The Projectionist's Booth
Narrative
The story establishes the main characters well and pulls the viewer along effectively. We get a clear sense of the nerdiness of the main character and the allure of the woman. Establishing the mean guy at the start was a good choice. It establishes his presence early so that we're clear who he is when he comes into the apartment. The only part that was a bit unclear was the section where he's wandering around--looking for her? Perplexed? Melancholy? Ken makes a great vagrant, but the character doesn't fit in very well.
Editing
A good job. There were only a few jump cuts (the cut from kitchen to dining room seems a bit awkward) and screen direction is maintained well. It was a good idea to keep the shots in the fight scene short, as long shots in that situation tend to make the actors look clumsy and stiff. (And I was surprised there was no blood!) Over all, the tempo is fine--quickly paced in the fight scene and more languid in the projection booth.
Visual Style
Focus is mostly good throughout and the lighting properly illuminates most scenes. The booth is a lighting challenge, as is the high contrast of the shots leading into the apartment. Video doesn't like those sorts of situations. I would suggest more diffused lighting for the booth (bounced or filtered or something) to give it a softer look. A few shots suffered from too much headroom or were not quite level. E.g., the shot of the two of them eating dinner was framed too loosely. You don't get a good sense of the intimacy of the situation when the camera is so far back.
Acting
Good casting of the three main characters. They all look their parts, which is the main thing in casting for non-dialogue productions. I especially liked how the main guy underplayed his role and the mean guy was so much larger than him. Made an effective contrast.
Music
Nice selections. I particularly like the old, scratchy tunes--which reflected the protagonist's interest in popular culture (old films, old music, etc.).
Narrative
The story moved along even better than it seemed to in the shooting script. You did a particularly nice job in the exposition--establishing Lee as a couch potato and setting up the general mood of the tape. The progression from him vegging out to the Miracle Band infomercial, to him exercising, to the box thrown in the street makes sense and is effective. The ending is a tiny bit abrupt. Since it's Lee's story, you might have returned to him after the box is hit by the car. You could have shown him returning to his slovenly ways. The more things change, the more they stay the same...
Editing
Very effective and smooth. The pacing is good throughout and there are few jump cuts or problems with screen direction. Some of the match cuts are particularly sharp. And the cutting of the infomercial actually fooled me into thinking it was switched live-on-tape. Good job!
Visual Style
Excellent. The atmospheric opening shot and the midnight-clock shot stand out in my mind, but this tape is composed well throughout. Good, tight shots and an outstanding variation of camera angles and composition. The lighting was effective, too--with the minor exception of Lee in the shade of the house at the end (a tiny problem). Even when you were shooting in the basement, the lighting looked sharp.
Acting
Good job all around. Lee is appropriately harassed and the infomercial characters do a fine, cheesy job.
Music
How can you go wrong with music from Tim Burton films? Plus, I swear the music during the jogging scene synchs with Lee's running.
Narrative
An excellent, low-key mood piece. Not much happens ("a guy walks to a tree house"), but it holds viewer interest through the variation of the terrain through which he's walking: boulders, rivers, streams, cliffs, trees (I like that shinnying down the tree bit!), etc. And all the water provides a neat leitmotiv for the tape. You could even see all that flowing water as a metaphor for the passage of time (cf. John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln where the river comes to symbolize Lincoln's lost love). And the conclusion (on the sunset) provided a nice, bittersweet ending--suggesting, perhaps, that these boys/men might not spend too many more sunsets together.
Editing
Very nicely paced--which was a challenge considering how little actually happens in the tape. But there are a lot of well-timed match cuts (e.g., from a high angle of him going down the tree to a low angle of the same action) and the shots are short enough to sustain viewer interest. It's effective as it is, but it might have been interesting to experiment with some longer takes to shift the rhythm a bit.
Visual Style
Excellent job. The "crane up" in the field, the sunset shot (making good use of the automatic iris), and the contents-of-the-box shot are just three stand-out compositions from a film that is filled with them. You've done a fine job of framing and using the available mise-en-scene to create a tape with a good deal of visual variety in it: high/low angles, moving/stationary camera, foreground objects framing shots, shots of boulders, trees, rivers, leaves, waterfalls. The location really makes this tape possible.
Acting
There's not much "acting" to speak of (we can't even see his eyes under that ball cap), but what there is is fine.
Music
The upbeat jazz worked well. I wonder what the impact of this tape would be if the music were melancholy or even somber? Might be something to experiment with some time.
It's Overdrive
Narrative
The shifts into the past work well. It's clear from the start what's going on. And the music cues the viewer as to the moods of the specific flashbacks. The best flashbacks were ones that had a visual cue in the present (the park, the U-Haul trucks); the ones without a cue (why cut from the gas station to the fight?) are still okay, but not quite as strong. I like the use of the coat at the end to signify her tossing him out. What would have made that even more effective is to emphasize the coat in several of the flashbacks. As I recall it's really only a major part of one flashback. E.g., she could have been wearing it at the bar and you could have started that scene with a close-up of it. The narrative flows well over all. The only puzzling part is the box the boyfriend opens. What's in it (a bomb, in the original script)? I figure you intend for the viewer to guess, but you still need to provide some clues to make it an effective mystery.
Editing
Some very smooth match-cutting. I especially like the opening scene--the way you move her around the apartment and set the mood for the entire tape. And I also liked your use of details (e.g., the cut-in of the gas cap popping open). More of these cut-ins would have been useful--as in the scene where she first gets the sweatshirt. A tight shot of her smelling the sweatshirt would have helped emphasize its importance. The bar scene might have been edited/blocked differently. Since it's the climax of the story (the event that pushes her to leave), it needs to be more powerful, to have more action. I think it might have been better to have her sitting, talking, and then have the boyfriend enter the bar with the other woman. Then you could have cut to the protagonist and captured her reaction to this new situation. When they're both sitting there, static, it makes the viewer wonder why she didn't see him earlier. Also, the fight scene would have been more effective if the shots were shorter and tighter. A medium long shot, with amateur actors, is a bit weak.
Visual Style
Interior car lighting is tough in video and you've mostly gotten good results. The problem, of course, is the high contrast between the interior and the sunlit exterior--which video handles poorly. What you really need is some sort of additional light inside the car to balance the bright exterior light. Still, in most shots it worked out okay and the shot of the U-Hauls in the background looked terrific. All in all, you've done a good job of working in a cramped location and have figured out ways to vary the shots in a location that doesn't give you a lot of options of where to put the camera.
Acting
Good work. It's not easy, with amateur actors, to do serious scenes--especially ones that involve some intimacy. Your protagonist looked more comfortable on screen than the boyfriend, but they both did a good job in a difficult situation.
Music
Good. Keys in well to the shifts in the woman's emotions.