Grandad is a product from the University of Salford Media department. To mention the University of Salford and Media department in the same sentence will immediately raise the eyebrows of many people in the Greater Manchester area and make them wonder what other pretentiously bad rubbish this place can produce. I know it did for me and that is bad considering I am a graduate from the same University and I am very aware of the rubbish that students can produce when given a budget. They immediately assume that the audience should sit up and take notice of their films simply because the directors and writers think they should. This ends up with self-pontificating crap that makes many wonder is University a worthwhile place to go and study the arts. However this is where writer and director Colin Spencer succeeds in many areas where a lot of student film makers fail.
Grandad tells the story of Vincent a teenager on the cusp of manhood who on the day he receives the results of his state exams which will dictate his future he has to bury his beloved grand father. To receive the results of your state examinations is a landmark day for any young person in any country. It is seen as a your final steps into adulthood and a process that determines your quality of life as an adult. The day you bury one of your grand parents is also a landmark day because for many it marks the beginning of the end of your childhood and all you have is memories. This is what is quite special about Spencer's script it fuses together one if not two events that everybody has in their lives at some stage and it is the perfect hook in the script to keep the audience interested in the central character Vincent and his conflicting emotions as he tries to keep in perspective these huge events happening in his life on the same day.
Gerard Kearns of the hit television show Shameless plays Vincent. This helps the creditability of the script immediately as Kearns is an astute actor whose role in Shameless gives him the adequate experience with dealing with adolescent emotions. Compare his performance to that of the others in and it is chalk and cheese and it becomes quite understandable why he is a professional actor and the others are not. The supporting cast are adequate for the script demands and although at times wooden and stereotypical they do create a good portrayal of a family trying to cope with the stress of a burying a loved one.
To me Grandad is sickeningly sweet at times but it is the performance of the leading man and the event depicted that will keep the audience from getting bored. Although it is a good short film Spencer's script has got some holes in it. The one that really annoys me is that because of the lack of speech I found myself guessing as to whom some of the characters where and not finding there out their proper identity. Certain aspects aren't fleshed out enough to make enough of an impact but I finally managed to figure everything out on the third viewing on youtube.
The director/writer Colin Spencer proves that he is more than capable to direct such themes with this short, although to make any snap judgments on his career at yet could prove me wrong, but I do think Spencer should have a good career in the industry. What really holds him back this short is that it is a student production therefore finding creditability and success on the major festival circuits was always very unlikely. The quality of the cameras used is terrible and this really detracts from the quality of the final film. With this short Colin Spencer proves that he deserves funding for other projects and I sincerely hope he does. A bright future in television directing might beckon for him if he plays his cards right in developing the appropriate projects that suit him. Grandad is definitely a very fine example of the rare talent that does exist in Britain's Universities and I hope to see more from Spencer in the future. 5 out of 10.
Grandad tells the story of Vincent a teenager on the cusp of manhood who on the day he receives the results of his state exams which will dictate his future he has to bury his beloved grand father. To receive the results of your state examinations is a landmark day for any young person in any country. It is seen as a your final steps into adulthood and a process that determines your quality of life as an adult. The day you bury one of your grand parents is also a landmark day because for many it marks the beginning of the end of your childhood and all you have is memories. This is what is quite special about Spencer's script it fuses together one if not two events that everybody has in their lives at some stage and it is the perfect hook in the script to keep the audience interested in the central character Vincent and his conflicting emotions as he tries to keep in perspective these huge events happening in his life on the same day.
Gerard Kearns of the hit television show Shameless plays Vincent. This helps the creditability of the script immediately as Kearns is an astute actor whose role in Shameless gives him the adequate experience with dealing with adolescent emotions. Compare his performance to that of the others in and it is chalk and cheese and it becomes quite understandable why he is a professional actor and the others are not. The supporting cast are adequate for the script demands and although at times wooden and stereotypical they do create a good portrayal of a family trying to cope with the stress of a burying a loved one.
To me Grandad is sickeningly sweet at times but it is the performance of the leading man and the event depicted that will keep the audience from getting bored. Although it is a good short film Spencer's script has got some holes in it. The one that really annoys me is that because of the lack of speech I found myself guessing as to whom some of the characters where and not finding there out their proper identity. Certain aspects aren't fleshed out enough to make enough of an impact but I finally managed to figure everything out on the third viewing on youtube.
The director/writer Colin Spencer proves that he is more than capable to direct such themes with this short, although to make any snap judgments on his career at yet could prove me wrong, but I do think Spencer should have a good career in the industry. What really holds him back this short is that it is a student production therefore finding creditability and success on the major festival circuits was always very unlikely. The quality of the cameras used is terrible and this really detracts from the quality of the final film. With this short Colin Spencer proves that he deserves funding for other projects and I sincerely hope he does. A bright future in television directing might beckon for him if he plays his cards right in developing the appropriate projects that suit him. Grandad is definitely a very fine example of the rare talent that does exist in Britain's Universities and I hope to see more from Spencer in the future. 5 out of 10.