The New Michael Bay

The buzz stirred up by the new short film 'Panic attack' has apparently shown what a film maker with talent can do in only a few minutes. Federico Alvarez has been praised for making an outstanding short film.

However, after checking the film out for myself I confess myself somewhat disappointed. I thought it resembled more of a special effects show reel rather than an actual quality short film. In my mind, a good short film is what we have been taught at the academy. 'Panic Attack' showed no character development (indeed no character whatsoever) and I couldn't see any hint of a theme in the so called "story".

Instead, all I saw was a series of CG action shots followed by many, many, many explosions -ended by a super explosion. To me that is not the definition of a good short film, it is the definition of a short Michael Bay film.

Panic Attack shows that Alverez can tell a very simplistic story (with not a lot of depth) but has not shown he can direct actors or show character development. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching things explode for 4 minutes but attention would start to drift in a feature length film.

If one thing is for certain, Federico Alvarez has shown he can show things blow up quite well in 4 minutes. However, I am not entirely swept away with his short film -as an example of story telling.