Music of the Spheres 2008

Synopsis:

Laid off from his job as a high school band director, Dan reinvents himself as a woman and begins studying the relationship between music and the cosmos. At the local observatory, Dan(ielle) has a chance encounter with a likeminded individual.

Comments:

In contrast to the predominant form of absurd comedy present in previous semesters' contests, Alex and Zoë sought to create a very dry, understated comedy for The University of South Carolina's Spring 2008 GotFilm? contest. This contest allowed entrants one week to make a short film that included a specific character, line of dialogue, location, and object (in this case: a recently fired high school band director, "that's when I got trapped by the boulder," the campus observatory, and a stuffed animal without its stuffing). Filmed in one day, this film exhibited a high quality of production (other than the rushed walking sequence), but its bizarre quirks reminded one of the judges too much of Napoleon Dynamite to edge into first place. Music of the Spheres walked away with second place in the contest, but it is still a favorite of the Well Dang! Productions catalog for its awkward humor.