perfect stranger, why does it look so cheap?

slimchrisp

slimchrisp

Well-known member
i just watched perfect stranger last night. my wife and i were trying to figure out what about it makes it looks so made for tv and cheap. it's just bad. is it the lighting? amateur camera moves? cheap film stock?

can someone help me out here? it was a great example of how i want my projects NOT to look. i'm just not sure exactly what the problems are. it seems like if you can afford halle berry, bruce willis and giovanni ribisi, you afford to make your film look half way decent. part of it may be i watched it on my roku netflix streaming player, but i've watched a few other things with it and they didn't look bad.

any help?
 
i don't know. it's so weird. like i said, maybe it's my roku player. but i've watched other features that looked fine.

i just can't really describe it. it just had a cheap production, made for tv look to it. not what i expected for a theatrical release. i don't know. could just be my tv setup.

it just didn't look polished at all.

everyone head to columbus and we'll all pile in and watch it on my tv in my 600 sq foot apartment.

:)
 
Hey Slimchrisp, how's that Roku stream player. I'm thinking of getting one, do it say buffering on your T.V while watching sometimes? I have DSL

back on Topic

I did see perfect strangers in Theaters and it looked fine to me visually, nothing out the ordinary. I'm thinking maybe because of the story that's probably why you thought it had that cheap feel. It did remind me of made for T.V, Lifetime type of movie..lol, but I did enjoy it.
 
Hm, I'd bet the trailer doesn't look anything like the film (we've all been suckered by a slick trailer before haven't we?).

Like Uwe Boll's Alone in the Dark, it's really hard to put a finger on what makes it look so cheap. It just smells like hack. I bet Perfect Stranger has the same stench...but I haven't seen it.

Believe it or not, I actually find that it's often the script that "looks" so cheap. When the story and dialogue don't work, we often don't know how to identify those weaknesses, and the whole film just doesn't "feel" right. It's the same reason that performances are suddenly so abominable (cf. Mark Wahlberg in The Happening). When we're swept up in a well told tale, we don't notice the rest. When the characters and story are falling flat, everything looks flat: the acting, the lighting, the sets. Just my theory.
 
capitalP said:
Hey Slimchrisp, how's that Roku stream player. I'm thinking of getting one, do it say buffering on your T.V while watching sometimes? I have DSL

back on Topic

I did see perfect strangers in Theaters and it looked fine to me visually, nothing out the ordinary. I'm thinking maybe because of the story that's probably why you thought it had that cheap feel. It did remind me of made for T.V, Lifetime type of movie..lol, but I did enjoy it.
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i really like the roku. for the most part i have no complaints. it's a $100, you know? not a big ticket purchase, and the quality is approaching dvd quality when you get a good connection (measured by 1 to 4 dots, kind of like bars on a cell phone). if you already have netflix, it's worth it in my book. you can't get every movie you may want, but it's still not a bad deal.

as far as the movie, i don't know, you say you saw it in the theater so maybe it is the story. just looked real amateur to me. i just want to learn from it, but i really can't put my finger on it.

sean90291 said:
Hm, I'd bet the trailer doesn't look anything like the film (we've all been suckered by a slick trailer before haven't we?).

Like Uwe Boll's Alone in the Dark, it's really hard to put a finger on what makes it look so cheap. It just smells like hack. I bet Perfect Stranger has the same stench...but I haven't seen it.

Believe it or not, I actually find that it's often the script that "looks" so cheap. When the story and dialogue don't work, we often don't know how to identify those weaknesses, and the whole film just doesn't "feel" right. It's the same reason that performances are suddenly so abominable (cf. Mark Wahlberg in The Happening). When we're swept up in a well told tale, we don't notice the rest. When the characters and story are falling flat, everything looks flat: the acting, the lighting, the sets. Just my theory.
Click to expand...

i think the trailer could have been polished a little better than the movie. maybe that's the case here. and the script, uh yeah. it sucked. just my opionion. not a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10 bad, just clumsy. didn't come across as real. maybe that's a lot of it. it's funny, i can't remember festen looking this cheap, and it was shot hand held on a little crappy camcorder. the story is what stuck with me. of course if i watched it again i'm sure it would be a big difference. point being, yeah, script could have had a lot to do with it.

as far as the happening goes, i started my official boycott of m night before the happening. great camera work and a glossy look based on the trailer and a few other clips i've seen, but sorry to say if he directed it, it's just a polished turd.

in my not so humble opinion.
 
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