Use
of Audio
I
really liked the music used in this film. It was very
calm and dreamlike, yet it carried some strains of tension
that matched well with the feel of the movie.
There
were, however, a few audio issues, one of which is some
instances where the sound effects were a little too loud
and they almost seem to overpower the main action. One
example of this is at the end when Agim is on the phone,
a loud sound effect of someone typing can be heard. This
sound effect goes on for quite a while before someone
starts speaking, so this sound initially seems very confusing,
plus the volume is almost as loud as the voice of the
person speaking, which doesn't match very well. The sound
effect should either be quieter or just eliminated altogether.
Probably
one of the biggest sound issues was that of the philosophical
voice-overs of the blind beggar. Since the film is centered
on philosophical ideas, these sound bytes are probably
the most important - it is important that the audience
be able to hear them. The effect that they give is very
good, as both Agim and the blind man are almost whispering
- an interesting change that sets a very contemplative
mood. However, sometimes whispering is hard to understand,
especially since the volume of these sections of audio
was very low in comparison to the rest of the sound throughout
the film. When watching the movie, I had to turn the sound
all the way up just to hear it, and then I still wasn't
able to fully understand what was being said. Since these
philosophical exchanges are so important to the film,
this audio problem really needs to be fixed in order for
the audience to truly understand the movie. (Probably
the only way to deal with this is through ADR, as boosting
a whisper usually results in a lot of background garbage
getting boosted with it. We will be doing an article on
ADR in an issue or two.)
Use
of Budget
For
a movie that has such a simple look, $8500 seems like
a lot of money to spend, though, if equipment price was
factored into the Budget, then the $5000 Canon XL2 and
the $500 Final Cut HD software that was used explain a
good chunk of it.
