Tempo
2012 · 14m · USA
Directed by Seth Worley
Genres: action, sci-fi, thriller
A scientist races to keep dangerous technology out of the wrong hands in this sci-fi short that also serves as a showcase for visual effects techniques, produced by Red Giant software.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Worley threads the needle between branded content and genuine filmmaking — the Red Giant VFX showcase framework could easily swallow the story, but Tempo keeps its genre stakes legible throughout, which is a harder editing problem than it looks.
A VFX demo reel that calls itself a film. Red Giant's whole business is selling you the plugins used to make this. Pretending the effects 'serve the story' when the story exists to showcase effects is the kind of inversion only marketing departments believe.
Doubles as narrative short and Red Giant VFX showcase — the two functions don't cancel, which is the rare achievement. As cinema, modest; as proof of craft serving story, real.