Shorts
The Machine Stops
Director: The Freise Brothers
Deep under the surface of the Earth, the Machine feeds us, clothes us, shelters us. And then one day… it stops.
Explore Our Library of Short Films
Director: The Freise Brothers
Deep under the surface of the Earth, the Machine feeds us, clothes us, shelters us. And then one day… it stops.
beautiful!
Very nicely made, I also dig the music and the plot!
Great film!
The production values are superb and the “CGI” blends with live action seamlessly.
Funny, by virtue of watching, voting and commenting, we’re all living in the Machine.
great job!
Colors and background music is great.
This short film is amazing! Great animations, music, and plot. Very nice job Freise Brothers!
Very good quality. Everything was great from the music, sound effects, and animations. It all blended together nicely. The plot seemed to go very deep and was a good message. VERY nice.
Easily the best of the three films. If you don’t vote for this one you are a douche bag. No, I really meand it, a douche bag!
Great film. Must have required an enormous amount of work to produce this all digital film!
This is great. I love the idea and the animations look very convincing. A very solid product. Well produced. Keep me in mind if you need a grip…. you guys have a future in this for-sure.
Great Film
Working in this area of Graphics, this is a work of hours and hours. The plot is definitely interesting, although not a unique/personal story as compared to the other movies on the list. The work and the seriousness of the work definitely won my vote.
Well done, gripping & interesting for a short film - has the beginning that gets the attention of the viewer, the explanation of “the Machine”,the robotic life of its inhabitants expecting the machine to give them life & sustain them…the soul-less of life…can’t wait to see how this ends…Thoroughly enjoyed it…makes one think that this could happen. This has my vote.
EVerything about this is great, but it all comes crashing down with the acting of the two leads, which is atrocious. Otherwise, the special effects, music, narration, artistic design, etc. is superb. I’d give it a top notch rating if it weren’t for the terrible acting.
Marvelous work~I agree with that Trent guy, he nailed it all with his comments. You guys ROCK!
Great video. I hope it makes it onto the TV
I knew that you two would make it big when I had you in graphics class so many years ago. I am proud to know that I saw you both when you were diamonds in the rough! Awesome work, men!
Very poetical, very inspring, very well done! It is only a beginning never stops!
this one really feels like it should be on pbs. well done. i can imagine this on bbc as well.
The storyline of this video is very now, but not in a very original way I’m afraid. For the most part very well made, but transitions could use a little work.
The storyline was based on an original story so the film itself is very creative. Also you need to remember that this is a short film developed from a lengthy book, therefore transitions are not so easy to make. The entire story has to be condensed into a few minutes. I thought it was superb!!
Awesome film. I hope to see your film on PBS. You deserve it!
the lighting and especially sound were awesome…cinematic even. i wish i had your talent. it’s the only one that made me wanting to see more so you have my vote.
i’m impressed! good job Friese Bros!
Awesome!!
great movie, it really makes you think!
That was gorgeous!
The plot is not original. It doesn’t engage me. I was distracted by the CGI and how the lead male sounds like a little boy.
This is remarkable! Quite an eye opener! Thanks.
I think this could have been very good but I was so distracted by the awful acting. I’m sorry, but it really takes away from the film. It seems so amateur!
Mesmerizing!
Well, This film is very well made TECHNICALLY with the CGI and the camera angles but I do have to say the acting is HORRIBLE. HORRIBLE. It really does ruin it completly for me, especially the girl.
I’m also having trouble finding a plot or anything deep and exciting about this film. It’s extreamly disjointed and left me more confused than anything. It seems like an overdone copy of some of the big budget sci-fi type things out there.
LOVED IT!!!! Good job you guys. I voted for you, hope you win!!!
Unbelievable! I can see this as the first of many published films from the Freise brothers.
Nice CG effects =)
But the acting, is kind of… meh. I’m sure with some work it’d be better, coz you’ve both got potential if you keep it up. It’s okay, but it really does pull away from everything else.
Music = great choice! Good voiceovers. But becauae of the acting, this one just didn’t get my vote.
Congrats to the Special Effects =D
I have been following shorts on Reel 13 for a while and you have raised the bar. Congratulations on an exquisite piece of work.
Overall very nice, A lot of hard work was put into this, and for that alone you deserve to win. But, some of your photography does need some work, and even though it’s a short film it leaves me walking away unsure of any actual meaning, so the storyline could have been more complete. Fix those two things and you’ve got it! But GREAT JOB!
The special effects were really well done, however the acting kept taking me out of the moment and I was constantly thinking about that instead of the events occurring.
CONGRATULATIONS Guys JOB WELL DONE AND…..OH THE PLACES YOU’LL GO
JIM & CHERIE
CONGRAGULATIONS!!!!!!!! I’m def whatching it.
WOW! I was really impressed and glad that you guys won! Everything from the message to the graphics was very good!
I was impresed with the plot.
You make me proud. I know all the hard work you both put into this! Congratulations - you deserve to shine.
Maybe this will go the way of District 9. Started out as an interesting short film and was turned into one of the best sci-fi thrillers I’ve seen in years. The same is happening with the short film “9″ which is set to come out later this year. I would love to see a feature-length elaboration of this short film as well!
Exquisite. This is another version of the machine / human theme that Campbell touched on when Moyers interviewed him. When you become a machine person you never fully develop as a human. Our economic system is the machine. When GDP or the Dow goes up we feel better cause we are so lost that when the machine progresses we think that is real progress. As Hartmann has said we serve the economy. The economy does not serve us.
Please note that the THIRTEEN editorial staff reserves the right to not post comments it deems to be inappropriate and/or malicious in nature, as well as edit comments for length, clarity and fairness. No solicitations or advertisements will be allowed. Users may link to other Web sites relevant to discussion, but most often links to commercial Web sites will not be permitted.