# Off-topic Rants

tropfest A couple of days after spending a few glorious hours in the sunshine at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl watching short films and drinking glorious cider, I read an article in the paper that referred to Tropfest (the World’s largest short film competition as we are often told) as the ‘rock show’ of short film festivals. To be fair, i’d say that was pretty accurate.

HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS Now let’s not beat around the bush here. When you go and see a movie titled Hansel & Gretel: Witchhunters, you clearly aren’t expecting a film that is going to have a clean sweep come awards season. What you are expecting though is a great, bad movie. A movie with such a ridiculous concept (and title for that matter) that you are expecting to spend an hour and a half laughing at a bunch of characters in a ridiculous circumstance, perhaps some kick ass action sequences and of course the odd one liner of two (see The Expendables 2 for another great example of this!)

Written by Michael Shanks on 13th January 2013 47 different ways to play. Give or take 47. Director/Editor: Michael Shanks DOP: Sam McCabe Sound Design: Craig Jansson Production Assistant: Chris Hocking Starring: Alistair Marks, Ashley Weidner With: Mark Taylor, Jackson McInerney, Michael Shanks, Louie McNamara, Eden Row

And so we got into the final stretch of the year with the much-anticipated follow up to his debut film Brick from writer/director Rian Johnson with Looper.

The month of May started off fairly disappointing in the theatres, with films such as The Dictator, Men In Black 3, Get The Gringo and my most hated film

Onwards & Upwards Half our world lies hidden in the depths of the ocean. The Underwater Realm is a series of short films that chronicle five times throughout history when mankind has come into contact with an ancient race of people living beneath the sea.

01 A little something that we started last year here at LateNite was to take a moment to reflect on the year that was. The projects, the people, the joy, the tears, the wins, the losses and of course the movies that made 2012. Instead of two enormous blogs though, this year we will be breaking it up into thirds for your reading pleasure and releasing one a week right up until 2013 ticks over, at which point we’ll be revealing some of our exciting new projects in the works.

Essentially, my work as a documentary filmmaker specialises in branded content for non-profit, social and environmental development organisations. The type of projects I choose to be involved in are diverse to an extreme extent, and each experience continues to take me on meaningful adventures around the world. Last month, the location was Kenya and Tanzania (Africa) working for a non-profit foundation from Switzerland, MyClimate.

Anticitizen Fun! Made on a budget of absolutely nothing. Directed, Edited and Visual Effects by Michael Shanks You can find the music on Bandcamp You can find Michael on Twitter You can find Michael on Facebook Starring: Samantha Chiodo and Michael Shanks With: Mark Taylor and Damien Bodie

88 mph? Wipe off 5. Directed, Edited, Sound and Score by Michael Shanks. Download the Soundtrack. Check out Timtimfed on Facebook. Check out Timtimfed on Twitter. Starring – Mark Taylor and Michael Shanks. DOP – Sam McCabe. Thanks to Chris Hocking, Nick Colla, Doc Braun.