WORTH WATCHING
Must Watch: Carl Erik Rinsch's Amazing Sci-Fi Short The Gift
by Alex Billington
April 7, 2010
Source: SlashFilm
You may not known who Carl Erik Rinsch is yet, but you will soon. Rinsch is a filmmaker, currently part of Ridley Scott's RSA team, that has been working on commercials and shorts for a few years and is finally on the verge of breaking out. He's been hired by Universal to direct 47 Ronin as well as the Creature from the Black Lagoon remake. Philips, the electronics manufacturer, has commissioned five directors (Rinsch one of them) to create short films for another cinema series, where we got that amazing robbery short from last year. Rinsch's sci-fi short, titled The Gift, has just debuted online (via SlashFilm) and is a must watch.
Watch Carl Erik Rinsch's short film The Gift below (or also on YouTube in HD):
The Gift is part of the Parallel Lines project from Philips Cinema and Ridley Scott Associates that highlights great up-and-coming directors as well as Philips' TVs: "Five short films. Five genres. Five of RSA's hottest directors. One unifying piece of dialogue." Each director was required to use the same bit of dialogue ("It's a unicorn") but beyond that, everything was up to them. Two more of the shorts just debuted on SlashFilm yesterday and the rest will be unveiled on Philips' website tomorrow. This was a beautifully shot short from Carl Erik Rinsch and I'm excited to see what his future holds directing those two projects. I've heard some great things already and I can't wait to see him direct a full-length feature film. Head to Facebook for more!
35 Comments
1
it was pretty good, I loved the design of the robot butler.
Xerxex on Apr 7, 2010
2
Looks awesome. Can't wait to see this guy do a feature film!
BobbyM on Apr 7, 2010
3
Awesome short.
finch on Apr 7, 2010
4
Its cool i hope they make a full length movie out of it because it has a cool story and after watching it made want to see more what happens with the gift what's the point of the gift and what does it look like all that good stuff. Plus this could be like district 9 a short film turned into a feature length film so i hope the gift one day becomes a movie because i'll go see it.
Nick on Apr 7, 2010
5
The masked police was a total HL2 Combine rip off other than that this was very original and awesome.
Cody w on Apr 7, 2010
6
He's done a shedload of commercials. I really loved the setting of that film, more the outfits, the buildings and the mood. The cg was great too, it'd just need tightened up for a feature version. What a crap way of displaying it as a tv within a player, even on full widescreen it was pretty strange looking the tv was terribly rendered.
Crapola on Apr 7, 2010
7
HL2?
Jake the snake on Apr 7, 2010
8
I agree Half Life 2 rip off. I actually thought it was rather boring.
Hellboy on Apr 7, 2010
9
Half life 2 combine soldiers indeed
Dylan on Apr 7, 2010
10
The beginning was a lot like a level from the Hitman game. The rest seemed like a combination of Bourne Identity & I,Robot.
unknown on Apr 7, 2010
11
He really knows how to make the scenes have scope. This is who should be directing the Akira movies.
Gill on Apr 8, 2010
12
pretty cool. Kind of pointless chase scene though as the butler just shoulda walked back into his owners house. But then that would of been the end of the short i guess.
filmfan111 on Apr 8, 2010
13
Haha, the soldiers were a total Half-Life 2 rip-off. Pretty cool short though.
Syphous on Apr 8, 2010
14
I agree with 13 - HL rip for sure, but still, great short. Sick action scene too.
Nick Sears on Apr 8, 2010
15
Anyone care to analyze what was that about?
xMort on Apr 8, 2010
16
the Robot buttler is about the best thing in this short film the Gift, there is some good SFX work has gone into this short film. Heres a ? I would still love to have seen what was in the box.
Cineprog on Apr 8, 2010
17
Would have been cooler if it wasn't just a commercial for Phillips
smackyou on Apr 8, 2010
18
Amazing how a story like this can be told in under 5 minutes. There should be more films like this...maybe there are, I don't know. Does anyone know of other corporate sponsored films like this?... I know a few years back, BMW had a short film series that was pretty good.
xan on Apr 8, 2010
19
I thoroughly enjoyed that!
Trey M on Apr 8, 2010
20
@Cody w and @hellboy you guys beat me to it but you are correct. Soldier masks are a complete rip off of Half-Life 2 combine soldiers.
bryansays on Apr 8, 2010
21
That was pretty cool but those soldiers are straight out of Half Life 2 man! They even sound like them. They had to have gotten permission from Valve to use there likeness. If not i see a lawsuit coming. What's up with the tv screen bordering the movie?
Phontsolo on Apr 8, 2010
22
It was pretty cool, but when a director rips-off source material from another media, in this case Half-Life 2, I loose confidence in their ability for originality. Number 11, really he should be directing the Akira movie? That's a little premature, let's wait an see how he does a full-feature, a much more challenging task.
Baron the Curse on Apr 8, 2010
23
Hey guys before calling it a rip-off maybe the director is a big Half-Life 2 fan and wanted to pay homage to Valve by placing the Combine Soldiers in the short?
Xerxex on Apr 8, 2010
24
This short film was amazing!! I love the idea of a couple of lines of dialogue and see where filmmakers go, Project Greenlight did the same thing for entry into the competition. @xan, yep it was an awesome short series by BMW, called The Hire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hire). With Clive Owen as the Driver. The Star and Hostage I reckoned were the two best ones..
John on Apr 8, 2010
25
I wish we'd get a couple of short films like this in front of every film we see at the cinema. Gives more value for money, that's for sure, and it's a good way for newer filmmakers to reach a wide mainstream audience, or for established directors to try out something new or offbeat.
Mathieu on Apr 8, 2010
26
WTF are you all saying!!! This short made NO sense. It was well made, but there was no story, just visual bullshit.
Gmorra on Apr 8, 2010
27
@Gmorra I partially agree with you: the short is brilliantly filmed and edited but the plot is quite thin and illogical (why should the robot run away instead of returning the box to the house?). My theory is that the short was more of a showcase for the Director's skills than a well-thought story. Now that it seems his goal is achieved (see http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0727754/news#ni2020302), I'm pretty sure he will make the plot more solid and coherent. @all the "HL2 rip off" guys: It's not a rip off, it's a homage. It's way too litteral (down to the "dialogue" in between Combine soldiers) to be a rip off.
Alex C. on Apr 9, 2010
28
Yes, cause HL was the way before anything else sci-fi that HL ripped off. Kids....it was alright. Clean and nice but could have been a bit longer to explain a bit more. Too much more would have taken away the short film aspect and generally they're short because when they turn into feature films they lose the awesomeness. Reminded of on of the Animatrix shorts.
tra la la la la di da on Apr 9, 2010
29
Wow,thats brilliant,cant wait for film.
tir na nog on Apr 9, 2010
30
Competent, if derivative visuals...but limited authenticity, texture and story. Felt super contrived and self concious.
Carlo on Apr 9, 2010
31
Made no sense. Pretentious and uninspiring. I bet Fox will end up wanting a blockbuster from this director.
U.G.T.F.O. on Apr 9, 2010
32
Does anyone remember the short from last year that was also a total ripoff of Half-Life 2? It was a bunch of soldiers that look exactly these "security" figures chasing some dude through a house and on a bus and it was crazy action. Does anyone remember what that was called or who did it?
jake the snake on Apr 9, 2010
33
For those crying Half-Life 2 ripoff: http://englishrussia.com/images/georgia_swat/3.jpg It is far more likely Half-Life 2 combine soldiers are derivative of the Georgian riot police
Soapdish on Apr 9, 2010
34
#32 Here you go: The Box test film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU_reTt7Hj4
xMort on Apr 14, 2010
35
thanks xMort. that's the one i was looking for.
jake the snake on Apr 14, 2010
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