I have a confession to make: I say I don’t like reality TV (except the Amazing Race), but I’m addicted to On the Lot. Yep. It’s a Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett show. And damn, I like it! Episodes 1 and 2 were audition episodes, and were shown back to back, so here’s a quick and brief review:

Episode 1
Episode 1 introduces us to the 50 contestants culled from over 12000 people who applied (Chewxy was one of them who never got to upload his movie due to time and technical constraints). The judges were introduced - Princess Leia Carrie Fisher, Gary Marshall and Brett Ratner!!! The first time I watched it, I was late, and didn’t watch the introduction, and went straight into the middle, and didn’t know who the woman was. Because this is Carrie Fisher’s transformation:

Okay, okay, so people grow old. But I didn’t recognize her the first time round. But when I watched a repeat of the show, only did I see her being introduced as Carrie Fisher. At least, I must say, she aged gracefully. But the whole series isn’t about Carrie Fisher or her metal bikini… it’s about the moviemakers themselves.Due to the amount of contestants, the producers of On the Lot showed only the interesting pitches from the contestants. I must say that Andrew Hunt and Will Bigham struck me as people with lots of confidence and are great storytellers. I did like their style- especially Andrew’s. Will Bigham is a little relaxed, but that’s what makes him likable.

Amongst the others, only these two names stuck out and remained in my head, for episode 1. At the end of Episode 1, the contestants were asked to form groups of threes, and make a short movie in 24 hours.

Episode 2
Things in Episode 2 certainly heated up! There were conflicts (which I felt the producers overplayed) and problems with shooting (as always). But then, that is what reality TV (and indeed, all movies) is all about - conflict. Despite their conflicts, they still came out with shorts which can be watched online. Here, I’ll review their shorts briefly.

• Out of Time #1 (Jeff Seibenick, Trevor James, Marty Martin)
  The story revolves around a woman and an assassin (I think. The exposition of the film isn’t great). It’s briefly about a man who wants to kill a woman, but the woman knows it first, and acts faster. The movie tries hard to be a cat-and-mouse thriller of sorts, but falls flat. Exposition of the story is rather poor too. Strangely enough, the editing by the On the Lot producers (shown in the episode) was very much better than the editing by the film makers themselves (shown online), and I liked the cut shown in the episode more than the one online.
  5/10
• Vinny’s Vault (Kenny Luby, Jess Brillheart, Hannah Sink)
  By another conflicting team, this story seems to be rather empty. It feels hollow. But it did have some nice cinematography in the opening. The voice-over sounds rather cheesy. It’s about the janitor (the fat guy) and a snitch for the mob (the black guy), carrying a bag containing a dead body. And that’s all! It plays out all like an artsy fartsy movie, and that’s not something in my taste.
  4/10
• Time Out (Zach Lipovsky, Sam Friedlander, Adam Stein)
  Whoa! That was my first impression when I watched this short on the episode. It was revealed that Zach was the visual effects guy. When I first watched it, I told myself “He must have spent hours doing masking on whatever program he was using!!!!”. This film, is simple. It is what makes short films endearing. A simple premise - that when a couple fought for a hat, time stops. You just can’t help loving it when you watch it. Cinematography was great (especially when the hangers stopped in time, but the panning during the argument can be kinda disorienting). It was well executed, and I love this short!
  9/10
• Sponsored By (Kai Soremekun, Daniel Tenkman, Will Bigham)
  Will Bigham stars in his own film (I think) this time as a suicidal man who wants to meet his suicide sponsor, who happens to be a waitress. In a rather comedic turn of events, she is attempted on a mugging, but she chases the mugger all the way to the bridge where the suicidal man was about to jump. The mugger convinced him not to jump, and he ends up being Jimmy (the suicidal man)’s suicide sponsor. Simple movie, simple premise. I liked it very much. Though I must add that the acting wasn’t very good. It did look stretched. Whether that is a director’s mistake or the actors not pulling it, I don’t know.
  7/10
• Call Waiting (Opie Cooper, David May, Justin Lutsky)
  This comedy stars Opie Cooper as an technician who hooks up the internet. The story is also simple, and has great comedic moments. It’s about a pussywhipped man who is held up by a useless internet technician. It ends with him putting the girlfriend and the internet technician on the line with each other. Quite comedic. I liked this as well, so it was sad to see Opie being eliminated. He’s a good comedy writer and actor, but I suppose, its not what the judges want.
  7/10
• Organized Crime (Mateen Kemet, Shira-Lee Shalit, Gil Krueger)
  This short is about a woman who is seemingly ill, and asks for another man to source a kidney (or liver? I can’t tell internal organs apart). She agrees to pay him the money, and he delivers. As soon as he delivers, she reveals to the audience that she is yet another contact in getting a kidney - one who charges waaaay higher prices than what she bought it for. I didn’t quite like the camera angles of how it was shot. It attempted to be many things at once. But the punch was when she reveals herself to be only a trader of internal organs. I suppose that was the redeeming part of the short. Not too bad though.
  6/10
• Wilted (Jarrett Conaway, Jason Epperson, Tamila D’Amico)
  Wilted can be quite creepy the first time you watch it. It’s kinda… well artsy as well. About turning 30, and a creepy man walks in and says something. I like the cinematography. Very well shot, but the story was kinda poor (or its just that I don’t get it)
  5/10
• Reverse (Phil Hawkins, Hillary Skarl, Shanna Baca)
  This short shows that you can’t do a Momento kind of thing for a 2 minute short. It’s about a man who kills a woman and calls a cop as an informant. But the way it was edited, I lost track of the story momentarily. In fact, by the end, I still don’t know what the story is about.
  4/10
• Random Acts of Kindness (Brent McCorkel, Hilary Graham, Carolina Zorilla De San Martin)
  Sometimes, along comes a movie that is so heart tickling, that you have to watch it over and over again. Random Acts of Kindness is that sort of movie. While kinda pointless (and storyless), the atmosphere of the film is entertaining. The voice-over is not tacky, and in spot on. This is the kind of clip you want to watch on your cell phone when on a crowded bus or train. It’s fun to watch. Extremely entertaining (plus the actress does look and remind me of Reese Witherspoon). I like it!
  9/10
• Smile (Phil Allocco, Shalini Kantayya, Jeff Speed)
  This short is about a young woman, and an overzealous photographer. Creepy end (he takes her soul by photographing her), but nice touch.
  6/10
• Out of Time #2 (James Breese, Claudia La Bianca, Andrew Hunt)
  This movie is about a guy out of time to propose to his girlfriend, and how he makes it (or not). While not entirely entertaining (as Random Acts of Kindness or Time Out), I feel that this is a movie that I would make. Lots of running, fast motion cameras, etc. This feels like what I would do. Not too good, but not bad either. I kinda expected more from Andrew Hunt.
  7/10

I didn’t review Ding because every time I watched it, both my browsers (Opera and Firefox) crashed.

People I will be watching are these:

• Andrew Hunt - he has great confidence, and good storytelling (but so far his films have been kinda disappointing).
• Will Bigham - Great story telling and good pitch.
• Kenny Luby (if he doesn’t get kicked out) - He brings in his own style in making movies. I really hope he stays, because it would be so cool that someone who didn’t get to film school manage to make a great movie.
• Tamila D’ Amico - I loved her movie, Volare. It’s simple, and nice.
• Zach Lipovsky - Hey, I’m a VFX guy too, so I’ll be rooting for him as well. Plus, I like his simplistic camera and cinematography.

I would be rooting for Opie too, as he is a funny guy, but too bad he’s kicked out.

Also recommended for reading: Brendan Bouzard’s Welcome to the Hack Show, and A Failure to Communicate. (Brendan’s reviews of the episodes are a good read - his opinions may differ from mine, and more sarcastic, but fun read.)

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