There are also a lot of great visual effects used, such as a time-lapse wide shot of a city, a slightly sped-up driving sequence that only looked out of the vehicle's front window, and lots of very well-done moving shots. There was a very straightforward tracking shot past the exterior of a gas station, and I noticed that the colors on the gas pumps were very bright and vibrant, despite the overhead florescent lighting which tends to mute colors. My favorite shot was from a scene in which Benny and a henchman have caught Vern breaking into a house. Vern distracts them with drinks while he swipes their car keys, and when they aren't looking, he makes a break for it. The shot in question immediately follows Benny and company's realization that Vern has escaped, and follows them as they run out of the kitchen and toward the open front door. Through the front door one can see their vehicle - perfectly clear and exposed - as it peels off, and the door shuts. Not only does this sequence look great, but it had to have been amazingly difficult to pull off.
With all the good visuals in the film, there were a few issues.
First, there is a POV shot walking through a hotel lobby that appears to be hand held and was also sped up, making it pretty shaky. While the scene looked very Ocean's 11 and it was short enough to not be too disorienting, it could be difficult to watch for some viewers. There was also a pretty glaringly obvious mistake later on in the film during a montage where Betty is driving and thinking about a conversation she had had about getting rid of her husband. As the scene dissolves back and forth between the conversation and the shot of Betty driving, it is obvious that the letterbox on both of these sequences are very different, and after the transition to the next scene, the letterbox format there is different as well. Unfortunately, the dissolves - while appropriate for the montage - make the format error all the more obvious. To correct this simply involves laying on the right widescreen matte in post so that the different shots are congruous.
The final problem with the visuals of this film comes in the continuity of Vern's look at the beginning of the movie. Post-hand-injury Vern fits his persona perfectly with his scraggly beard and ratty clothes. The problem, however, is that he looks very unchanged from his younger and more cocky self. At the very least, that Vern should have had a better haircut and nicer clothes; he didn't especially look like the son of a made man, nor did he look young enough to be a Yankees hopeful. (Remember, makeup, hair, and wardrobe are important for showing the passage of time in situations like this.)
As with the above category, the audio on this film was great. I didn't notice any muffled or unintelligible dialog, and the levels of dialog were not overpowered by the music. And speaking of music, the film's score was nothing short of amazing. There was great variety, from an upbeat sound reminiscent of Oceans' 11 at the beginning of the movie to a slower and depressed cadence to match Vern's own depression. There was some really crazy music while Vern gets high off of stolen medical marijuana, and even some pieces that mimicked the very distinctive strains of Sergio Leone's western trilogy.
Even the background audio was good. I particularly liked a scene in which Vern is trying to sell a stolen van - the sound of cars driving by can be heard in the background, but they sounded perfectly natural and not as though they had been captured by accident "home movie" style. The effect very likely could have been added in post, as it does not overpower the dialog at all. There is also some cleverness employed in this particular category - at one point music plays over a montage that ends with Vern asleep in his car. The music continues as an old man walks up to the car, but ends abruptly once the old man knocks on the window, waking Vern up.
This section was nearly flawless - my only complaint would be an instance in which there was a very drawn out and suspenseful chord. While wholly appropriate, this particular chord seemed overpoweringly loud to the point of needing to cover one's ears. For most sound effects or music that's designed to be a sound effect, -6 Db is a good place to mix (with dialogue coming at -12 Db and music beds at -18 Db).
This film's $7,000 budget was spent on gas ($600), food ($3,000), props ($600), insurance ($600), production costs ($800), payments to the cast ($800), and the rest ($600) of building expenses and other miscellaneous needs.
The movie was shot in the course of two years, beginning with the script which was started in January 2007, principal photography began that fall, with everything being wrapped up in the spring of 2009. It was shot on the weekends, and edited concurrently - a tactic that is sometimes overlooked by the microfilmmaker, although many very successful filmmakers have used it to great advantage. While giving up one's weekends for two years (!) is a harrowing thought, it's an excellent way to get a film shot while keeping a budget under control. It will take a long time to finish - there's no way around that—but its much cheaper than trying to take a month or two off from work (let alone finding actors and crew who will do the same!) and trying to cram a feature film into as short a time as possible. In addition, editing the film while shooting it - while an additional time burden - can often be a lifesaver when time or money is short. We've all found ourselves in the editing room - usually months after shooting has finished - only to discover that there is only one usable take of scene 23, but the one crew member who chose to wear a florescent pink shirt has somehow meandered into the shot in order to have a very animated conversation on his cell phone. Its enough to make you stab your eyes out with a chopstick!
