Blue Flame (The Lost City of West River) is an example of a decent idea with real potential, backed by money and passion, but lacking in collaboration. Any time you see a film with the same name appearing as Director, Writer, Producer, Casting Director, Editor, etc, it stands to reason the project will nosedive. Film is, in nature, largely collaborative. One person, no matter their talent, cannot single handedly create a successful film. No one person can excel in all areas of filmmaking, and in a city like Vancouver it's easy to assemble a first class crew to make an impressive film, so long as you are willing to loosen the reigns a bit on your project.
It doesn't take much more than a basic eye for filmmaking to pick out where the bad ratings on this page are coming from. For example, the opening scene of Blue Flame (The Lost City of West River) reveals a lack of adequate sound mixing, revealing to the audience that this is a low budget operation. Throughout the 45+ minute episode, similar examples of bad editing and sound permeate. The errors made are akin to those made in a student production.
As for the acting, I disagree that it's poor. Brian Knox McGugan, Alexander J. Baxter, Joey Munroe, and Jessica Moutray shine in their roles and make the best of the lines they are given. It's clear that Baxter and McGugan, in particular, are destined for great things, and both can pull excellent footage from this production. As for Quinton Barr, his acting ability can't be denied, though he's an unusual choice for James Dowling. Barr's look and overall presence on screen are indeed marketable but perhaps not for the roles he would want to play. This project would have benefit greatly from input from a skilled Casting Director.
For a first project and for this budget, Blue Flame (The Lost City of West River) would have been an impressive final project with a skilled editor. With proper editing it could have done well on the indie festival circuit. There are many lessons to be learned from this, and hopefully the show can recover and move forward from these ratings.
