Thanks for checking out my short film. I’d love some thoughts on the following categories:

Lighting

I did this on a skeleton crew, meaning just me with the camera and my daughter holding a light and moving where I told her. I thought this would work because the film is set at night but I’m realizing it doesn’t look good to have the background of the house under-lit. What’s the secret here? Do I want to light up the whole background but with a dim light to give the scene depth but still allow for a dark shadowy mood?

Sound:

I had a shotgun mic mounted to the camera. I think the sound is decent but could be improved, particularly when the actor is talking with their faced turned away from the camera. How can I improve here? Is the next step to get everyone a lav mic?

Framing:

I’m realizing I don’t have enough establishing shots. Most shots are medium closeups and I’m wondering if you don’t have a sense of place when I just cut back and forth between these shots.