So, many things have been afoot.
One of the most significant was that we made a film in 48 hours. Yes, yes, we’ve been making films for about a year now so what’s so important about that? Well firstly, we actually finished one. Fully edited, sound FX, music track, grading, the lot. It seems that setting yourself constraints can really make things happen. You don’t procrastinate, you make sure you have the time set aside and you don’t keep suggesting improvements that mean you keep re-shooting. Secondly it was a proper film challenge, being up there with our peers. A chance to check out the competition and not only feel a part of it but also feel immensely proud that a) what we produced is pretty damn good in all respects and b) realise that what we produced was on the right level, in the right ballpark and, actually, very good given the limited size and experience of our team.
So how was it? Cool. We filmed in 2 locations – in an aeroplane at Speke Aerodrome and Moore Nature Reserve, near Warrington- one of which was very cramped on a wet and windy day, the other a lovely sunny day in the wide open with a tent. Our actors performed admirably and a horde of extras and supporters helped us through. Tim (DP) worked tirelessly as DP and editor, lugging around his massive new camera rig and case of lenses on a hot day as well as working wonders in a cramped cockpit. Matthew not only handled sound duties with his new sound rig (Edirol R44 sound recorder, gadget porn fans) but stepped up to the plate when an actor crisis hit and delivered a great performance as Technical Officer Pantall in the spaceship scene.
What did I do? Well, I wrote the script, obviously. Which was, whilst not as wordy as many things I have written, still fairly wordy for a 5 minute short. I also tagged myself nominally as director, something of an emerging role that I don’t think any of us have a great handle on yet. I storyboarded the script to show Tim what shots I thought we needed. I worked with the actors to rehearse and guide the performance. The pre-production planning and the editing was done collectlvely and worked well.
Did it come out the way I wanted? Certainly the play of the visuals and framing of the shots was what I wanted. The acting delivered in the right way and the edit runs smoothly to deliver the way I saw it in my head. All of this of course is within the constraints of time and circumstance.
Mostly though I was pleased with the way it worked as a team. The idea isn’t to be a Kubrick production where everything revolves around one guy but a devolved team where you paint the vision and let the experts get on with it. I think that’s important because we’re a group of people who all want to push things and learn a lot about our chosen areas, not just enact the creative vision of one person. I don’t think Joss Whedon single-handledly put together Avengers. He got together a group of talented choreographers, graphic and sound designers, cinematographers and so on, painted them a vision and let them go away and play, giving nudges of guidance along the way.
What it does comes down to though is the need to have a guy that makes the final decisions and, whilst in a devolved model that should mainly come down to focusing on guiding the performances and saying when you’ve got the right one in the can, it still means that all across the team, from wardrobe to edit, to sound and to music someone will, at some point, need to step in and say, ‘this is what we are doing.’ It requires so much deeper levels of thought and visualisation about all the aspects of production, because you can’t make an assured decision until you have. There’s a lot to learn in that space and its important to go through it. Being a director requires doing a lot outside of your comfort zone but what does make it more comfortable is recognising it is another skill to be learned and that each mistake, difficulty or challenge moves you further along that path.
Most of all though. The feeling of sitting down and watching a film, based on word you wrote, is just epic.
FILMTVGAMES 