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One
interesting bit of character development that I thought
was good, was that of Mack, one of the bully ringleaders.
In one scene, he comes home late from practice to find
his father drunk at the kitchen table. His father instigates
a fight with him, and we see bruises on Mack's face the
next day. He brushes off his peer's inquiries, telling
them he beat someone up. A few days later, there are again
bruises on his face, with a similar explanation given.
This is a nice touch, because it helps to show that the
students who are cruel to others are usually that way
for one (or both) of the following reasons: because it's
what they've learned and it's how a lot of them cope with
abuse they receive. The only downside to this insight
into Mack's character is that it only appears in this
one scene. It would have helped highlight and reinforce
Mack's development to have a few additional scenes of
him by himself. Nothing major, just a few introspective
close-ups showing the audience more of his pain; maybe
a voice-over of his dad yelling at him while he looks
at his report card or at a photo. Little touches like
that can greatly enhance what the audience has already
been given.
The
continuity is very good, which can be difficult to accomplish
when you're trying to show the passage of several weeks
at a school; the progression of events and daylight must
coordinate properly or else it can be very distracting.
In the movie, outdoor scenes and external shots accurately
show the shift from morning to afternoon to evening.
The
only thing that really stuck out to me was the lack of
adult presence at the school. Other than one or two teachers,
the counselor, and the coach, there were no other adult
figures seen at or around the school. (It kind of felt
like the world of Charlie Brown; in those Peanuts cartoons,
there were never any parents or adults around. You only
occasionally heard the "Wonht-wonht" of the
teacher talking, but other than that, not a person over
the age of about twelve was to be seen.) This is especially
obvious in the shooting scene in the cafeteria toward
the end. No teachers or assistants come running in to
see what the noise is, no Cafeteria Lunch Ladies stick
their heads out of the kitchen to see what everyone's
yelling about. This actually detracted from the scene
because it was so very absent. Many of the students that
have gone on shooting sprees at schools would frequently
take aim at the teachers as well as the students, because
they feel that the teachers should/could have done something
to make the teasing stop. While I am not one to tell writers/directors
who they should pop off in their films, it would have
been enough to show the Sex Ed teacher (shown earlier
when the students were loudly picking on Chris in his
class) be one of the victims in the cafeteria; since he
witnessed the bullying and did nothing to acknowledge
it, it would be believable for Chris to see him as another
kind of antagonist.
Visual
Look
The overall visual quality of the movie is very good. With
some microcinema movies, the digital quality of the film
is apparent; not so with this movie. There were a few times
(e.g. traffic shots with moving cars) where the "digital
look" was apparent, but overall it was relatively unnoticeable.
The
quality of the shooting was also aided by good lighting
throughout. Internal scenes are lit well and evenly, which
can be difficult to do when trying to work around fluorescent
lights already on the location. Scenes vary in location
from outdoors in both shade and sunlight, to indoors in
offices/classrooms, homes, and restaurants. In all of these
environments, the lighting is almost always consistent,
as are the colors (which shows that the camera was properly
white-balanced!). There are a few external shots (Tracy
and Chris' houses) that seem especially dark, even though
they are establishing the time of the evening. Also, there
is one short office scene that has a slight green tint to
it (those darn fluorescent lights!). A few minor tweaks
in post-production should greatly improve these.
There
are many shots from creative angles and perspectives. Petros
makes excellent use of foreground and background in her
shots, using character blocking, props, and the environment
to show depth and frame her scenes. While there are not
any extraordinary crane or steadicam shots, Petros instead
chooses to enhance the scenes through setup more than movement.
For example, the scene at the pizza parlor opens up with
the camera slowly zooming in on Nat and Tracy in their booth.
The camera is across the room from them, and the wide opening
shot includes the two people at the table in front of the
camera; as the camera moves in closer on Nat and Tracy,
the two customers in front of the camera frame the shot,
making it more subtle and personal. Little touches like
this are what make a rather straightforward story visually
inviting.
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