The Lake

By Harry McPhaul

The Lake, done by a group of students for a class project.  So obviously do not go into viewing this short film as one of the best of all time.  Also, I there was no one in the group who had a special talent in envisioning how a film will ultimately be perceived by the audience.  For a class project I am sure they did fine and probably received a B.  But if I were to judge this alongside past film projects I have viewed in class I would have to say it was just alright.

I realize that they had very little time and not a lot of experience in film production.  I am still trying to figure out the overall plot or purpose to the film.  It was loosely based off of Mulholland Dr., which is a classic confusing and suspenseful movie.  The Lake was more about trying to make it confusing just to make confusing.  There was no ending point on why it was so unclear. 

The whole time I was wondering what the lake is and what happened there.  At the end of the film it did not raise any more questions or leave any clues for the audience to put together.  There could have some emphasis put on what exactly happened at the lake rather just saying “the lake.” A lot of these details could have known if the students had more experience. 

The film overall was done to get a passing grade.  I am willing to bet that it is better than some of the other films submitted in that class.  It did lack some categories such as making it bizarre and mystifying like Mulholland Dr., but it did do well in making no awkward pauses in the script.  Everyone seemed like they knew exactly what was going on and was able to portray the right emotion.  This is what kind of saved the film.  Overall I would give it a 6/10.  Check it out if you have the time its only five minutes.