The
one area that really could have used improvement is the
one area that's impossible to fix in post: the camera
work.
When
the audience is having to pay so much attention to what's
being said in order to understand what's going on, one
of the most distracting things is a shaky camera. There
was quite a bit of camera shake, especially during Act
II. This could be fixed for future productions with a
homemade steadicam rig (see our article on how to make
your own here
or here).
There
were also several long scenes that had just one or two
angles. It would have been nice to break up these scenes
(such as the exchange between Beatrice and Alsemero in
Act I) with additional shots, like an over-the-shoulder
shot, inverse close up, or some use of depth perspective,
etc. Also, utilizing movement (either by using the aforementioned
steadicam or by having the actors walk or move around)
is also very useful. This does not have to be done all
the time, but is effective when used every so often.
These
camera issues were largely due to the fact that the film
had to be shot in only six days, which resulted in some
run-and-gun style decisions. It's impressive that so much
was able to be accomplished in only six days, yet a longer
shooting schedule for future productions would alleviate
most of these problems.
Use
of Audio
The audio was a bit on the soft side, which can be remedied
by setting dialogue to -12 Db, background music to -18 Db,
and full music to -12 Db in post. (Sound effects are a bit
louder, but they can be adjusted easily enough once you
have the other settings in place.) Once I had turned my
sound system up a bit, the volume stayed pretty much even
throughout the film.
I
did notice that in the exchange between Beatrice and De
Flores in Act II, his dialogue was a bit softer and harder
to hear than hers. Also, the scene where Beatrice is convincing
Diaphanta to take her place, the maid's dialogue is a
bit too loud and over-the-top for her performance, which
makes me think it was re-dubbed in post. A little more mixing
of the audio levels in post can help fix these additional
issues.
Music,
as I am discovering, is probably the second most powerful
tool in moviemaking. A character might say or do something
cruel, but if the music in the background is playful and
light, we are more apt to write off the cruelty as something
funny; by contrast, if the same person says something
funny but dark, ominous music plays, we begin to suspect
him or her. This is especially important when the audience
has to put forth extra effort to understand what is happening
and being said. For this reason, there really needed to
be more appropriate music in the background when action
or dialogue was taking place. While there was music, it
seemed too simple in contrast with the tone and themes
of the film.
[Note
to the Director: If more streamlined music composition
isn't available, we just reviewed a program designed to
create scored background music that combines the simplicty
of loops with actually organically created music. The
music it creates and customizes sounds really good and
it's designed for video people, rather than audio people.
The program is called SonicFire Pro 4 and you
can click here to read the review.]
