I'm not rating this because I didn't finish it.
I found this on youtube from one link that led to another link that lead to another...you know how it is. Anyway, I just had to watch it to see what a $500 feature looks like. I have to say, "I've seen worse." It's only mostly dead lol.
No, seriously, parts of it don't look bad. Extensive use of camera drone makes for some interesting footage. And the exterior wide shots are actually kind of nice sometimes. But the night shots are so dark you can't see anything.
And that's about it for the pros.
The cons:
One of the oldest truisms of film making is that if your script sucks then so will your movie. When you have a limited budget you don't pay anyone to write the script, you have to write it yourself. So the script doesn't cost anything but time. Ergo you can' t blame a crappy script on a low budget.
The story itself isn't bad but the dialog is. I mean really bad. Add to that the fact that the ADR is so sketchy that at times it sounds like three or more unmatched sound recordings all forced into the same scene. One guy sounds like he was recorded in an echo chamber, while another guy is talking under a blanket. It's distracting to say the least.
Apparently the budget didn't have room for a dolly, or a steady-cam, or even a tripod. The shaky-cam is making me seasick.
When you have no money then nobody who works on the production gets paid. I mean NOBODY. You have to find "actors" who will work for free. And like so many other things in life you get what you pay for. These aren't the worst actors I've ever seen. But they're not even good amateurs.
I'm 30 minutes in now and I can't take anymore. I've seen enough to satisfy my curiosity and to answer the one question I had: Can you really make a feature film for $500? Yes, you can. But is it worth it?
