Visual Look
Given this movie’s many wide-angle shots and views of the city, it seemed odd at first that it was shot mostly in black and white. However, I really liked the artistic touch that this gave. It was also interesting that a few scenes were shown in color – such as where Aiden and Fiona are dancing in her apartment, while in the shower together, and while playing Boggle. The Boggle scene had an additional nice touch of a shot, supposedly, from inside of the contraption that holds the lettered dice. I also loved the lighting during the dancing scene – it looked as though the sun was setting and all its light was coming through the windows. This gave the scene a beautiful orange tint – a great contrast to the black and white – and almost gave the sense that Aiden and Fiona were in their own imaginary music video.
There was also a very tasteful choice made when the two of them first have sex – rather than simply cut the scene early or actually show the whole thing, the scene is done in still close-ups of Fiona’s face, while the audio continues to play. This was a great choice, because it got the point across, without being too R-rated, or just by trying to imply that the sex took place. And, especially since the camera was focused on Fiona’s face, it fit very well with her artistic persona.
Black and white is a great tool, because it often hides a multitude of sins. But lighting is still important, in order to provide the right contrast to a scene. Not enough contrast will make the monochrome images look flat. These filmmakers did a very good job in making sure their lighting was on, and there were several shots with great shadow and contrast.
I did notice a few technical issues, however. There was one shot of Aiden in the coffee shop, in which he was out of focus and the background was in focus. Unfortunately, this fact was made much more obvious by the use of black and white. Towards the end, there were also a couple of shots that had a greenish tint to them, which looked out of place with the rest of the black-and-white; though that could probably be easily corrected in an editing program.
Use of Audio
I really loved the music in this film. There were some amazing songs used throughout that, just like so many other aspects of this movie, really added to the overall artistic feel. The songs definitely had a totally independent artist flair to them, which I’m sure also made it easier on the filmmakers to get the rights to use them. I’d be very interested to see the filmmakers release a soundtrack as well.
There were a few moments where the audio could use some tweaking, however. Early on in the film, it jumps to just one channel and drops in volume for a while. Eventually it moves back to both channels of audio, but that’s definitely something that needs to be addressed. Also, in the scene in which Aiden and Fiona are dancing, the audio level jumps quite high, so that one needs to adjust the volume. Both of these issues could be easily addressed, but they are a bit distracting at the moment.
