Sight by Daniel Lazo and Eran May-raz

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The discussion centers on a short film set in a world dominated by augmented reality and gamification. While the visuals and story are praised for their quality, the film struggles to maintain viewer interest due to a lack of character development. The characters are perceived as one-dimensional, with the female character appearing naive and the male character described as dull and manipulative. The portrayal of the software engineer is criticized for depicting him merely as a consumer of technology rather than showcasing his potential creativity. The consensus is that a longer format might allow for deeper character exploration and a more engaging narrative, but this would contradict the nature of a short film. The overall sentiment highlights the need for compelling storytelling to elevate familiar themes in the genre.
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Anyone see this short video? It's about a world where augmented reality is everywhere, and everything is gamified, and ...


Great visuals and intriguing story
 
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A lot of work put in for so short a film; but it lost me pretty quickly in terms of interest.

A problem with shorts that have to explicate so much is that the explication crowds out anything resembling character development. In terms of character about the only thing we get out of this is that the woman seems naive, the man seems a dull-witted creep. Neither of which is enough to help us care about either of them. And the "cool" factor or surprise factor seems minimal.

More about the software engineer: One reason he seems dull is that they show him only as a consumer of the technology. Yes, he manipulates the woman, but you would expect a coder to be more clever, more fascinated by the code. Of course it's hard to show coders being creative since the physical action typically consists of "typing at keyboard." I remember that dreadful movie "Swordfish" in which the hero was supposed to be a genius coder and the only thing they ever showed him doing was typing really really fast.

Back to the short - if it were longer, e.g. 30 min., they might have time to round out the characters to make them more human & hook us into caring at least a little about them; and also to present the technology in a way that makes it less flat & gimmicky. The idea isn't a new one so it needs really good storytelling to make it work.
 
Of course, but if it were longer, it wouldn't be a short.
 
Man, when the Devil comes a-knockin', he does not smell of sulphur and brimstone, he smells of sweet perfume and roses... Doing a bit of research for a short story. All I wanted was some examples of professions typical for jurors in a trial of the time and location of the story (1850s New Orleans - of which I am not very familiar, so I have my work cut out for me). ChatGPT delivered that very nicely, giving me a list of a dozen typical professions for the type of man that was eligible for...
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