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Aside from that overarching issue, there is one small thing that sticks out in the film, which appears to either be a frame rate or shutter speed malfunction. Midway through the film, Brian gets a phone call from some people and Aaron rushes to pick up the phone for his brother. However, his hands are covered with cheese puff cheese, so he fumbles the phone. For some reason, this shot strobes very strangely and sticks out like a sore thumb. Cutting to a different shot or different take would be a good idea. Of course, if the choice to down-rez the footage to make it look more like 16mm is followed through, this sequence may no longer stick out.
(I chatted with the director, who explained that this shot was shot with a different camera which shoots HDV rather than HD because the shot was obtained originally.)
Use of Audio
The audio for, the most part, was quite good in this film. There were a few general issues, however, throughout the film. The only constant issue is that Brian’s voice is louder than the other voices in the film, causing him to audibly overwhelm the other voices. While I’m sure this was done to show his personal arrogance, it is currently excessive. A slight shift in volume is all that’s necessary to show the me-centered, overwhelming character of Brian. On to the more unique issues.
Midway through the movie, Brian chooses to reveal the secret origin of him as regional messiah through a darkened interview, in which his face and voice are distorted to prevent recognition. This is a good idea, but the distortion is a bit excessive, to the point where it becomes difficult to make out exactly what he’s saying. (For example, he tells the interviewer that he escaped the clutches of the government agents by using his miraculous powers to send out a “potty vibe” which made the government agents leave the room to relieve themselves. However, due to the distortion, it sounds like he says that he sent out “a party vibe”, which leaves you trying to figure out what’s going on.)
There were also a couple of scenes, like a side room talk between Miriam and Brian about getting a donkey and a bus terminal conversation, that had issues with phasey-ness and a hollow sound to the voices. It sounded like the actors had either gotten off axis or too far from the shotgun and lavalier mics they were using. These issues are a bit distracting, although you can get away with them due to the documentary style of the film. The only real way to fix them would be to redub them. While this is a doable alternative for a mockumentary, especially since both scenes are in unique audio locations to the rest of the film, it’s really up to the director if he wants to put the time in to do this.
Use of Budget
The budget was primarily used for obtaining a professional DP and for insurance, food, locations, costumes, and HD tapes. (The tapes alone for the HDW-F900 are a pretty penny!) For all the things they were able to accomplish, they spent their money well. For future films, saving up for an audio engineer for final polishing of the audio would also help.
Lasting Appeal
This film has a lot of lasting appeal, both from a general and a specific audience area. I’ve seen it five times now and I enjoyed it more the last time than I did the first time. It’s definitely one I wish to see over again and one I wish to show others. If the ending is touched up to make the message a little clearer, this film will be pretty close to dead on in the Lasting Appeal department.
Overall Comment
While it’s got a few issues, The Proper Care and Feeding of an American Messiah is a unique look at a culture that often forgets the most important things in search of the all-consuming American Dream and an 'Ultimate Goal for Which People Will Remember Us.' This is definitely one to take a look at.
With the sort of wit and tenacity that Director Chris Hansen uses in this film, I am very interested to see what his next film will be.
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Content |
8.0 |
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Visual
Look |
8.5 |
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Use
of Audio |
8.5 |
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Use
of Budget |
9.5 |
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Lasting
Appeal |
9.5 |
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Overall
Score |
8.8
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The
director of two feature length films and half a dozen short films,
Jeremy Hanke
founded Microfilmmaker Magazine to help all no-budget filmmakers make
better films. His first book on low-budget special effects techniques, GreenScreen Made Easy, (which he co-wrote with Michele Yamazaki) was released by MWP to very favorable reviews. He's curently working on the sci-fi film franchise, World of Depleted through Depleted: Day 419 and the feature film, Depleted. |
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