ben3308 (20th Feb 2009 06:14)
I generally liked this, but feel that - in a lot of ways - it was a lost opportunity because you failed to capitalize on its true potential.
For one thing, the grading and quickpace editing fit well with the style you've attempted. On these fronts, you're solid. The problem following is the direction, acting and cinematography of the rest. For what appears to be artfully-shot instead turns into poorly blocked action-wise and poorly directed acting-wise as we go on.
Not to be completely disparaging, but I had a hard time finding really any of the angles matching up for most sections of this. This is because you allot much headspace for like half your shots - which is fine - then cut it with what seems to be up to 8 other, out-of-the-blue angles. It seems like most of the cinematography was for the sake of getting extra angles, not for the sake of visually telling the story in a coherent way.
This being said, I understand your intentions here. You need angles to cut through to appear 'fresh' and keep the quick pace in an Ocean's 11 or Snatch-esque manner. And, to further the reasoning, the angles are good by themselves and fairly well-edited together. But it's the contrast of the content of each angle that makes the transition a bit hard to swallow. In conversations, for instance, it's difficult to keep track of the character geography because of poor blocking.
I just don't think you executed your vision to the level you could have. Because of this, we, as the audience, are fed a story extremely fast and not given enough time to catch up. Directing-wise, the acting goes line-to-line, again with little time to breathe. We're told the story, yeah, but it's like:
"DoyouwanttousethisLOTTERYTICKETtostealfromthisplaceandtheni'llneedyouandyouandyouOKAY,let'sGO"
Essentially, the quickpace editing works for the style of the film, but not the storytelling. We get plot point after plot point within a matter of seconds, making the overall film feel VERY contrived and VERY rushed, as if for no reason. And for that I give you a 3.
Good job, but I feel you could do better on future projects.
