Budget
$10,000 is quite a bit of money for a short independent film, no doubt. However, multiple the 15 minutes this money bought by 6, and you’d essentially have a 90-minute Hollywood-quality feature for $60K, which is pretty incredible. Everything here is top-notch, and while that sort of quality doesn’t come cheap, you can definitely see it on the screen.
Shockley spent 40% of the budget on the lighting, camera, film processing, and transfer to HD for post production. I imagine that the lighting itself was extremely expensive due to having to put fixtures in out-of-the-way places that wouldn’t be seen in the 360-degree range of motion caused by shooting the whole thing in one shot. 10% was spent on a steadicam operator, which was crucial in this case since the whole film is handheld and any extreme shakiness from the camera would have been a distraction from the performances. Also, 15% of the budget was spent on production design, a necessary expense since doing it in one shot left no room for slacking on the set dressing. Every inch of the store is shown, and needed to be fully stocked with clothing, fixtures, and extras to look realistic. Finally, the dressing room where much of the film takes place had to be custom-built to allow the actors and crew to all fit in there and be able to move around freely.
However, many of these expenses were only necessary because of the nature of shooting the whole thing in one long take. Again, I’m not sold on this artistic choice, so I’m not sure if it was worth the money, although the crew’s ability to pull off such a stunt even on this budget is commendable.
Lasting Appeal
One of the things that I like best about this film is that it doesn’t drag on. There are very few dead spaces, and it feels like the script was run over with a fine-toothed comb for any unnecessary dialogue. It’s tight and as a result I didn’t mind watching it multiple times, and wouldn’t mind watching it again. I’d also be more than willing to show it to my filmmaker friends as a great example of how to write a dramatic scene without resorting to clichéd melodrama.
Overall Comment
While the gimmick of the continuous shot was unnecessary, it’s not often that you see an independent short with excellent acting, great lighting, clear sound and a tight script. Shockley obviously has a talent for directing actors and writing realistic dialogue, and I hope to see more films from her that continue to deal with the human condition in such a mature and understated manner.
