Adding
to the awkwardness were some acting missteps from Jenn Wilson
in the role of Kate. These missteps largely vanished about
the same time the editing issues vanished, so it's possible
that more proficient editing got rid of them later or that
less proficient editing showcased them earlier.
By the
end of the movie, the character of Kate has really grown
on you and you really find yourself liking her. This is
due both to the fact that her character is well-designed
and the fact that she avoids most of the horror-movie chick
clichés like running around screaming or getting
herself killed by the boogey man because she went outside
alone! The character of John stays uniquely likeable throughout
the film, which is especially impressive since it was played
by the director. As I had to be the lead actor in my first
film, that is never something that's easy and I felt he
pulled it off well.
All
in all, the content was quite good. Even though the film
was only 70 minutes long, it felt like it was a full hour
and a half.
Visual
Look
The visual look was both compelling and problematic. It
was compelling because of its stylistic use close-ups of
both humans and objects that got you second-guessing your
eyes and wondering what was really going on in the strange
tower. It was problematic because of a variety of different
lighting problems that might have been intended to be compelling
or mood-instilling but looked like mistakes. Chief amongst
these was overly-strong back lighting that tended to blow
out the edges of actors walking in front of windows, such
as a noticeable scene with Kate in front of a picture window
at an office and John in front of the huge windows on the
staircase. I can understand how this could be attempted
to give the world a supernaturally surreal feel, but, if
that is the case, it ended up looking accidental and problematic.
[Note to the Director: If you weren't trying to go
for an on-location surreal look and just ran into over-exposure
issues, try securing wax paper over open windows that your
talent will walk in front of. This makes the outside look
like it's a cloudy day but cuts out a lot of the overwhelming
light. If you were intentionally going for a wraith-like
look, then, for future films, record a clean image on location
and use a post black- or white-mist filter like the ones
available in Nattress (FCP) or Magic Bullet Editors (Premiere
Pro, everything else).-JH]
Later,
however, as John is subjected to a mysteriously overpowering
light (which resembles those seen in alien encounters),
the blasting light works out well, conveying a sense of
panic and fear that is clearly intentional.
In addition
to the issues mentioned earlier of too much light, there
were some scenes that didn't have enough light, causing
them to seem flat or undefined. While there are some genres
that can look past issues with lighting, supernatural mysteries
are not one of them. The supernatural subject matter needs
to have strong lighting in order to convey the sense of
urgency and mystery.
Some
especially nice effects came when John encounters actual
ghosts in the house. The use of trimmed footage that's at
half opacity does a workable job of showing the spirits
the director's interested in showing. And he fortunately
doesn't use too many of the shots, realizing that the poor
man's way of showing ghosts doesn't hold up well to intense
scrutiny.
There
is one final issue to be brought up due to the fact that
the credits-specifically the opening credits-seemed rough
to the point of being unfinished. The director clearly tried
to make them look different than standard font credits,
but, unfortunately, they came off feeling very crude and
incomplete. While I have seen crude credits done with horror
movies, the fact this is a supernatural romance/mystery
really begs for something that looks more polished.
Despite
the issues mentioned in different areas of the film, the
overall look works well.
