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Visual Look
In their publicity materials, the creators of this film really push the fact that it was shot all in one take. And while this is a technically impressive achievement (kudos to both the steadicam operator and the lighting designer), I’m not sure that it adds anything to the film, despite justifications in the press materials about it being more intimate and true to life. I think it would have been just as powerful as a conventionally edited narrative, and to be honest, the first time I watched the film I found the “one take” thing very distracting, as I kept looking for lights, or signs of the camera in the mirrors, or a missed mark, or other such production snafus. Shooting a film all in one take was a gimmick when Hitchcock did it in Rope, but back then it was a novel idea and he had the talent to pull it off. But now when anyone else does it I find it to be gimmicky and distracting in a way that screams “film student!” Fortunately, the crew and actors are technically proficient enough that this probably won’t be distracting to non-filmmakers, and my blunt suggestion to the creators of the film is to stop pushing this as a selling point. If I hadn’t been told repeatedly that it was shot in one take, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it, since the script and acting are more than powerful enough to carry the film. Simply put, the gimmick isn’t necessary.
Regardless of that, the movie looks pretty incredible. The lighting is very professional, and I was happy to see that when the windows outside of the store were shown, they weren’t blown out. That tells me that someone either took the time to gel the windows, or they had enough lights setup inside to even out the difference in brightness. Also, I’m a big fan of Super16mm (having fallen in love with it after watching Chasing Amy) and feel that when it’s used well, as it is here, it is almost as good as 35mm. The grain is controlled but obvious enough to give it a filmic feel, and the colors pop just enough to show off the kaleidoscope of fabrics in the store without being distracting.
Audio
The audio here is pretty flawless. With all of the movement going on, I’m sure the boom operator had quite a time keeping the mic out of the shot, but the dialogue is even and clear 100% of the time. There is some very subtle background ambiance from the store that might or might not have been added in post, but either way it’s a nice touch. The only criticism I have here is that the whole thing was really quiet, so I had to bump up my volume knob quite a bit. Dialogue audio for DVDs should average about -12dB, and should peak at around -8dB. Since there isn’t a lot of variation in volume due to combination of the aforementioned talent of the boom op as well as what was probably some good mixing, it would be quite easy for the filmmakers to crank the level up without having to do any additional post processing.
There isn’t much music here, but what is there is fine. I caught two places in the film where a string-type pad comes in, and it’s quiet and unobtrusive enough to be almost subliminal. I do think the performances are powerful enough to hold up without the music highlighting the emotions, but at least it’s subtle enough not to hit you over the head with it like the typical melodrama.
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