EliHarkwhat did you think of the shots? filming good? i chose to go handheld to give it a less silky/gentle look and more of a rough/sketchy look. being as i am 16 and exploring film making for the firstime though, i would be the first to admit i am not a master. did you like the editing/filming?
Your shot choice was interesting and added visual dynamic to the short, however the very low exposure made it difficult to ascertain what was going on. Watch several directors (Cuaron- Children of Men, Bigelow- Hurt Locker) work to see how combining fast hand held with deliberate pauses can create tension-- hand held is exciting and impactful, but more than a short burst can make it tiring and repetitive, which it fell into here.
One issue I'd pick out is the music choice is very not fitting to the style. Watch this short:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgOOU0z_Pik
(fun fact- this little known short is directed by Alejandro Innaritu who directed Birdman, and shot by Robert Richardson, Tarantino's director of photography. A pretty insane collaboration, and it also was the primary inspiration for the visual style of Bruce Jennings in The Hurt Locker)
Notice how the music is pretty calm, near silent. The frenetic camera movement and tension placed on the scene are enough to keep us attentive, without a powerful over the top score. Your score sounds a bit too Christopher Nolan, while your visual style is a more cinema verité approach. So basically, less would have been more here.
Finally, I'd say the story is tough to digest. You've created an urgency and tension, but it gets stagnant quickly as nothing develops. The character should find something or learn something. The lack of finding whatever it is he's looking at isn't enough. Overall good work though, keep creating as much as you can and you'll learn things fast
