Well, we would have got the teen vote

Oh dear. Some people have posted their vote for the Wellington finalists (not judges but people who have seen all the heats) and we're not on the list. I'm trying to prepare myself for the disappointment of not making the finals when they are announced tomorrow. I still hold out hope that our movie will make the cut but I also know that it might not.

This shouldn't really matter because the experience of making it was awesome, we worked so much more efficiently than last year and I think we learned heaps. Also we have made a movie that I'm pretty darn proud of.

I have shown it to all my classes at school, even my alternate Year 12 English class which I had planned not to as I'm not very good at taking criticism of the non-constructive variety.

I've got to say the reactions were overwhelmingly positive, especially with the juniors. We have made a film that would very popular with the 13-15 year old boy demographic. My year 10 class spontaneously starting applauding wildly during the closing credits. It was actually pretty moving because enthusiasm does not come easily to teenagers and they are not going to clap out of politeness or to spare their teacher's feelings. These kids are downright honest when it comes to telling you that a book or movie that you chose for them is "boring" or "stupid" so when they are positive about something, it is pretty nice.

In fact the lads in my form class started calling me Diana Jones for the next couple of days and excitedly told their science teacher that I was in a movie and could shoot guns*. I guess if you ever want some teens to think you are cool you should stroll about looking angry and wielding weapons.

It is nice that our film appeals to those who aren't part of the 48 hour film competition - it stands up well outside of that context. I explained after the class had seen it that it was made in a weekend for the competition and that it had required elements but they didn't need to know them to get the film. I had to explain to several what an optimist was and then one young lad nodded thoughtfully and said "ah, that's what the hippy guy was." Hee hee. They thought that Robin Slade was a hippy apparently because he was happy, didn't want to shoot anyone and wore a Hawaiian shirt.

* The only criticism I received was that I didn't shoot the monster. They couldn't understand why I didn't shoot melty man when the gun was right there. Some of them were yelling angrily at the TV "just shoot him!" towards the end. The bloodthirsty wrath was abated slightly with the 'cool' neck-snapping. One even asked, "did that guy really break his own neck?"