To further compound the feeling of disorientation, the filmmakers had chosen to use a 35mm lens adapter for their Canon HV-20. While I love 35mm lens adapters when they're used properly, my guess is that the filmmakers tried to determine if they were in focus with the HV-20's pop-out viewscreen. Prosumer and professional camera LCD screens are very difficult to use for this sort of work, so the much lower resolution screen found in the Canon HV-20 is even less up to the task. As such, almost all of the footage in this film was out of focus. Some shots simply had soft focus, whereas other shots had prominent elements that were so distractingly out of focus that it felt like I needed to rub my eyes to clear it up. [Note to the Director: Since you use the Adobe Production Premium package, I would definitely encourage you to use OnLocation on a laptop any time you are using a 35mm lens adapter so you can make sure your footage is actually in focus. This is doubly useful because, in order to set them up properly in the first place, 35mm lens adapters require you to focus your camera lens on the grains of the ground glass before turning the adapter on. Getting those grains in focus is much easier with your footage on your laptop in OnLocation.]
Beyond these other issues, it appeared that they had either not set up their lens adapter correctly or they were using a long telephoto lens, as there was noticeable vignetting on half their shots. (Vignetting occurs when there are circular shadows around the edges of the shots. These framing curves result from the edge of the lens being visible in the shot.) Most 35mm lens adapters require the digital video camera to zoom in towards the ground glass element so that vignetting is eliminated. Even if the adapter is set up properly, if you zoom all the way out with a long telephoto lens, vignetting can still occur. (Again, using a recording/preview software like OnLocation or ScopeBox can help make sure this issue isn't cropping up.)
While there were content and visual problems in this film, the audio department managed to get very clear audio for most of the film. (There were a few times where things got a bit sketchy when a couple of the characters were on an outdoor porch, but these were very short and insignificant.) Considering the filmmakers made do with a Rhode NTG-2 mic on a boom pole, I felt they did an impressive job with their audio. The actors were easy to understand and there was very little distracting background noise.
The music for the film was largely in the form of ending credits music, but this was a rather well chosen tune called “Meet the Neighbors” by a band called, The Threes.
While $500 is not a huge budget for a film, it was very strangely spent. Since the camera and equipment were owned, $100 was used for the food for the cast and crew and the rest was used to fly the director to Kansas where it was shot. Unless Mr. Bruns just had a large cast and crew that were in Kansas, it seems strange for this film to have been shot anywhere that the director wasn't already located. This is due to the fact that the entire short took place in a single house and you never see any distinguishing elements outside or inside to make you realize what state or city you are in. (Perhaps the director was on vacation seeing old friends and they shot the film while he was there. Considering it was all shot in 3 hours, that seems likely. If so, then the airline tickets would normally not be included in the budget.)
For future films, I would encourage the filmmaker to raise a little more money for better lighting and to see if he can get a friend to let him use their laptop for OnLocation/Scopebox, as both can make it easier to not be out of focus.
Due to the largely out of focus cameras, the rather boring camera work, and the often problematic performances, I wouldn't have a great desire to watch this film again or show it to others.
The concept of having a teacher who is getting his high school students to bring him weed is an interesting way of looking at the pervasiveness of the drug culture. While there are a number of technical and performance difficulties that crop up, I can see the director has a unique perspective on the world around him. If more attention is paid to camerawork and performance in future films (without losing focus on the all-important subject of audio), I think Mr. Bruns will be a filmmaker who is able to make some pretty innovative works of art.
