"Liberation" - A Short Anti-NeoCon Action Film
Hey guys, I'm aspiring filmmaker from Southern Oregon and I thought you guys might appreciate my most recent short film. It's called Liberation and it's a 15 minute long action film set in a dystopian near future with a message about the dangers of neo-conservative theocrats.
I am the writer/director/cinematographer/editor of the film. Me and my friends created it for less than $800 for a Christian filmmaking contest called the 168 Project where teams had 168 hours (1 week) to shoot and edit a film. The grand prize for the competition was a feature film production budget worth up to 1 million dollars. We ended up being excluded from the festival while other radically inferior films were accepted, and were all but told that it was because of the political message in the film. Oh well.
Anyway, I thought you guys might find it interesting! Check it out below, and if you like it, please be sure to share it with your friends! I want this to get as many views as possible to help me keep making short films.
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What type of "government theocracy" are these persecuted Christians fighting against? A Christian theocracy? 
Some of the dialogue SOUNDS like movie dialogue. It ends up making the film sound like a movie trailer rather than a whole piece. It's not stilted or poorly-done, but it does sound... out of place. They're using second-act voices in the prologue.
The music is too loud in the hospital scene and drowns out the dialogue. The "soaring strings" are also out of place there, as those sort of pieces lend themselves towards a scene that reaches a dramatic climax of some sort. What we'vegot here is an establishment scene, setting up a conflict between our protagonist, his brother, and the commander dude.
The second act, the escape scene seems to be a LOT of effectively empty space. There's no dialogue, no development, just running through halls, up stairs, and through scotch broom. Our protagonist just picks off his former comrades like it's Call of Duty on easy mode (with a silenced rifle?) and so there's not even tension there of "will they be spotted? Will they be shot at?"
The start of the third act... the whole "oops have to search the guy for keys" is necessary. Either have him grab the keys from the guy he drops right then, or have the keys be in the ignition; the other soldiers notice him clunk the guy on the head and open fire then and there. It tightens up the pacing. Granted you don't get the Jesus cameo there, but that feels like something that should be reserved for the final battle anyway.
Also, the gate guards are closing the gate, then flee the truck before it plows into them... the gate is still hanging open, wouldn't our guy just plow through it? Of course the owners of the property you're shooting on wouldn't allow that, but that being the case, shouldn't the gate be closed and chained in the first place? Leaving it open creates a, well, a gap. Also? Where do the gate guards go? One minute they're right there, then our protagonist hops out of the cab and walks over, and the prisoners are running, where are the two armed guards that were right there?
The music choice of the final act is good, though it's pretty heavy-handed. The "news segments" are also very on-the-nose, it feels sort of like the script is just being read aloud the viewer, "SEE THIS IS WHAT WE'RE SAYING!"
However it is very well-shot, nice camerawork and editing, and aside from the dialogue, the acting is decent. It's not the best amateur short film I've watched, but it's still pretty good. Nice job!
Also? that beard! That actor's from Portland, isn't he? 
Ah, the Pacific Northwest - last stronghold of male facial hair in the United States