and beautiful animation was a true pleasure and a reminder to us all that there is still no substitute for flawlessly crafted storytelling.
My favorite thing about judging LIA was the jury. Everyone is so respectful of one another, there are zero politics or back room deals and there is only one agenda, recognizing the best work. So as a result, people genuinely listen to every argument and really take them to heart when considering their votes. How nice would it be if voters did the same in other aspects of life? (Hint, hint)
For me, the hardest challenge this year was that the film category is growing more and more difficult to judge as the metrics of a great film continue to blur and change depending on their context. For example how do you compare an online film that is simply the documentation of a brilliant social experiment with the main goal of becoming shareable, with a beautifully crafted, well written, directed, edited and composed piece of film designed to lure you in and wow you just as any feature length masterpiece might do? It;s apples and oranges.
It was nice to see the resurgence of craft. These days everything seems to be a 3 minute case study, so to see great writing, kick-ass music, laugh-out-loud humor, stunning cinematography and beautiful animation was a true pleasure and a reminder to us all that there is still no substitute for flawlessly crafted storytelling.
My favorite thing about judging LIA was the jury. Everyone is so respectful of one another, there are zero politics or back room deals and there is only one agenda, recognizing the best work. So as a result, people genuinely listen to every argument and really take them to heart when considering their votes. How nice would it be if voters did the same in other aspects of life? (Hint, hint)
For me, the hardest challenge this year was that the film category is growing more and more difficult to judge as the metrics of a great film continue to blur and change depending on their context. For example how do you compare an online film that is simply the documentation of a brilliant social experiment with the main goal of becoming shareable, with a beautifully crafted, well written, directed, edited and composed piece of film designed to lure you in and wow you just as any feature length masterpiece might do? It;s apples and oranges.