Feature Film ReviewFilm Info:
Two friends start a paranormal investigation business. A client urges them to help contact his dead girlfriend and things quickly spiral out of control. Did these two paranormal investigators take on more than they could chew? Written By: Leopold Vincent Medley Directed By: Leopold Vincent Medley Genre: Fantasy 62 Minutes ON FACEBOOK
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Starting off Leopold Vincent Medley's second film did not involve a bang. Before I even began watching, the description immediately raised red flags. When the writer/director himself states that he's not proud of his film, in the description... you tend to take notice. First order of business for Mr. Medley would be to remove that. ASAP! Anyone stumbling on his film will read the notice and immediately move on. Why wouldn't they? If the director himself writes that he's not proud of his film... well, you get the point. The film itself you ask? Let's just say the inexperience of the cast and crew shines through loud and clear, even as an indie. The hardest part for me was deciding on a rating of two or two and a half. I went with the higher number mainly because the movie itself, in essence is not too bad. Some decent dialog writing exists that simply needs to be tempered with experience to shine through. The main areas "Class One Apparition" fails are in the technical ones.
Let's begin with audio. The sound of this film is the real killer. To be honest... it's brutal. Over and over, myself and near every indie reviewer keeps writing how important sound is to an indie flick. Without sound you got nothing. Want proof? How often do you (or someone you know) watch movies and twiddle with your phone, or laptop as the movie plays? Most people do. Technically, they don't watch the movie; they listen to it. A bad image can be forgiven, bad audio can not. In this case it felt as if no care at all went into the audio... save adding a few backing tracks. Constant shifts in wind noise, dialog that changes volume and tone... to outright pieces you just can't hear. It's all here and in this film particularly bad. Take note would-be producers and directors... you don't need a million dollar set-up; just take the time when mixing your audio. Is a line unusable? Re-record it. It's much better than the alternative. The cast themselves, at times do a decent job in their respective roles. Keep in mind though that again, inexperience shines through. Friends being in a friends movie always generates this level of acting. With "Class One Apparition" however, there is some talent present among the group. More exposure to acting could potentially produce some stellar actors. The big issue here was deciding on the parts of the acting that would have been really good... if the audio allowed it to be. Wrapping it all up was a surprisingly competent edit and some fitting scoring. These two factors alone helped decide that extra half point. "Class One Apparition" could have been a much better film. The pieces were present, just not put together properly. Had Leopold Vincent Medley spent some time on the audio we may have had a different review. It's all in the technical elements. Sure, a good story is a good story. But without the technical aspects nobody will watch it. Put even simpler... if it's hard to watch why would anyone want to? The good elements of the movie are in place. The hard part will be to allow people to get to them. Advice from someone who's watched hundreds of indie films over the last few years? Keep the ball rolling. Get some kind of microphone and actually edit the sound the same you as you would edit the picture. Keep going, I've seen much worse from directors with way more experience. My challenge to you Mr. Medley, is put something together this year and spend the time on the technical elements. Even if it's just a 5 minute short. You've got a knack for the creative side, now get the tech behind you. -JT Other Reviews That May Interest You
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