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Ryan, Liz, and Craig are three stoners on a mission. What that mission is, however, isn't exactly clear. Supposedly, they are going to meet someone at the airport and, for some unknown reason, this person is supposed to be shot. Of course, being stoners, the drive to their destination isn't exactly a straight one. There are multiple detours for food and secretive smoke breaks. Will they make it to their destination in time to complete their mission? Doubtful.
This film is quite hard to understand. About the most that anyone can understand is that Ryan, Liz, and Craig are on a mission to shoot someone, but the who or why is never explained.
There are a couple vignettes of black-and-white where the characters break the fourth wall and talk to the camera as if this details their thoughts. It is a nice touch and gives a little bit of clarity, but not near enough for an audience to understand the plot. These types of cutaways are the perfect opportunity to explain the entire story and backstory in a clear and precise way – there is nothing clearer than a character looking straight at the camera and saying, “This is what’s going on…” Look at the success of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The eccentricity of this film’s three characters provides an excellent opportunity for humor, especially if they end up getting the stories mixed up or jump in an out of each others’ thoughts.
There are a couple mildly humorous moments, but without any clear context or story, they are often lost on an audience who is more concerned with trying to figure out what is going on rather than when to laugh. I would recommend that, if the filmmakers wish to make more drug trip type movies, that they watch some more well-composed drug movies like The Pineapple Express, Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, or even Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle.
This film has quite a lot of visual issues and, quite frankly, it makes the film look very sloppy.
The images themselves appear vertically “squished;” as though the movie was shot in the wrong format and compressed during editing. (This often happens if the filmmakers shoot in 16:9 on their camcorders and then, when they edit it, squish it further. Some editing programs don't show 16:9 formatting, causing filmmakers to try to correct the problem in the editor and doubling the “squeeze.”) It’s not a major thing, but is more noticeable on smaller screens.
The most glaring problem are the numerous washed-out shots. Many of these are exteriors, as well as a couple shots inside the car, and in a restaurant. This is something that can easily be avoided by proper planning. Many modern cameras have ND (neutral density) filters built into their lenses, which cut out ¼ or ½ of the light. If a camera doesn’t have one, attachable filters are also available. This helps greatly when shooting on a very sunny day, but it’s still important to properly white-balance the camera and use bounce cards to avoid heavy shadows in the actor’s faces. This type of attention only takes a bit of extra effort and money, but it’s certainly worth it.
In addition, even though the camera used for this movie (Sony Handicam DCR-HC65) has a Super Steady Shot image stabilizer, it does not mean that one can get away with not using a tripod! There is one very obviously shaky scene where the characters pull their car over to the side of the road. Even the best modern video cameras will pick up in the slightest movements in even the steadiest hand, and these will be translated into obvious shake on the image. Handheld shots are not recommended unless it will greatly enhance the feeling of a film – and even then are still best done with a Steadicam-type device – or if there is absolutely no alternative. $30 will buy a bottom-of-the-rung tripod, and many still camera tripods can be adapted to use with video cameras, especially small ones like the DCR-HC65. Once again, it’s a small step to take, but the finished product will be much better for it.
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