Review of another Mobile Phone shot film

Review of "You and I" short film

Folks, here's a blog which will review another Mobile Phone shot award winning short film. The film to be reviewed here is “You and I”. Directed and written by Syed Ahmed Afzal, "You and I" has won many awards and has also got selected on various national and international arenas.

The film stars Tara Alisha Berry as the protagonist and Nikhil Choudhary as the deuteragonist. 

Poster of the short film "You and I"

Image- youtube

My primary advice for all the film reviewers(beginners) is that you should review any film only after watching it completely. As I have watched, Let me review the film on some parameters:

• Idea- The idea of this film is much appreciable as the same needs to be worked upon in our lives. This short film tells a story of a young couple, who got separated due to some reason and that reason was revealed at the very end of the film. The idea to create suspense played a vital role in striking the message of the film on me. Initially, it seemed that the couple might have got some issues within themselves and they would have decided to get separated from each other. But this wasn’t the actual case. Also, the idea to resonate dialogues in a style of thoughts was also very wonderful. Tara was seen talking with Nikhil in her thoughts to which Nikhil was responding but only the girl appeared physically throughout the film and her partner appeared at the very end of it.

• While their talk continued, Tara was driving her car to meet Nikhil but she was hesitating in doing so and stopped her car at a few places as this meet was for the final time. The story changed its plot in the later part of the film and left a very strong message. In the film, Nikhil had actually died in a road accident as he was driving too fast and it was Tara’s love and thoughts, which were not letting her to move on in her life. So, the creators’ idea to end the film showing Nikhil himself advising and wanting Tara to move on in her life was one of the best ideas of the film for me. Wth all these ideas, the decision to make this beautiful film with a Mobile device is another great thing. 

A shot of the movie.

Image- deccanchronicle

• Direction- Succeeding in creating suspense till the very end and leaving with a strong message tells that the Director has done a great job. From deciding to shoot on a Smart Phone, to making film's story line, to resonating situation suited conversations, and to similar suited music, all had its own charm. Though, the conversation was the core factor to make the film’s message clear but the director also understands the importance of music and stopped the conversation for a little moment (when she was about to reach at the actual place) and let the music play its role. In making this film, he is accompanied by Raman Yadav and Saumitra Shipra Singh as the 1st and 2nd Assistant directors respectively. 

• Cinematography- As per IMDB, Syed himself is the Cinematographer of this Project. He did take some very good shots and showed the variety of shots ranging from wide to big close ups. The shot of Nikhil disappearing from his place suddenly (when Tara held her in the end) was well taken and pushed my adrenaline rush. Shooting on Mobile and achieving wonderful results is not an easy task but Syed Ahmad and his crew showed how amazing a Phone can capture a film. In shooting, phone application- "Filmic Pro", a "mobile Gimbal", an "iOgrapher" and an additional 'moment lens" is carried by the film makers.

• Editing- Paresh Maharana took the editing responsibility and he makes the film even more relevant and eye pleasing. Appropriate music is compiled and shots follow their sequences to a very good extent. The editing is neither overdone nor underdone. The cut to cut shots actually performed very well and I think editor did well to not to use much of effects as these cut to cut transitions were even better suited than many other effects. Also, color correction software- "Davinci resolve" is used in the editing process.

Here's an image from the film's numbering which shows the devices used in it.

Devices used to make this film!

Image- youtube

In the above image, you can see what devices were used in this film's making.

• Icon 1- Moment lens is used as an exterior lens to the Mobile Phone.

• Icon2- Dji Osmo Mobile is a Mobile Gimbal, which is generally used to give stabalization to the Mobile Phone.

• Icon3- IPhone 6 S plus is the shooting device for the film.

• Icon4- Filmic Pro is a purchasable mobile camera application which lets a film maker shoot a video through it. It has various shooting features for a better manual control. 

• Icon5- iOgrapher is a Mobile case which lets you hold camera, microphone, portable lights and more on it. (As every iOgrapher is specialised for particular mobiles, you would need to check your phone compatability before purchasing) 

• Icon6- Davinci resolve is a color correction and non-linear video editing application for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

This is a must watch short film and more importantly the message of the film should be undertaken like a resolution. People should consider everyone’s safety on the road. This beautiful piece will also highly motivate people to make films. I would give this short film 4.5 out of 5.