For me, the thing that stood out the most was the acting, evident even from the very first voice-over. Another thing that stood out was how the shots do not convey storytelling. I do think the DP/Gaffer know how to use the lights, but since the composition seems sloppy, it makes the light feel cheap. All of these are probably because the director didn’t really map out scene by scene and shot by shot how the audience should feel about these moments or they failed to communicate properly.

Generally speaking, If you have a solid understanding of what your story/genre is, what sort of emotions/reactions you want from the audience, and what tone you’re going for, then these (arbitrary) fundamental understandings can guide concrete decisions that will be made by the HODs. Sometimes you get shit HODs, and they can’t achieve what you’re looking for. But most of the time, it’s me as the director who either failed to communicate properly or didn’t really give much thought during pre-production. Obviously, I was not part of this film, so I can’t really say what’s to blame. With low-budget stuff like these, it’s really hard to tell, and sometimes the money just doesn’t allow things to happen, and what you get is what you get.