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★★
Directed by: Luke Ostermiller Starring: Adrian Eledge, Alex Marin, Cali June, Luke Ostermiller, Tamika Caldwell Short Film Review by: Alexandra James
This Scooby-Doo parody features the grooviest mystery solvers and their mission to capture and unveil a ghost. However, the desire to get high overpowers them and it is they who become the troublemakers! Produced and directed by Luke Ostermiller, a young filmmaker and founder of the production company Loste Films.
Where Are We? can be considered a window into the groovy gang’s dark habits and reveals the truth as to what really occurs behind the closed doors of the Mystery Machine. Unfortunately, I felt that this short film suffered heavily from poor script writing. The dialogue often seemed predictable and rigid and left me with a bitter taste in which I was laughing at, rather than with, the characters themselves.
However, I felt that actor Adrian Eledge playing Red pulled off the cool, suave persona of Fred and helped to lift the overall narrative. Moreover, Luke Ostermiller playing Stoney did in fact portray the character Shaggy successfully and the voices hit the nail on the head and captivated me.
The editing was smooth and conveyed that 70’s vibe connected with the mystery gang, although, the non-diegetic sounds of laughter and audience applause was too much and seemed over played throughout Where Are We? which can sometimes remove comedic elements.
Tamika Caldwell (Valerie) and Cali June (Daisy) were awkwardly placed in the background and their performances did not seem strong enough or perhaps match up to the other actors within the short film. I did, unfortunately, struggle to see the actresses as central characters within the storyline as they seemed unnoticeable in comparison.
The narrative was quite limited and left no room for exploration, the plot, although simple, can be seen as empty and could have perhaps worked well if more action or events occurred for the characters to work through. To improve the narrative, a variety of locations and movement may have benefitted the storyline and allowed the audience to engage with the action on screen as well as connect with the characters easier.
Although the storyline needed revamping and perhaps further development of characters needed to be worked on, it’s certainly interesting to view the Scooby-Doo gang in an entirely new and unique way. Characters Stoney and Red did make Where Are We? more enjoyable and really made the characters of Shaggy and Fred come alive. Therefore, I felt that if the narrative involved more action, the characters could have done a lot more with their performances.
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