Abound

This short was made for a competition where a topic was assigned and the entire effort from concept to final production could take no more than 168 hours (1 week exactly). Assigned the topic of the Bible verse Romans 5:20, this cast and crew did a surprisingly good job in creating a thoughtful eleven and a half minute drama. It was enjoyable to watch, with good a good story, good acting, and good visual and audio quality. In addition to the film itself, the team created and posted a video discussing the production process and some of the difficulties in attempting to compete in a 168 project, and that video is available on Youtube.

It's always a joy to watch Rachel Hendrix on screen...and Michael Joiner and Josh Murray more than hold their own in this brilliant short film. Originally filmed for a clock-ticking film contest, the plot starts out with a familiar theme of a father/daughter relationship strained to the snapping point, but the stakes soon rise with an unexpected twist.

I found the production design to be simple, tasteful, and effective, the camera work motivated and telling the story. The characters are all well-developed (which I usually find lacking in a short), and the action moves believably, yet not always predictably. Themes are not kid-appropriate, but as a conservative viewer, I appreciated how the content was handled. Would love to see what this cast/crew could do with a larger budget and more time...

Don't want to spoil anything, so seriously, just go watch it! Then share it with others you know would enjoy a bite-size, quality flick.