Use of Audio
I was quite impressed to learn that the director of this film also played a role as composer, and I think he did quite a good job. The music is ambient and fairly nondescript, but also has some melody lines as well. However, even in an art film such as this, music should be more than just background noise that ties the movie together. I think that some tweaking of audio ought to be done in order to make the music cues better match the visual ones. As in the above category, it might get a little difficult, but the final result would be better.
The myriad of
images include...
...Shots of animals
and nature.
Use of Budget
The truly great thing about experimental films is that they are very cheap to make. In this case, it probably wasn’t all that difficult to get a hold of negative stock footage, and I’m guessing that the majority of the budget went to buying unexposed 35mm film. As it is now, this could be a good film to enter into juried art shows – though they may want an artist statement of some kind, and I was unable to find any explanation of the film’s purpose on the director’s website – though with the adjustments I mentioned earlier, it would definitely be better off.
Lasting Appeal
As this film doesn’t fall into the usual categories of mainstream movie making, it’s a little difficult to give it some kind of final score. However, speaking from an artistic standpoint, I’m always interested to see filmmakers experimenting with 35mm stock footage, and turning it into more than just a typical movie.
America In Pictures has some strong art film elements, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it were able to find a following within the artistic community; however, acceptance among mainstream audiences might be a little harder to come by.
As well
as photographs...
...And scenes of
everyday Americana.
Overall Comment
America In Pictures is a work of art in its own way; the images are intriguing, the concept is unique, and the original score is great to listen to. Besides, it’s always refreshing to see a production company take a break from “normal” movies and branch out into the world of the experimental.
The
author of half a dozen screen plays, two novels, and a proficient
camera-woman in her own right, Monika
DeLeeuw-Taylor is Microfilmmaker's lead writing analyst and
one of our top film reviewers. When she's not writing a critique for
Microfilmmaker, she's writing screenplays for Viking Productions.
