Night Songs (2000) I've often toyed with the idea of making my own shot-on-video movie (we propose to order movie review, essay or research paper on our website - https://mcessay.com/write-my-essay/). Obviously, it would be a little harder than simply getting my friends to act in front of the camcorder -- there's the script, the sets and locations, costuming, editing, music -- but there are also times when I see how a couple of weeks of shooting could result in at least a marginally watchable production. Thus, with every shot-on-video "feature" I see, I file away mental notes on what to do and, more importantly, what not do to. This video, Night Songs, is a forty-minute anthology from a couple of Canadians (not a pejorative in my book), and it taught me two valuable lessons for future reference, largely by the major mistakes it makes: 1) For Ptah's sake, don't take yourself too seriously. 2) Get some decent lighting! What we have here is a trio of stories dealing with, you know, the "darker side" and all that, two vampire stories and a goth rocker story. All can be filed under "cautionary tales" -- i.e., someone nasty gets their comeuppance. All are told within the framing device of a stalker who's kidnapped and blindfolded a young woman, and is now trying to scare her -- although, by the end, he's accepted her offer to trade places, which leads to his immediate demise. (I take it he didn't have much experience with this whole abduction thing.) In the first story, a vampire stalking a girl at night runs into a would-be Van Helsing who manages to, as it were, insert defeat into the jaws of victory (yes, I'm damned proud of that turn of phrase). In the second, a mysterious rocker regales a new applicant for his band with the fantastic life he leads -- including powers that seem, well, vampiric. In the third, nasty goth rocker Justin Hell sees a girl in the crowd that his lackey can't find for him, and who begins to haunt his dreams. All three have several things in common: - All three stories (as well as the frame) star writer and co-director Brett Kelly, which isn't a really good move, as Brett has a physique much like mine -- starting to go to seed in the late twenties. Not really leading men, either of us. He also proves, in the third story, why he will never be a singing sensation except among the tone-deaf who really dig weak voices. - All three are far too short to develop a for-real storyline; instead, they almost qualify as vignettes, with setups that are barely established before each is over. - All three are really long on goth self-importance, which to all of us non-goths usually comes across as puerile attempts at deep statements on morbidity. They're all completely humorless. - And all were shot in what was supposed to be dramatic gloom. Unofortunately, if you're doing a lot of night shooting, consumer-grade video is not the medium to use -- especially when you have no real lighting kit! (At very least, you should invest in digital video; see Rounds Entertainment's Hellinger for a good example of how adequate lighting and a digital camcorder can work wonders with nighttime visibility.) Taking all of the above into account, this video really holds no entertainment value for someone who isn't either psychotically devoted to dark vampire tales of any grade or quality, or friends and family of the filmmakers. (I must mention in passing, however, the best part of the entire production: Matthew Carty's techno-infused soundtrack. It manages to at least imply edginess in scenes where none is exhibited on screen.) Now, here's the sad part: After the closing credits, there's another short tacked on entitled "Clowning Around," concerning a clown who comes home from work early to find his clown wife, well, clowning around. It's shot in full light with bright colors, and it's wonderfully funny -- in other words, it exhibits large quantities of the features which were notably absent from the "feature" attraction. By all rights, this should have been the headline act here, not the ponderously drab "dark" vignettes. Oh, well. Live and learn.
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