One
shot that I really did like, however, was the final shot of the movie. At the
end of the Boy Scouts derby, there’s a shot of Joe on his hands and knees,
cleaning up the gym floor. The shot then slowly zooms out wider and wider as Joe
continues to scrub. I thought this was the perfect shot to use, as it illustrated
the fact that, although Joe has had a very rough-and-tumble past, his life is
now all about his kids and being involved in their lives.
Use
of Audio
The
dialogue for this film was pretty understandable – quite impressive considering
one setting was inside a machine shop – usually a very noisy place –
and that another scene was inside a gymnasium – notorious for echo. There
were a few slight dips or moments where the audio was a little difficult to understand,
but nothing that couldn’t be tweaked a bit in post-production.
It
would’ve been nice to hear some sort of score to this film; perhaps something
as simple as Joe’s favorite song playing on the radio on low volume. Or at
least something instrumental to underscore some of the stories that he tells.
Use of Budget
Given
the rough nature of the movie, it’s obvious that the total cost was quite
low. And although the visuals and audio were decent, it still seems as though
more work could have been put into better structuring the story and also on editing
together a much more cohesive piece. As a rough cut, it has some good elements
that need additional work, but as a finished film it doesn’t stand on its
own.
Lasting
Appeal
It
sounds as if the main character of this movie has led a very colorful life, and
now that he’s a father he is trying to do the best by his kids. Joe seems
like an interesting subject for a documentary, but this particular film wasn’t
the way to go about it. It was too random and disorganized for an audience to
really understand what was going on, or perhaps to even sympathize with the main
character.
Overall
Comment
It seems like this is more of a rough cut that could be turned into
something really interesting, but it definitely needs more structure, introduction
of characters, and some better visuals before that can happen.
