Visual Look
There was some nice camerawork in this film. I liked the use of handheld inside the bar at the beginning, especially since the characters were kept in very harsh shadows. However, many of the bar scenes that take place later were much brighter lit and I think it would’ve looked better to have kept the stark lighting with harsh shadows inside the bar.
Perhaps my favorite visual aspect of the movie was the framing of the shots. As with photography, the best-looking images will conform to the rule of thirds – if one divides an image into three equal-sized rows and three equal-sized columns, and places the subject at the intersection of any of those lines, the result will look much better than simply centering an image. There were a lot of shots in this film where subjects were really well-placed along those lines, and I also noticed some good use of framing with other objects – one shot in particular showed two large bushes on either side of the frame, with a character getting out of a car centered directly between them. It’s a subtle thing, but it’s amazing how much a film will be enhanced by simply paying attention to properly framing each scene.
Though there were some good handhelds in this film, there were also a high number of very shaky ones. This got a little disconcerting at times and, for those with weaker stomachs, would make the film very difficult to watch. It seems as though a tripod would’ve definitely come in handy on a lot of these shots; or at least a re-edit using a less shaky take.
There were also a couple of other visual issues I noticed. Firstly, there were several outdoor shots that looked a bit too washed out. This could’ve been easily correctly on the day by using an ND (neutral density) filter on the camera, but most editing programs have a post filter that functions somewhat like a ND that can at least help after the fact. Also, there are a couple of flashbacks throughout the film to illustrate what is being talked about, but there is no clear transition between the two, just a cut. There ought to be some sort of differentiation just to make things easier on the audience, such as a white flash between scenes, or by showing the flashbacks in black and white or sepia tone. Yeah, it’s been done before ad nauseum, but once the audience sees it they’ll say, “Oh, it’s a flashback,” instead of, “Wait, is this a completely new scene?”
Finally, at the end of the film when William is contemplating leaving Middlesex to see Paige and T.K. has just gotten out of jail and is thinking about changing his life, there is a nice montage between the two that incorporates a voice over with William talking. However, the montage is put together with brief shots of each, and cuts to black in between. This sort of harsh transition is really rough on the eyes, and even though it’s a really good scene, these transitions ought to be something smoother, like dissolves.
Use of Audio
I really liked the music in this film. There was a nice blend of the sort of slow, country music that is typically popular in small Southern towns, and also a mix of gangster rap that the young people tend to favor. The montage in the opening credits was very well put together, incorporating a song talking about a small town with dissolves between shots of the group of friends coming home after being out all night.
