Perhaps its just my sentimentality that prefers the second ending to the first – one does feels awfully sorry for Jennifer at the end, and I almost got the sense that perhaps she may have even committed suicide. I also didn’t have much sympathy for Aldo throughout the film, and after finding that he’d ditched her, I really despised him. Plus, when Aldo told Jennifer he’s be “back in twenty minutes,” I thought, “Who hasn’t heard that one before? He’s not coming back, he’s going to ditch her. What a prick!”
One reason I like the second ending is because it adds an interesting element of the character of Aldo. We already know that Jennifer is sneaky – I got that sense of her character when she first called Aldo and invited him to her room to share drinks. With this ending, Aldo beats her at her own game. Perhaps he doesn’t quite get “revenge,” since she isn’t aware of his deception, but the audience is left with an impression of him as being “clever” rather than “vindictive.”
The other reason I like this ending is because of the tie-in. When Jennifer first calls Aldo, he is absent-mindedly waving a magic wand around, and happens to mention that there is a magic shop in the lobby of the hotel. With the first ending, this instance is meaningless, and shouldn’t really even be in the movie. But with the second ending, there’s a tie-in – and opportunity for the audience to say “Aha! That was clever!” The first ending is predictable - and I’m not the only person who saw it coming – whereas the second ending is completely unexpected.
Visual Look
The filmmakers of Flip made use of a truly wonderful piece of equipment – the Redrock Micro M2 Cinmea Lens Adapter (which we reviewed here). When attached to a digital camera, one can rack focus just as easily as with a regular film camera. Something as small as a simple rack focus shot can go a long way in giving your film the illusion of having a bigger budget. There was one particularly nice shot in “Flip” in which this equipment was used – when Jennifer calls Aldo, there is a nice rack focus from Aldo’s face to the telephone.
While some nice shots were accomplished in the film, the footage was always on the soft side, and, at times, would drift completely out of focus for a second. As the overall soft focus was a constant problem, it seemed most likely that the M2 mount had not be calibrated properly. The Redrock Micro M2 is a great piece of equipment, but it’s not a magic wand. It takes the better part of a day with either a laptop or field monitor to properly calibrate it. If the calibration wasn’t the issue, then I can only assume that they didn't have a good monitor or laptop to accurately judge focus. Either way, these are things that seriously needed to get worked out before trying to shoot a film in Las Vegas, which is harrying for even extremely experienced camera people.
One shot that I really did love was a shot of morning-after-Aldo looking at himself in the mirror and freaking out. The way in which this scene was shot made it look as though Aldo was literally talking to himself – he would say something, and his reflection would answer. It’s subtle, and a little difficult to catch, but it’s still a really nice touch.
There were also some nice moving shots – my favorites being the handhelds of Jennifer and Aldo out and about on the Strip. This was a perfect example of making use of one’s location. Vegas is full of interesting backdrops against which to place a movie, and there’s no point in shooting there if one isn’t going to show them. (Incidentally, this is another reason why I made the suggestion earlier to include the scene in which Aldo and Jennifer get married.)
In the optional commentary track, the director mentions that moving shots make your film look like it cost more than it did. And this is usually true for steadycam, crane, and dolly shots, as these type of moving shots require a lot more pre-planning, whereas stationary shots get boring to look at after a while. However, if said moving shots are hand-held and shaky, the film will end up looking amateurish and gorilla—which is far worse than one comprised entirely of stationary shots. While this isn’t always the case in Flip, I did notice a number of instances where another take--probably a non-moving one--should’ve been used instead.
Finally, I also noticed that the hotel room shots seemed slightly underlit. I’m sure it was awfully cramped to try to shoot in a hotel room – they aren’t the biggest of spaces, especially when one wants to fit an entire camera crew, lights, and actors inside. The scene in the bathroom was quite nicely lit, but the room itself could’ve used more light. The colors seemed quite dull in comparison with the rest of the film, and the room itself looked rather flat. More lighting would’ve given it some nice definition.
