The problem is that the ending keeps going as well, and a lot of it isn't properly explained. There is one woman who is revealed to be Charlie's mother, but after Charlie's real mother appears, we find she is only an actor. There is also a suggestion that Butch and William were both actors themselves, which could be believable with William but seems ridiculous with Butch. The initial explanation Charlie gives to Butch and William is that his parents were too occupied with their money to spend any time with him, but later on he tells Butch that he became wealthy through his own ingenuity. These few different twists to the ending are more than a bit confusing and need to be much better explained. The repetitious dialogue continues to the end; after Charlie's financial situation is revealed, it becomes mentioned in almost every other sentence to the effect of "I've always had money...By the way, I have money...Did I tell you I have money?" That could be funny in a screwball comedy, but in this case it sounds both repetitive and arrogant.
The visuals in this film were pretty good. I didn't notice many lighting or white balance issues, even in the scenes shot in lower light. What did look off, however, was the opening scene. It was shot in a car driving through a city, and, for obvious reasons, it was very shaky. This idea is good for opening credits as it's far more interesting than white text on a black card. The shake was disorienting at best, though I understand that it is very difficult to control while driving. If no kind of steadicam system is available, one option could be to secure the camera to the seat so it only moves in response to the shake of the car instead of both the car and the individual holding it. It also goes without saying that the driver should drive slowly, not jerking the wheel, and keeping acceleration and deceleration as smooth as possible (without getting into an accident, of course). To assist with this after the fact, companies like Red Giant and Boris sell stabilization plugins that run between $200 - $800. (Although, NewBlueFX, who normally makes very economical plugins, is also apparently working on a stabilizer plugin.)
While driving with a camera in the car, it is also a good idea to not go through tunnels, as was done in this film. While our own eyes can adjust to such dramatic changes, it takes auto-iris cameras a longer. The result is a rapid dimming while entering the tunnel, and by the time the camera has adjusted, the tunnel has come to an end and there is a blinding flash of light as the camera has to re-adjust itself to daylight. As it's nearly impossible to control these circumstances, it might be best to avoid bridges and tunnels in these types of shots. (Or invest in a camera with manual iris controls.)
I also noticed some odd framing of individuals in this film. Generally when shooting a conversation between two people there should be lead space in the direction each person is facing, but there were a few shots that had lead space behind an actor's head rather in front of their face. It really looked odd, especially considering that the majority of the shots were framed correctly.
The constant underlying music in this film seemed odd as it didn't really let up. Music is a tool to set the mood and add emphasis, but if there is never any silence, the effect is lost. In this case, less is almost always more. It's always difficult for a microfilmmaker as we don't have the luxury of an orchestra playing music to perfectly fit each scene, but that doesn't mean we can't still make it work. Adobe Soundbooth is a great (and not terribly expensive) audio editing software where one can create a royalty free soundtrack. For those on truly no budget (or my fellow Dutch-folk), Audacity is a free, very user-friendly, and quick programs. It doesn't have quite the vast list of effects as Soundbooth (nor will it actually compose music for you), but it's still pretty easy to shorten, lengthen or even change music tracks you currently have the rights to. It just takes some trial and error. (Or you could also look at the large collections of Creative Commons music and contact the musicians to see if they’ll let you use their music or even create a custom score for you with deferred reimbursement! Of course, MFM has a collection of artists that offer there music for sort of arrangement already!)
There was also a lot of inconsistency with audio levels in this film; in some scenes the volume was too low, and others in which it was too high. Remember, you want to mix all your audio levels to certain standard levels so that people don’t have to fiddle with their audio controls. A common set of levels that many filmmakers mix to is: -12 Db for dialoge and exclusive music, -18 Db for music beds and background sound effects, and –6 to –8 Db for dominant sound effects.
