Use of Budget
To shoot nearly a 10 minute 16mm film for under $1,000 is awesome. Because they shot it all in a single day, they only had food and transportation costs for that day and apparently a lot of people volunteered their services, which meant that the lion’s share of the budget went to the film and processing. This is a great use of budgeting in order to shoot on the film stock that the director clearly prefers.
In the spirit world, Angela finds her
dead husband, Ben...
...who reminds her of the needs
their two kids have for their mom.
Lasting Appeal
While this is a technically impressive film, its extremely predictable message decreases its lasting appeal. People who wish to see that a high quality 16mm short can be made on a micro-budget will definitely want to watch this film. Additionally, people who know women who are in the same situation as the heroine might want to recommend that they watch the film. Unfortunately, I don’t have a huge amount of desire to rewatch the film myself.
Overall Comment
Mark Kochanowicz continues to improve as a filmmaker, with improved visuals, acting, and story progression. While this particular story feels a bit too repetitious to cover much new ground, I really look forward to his future films as he continues to evolve as a storyteller. When he feels comfortable, I would love to see what he does with a feature-length film!
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.
