Sketching Through Grief

Overview:

Budget: $3,000,000

Studio: Angel Studios

Distributor: Angel Studios

Worldwide Box Office: N/A

Director: Seth Worley

Writer: Seth Worley

General:

Angel Studios' Sketch is a heartwarming and slightly dark movie. It is not outstanding but it tackles the topic of grief in a genuine and engaging way. However, if you are looking for a typical kids movie to take your kids, this is not one of those films. I would advise the audience if they have kids younger than 8 years old to wait fo it to stream as watching in a theater can be a little too much for them. This film is really aimed for kids 8 and older and adults due to its heavy thematic topic and some curse words. Its an interesting film with an interesting aesthetic. I enjoyed it.

Cinematography & Animation:

The cinematography for this film was beautiful. With a variety of angles and shots to emphasize on each character's journey through grief. This film has mostly wide shots and medium shots. The wide shots gives the audience a sense of what the world is and how each character interacts with their environment. The medium shots are mostly used for an intimate interaction with each character and their emotional journey through grief. Because of the heavy and sensitive topic, the overall color grading was a bit opaque. The decision to make this film's color grade opaque can be interpreted as showing each character's grief journey and how they slowly begin to manage it in order to move on. The actual locations for this film were quite simple, a part of a school, a forest, a house and a bus. This gave room for a smaller budget on the production side but on the story side it gave more intimacy to the family struggle.

The animation in this film was fascinating and interesting. It was different from the big Hollywood films of the same style. This film is considered a hybrid film in which animated and live action characters blend together into a live action environment. Sketch has a unique animation style blending into its live action environment. This type of pushing the boundaries is what catches the audience's attention and keeps them engaged in addition to the story. The filmmakers incorporated 3D animation but added a marker and crayon aesthetic on the monsters, making this film visually interesting and different.

Storytelling:

The storytelling had room for improvement. Although, the topic being addressed was profound, the way it was told could have been better. There is a popular principle in screenwriting that says, a good story shows not tells. Sketch, sometimes had unnecessary dialogue and relied more on telling the audience what the characters were feeling rather than showing them.

Editing and Sound Design:

The pacing was slow for the most part even in some of the action sequences. The audience was able to breathe through the whole film which is good but having a clear balance between calm scenes and action sequences creates a more immersive experience for the audience. Some of the scenes could have been montages and still maintain its impact.

However, the general editing of the film was really good. It maintained the eye-trace, seamlessly guiding the audience to what they needed to see next. The 180-degree rule was also well respected and utilized the 2-dimensional plane to prevent visual chaos. The 3D plane was also organically used to give ample room for the characters and objects to easily move around without distracting the audience and pulling them out of the story.

The sound design was really good making it organic and seamless. The score moved the story forward and emphasized the monsters at the right time with the use of leitmotifs. The soundtrack also gave the story another level of depth allowing the audience to not only empathize with them through their actions and dialogue but also through the music that elevated the emotions they were feeling throughout the film.

Final Thoughts:

Sketch is an interesting and different movie that I enjoyed watching. It is a good addition to this summer's movie going experience with some parental discretion for the younger kids.

Sketch Visual Reviews:

TikTok: Sketching Through Grief

YouTube Shorts: Sketching Through Grief