Spin

I saw this excellent short film at the Newport Beach Film Festival last spring. It concerns a DJ who has the ability to control time, but every time he makes an adjustment to prevent a tragedy, some bigger catastrophe occurs. The guy who plays the DJ is super-cool and has some great one-takes. The audience really got into it. Although there is no dialog, it has some great sound design. Unlike other short films, this one is actually SHORT and does not wear out its welcome. The acting, production values, special effects, and editing are all first rate -- and it's very, very funny. Highly recommended. (It is available on the web, but much better experienced in a theater.

A mysterious DJ is sent back in time with his decks to prevent a car accident in which a cyclist is killed. Using his decks to freeze and replay time, the DJ identifies the root cause and goes about changing it. However by doing this he sets another chain of events in motion, which he then has to rectify but the more he tries to put things right, the worse they get.

Terminator (minus the nudity and killing) and Primer are run together here to produce an amusing and clever short film featuring a DJ trying to change the future for a group of people hanging around on a bust street. The concept is (relatively) simple with someone trying to change events to prevent a future calamity, however it is imaginative and amusing throughout. The DJ is a great character who plays out the scene in front of him and I liked the way he played out his frustration at how things were going. As writer and director Winans deserves the credit for coming up with the concept but also delivering it so clearly and entertainingly.

Visually the film is impressive. Really clear images with good colour but also structured in such a way that all the shots work whether being played backwards or forwards. I'm not totally sold on the way the film depicts the DJ working overtime but other than that it was spot on. Overall an amusing and cleverly delivered short film that is well worth a look for being funny, smart, professional and punchy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie from the opening shot of the protagonist falling into frame, all the way to the end credits. This story is shot incredibly and told perfectly without one line being uttered from any of the actors. The direction proves to be very well done as the lead character is cast perfectly as a philanthropic DJ who is stuck with the ability to fix every mishap in the world with a spin of a record. He does so, but not without consequences that he also has to fix. The supporting players do a fine job as well. I think Winans shows his true genius in being able to write, direct and edit this entire project beautifully, not to mention the fact that he scored the film with his own music which is also fantastic! Great Job!

The film portrays a supernatural DJ who "falls" to earth and tries to bring harmony to a complex city scene by modifying nature in modest ways through manipulations of his turntables and mixer.

The identity of the DJ is only hinted at through various symbols which can be interpreted to indicate that he is none other than one of the fallen angels mentioned in various mystical texts.

However, though the film revolves around the DJ and is seen through his eyes, the film is not about the DJ but rather about man and his world. It is about the nature of creation and man's interactions within creation. It is about the interplay between providence an free will.

The film depicts three attempts by the "DJ" to achieve harmonious accord. In the DJ's first attempt, he displays smug confidence that the world functions according to hard-determinism. This approach is found wanting and the "DJ" is forced to refine his approach to account for various human factors, demonstrating the philosophical view that perhaps the world works according to soft-determinism. However, once again, the "DJ" finds that the human condition does not accord with such simplistic definition.

He thus realizes that he must take into a great many factors, including what amounts to all of human history; and even still he must invest himself completely, in what can only be termed "divine providence", to insure the harmonious solution to the city scene.

A complete analysis of this deep film can be found at: www.divreinavon.com/spin.htm