La! La! La! La! La! Notes! La! La! La! La! La!
Reminder: The purpose of tearing these films down is to figure out ways that we can apply the principles that we see and hear on screen, good or bad, to our own film products.
Guessing at episode breaks according to reported ten installments.
(Episode 1)
- Minute long title sequence has a fair amount of processing to it.
Reduced frames per second.
Partial offset double images.
Water spot pattern.
Display text suggests gritty American mid-west
> EXT establish city skyline
Major 1
> INT home office
Major 2
> INT condo bedroom
Major 3
- Product Placement Opportunity (PPO) with laptop.
- Could have had a PPO with a cell phone, but director elected to use antiquated dial-type office phone (which has no pay-off for using that I could note.)
- One of the big promotion pushes was Zoe Bell's "kick ass body".
(FWIW, I don't think her face is much to look at, but whatever).
So, her casual intro is of course a way to showcase such:
reclined in bed,
hands behind her head,
sports bra,
sheets pulled down to her navel,
exposing her abs for the sit-up in bed,
she stands up in shadow to silhouette her athletic hips and thighs,
sport panties to match bra, // pedestal up shot //
followed by harsh lighting to emphasize her non-flabby arms & lean figure while dressing.
- Dialog: Eve's and Hamilton's names dropped during vulgar exposition of situation.
> EXT top of multi-level city parking deck
Major 4
- Color processing looks desaturated, shifted, then contrast increased // looks shoulder mount shot //
- Subdued background din of auto traffic has been added; note its consistency from shot to shot.
> EXT rooftop to chauffeured car on street "through binoculars"
Major 5
> INT lobby
Major 6
> INT elevator
Major 7
> INT elevator to hall
Major 8
- @ 5:18 1st brief action as Eve overcomes rent a cop.
- Low angle shot for attention on briefcase. PPO!
- Not all shots are level. (This become a reoccurring practice for action sequences.)
- Guard falls at strike - cut to different shot as his body comes to rest.
> INT dog leg hall
Major 9
- @ 5:45 Swinging cam through hall
> EXT hood mounted camera through windshield shot
Major 10
> INT apartment entry
Minor 1
> INT apartment
Minor 2
- @ 5:57 2nd fight sequence
- @ 6:05 "up scroll cuts" to open briefcase. I think this is the first of the writer's comic book background being integrated into the film by the director as a way to tie into the web series' marketing.
- @ 6:36 L&R splitscreen
- Gunfire
- That was either some tight camerawork in the elevator or a set.
- 3rd fight sequence
- Although the knife was stabbed into Eve's head just off frame @ 7:01 the action continues without it being seen because it would look ridiculous, then finally revealed dramatically @ 7:13 after Eve shoots the minor.
(Episode 2)
> EXT fire escape
Major 11
> EXT fire escape alley
Major 12
> INT doctor's treatment room
Major 13
- Did a good job matching the angle & position of prop knife in Eve's head to the x-ray // curved track shot //
- CHARACTERS: Eve's "the straight", all part-time side characters are caricatures.
- Nice slurping sound FX when knife pulled out.
> INT hallway with wire glass window doors
Major 14
> EXT street side outside Eve's condo
Minor 3
- @ 10:30 note addition of distant ambulance siren during an otherwise boring sequence.
- PPO w/ vehicles.
> EXT walk through park
Minor 4
> EXT sidewalk to parked limo
Major 15
- @ 12:17 wacky comic book wipes
> INT limo
Major 16
- No camera movement inside limo sequence
- Subtle zoom likely done in post rather than in camera.
> INT condo bathroom
Major 17
- @ 15:01 that entire bathroom sequence looked rookie sh!t as h3ll.
> INT condo livingroom
Major 18
(Episode 3)
> EXT desert
Major 19
- @ 19:07 nice head blown off effect.
> EXT hood mount center shot through car windshield (I think most all of these are legit in-camera rather than greenscreened.)
Major 20
> EXT bridge overpass
Major 21
- Both the Eve & Doc and Prescott & Agent Taylor conversations are classic 180° rule sequences. The former shoulder-rest mount shot, the latter from a tripod.
- Subtle zoom likely done in post
> EXT Bar
Minor 5
> INT Bar
Major 22
> INT Bar bathroom
Major 23
> INT lobby to Prescott's condo
Major 24
> EXT Prescott's condo
Minor 6
> INT Prescott's condo
Major 25
- @ 24:40 PPO for alcohol
> EXT Eve on wall
Minor 7
> EXT old city garage
Major 26
> INT old city garage
Major 27
(Episode 4)
> EXT old city building service entrance
Major 28
> EXT condo rear entry
Major 29
> INT old city business office
Major 30
> INT old city business office tile bathroom
Major 31
- @ 28:50 4th fight sequence
- Half shot with skewed angles
- @ 31:00 seizure concern previously voiced multiple times finally happened at the worst possible time.
(Episode 5)
- @ 33:43 very clever having the thin stream of squirting blood silhouetted against light.
- @ 34:00 5th fight sequence.
> EXT alley window
Major 32
> EXT alley for car roof crash
Major 33
(Episode 6)
- @ 42 by the end of the young boss-upstart Cameron threatening the guard, pointing a gun at Lyman, then splitting the guard this is really feeling like a soap opera that just never had the chops to make it to a HBO/Showtime/Cinemax-type premium cable carrier.
- @ 44 more comic book wacky wipes
> EXT park walk to office building
Major 34
> INT office lobby to elvator
Major 35
- @ 48 6th fight sequence
- @ 51 daughter Regina shoots dad and Doc
(Episode 7)
> EXT back alley to penthouse
Major 36
> INT penthouse
Major 37
> EXT city street sidewalk, Eve walking
Minor 8
> EXT hood mount shot through car windshield
Major 38
> INT Eve's closet
Major 39
- @ 58 Vera killed
(Episode
> EXT park, Regina walks to car
Major 40
> EXT alley were hearses parked
Major 41
> EXT park w/ bench
Major 42
> EXT office street, Prescott & Taylor
Major 43
> EXT Eve's condo at night, street level entry
Major 44
(Episode 9)
> EXT wake building
Major 45
> INT wake bldg meeting room
Major 46
> INT wake bldg bathroom
Major 47
- @ 1:04:28 nice arm scrunching sound
- @ 1:05:55 7th fight and gunfight sequence
- @ 1:10:00 Ah! The zip-tie thing comes to fruition
(Episode 10)
> INT hospital room
Major 48
> INT agent Taylor's office
Major 49
> INT Regina's in dress room
Major 50
> EXT rooftop
Minor 9
Now, all of these notations on locations may seem a bit peculiar but there are two reasons why, audience experience and expense.
First, I recently read that one of the hallmarks of a low/no budget show is the few number of locations involved (and a over-abundance of close ups).
I've also heard directors on DVD commentaries state a concern about creating "as broad a scope in the story's environment as possible" as an effort from keeping it from "feeling small".
To me this has some merit and some argument against.
[REC] / Quarantine sure didn't have an issue switching between two major locations, the firehouse and the condo.
But I do understand the concern, overall.
Second, no matter the size of your cast, crew & equipment, but exponentially more so as all increase, there is an expense associated with getting everyone and everything to each location + breaking the whole operation back down and trucking it back "home".
That relatively fixed expense is incurred no matter whether the scene or sequence lasts ten minutes, two minutes, twenty seconds, two seconds, or a split second in the final edit - or, God forbid - not even make it to edit but instead be left on the proverbial editing room floor. (Hard drive, these days.
)
It costs you just as much time to move all your equipment, set it up, use it, break it down, and return it for pretty much each location.
(Note that each location is mentioned once since a few locations were used several times over across the series.)
There are at least
50 Major locations where I/you would have to coordinate more than a cinematographer and one actor in a non-speaking role.
The moment a cast member utters a single line of dialog I/we now gotta ensure an audio guy is there with his box+pole+mic.
If there's a actor walking to a car I/we gotta coordinate with someone to transport that vehicle there.
If I/we have two actors conversing for thirty seconds I/we I gotta go through the same equipment hassle as if I have four or five characters conversing for five minutes.
If I/we gotta have a chick falling out a window I/we may not need a sound guy, but instead I/we gotta have a stunt coordinator on set.
Each and every time I have something that's going to be a PITA - it's a
Major PITA
By my count there are only
9 minor PITAs.
One cinematographer. Maybe one actor.
Might just be an establishing shot of an exterior, skyline, or landscape.
Might be just an actor walking across a park from several different angles.
No audio guy.
No stunt coordinator.
No multiple actors to get on location at the same time, in costume, in character.
No vehicles to ensure are on site.
Runnin' and gunnin'. Shoot N scoot. Nothing exciting.
These are only
minor PITAs
That's a 10/1 ratio of major PITA shoots to minor PITA shots.
That's money being spent.
Fast.
Get cast, crew and equipment on site, set up, test, shoot/re-shoot, break down, transport back.
This film still felt soap opera-ish.
Meh.
It was supposed to be an action show. It had action, but it still felt like short busts of action between long episodes of drama. Not my cup of tea.
So, I question
"How does the Bourne franchise, my gold standard, avoid this?"
AOD didn't get picked up for a second season despite 5million visits, so I guess I'm not the only one feeling "meh" about it.
However, it does look pretty good from a technical standpoint.
I couldn't come anywhere near the production value, even with a $90k budget per 7min episode.
- Big Budget Action ($50m): http://www.youtube.com/movie/the-international 
- Made for Web Series Action: http://www.hulu.com/watch/110127/angel-of-death?c=Action-and-Adventure 
- Foreign Action (Korean): http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi2337709081/ 
