'Random Stop' is a Powerful POV-Shot Film Based on the Real-Life Shooting Death of Kyle Dinkheller

Ever since "strange days" and video games I'm very intrigued by POV cinema. I think this short pull it off very well, with the camera movement, hand acting, and the great grading work. Never thought it would have been done in a few shots!

This just makes me glad the son of a bitch is about to fry. I guess that means they did a good job and people don't know how dangerous that job is. No remorse either... That's where I think justice needs to be delivered. Give people like that a new perspective on the value of life. Sorry. I know this a site about filmmaking and cinematography, but I have an 18 month old myself & can't imagine what he and his mom would go through. On a side note, this was done very well.

The comments on YouTube for the original video are sickening.

As for this short, its very well made, although I felt like the beginning was a little too...forced, maybe is the word I'm looking for.

Does anyone know if the filmmakers had contacted Kyle Dinkheller's family to get their permission/blessing to make this movie? Seems like it would be quite heartless not to do so.

I'd say this qualifies as NSFW not due to the harsh language but to the violence as well.

This totally threw me into the rabbit hole of police/civilian violence.

On one hand we have crazies like this guy shooting a 22 year old cop... and 2 days ago we have cops choking out an asthmatic who was caught for something incredibly minor, dead moments later on an NYC sidewalk.

Glad these films exist to bring attention to both sides. People are people, we have to start respecting each other.

Initial Thoughts. Great Film, would have preferred if it was fiction. A bit bazaar that someone would make an action movie out of this police officers death. Could have changed the story a bit and made it fiction. You definitely hit a sentimental note with the audience if it's true, which equals more publicity and could technically launch your film career a lot quicker.

First off, this short film sure deserves the praise it reaped. Big achievement.
What works against the suspension of disbelief for me are:
- the long-extended arms when looking at the family photos etc.
- the rather slow head-movements.
- the near miss of the rear-view mirror with his right hand, betraying the fact that he's wearing a camera in front of his face.

I assume that the long arms and slow movements were done deliberately, but I'm wondering if the viewer's brain couldn't handle the extra camera shake resulting from more natural movements to the advantage of higher realism. After all, this is shot with wide FOV. Compare this to scenes like the action sequences in Children Of Men which I find quite effective in giving the viewer POV-immersion, and those have some rather excessive shaking at times.

Anyways, this is a small quibble. I'm still recovering from how this film affected me, so obviously it was plenty immersive. I also can't help but feel terrible for the portrayed officer's family. I kind of wish the filmmakers had created a fictional story, the graphic nature makes the experience voyeuristic and therefore controversial.

Most of these comments are baffling.

Extraordinarily good piece of filmmaking - the filmmaker's efforts and craft really shone in this piece.

Thank you for highlighting an important issue.

I'm not a huge fan of POV cinema, but this was pretty well done. There were however a few things that were distracting me as a viewer:
The audio sounds really ADR. I feel that they should have re-recorded the actual voice actor on location in order to have a more realistic audio sound.
Lastly, the camera filter edge vignetting in the top left, as well as the dirt on the sensor that was causing black dust spots in the final film. 1st AC forgot to check the gate apparently...

But overall, the execution was very good.

To be sincere, the real footage from the dash cam, made an impact 100x more than the short. And this made me think. Because the short is very well made, and the cinematography is astonishing. I don't think it's the fact that that was reality. Maybe it's because sometimes not showing everything makes your imagination to fulfill with even scarier things. And to be honest the actor-officer did't performed so well. That desperate voice of the officer, and that screams, I could felt how scared he was, and how he was not ready to die.

Anyway, it is a good short. And the most important thing, it brings the message.

+ 1 on the audio, could've made it much more immersive with better audio.
To me that just felt like a dramatisation (like on a current affairs show). If we actually came to identify with this young officer, it might've made watching his story unfold more real, it just felt like watching a game or well done crime re-creation. I guess it works, but I don't think it's amazingly well done or anything - probably better than I could do though!

While I think that I understand the filmmakers intent (it is a tragic event, and deserves attention for many reasons) I'm not sure how I feel about this dramatization. As with other posters, I wonder if the families of both were notified, especially the slain officer. I'm also not sure if the POV style contributed or just made something tragically complicated into a video game for consumption.

Personally, I would have preferred a different approach - a documentary even - if the end result was gaining awareness around this even. As is, this comes across more as a show piece for the filmmaker. And it doesn't come across very tastefully done.

I enjoyed the short's technical abilities but I do have a problem with the director taking this story on to himself without any consent. I mean its a horrific event in a families life and just cause you saw a clip of it on youtube doesn't mean you should rip it entirely. He could of made it his own, changed it up a bit. Im not one to be touchy about things but its simply disrespectful. I feel like the director had no right to claim such a story and on top of that add the real names of people involved as if to say, "hey look at the way this guy brutally died but its okay because heres some notes at the end to tell you the murderer is waiting trial." It's damn right cruel. If I were part of the family involved I would take legal action. Yea sure, tons of people can watch this and think its well made and great but on the sole basis that the family would somehow hear that such a short film is out is painful to me. The people who made this had no right to reenact this officers last minutes. It's enough the real footage is on there for people to say.

Although an incredible approach to such a seemingly simple idea, I didn't completely vibe with the idea of the "good cop" with the caring wife being picked off by the psycho veteran. There are so many more incidents of the reverse where cops have used excessive force and hurt/killed people for no reason at all.

It's interesting that this film causes such strong reactions. Then I wonder how the masses could swarm into a movie like titanic, for example, which turned the death of thousands into a mere side note or exotic backdrop. When glossed up and side tracked by a stupid main plot the average viewer buys everything, it seems...

This film is a nightmare. Well executed reenactment, but never should have been made as I believe all guns should disappear. Someone remake this now with the element of no guns and see how it plays out.

This short was unnecessary, yeah well made from a technical point of view, but the dead guy's son must be now 16 years old? imagine finding this ultra violent short based on his dad's death, with the main character screaming in agonizing pain before that psycho executed him. It's just sensationalism to expose the filmmakers, shame on them actually.

I think the problem with the history of this story goes back before the short film was made.

The Vietnam vet has mental issues, the state did not look after him, he kills a police officer.

The Police use the video of train other officers, this will safe lives. good cause if the family consent to it.

The video ends up on the Internet. Should never have happened. Millions of people will only remember him as the officer who was killed by the Vietnam vet.

Again the video should only have been used to train officers and I personally think there should be a statue outside Kyle Dinkheller police station stating " In memory of Kyle Dinkheller the heroic police man who saved countless law enforcement officers lives. That's basically what he should be remember for.

Pretty sad that Kyle's killing is on internet in the first place. On the plus side there is a lot of police officers sitting at home with their families now thanks to what they have learned from the "ORIGINAL FOOTAGE".

Technically a well made film (albeit, nothing that was never done before) BUT, morally?
what is the point in making it apart from promoting the crew's careers? It ads nothing to the original footage which is far more shocking and powerful, has no insight into the event and it screams of opportunism of a writer/director looking for a 'hot' subject to showcase his abilities at the expense of a dead officer's (and indeed the soon to be dead murderer's) true and very sad story.
cynical and pointless film.

I'm surprised at how many here who have built their careers on First Amendment rights are so borderline insulting to others who have exercised that same right. If a family member were to criticize them, that would be one thing, but I'm no fan of recreational armchair indignation. My years of journalism have shown me that it could easily prove that the family may appreciate this film. Even if not, the film makers could reasonably argue it still serves a purpose. The test is not whether they are right or wrong, it's a matter of whether we want a culture that accepts that to cultivate creativity you must be tolerant of mistakes. Countless other films would never be made if a climate of fear of public vilification were to staunch reasonable ideas at birth.

Ben Arfmann should be allowed to make a feature. Immediately.

The story was spot on for a short- quick and to the point, the cinematography and sound was eerie and distressing, and the subject matter in my opinion was, while extremely difficult to watch, was handled masterfully. Have your opinions on the moralities of this film, but I think its a great short film and shows amazing potential for this director.

Exploitation of a dead man and his family. I feel sorry for them. The filmmakers need to stop showing this film immediately. There's nothing "brilliant" or "masterful" or "amazing" about this POV tragedy. The "director" is a hack.

Am I the only one who doesn't think the film itself was all that good? The cinematography was obviously fantastic (dat window reflection at the beginning...), but the characters and dialogue were caricatures at best. When the "in memory of" message appeared at the end I was surprised and actually laughed a bit, because it felt like technically competent middle schoolers had made the film and then tried to squeeze some emotion out of me.

It was shocking and uncomfortable, but not for the reasons the filmmakers intended. Contrarian opinion, over and out.

I think people are forgetting that they are appraising the work of young, growing, developing, learning artists. What I see in this short film is a group of artists (because Ben didn't make this on his own) who aimed to give a new perspective on an event that affected the writer/director. From what I saw, they tried to show us the life before this particular, tragic murder, and how suddenly and inexplicably death can pounce on us. For that I can BEGRUDGINGLY appreciate it. I believe that is a part of why artists are still relevant, they show us new ways of seeing the world (as vague as that sounds) in a world that's becoming more and more about "me and my smartphone."

But as far as how well this film accomplished that, that's a separate question. I thought the writing was non-existent, but more than that, the direction left nothing to our imagination. The visuals and dialogue were reading me a script. "And here you see photos of the beautiful wife and baby to build sympathy for me. Ok, enough of that, time for the chase and gunfight." It was entirely ineffective, boring, and it felt lazy, and opportunistic. Worse yet, it feels like the filmmaker had more fun with the "cool factor" of POV rather than writing a coherent story.

That the chase and gunfight was the focal point really ruined the film. In my opinion, the last two-thirds of this film would have served as a really impactful ending to a longer short film about the young man who died that day. There was so much life before that random stop.

Behind the fancy camera gimmicks lies a dearth of sophistication, subtly, and empathy and there is hardly any evidence of writing ability. BUT...they're young. I hope they keep moving, keep growing, and keep learning. Because this should not be their call to fame. It's shameful.

if this was the intro of an fps game, i dont think i would have played the game.
is this a video made as a simulation? to persuade the police force to put cameras on their heads instead of behind their windshields?
or is this supposed to be a short movie?
the beginning is supposed to be some kind of "background story"?

why did the veteran act this way? just because he is the bad guy of this short movie?
instead of camera head mounting tests, i would prefer some history and background research for both the characters.

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