Article By: Brayden Varr

WSUB Productions, one of Suffolk’s many clubs, is specifically dedicated to the creation of small films by students.  On Dec. 3 the club held a showcase in Donahue 311 to a small crowd consisting mostly of actors, directors, and dedicated fans.

Throughout the two hours of footage shown, there were a total of 14 films.  The genres ranged from horror, public service announcements, crime chases, battle scenes, comedy and any combination of the above.

The night began with a short-film titled Suffolk Slasher. What was shown was a film preview about a murderer on the loose here at Suffolk University.  The soundtrack for the preview was excellently utilized; but the picture quality was so distracting, the movie was hard to pay attention to.

The third film of the night invited a wide variety of filming techniques exhibiting everything from music videos, to animation, to clay-mation, commercials, and ended with a frightening Ring spoof.  The director/producer, known as indiandave34 on Youtube, wanted to show what skills he had in filming and break dancing.  The soundtrack was an appropriate choice for the mood of the clip.  More videos by the creator can be found on indiandave34’s YouTube.

The fourth film of the night was the first of many fight or chase scenes.  This was a long-standing sword (pool stick) fight throughout Suffolk’s many buildings.  At first the clip was funny to watch because of how poorly planned out the battle scene was, but eventually it got annoying. The film quality was again subpar. 

A film about Peer Pressuring was the first public service announcement of the night.  This clip over-dramatized the usage of drugs and peer pressure towards college students.  The actors in the clip were very entertaining, and it was very well put together.  Also, this was the first clip of the night in which the film quality was clear and legible.

Drunk Doctor was the tenth film shown.  The whole film was over the top and full of bad acting.  Whether or not that was the purpose of the film, it was hard to sit and watch everything that was going on.  The angles were awkward, the film quality was the worst yet, the background noise was unbearable, and the acting was terrible.  The ending of the film, however, was quite funny. 

Of the many shoot-outs throughout the night, the one worth mentioning was by Mason Marino.  This film contained depth, and a slight plot (considering how long it was). In addition, the film quality was clear and the acting was impressive for a casual movie shoot like this. 

A scene from Pulp Fiction was perfectly recreated.  Marino was daring and put the original clip in the bottom corner of the screen so the viewers could trace the remake’s movements along with the original.  The new actors followed almost perfectly in sync with the film; it was quite impressive.  The tone of the original actors carried out through the new actors and the remake felt perfectly legitimate.

A film titled Ash Goes Crazy ended the showcase.  Ash Ketchum from the Pokémon series is caught up in his childhood life, yet winds up here at Suffolk University.  He runs into his nemesis, Gary, who tells him Professor Oak had died and there was really no such thing as Pokémon.  Ash is unable to accept this and goes crazy. He is eventually placed into a mental ward.  With a funny story line like this, it’s hard to mess up.  However, the film quality was, yet again poor.

For a college short film night, the showing was decent.  With some faults along the way, some films were exceptionally good such as The Bet, The Slasher, and Peer Pressuring. Despite the low-resolution format and the apparent lack of a tripod, WSUB Productions still offers great opportunity to make that silly little film the kid in us all has always desired to shoot.