I think that the short film "In God We Trust" by Jason Reitman is a gem of a film with great story, great visual and audio style, and it's very funny too. I thought the plot of the film is genius on how purgatory is represented as a cross between the DMV and IRS in the sense that it is regulated by a points system of how you get to heaven or hell. The attitude of the employees was hilarious on how they are very apathetic in the situation of a damned soul like Robert. My favorite part of the film is when Robert runs by a boombox playing Ricky Martin's "Livin' la Vida Loca" and goes back to destroy the machine and ends up getting positive points for it. I also think that it was a creative way to convey an overall theme of the film of how it is never too late to change your life for the better.
The visual style of the film can be compared to an action film on how it is filmed. Even the opening shot reminds me of a epic that is meant to change the world through this one man, then next thing you know, Robert is it by a hummer in slow motion than taken to heaven. The soundtrack of this film is really good because it takes music you really would not think would work in any other movie like this, but this film makes it work by the quirkiness of it.
This short is really good on how it conveys the traditional feature film shows in a short amount of time.
I thoroughly enjoyed the short film "In God We Trust". I thought it was written and shot very well. I specifically enjoyed the quirky/ offbeat style it was written and filmed in. I felt that this style worked well with the tone of film, because although the overall topic of the short had to do with death and the possibility of an afterlife, the movie never felt dark or depressing.
I also feel that the film was organized in a way that conveyed the meaning very well. From the very first shot of the globe being spun - which I interpreted as God controlling the world - to the close up of the "In God We Trust" engraving on the quarter, it was evident that film would be pertaining to in some way the concept of a heaven and hell. As the film progresses and Robert's little deeds begin gaining him brownie points, the meaning of the film becomes apparent - It's never too late to change your life for the better, whether the change is large of small. This meaning is reinforced in the scene when Robert is talking with his father, and Robert's father tells him "everyone does little bad things...Don't sweat it."
I also enjoyed how the director was able to draw humor from such short scenes. I loved the scene when Robert goes back to smash the boom-box playing "Livin' la Vida Loca", and he gets good points for it, and the scene with his father, when drinking smoothies does actually help him get to heaven. It's scenes like these that make this movie special. I thought it was a really clever way to reinforce the meaning of film, and lighten the mood at the same time.
I really enjoyed "In God We Trust." I loved the humor, and how quirky and witty it was. The film made death and afterlife very heartfelt, and not serious like most films seem to try and do. You weren't depressed after seeing this movie, but instead had a little smile on your face.
The opening to the film was a very good scene. It opens with a panning close up shot on a nickel, and then the next thing you see is a slow motion shot of Robert getting hit, while having very good sound effects that really elevated the scene even more.
The strongest moments of the film was when Robert is starting to do good deeds and is starting to work his way on getting into Heaven. From him holding the ice cream cone for the girl, to dancing with the old people, it was funny to see those things, and then see the employees trying their best to kill him before he was able to get to Heaven. That was just a very fun and lighthearted moment.
One of the most enjoyable things about the film is the sense of humor that is being used. My two favorite parts are when the employee's computer freezes and he mentions that it's freezing because his computer is still running on Windows, kind of playing at the Mac vs. Windows competition. The other moment was when Robert destroyed the boom box that was playing Ricky Martin's "Livin' la Vida Loca", and getting positive points.
Overall, this film had many strong moments. The writing was very funny, and the visual and sound effects helped the film become even more stronger. Those all made this film very enjoyable and lighthearted.
I enjoyed "In God We Trust" because I thought it was a neat story and quite funny. The scene where Bobby Jr. strikes the wrong guy with lightning, as well as the one where Robert stomps the boombox, definitely made me laugh. Also there were a couple of places where they used irony to create humor - when the EMT says, "Man, he's toast" and then he comes back to life and when he says something about smoothies not helping and then it gives him 7 points. They took a depressing situation - a man dying and being sentenced to hell - and made light of it, which is what made the story so appealing, as well as the humor.
As far as video techniques go, they used the over the shoulder shot for many of the shots during conversations. Their use of quick shots, especially those of him running, created an up tempo feel like that of an action film. Also, they used many low angle shots to portray him as a powerful character or someone to look up to. All in all, I thought the story was well captured and pieced together.
In God We Trust was such an interesting short. Without getting to close to religious preference, it took on the dying/purgatory idea into a new perspective. I thought the concept of being sent to something similar to a tax office to count up your points was an interesting way to portray the process of getting into heaven. I thought the music was great and placed in strategic spots to get the audience to feel what the main character felt. The tunes were upbeat and fast which went along with the characters frantic state to bring up his score. I liked this one much better in comparison to "Marry Me" just due to the fact that there was more dialogue and action and that the main character was more dynamic.
I think this is a very creative short film that showcases the distinct directing style of Jason Reitman. I noticed a lot of shots in this short film that he has used in some of his feature films. The people that were cast to play in this film added a lot to the comedy of this picture. My favourite character is Bobby Jr. He stands out as being the funniest character in the whole film. The scene in which the main character is trying to tell his girlfriend that he is going away for a very long time is also very humorous. The thing that stands out the most to me about this film is the production value. I know that Reitman's father is a famous director, but I would like to know how he got the money together to shoot a film of this quality. It looks like they had to add a few expensive effects in post-production.
Overall, I think this film had great shots in it and a cast that was able to carry the story all the way to the end. Although, I don't think this is a film that we would be able to shoot because of the money it would take to put something like this together.
The movie, In God We Trust has a very interesting story line. The opening spreads the whole story is around the guy's scoring the point to make him in heaven. The scenes' shoots are pretty good. Using the visual language: when he set the parrot, the director using kinda like the over shoulder shot the express Robert wanted to get the points from the bird urgently.
The most moving scene for me is the talking between father and Robert. Because from the office, it told us we cannot even make a little mistake and the small mistakes would be accumulated and accompany with you the whole life to decide if you can go to the heaven. However the father, from a experienced parent angle to tell us, everyone had mistakes. The most important thing is not what you did, it is what you realized. The mistakes cannot be avoid, we should face them bravely and let nature take its course.That is why the ending he could go to heaven so lucky.
The soundtrack is good too. Every turning point the music is followed.
This short of the week was a lot longer than the last one and in fact i liked it being longer because it told a good story and used a lot of funny and exciting events to add to the plot. The scenes are very well shot, my favorite being the part where he runs around the corner and comes back to smash the radio that was playing the song, which gave him points funny enough. Speaking of music; they added music when it was needed to enhance the drama of what was going on, for instance running from the gang. I also loved the shot at the ending when he enters limbo again and the door closes and the camera moves up to the "going-up" signal on the elevator. i felt like that was a great way to end the movie in a symbolic meaning. The movie was well put together and i enjoyed it a lot.
This short had a really interesting concept for the story. I loved the comical way they approached something as serious as death as well as the creative interpretation of purgatory. The acting by the main office worker was my favorite out of the entire cast. His glee at finally succeeding in killing Robert was quite amusing. The camera work in this short was very nice. It made good use of low shots that didn't show the characters' faces. Also, the shots with a moving camera were very smooth and well done. Perhaps the most interesting bit of camera work was the opening sequence where they slowly zoomed into the earth and then down onto the main character, ending with an extreme close up of the quarter in his hand. That particular sequence was fascinating, and the way they cut between the different shot by flashing the screen white (as in going through a layer of clouds) was quite clever.
The story of this film was very unique and enjoyable. I think what made this shirt film so enjoyable was the fact that the plot touched on a facet of life that people don't see in movies that much. The whole idea of a room where people go to learn their fate: heaven or hell, is a very different one and really boosted the stories likability factor and uniqueness. The whole point system really was a great idea and made the whole film very entertaining and go by quick. Watching the main character do good deed after good deed definitely set a nice pace for the movie which seldom had any dead and boring spots.
Besides the story, another thing from the film that really grabbed my attention and interest was the acting. The main character was very believable and played his role of an average joe who just wanted to live his life in a good way, and have one final swing of living his life out the way he wanted. The scene with the guy talking to his father really impressed me. The father's character was classic, drinking smoothies and giving his son great advice. That scene was very well done and the actors helped it show its significance.
The movie had a great ending where he got his points from negative all the way to positive. The movie had the audience rooting for the man the whole time and the end rewarded the audience with victory. When he unexpectedly had the elevator's doors close on him and the arrow pointed up really put a smile on my face and just capped the end of the film perfectly. Endings to films are very important and this one got it right.
This short film was very interesting. From the first shot the movie had my attention. I thought the progression from the view of earth to the coin was very interesting. It went along with the overall story in that someone is watching us from above.
I thought that the point system used to gain access to heaven was really funny and easy to comprehend. The story was simple yet it makes the audience consider their own actions and how many points they could be losing day to day. As the man tries to gain more positive points my favorite scene was when he smashed the boom box playing Ricky Martin.
The acting throughout the movie was really excellent. I believe every action was motivated by something in that there was no wasted shots or pointless scenes. The movie was very well done and I greatly enjoyed it.
The short film "In God We Trust" was a very pleasant surprise to me. I throroughly enjoyed it. I didn't know what to expect from the title, but I liked it a lot. I was immediately engrossed in the film through the sound effects. The sound was very clear and spot on and the added sound effects only enhanced the overall experience of the film.
Another aspect that I really enjoyed was the set design. The "holding room between heaven and hell" was really neat and it gave my eyes plenty to look at which made the film even better. The set choices outside were also chosen very nicely. All of the shots were very visually pleasing and you can tell that a lot of thought was placed in choosing locations.
Above everything, I feel like the script was awesome. I love that it came full circle in the end. It flowed very well and it felt natural. I feel that the script was excellent before everything else and that the special effects and sound took it to the next level of being really incredible. I really liked it!
Having an ECU on the quarter, which had the film's title on it, was a great attention getter for me. It was nice seeing a short comical that deals with heaven and hell. Robert I. Peterson, the main character, was able to convince me by his acting. I seriously got a kick out of the funny lines/actions in the script. Besides the acting, I noticed a lot of the different angles that we went over in class last week. The ECU on the ice cream was really great, too, even though melted ice cream is not that enjoyable.
This film reminds me a little bit of The Butterfly Effect and Donnie Darko. Films that tie into the beginning, or have a parallel universe are extremely captivating and leave the audience thinking about what just happened. Because this is a short, it was easy to grasp exactly what was going on. A couple of things I noticed (that confused me) were the jeep from the beginning and the mirror being "pushed" by the fan.
If the jeep had already hit him, why and how could it be in the same exact spot and hit him again? It is known that Robert had gone into a purgatory-type place so when he got back it should have given the driver of the jeep some type of déjà vu not to do it again. Also, Robert had been in the street for a while so the driver should have seen him in the middle of the road. With the mirror, I am pretty sure that I saw someone in the window (10:04) because the head of the person started to move towards the right. If that was a person in, It would have been wiser for him (or her) to not move while the shot began.
Other than those two things I really enjoyed Jason Reitman's short film, In God We Trust!
I really enjoyed the mood, the plot, and visuals displayed in "in God We Trust". Even though the short film is primarily about life and death, the film as a whole is (surprisingly) a comedy. The dialogue consisted of quirky humor and quick-witted one-liners. i also like how they made the afterlife seem to technological and modern. I found it humorous that the main character had listen to the reasons why he was going to hell which were generated by a computer, "that still operates on Windows". The visuals displayed throughout were intriguing. The very first shot started out as an extreme wide shot that progressed into an extreme close up on the engraving on the quarter. I also noticed the soft lighting used (I supposed to give the film a "heavenly" and "dreamy" look). They used of variety of different shots, such as over-the-shoulder (That I probably would have never noticed had I not learned about shot composition). Overall, the film was great. It had a strong plot, great script, and amazing visuals.
The short film "In God We Trust" was a true comedy about death, that actually would make people laugh. It can also make people realize the true joys of life. The main character Robert Peterson, is hit by a SUV, and is sent up to a judging station to see where he will spend his afterlife.
The music and dialog make the story, in my opinion. The background music seems to be appropriate during every scene. The music makes the audience want to root for the Robert. The premise of this movie is to introduce the audience to all the little bad things they do in life, and the underlying premise is essentially what comes around goes around.
There are plenty of over the shoulder shots, along with an extreme closeup of a quarter to introduce the name of the short film. The beginning of the film shows a globe, with a hand spinning it. This shot symbolizes a greater being that has control of the world. The shot then proceeds to zoom from just outside the earth's atmosphere down to a city where Robert is located.The shots then consisted of wide angle, and middle shots. When Robert dies the first time shots of the selection room are all over the shoulder. When he found his way back to earth alive the shots consisted of extreme closeups, and middle shots.
The tools the film uses to explain where a human goes after they die is called the point system. With negative points the person is going to hell, with positive the person is going to heaven. The ending of the movie was on par with modern movies, the hero is able to achieve their goal, and the antagonist is left contemplating how exactly he did it.
There’s good and bad to ‘In God We Trust’. The opening sequence, zooming in from a globe to the quarter, is fantastic. Much of the dialogue is humorous. The short, in general, is very well made. And of course, the concept is brilliant.
However, the story itself is ultimately too illogical to be taken serious. It starts with the inciting incident. Somehow, by running back into the elevator, our protagonist is able to return to life? Maybe, if this was some illogical world where you can escape hell that easily, this would make sense, but even in the universe created by the filmmakers this doesn’t stand to reason. Our final shot shows some divine power above all the characters sending the protagonist “up”, presumably to heaven. Logically, he should have had to go to the same elevator to go “down” to hell, and thus the film should have ended in the very moment when our story starts. The issues with the script don’t end there, but it’s not worth probing further.
In spite of its flaws though, this is still a well made and entertaining short.
I was really interested in how the film started out. You could immediately tell the makers had more technology at their disposal than a typical amateur. I was wondering what they used to make earth animation, and then was immediately immersed in the quirky plot. It was comical how life was made into a game in which you score points to make it to heaven. The premise was clever and unique, and it really added to how well done the film was. The music was great, and it held your attention wonderfully. I was unaware of the time and was surprised to find around twenty minutes had passed once it ended. Though aspects of the film made it look like it was hard to make, such as the graphics and stunts, the rest of it was rather simple. The set for purgatory was an office, the rest of the scenes were in streets and apartments. Nothing crazy abstract that would be difficult to make the viewer believe with limited technology. This one is my favorite of the two we've watched so far and it makes me really excited to watch the rest.
I really enjoyed this one. my favorite so far. It was fun and commical. The ending was awsome. You could tell that a lot of attention to detail was put into it. The lead actor seemed good for his role. The effects were great! more than your avreage short film. everything just tied together really well to make a great movie. A good watch.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think that the short film "In God We Trust" by Jason Reitman is a gem of a film with great story, great visual and audio style, and it's very funny too. I thought the plot of the film is genius on how purgatory is represented as a cross between the DMV and IRS in the sense that it is regulated by a points system of how you get to heaven or hell. The attitude of the employees was hilarious on how they are very apathetic in the situation of a damned soul like Robert. My favorite part of the film is when Robert runs by a boombox playing Ricky Martin's "Livin' la Vida Loca" and goes back to destroy the machine and ends up getting positive points for it. I also think that it was a creative way to convey an overall theme of the film of how it is never too late to change your life for the better.
ReplyDeleteThe visual style of the film can be compared to an action film on how it is filmed. Even the opening shot reminds me of a epic that is meant to change the world through this one man, then next thing you know, Robert is it by a hummer in slow motion than taken to heaven. The soundtrack of this film is really good because it takes music you really would not think would work in any other movie like this, but this film makes it work by the quirkiness of it.
This short is really good on how it conveys the traditional feature film shows in a short amount of time.
I thoroughly enjoyed the short film "In God We Trust". I thought it was written and shot very well. I specifically enjoyed the quirky/ offbeat style it was written and filmed in. I felt that this style worked well with the tone of film, because although the overall topic of the short had to do with death and the possibility of an afterlife, the movie never felt dark or depressing.
ReplyDeleteI also feel that the film was organized in a way that conveyed the meaning very well. From the very first shot of the globe being spun - which I interpreted as God controlling the world - to the close up of the "In God We Trust" engraving on the quarter, it was evident that film would be pertaining to in some way the concept of a heaven and hell. As the film progresses and Robert's little deeds begin gaining him brownie points, the meaning of the film becomes apparent - It's never too late to change your life for the better, whether the change is large of small. This meaning is reinforced in the scene when Robert is talking with his father, and Robert's father tells him "everyone does little bad things...Don't sweat it."
I also enjoyed how the director was able to draw humor from such short scenes. I loved the scene when Robert goes back to smash the boom-box playing "Livin' la Vida Loca", and he gets good points for it, and the scene with his father, when drinking smoothies does actually help him get to heaven. It's scenes like these that make this movie special. I thought it was a really clever way to reinforce the meaning of film, and lighten the mood at the same time.
I really enjoyed "In God We Trust." I loved the humor, and how quirky and witty it was. The film made death and afterlife very heartfelt, and not serious like most films seem to try and do. You weren't depressed after seeing this movie, but instead had a little smile on your face.
ReplyDeleteThe opening to the film was a very good scene. It opens with a panning close up shot on a nickel, and then the next thing you see is a slow motion shot of Robert getting hit, while having very good sound effects that really elevated the scene even more.
The strongest moments of the film was when Robert is starting to do good deeds and is starting to work his way on getting into Heaven. From him holding the ice cream cone for the girl, to dancing with the old people, it was funny to see those things, and then see the employees trying their best to kill him before he was able to get to Heaven. That was just a very fun and lighthearted moment.
One of the most enjoyable things about the film is the sense of humor that is being used. My two favorite parts are when the employee's computer freezes and he mentions that it's freezing because his computer is still running on Windows, kind of playing at the Mac vs. Windows competition. The other moment was when Robert destroyed the boom box that was playing Ricky Martin's "Livin' la Vida Loca", and getting positive points.
Overall, this film had many strong moments. The writing was very funny, and the visual and sound effects helped the film become even more stronger. Those all made this film very enjoyable and lighthearted.
I enjoyed "In God We Trust" because I thought it was a neat story and quite funny. The scene where Bobby Jr. strikes the wrong guy with lightning, as well as the one where Robert stomps the boombox, definitely made me laugh. Also there were a couple of places where they used irony to create humor - when the EMT says, "Man, he's toast" and then he comes back to life and when he says something about smoothies not helping and then it gives him 7 points. They took a depressing situation - a man dying and being sentenced to hell - and made light of it, which is what made the story so appealing, as well as the humor.
ReplyDeleteAs far as video techniques go, they used the over the shoulder shot for many of the shots during conversations. Their use of quick shots, especially those of him running, created an up tempo feel like that of an action film. Also, they used many low angle shots to portray him as a powerful character or someone to look up to. All in all, I thought the story was well captured and pieced together.
In God We Trust was such an interesting short. Without getting to close to religious preference, it took on the dying/purgatory idea into a new perspective. I thought the concept of being sent to something similar to a tax office to count up your points was an interesting way to portray the process of getting into heaven. I thought the music was great and placed in strategic spots to get the audience to feel what the main character felt. The tunes were upbeat and fast which went along with the characters frantic state to bring up his score. I liked this one much better in comparison to "Marry Me" just due to the fact that there was more dialogue and action and that the main character was more dynamic.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a very creative short film that showcases the distinct directing style of Jason Reitman. I noticed a lot of shots in this short film that he has used in some of his feature films. The people that were cast to play in this film added a lot to the comedy of this picture. My favourite character is Bobby Jr. He stands out as being the funniest character in the whole film. The scene in which the main character is trying to tell his girlfriend that he is going away for a very long time is also very humorous. The thing that stands out the most to me about this film is the production value. I know that Reitman's father is a famous director, but I would like to know how he got the money together to shoot a film of this quality. It looks like they had to add a few expensive effects in post-production.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I think this film had great shots in it and a cast that was able to carry the story all the way to the end. Although, I don't think this is a film that we would be able to shoot because of the money it would take to put something like this together.
The movie, In God We Trust has a very interesting story line. The opening spreads the whole story is around the guy's scoring the point to make him in heaven. The scenes' shoots are pretty good. Using the visual language: when he set the parrot, the director using kinda like the over shoulder shot the express Robert wanted to get the points from the bird urgently.
ReplyDeleteThe most moving scene for me is the talking between father and Robert. Because from the office, it told us we cannot even make a little mistake and the small mistakes would be accumulated and accompany with you the whole life to decide if you can go to the heaven. However the father, from a experienced parent angle to tell us, everyone had mistakes. The most important thing is not what you did, it is what you realized. The mistakes cannot be avoid, we should face them bravely and let nature take its course.That is why the ending he could go to heaven so lucky.
The soundtrack is good too. Every turning point the music is followed.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis short of the week was a lot longer than the last one and in fact i liked it being longer because it told a good story and used a lot of funny and exciting events to add to the plot. The scenes are very well shot, my favorite being the part where he runs around the corner and comes back to smash the radio that was playing the song, which gave him points funny enough. Speaking of music; they added music when it was needed to enhance the drama of what was going on, for instance running from the gang. I also loved the shot at the ending when he enters limbo again and the door closes and the camera moves up to the "going-up" signal on the elevator. i felt like that was a great way to end the movie in a symbolic meaning. The movie was well put together and i enjoyed it a lot.
ReplyDeleteThis short had a really interesting concept for the story. I loved the comical way they approached something as serious as death as well as the creative interpretation of purgatory. The acting by the main office worker was my favorite out of the entire cast. His glee at finally succeeding in killing Robert was quite amusing.
ReplyDeleteThe camera work in this short was very nice. It made good use of low shots that didn't show the characters' faces. Also, the shots with a moving camera were very smooth and well done. Perhaps the most interesting bit of camera work was the opening sequence where they slowly zoomed into the earth and then down onto the main character, ending with an extreme close up of the quarter in his hand. That particular sequence was fascinating, and the way they cut between the different shot by flashing the screen white (as in going through a layer of clouds) was quite clever.
The story of this film was very unique and enjoyable. I think what made this shirt film so enjoyable was the fact that the plot touched on a facet of life that people don't see in movies that much. The whole idea of a room where people go to learn their fate: heaven or hell, is a very different one and really boosted the stories likability factor and uniqueness. The whole point system really was a great idea and made the whole film very entertaining and go by quick. Watching the main character do good deed after good deed definitely set a nice pace for the movie which seldom had any dead and boring spots.
ReplyDeleteBesides the story, another thing from the film that really grabbed my attention and interest was the acting. The main character was very believable and played his role of an average joe who just wanted to live his life in a good way, and have one final swing of living his life out the way he wanted. The scene with the guy talking to his father really impressed me. The father's character was classic, drinking smoothies and giving his son great advice. That scene was very well done and the actors helped it show its significance.
The movie had a great ending where he got his points from negative all the way to positive. The movie had the audience rooting for the man the whole time and the end rewarded the audience with victory. When he unexpectedly had the elevator's doors close on him and the arrow pointed up really put a smile on my face and just capped the end of the film perfectly. Endings to films are very important and this one got it right.
This short film was very interesting. From the first shot the movie had my attention. I thought the progression from the view of earth to the coin was very interesting. It went along with the overall story in that someone is watching us from above.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the point system used to gain access to heaven was really funny and easy to comprehend. The story was simple yet it makes the audience consider their own actions and how many points they could be losing day to day. As the man tries to gain more positive points my favorite scene was when he smashed the boom box playing Ricky Martin.
The acting throughout the movie was really excellent. I believe every action was motivated by something in that there was no wasted shots or pointless scenes. The movie was very well done and I greatly enjoyed it.
The short film "In God We Trust" was a very pleasant surprise to me. I throroughly enjoyed it. I didn't know what to expect from the title, but I liked it a lot. I was immediately engrossed in the film through the sound effects. The sound was very clear and spot on and the added sound effects only enhanced the overall experience of the film.
ReplyDeleteAnother aspect that I really enjoyed was the set design. The "holding room between heaven and hell" was really neat and it gave my eyes plenty to look at which made the film even better. The set choices outside were also chosen very nicely. All of the shots were very visually pleasing and you can tell that a lot of thought was placed in choosing locations.
Above everything, I feel like the script was awesome. I love that it came full circle in the end. It flowed very well and it felt natural. I feel that the script was excellent before everything else and that the special effects and sound took it to the next level of being really incredible. I really liked it!
Having an ECU on the quarter, which had the film's title on it, was a great attention getter for me. It was nice seeing a short comical that deals with heaven and hell. Robert I. Peterson, the main character, was able to convince me by his acting. I seriously got a kick out of the funny lines/actions in the script. Besides the acting, I noticed a lot of the different angles that we went over in class last week. The ECU on the ice cream was really great, too, even though melted ice cream is not that enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteThis film reminds me a little bit of The Butterfly Effect and Donnie Darko. Films that tie into the beginning, or have a parallel universe are extremely captivating and leave the audience thinking about what just happened. Because this is a short, it was easy to grasp exactly what was going on. A couple of things I noticed (that confused me) were the jeep from the beginning and the mirror being "pushed" by the fan.
If the jeep had already hit him, why and how could it be in the same exact spot and hit him again? It is known that Robert had gone into a purgatory-type place so when he got back it should have given the driver of the jeep some type of déjà vu not to do it again. Also, Robert had been in the street for a while so the driver should have seen him in the middle of the road. With the mirror, I am pretty sure that I saw someone in the window (10:04) because the head of the person started to move towards the right. If that was a person in, It would have been wiser for him (or her) to not move while the shot began.
Other than those two things I really enjoyed Jason Reitman's short film, In God We Trust!
I really enjoyed the mood, the plot, and visuals displayed in "in God We Trust". Even though the short film is primarily about life and death, the film as a whole is (surprisingly) a comedy. The dialogue consisted of quirky humor and quick-witted one-liners.
ReplyDeletei also like how they made the afterlife seem to technological and modern. I found it humorous that the main character had listen to the reasons why he was going to hell which were generated by a computer, "that still operates on Windows".
The visuals displayed throughout were intriguing. The very first shot started out as an extreme wide shot that progressed into an extreme close up on the engraving on the quarter. I also noticed the soft lighting used (I supposed to give the film a "heavenly" and "dreamy" look). They used of variety of different shots, such as over-the-shoulder (That I probably would have never noticed had I not learned about shot composition).
Overall, the film was great. It had a strong plot, great script, and amazing visuals.
The short film "In God We Trust" was a true comedy about death, that actually would make people laugh. It can also make people realize the true joys of life. The main character Robert Peterson, is hit by a SUV, and is sent up to a judging station to see where he will spend his afterlife.
ReplyDeleteThe music and dialog make the story, in my opinion. The background music seems to be appropriate during every scene. The music makes the audience want to root for the Robert. The premise of this movie is to introduce the audience to all the little bad things they do in life, and the underlying premise is essentially what comes around goes around.
There are plenty of over the shoulder shots, along with an extreme closeup of a quarter to introduce the name of the short film. The beginning of the film shows a globe, with a hand spinning it. This shot symbolizes a greater being that has control of the world. The shot then proceeds to zoom from just outside the earth's atmosphere down to a city where Robert is located.The shots then consisted of wide angle, and middle shots. When Robert dies the first time shots of the selection room are all over the shoulder. When he found his way back to earth alive the shots consisted of extreme closeups, and middle shots.
The tools the film uses to explain where a human goes after they die is called the point system. With negative points the person is going to hell, with positive the person is going to heaven. The ending of the movie was on par with modern movies, the hero is able to achieve their goal, and the antagonist is left contemplating how exactly he did it.
There’s good and bad to ‘In God We Trust’. The opening sequence, zooming in from a globe to the quarter, is fantastic. Much of the dialogue is humorous. The short, in general, is very well made. And of course, the concept is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the story itself is ultimately too illogical to be taken serious. It starts with the inciting incident. Somehow, by running back into the elevator, our protagonist is able to return to life? Maybe, if this was some illogical world where you can escape hell that easily, this would make sense, but even in the universe created by the filmmakers this doesn’t stand to reason. Our final shot shows some divine power above all the characters sending the protagonist “up”, presumably to heaven. Logically, he should have had to go to the same elevator to go “down” to hell, and thus the film should have ended in the very moment when our story starts. The issues with the script don’t end there, but it’s not worth probing further.
In spite of its flaws though, this is still a well made and entertaining short.
I was really interested in how the film started out. You could immediately tell the makers had more technology at their disposal than a typical amateur. I was wondering what they used to make earth animation, and then was immediately immersed in the quirky plot. It was comical how life was made into a game in which you score points to make it to heaven. The premise was clever and unique, and it really added to how well done the film was. The music was great, and it held your attention wonderfully. I was unaware of the time and was surprised to find around twenty minutes had passed once it ended. Though aspects of the film made it look like it was hard to make, such as the graphics and stunts, the rest of it was rather simple. The set for purgatory was an office, the rest of the scenes were in streets and apartments. Nothing crazy abstract that would be difficult to make the viewer believe with limited technology. This one is my favorite of the two we've watched so far and it makes me really excited to watch the rest.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this one. my favorite so far. It was fun and commical. The ending was awsome. You could tell that a lot of attention to detail was put into it. The lead actor seemed good for his role. The effects were great! more than your avreage short film. everything just tied together really well to make a great movie. A good watch.
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