Writers' Block (2013)

In a society where bad writers are now jailed for their crimes against screen writing the pressure is put on an inmate by the prison Mr Big who wants to escape the walls of the prison Quite often when I'm watching a short film I might notice a few flaws , a common one being " This isn't a short film this is a sales pitch " but now that I come to think about I very rarely think " I wish this film could have been a lot longer . This revaluation came about watching WRITERS' BLOCK by Tom Gran and Martin Woolley . A world where poor writing is punished by imprisonment ? I like it and a few minutes raking through the IMDb suggests this might not be a bad idea . It's an animated short which means the directors can get away with things they probably couldn't with live action and that means the inmates revert to typage ie they physically appear as holding the physical caricatures as you would expect the characters to have . Srereotypical ? Certainly but one that's deserved . There's also a large amount of wit involved . Check out the penguin tattoo which is taken from the book company Where the story does fall down quite badly is that the makers have come up with a very good concept and then proceed to blow it by then turning it in to a mere runaround where the inmates via a screenplay try to escape their confines and remain one step ahead of the pursuing guards . I definitely thought there was a lot more potential and scope to the story and felt rather disappointed we didn't get to see more of this world

In a prison for bad writers a group of cons manage to get their hands on a legit script to the goings-on within the prison and figure it needs a rewrite – one that sees them busting out of jail to freedom.A clever little idea this and one that doesn't linger on anything too long for it to get old. The plot sees the story being written as a guide to the events of the film, so whomever can control the typewriter can make whatever they want happen, sparking a power struggle within the group to be the one in control as the one they forced to do the writing is going his own way. The energy of the film carries it over the fact that beyond the original joke, it doesn't have too much more to do in terms of narrative apart from play it out to its logical conclusion. It is fast paced and the animation is broad and brash with some visual jokes in there (such as the gang tattoos being things like the Penguin logo), but it is a shame it didn't build more or have funnier or more imaginative dialogue or scenarios.For what it is though it is pretty funny and energetic so it carried me over the shortcomings for the short 5 minute runtime.