How did you find the composer Ben Foster and how closely did you work with him on the score?
We put an ad out in film schools and music schools mentioning Georges Delerue (a French composer who composed the best film music ever for Godard’s Le Mépris) and Ben responded that he loved his work. So we met and Ben came up with some ideas. Ben is a great musician and composer, and for me what is more difficult is trying to explain in terms of music what I was looking for. It’s hard. You say ‘a bit more sad’, ‘a bit less romantic’ but it’s hard to make yourself understood. In the end we kept the beginning part of the wonderful theme Ben came up with and put it in a loop because after the end bit it became too big and too romantic for the film. But it’s very hard to say to a composer ‘I only want the first bit’. It must be frustrating for them. Also it’s hard to know before you put the image and the music together how exactly it’s going to work. You can have an idea but sometimes you may be surprised.
Did you find that the finished film was very close to how you had imagined it when you were writing the script?
Yes and no. Yes because it created a certain ‘world’, which I very much had in mind. And no because I don’t really ever imagine the film so very precisely when I write it. I imagine a ‘texture’ and a ‘mood’ rather than a set of precise elements.
How did your experience working on a short film differ to the feature films you have worked on?
Well the feature films I worked on I worked as a scriptwriter not as a director. But in my mind I decided to approach the short just the same way as I would approach the feature. And in a way I think I could very much write Being Bad as a feature film too. I think the characters have enough depth to be developed for a feature film. But since it was a short, I felt it would be a snapshot of those characters and those lives.
What did you do with the film once it was completed? Did you have a strategy for distributing it before you started making it?
I didn’t have any strategy at all beforehand. I knew very little about short films. I made the film to see whether I would enjoy directing and whether I would be good at it, so when the film was finished and people liked it, it went beyond all my expectations. And it was great to see that a short film could have a life. It got accepted by the British Council who sent it to festivals and it started doing pretty well and then Dawn Sharpless at Dazzle films, who distributes short films, took it on and sold it to Channel 4 and Sundance Channel. But I guess because I don’t really have a producer, it’s a lot of work – to send it to festivals, fill in forms all by myself – so sometimes I perhaps don’t do all the things I should be doing for it. But I do feel it’s had a good life.
What has come out of showing the film at festivals etc?
It’s very encouraging that people really like the film a lot. It made me want to do another one. And perhaps it has been the start of people starting to think of me as a director (but I had to make another perhaps more ‘classically’ narrative short to capitalise on this even more). But I think you have to win prizes for it to make such a difference…
What did you learn from your experiences making Being Bad? In retrospect are there any things you would have done differently?
Of course there are always things you would do differently but I don’t find that a useful way to think about things. On the other hand, I learned a hell of a lot by making it. But every time you make a film you learn something new, and every film is different so you learn something different.
Maybe the most useful thing I learned is that there isn’t one way of doing things. Or one way of directing. I used to think I couldn’t direct because I didn’t always know so clearly what I wanted but I realised I do know what I want but I don’t express it by making storyboards or precise shot lists etc.
What did you do after completing Being Bad?
I wanted to make another short straightaway to see whether it was a fluke that I enjoyed directing so much and that the film had turned out okay… and I did make another short called Holiday and it was as exciting and turned out okay too.
What are your plans for the future?
I continue working as a scriptwriter for other directors but I have a feature film I hope to direct and I am writing more projects for myself too.
What advice do you have for filmmakers considering making a short?
Be bold, take risks. Make the film you really want to make and know where your strengths are. Remember that some things may be perceived as flaws but they may become your strengths… because it’s what will make you stand out.
What do you enjoy the most about making short films?
Well for me it’s been the freedom, because I have been able to finance them myself.
INTERVIEW WITH CHARLES HENDLEY (DIRECTOR)
Charles Hendley has directed two short films Dead Flies Are No Good and Shelf Life. He has numerous film projects in development, in both long and short formats, and also directs commercials.
How did you get involved in short filmmaking?
Simply as a means of demonstrating my abilities as a director – to direct narrative. Doing commercials is fine, but it’s quite rare to find a script that allows you to do everything you want to do. Short films give you that opportunity.
Did you have much previous experience?
I didn’t go to film school. I actually studied economics at university. I personally found that the moment I started making films, I just grasped it. I seemed to understand it. It’s about having a three-dimensional mind.
Was Shelf Life your first film?
Apart from commercials, this was the first film I had done.
What gave you the idea?
I saw a cartoon in Germany, which was 2D. It was a guy with blood coming out of his head saying, ‘Be careful in the home’. It was by Nils Alzen; I gave him a credit on the film. I thought it was a cute concept. What I love doing is withholding information, until a certain moment, so that people don’t quite understand what’s going on, or think they do but then discover it’s actually something else. It’s a form of irony, I suppose, which is very apparent in the work of Hitchcock. I’m always on the look out for scenarios like that.
How long did it take to write the script?
The first version was knocked out in a couple of days, and then over time as the process developed different ideas accumulated. Subsequently, the art director had the idea of making him a safety expert. We were originally just going to have him hanging a picture on the wall but she came up with the idea of it being a safety certificate, which added some irony. I also added little clues about death, like the six raw plugs being six bullets and the cross he makes on the wall being like cross hairs.
Did you storyboard quite heavily?
Yes we did, although you can’t control every single thing that happens and you shouldn’t. The thing with short films is that there’s never enough time. You have to make absolutely the most of every single moment you have. I like playing around with funny angles, so that when you put the camera there, some people aren’t sure if you’ve crossed the line. I still don’t actually know what that means. I remember with the feet stepping on to the mat, half of you thinks, ‘That can’t be right’, but with the movement of the guy’s body, it just works.
How much did it cost to make?
It didn’t cost much, less than £1,000. It’s always down to the wonderful generosity of the people involved. But there is a certain amount of self-interest too as everyone can put it on their own reels. If you can make it good then everyone is going to be proud of it and get some credit.
How long did you spend on pre-production?
It all happened very quickly. The biggest problem was finding where to do it. A friend had a neighbour who was having their house rebuilt, and there was one room that was just plaster and looked right.
How did you end up casting Michael Winner?
We just thought, ‘Who might deserve getting it most?’ So we faxed his management company and they faxe
d back and said he was up for it. We told them we would do it whenever he wanted. He was very charming and he actually came up with the formula for the blood: tomato ketchup.
How long did the shoot take?
Just a day, quite a short one. I managed to get everything I needed.
How about the post-production?
About three or four weeks. It all happened very quickly too. It was very close to what I had imagined, which is about as good as you can get.
What was your approach to directing?
Well you can’t have a trademark, you have to look at the material and try and reflect that. The wonderful thing about being a director is that you have all these different dimensions that you can play with to communicate the message, and the message is the emotion. It’s the emotions that count. With short films it’s hard to do that because you don’t know the characters for long enough and they don’t do things that really matter.
It’s very hard to be emotionally involved in two or three minutes, but nevertheless the material still dictates what you do and the choices you make. If you don’t feel it then it’s very hard to do it intellectually. It really comes down to casting, everything is casting. And you’re not just casting the actors, you are casting the crew too. Once you get that right, you don’t need to tell people what to do.
What did you learn from the experience of making it?
I reconfirmed my suspicion that I really like making movies, and I’m still trying to make them; I’m still writing.
Do you have any advice for new filmmakers?
Keep doing it as much as possible. The longer you do it for, the luckier you get. Always take the opportunity to shoot, and be good at it.
INTERVIEW WITH TOBY ROBERTS (DIRECTOR)
After studying film and television at the University of California, Toby Roberts began a successful screenwriting career, before returning to the UK to focus on directing his own projects. His output has ranged from a feature-length mockumentary to a truly short film. Clocking in at just over 15 seconds, Chrysanthemums the Word.
Figure 61. Film still from Toby Roberts’ Chrysanthemums the Word.
How did you get involved in short filmmaking?
My father works in the film industry so we always had a video camera of one sort or another around the house, even in the days of the old half-inch VHS cameras. My fascination with filming therefore began by watching and making home videos. Over time, I developed a sense of the values of lighting, framing and movement, in the process of fooling around with mates making rock-videos, silly sketches, filming parties and the like.
I suppose my first ‘proper’ short film was Wivenhoe: Taking Up the Arts. I’d bumped into an old friend of mine, pop-poet Martin Newell, who was working on a mockumentary about Wivenhoe, the bohemian Essex riverside town I was brought up in. He asked if I’d like to get involved and I ended up directing it. We had some silly ideas, very little money and a community of people who were up for taking the piss out of themselves on camera. It was great. And a complete luxury because we had no time restraints, no pressure from executives, no big film crews creating obstacles. Just us, a few friends and quite a lot of drinks. I’ve been trying to emulate that in my films ever since.
The film ran in at around 30 minutes. We set up a fabulous publicity stunt by creating Wivenhoe’s first film premiere. We got in touch with absolutely everybody we knew and told them to come along and then called the national newspapers and local media hyping it up to be a massive local celeb fest. Sadly, and not altogether surprisingly, none of the big papers turned up, but most of the local ones did. A good 200–300 people gathered outside the venue. We glammed it up by bringing in the cast and crew in limousines, although we only had two. We all met at a house close to the venue and then each limo took one or two people, dropped them off outside the venue and then came back to pick up the others, each one going round several times altogether. We had friends dress up as chauffeurs and bouncers keeping the public away from the ‘stars’ as they disembarked. The bouncers had homemade ear-pieces that they pretended to talk to some security HQ through. And the red carpet came from someone’s bathroom… it even had a cut out at one end where the loo went! Three local mayors greeted the stars from the limos and ushered them towards the film crew. We’d borrowed a Sony DSR-250 and a redhead light and held brief ‘interviews’ before they waved to the crowd and went inside. We didn’t actually have any tape in the camera. Most of the press took it all, as they should have, very light-heartedly – writing about people like Harrison Ford being upset that he hadn’t got an invite etc. But one or two of them thought the whole thing was serious, saying that there had been nothing like this in Wivenhoe ever before. It was a resounding success and we very nearly made our money back! I think they’re still selling the DVDs in the Wivenhoe bookshop today.
Where did the inspiration come from for Chrysanthemums the Word?
My father wrote the poem many years ago. He was bos’n on a boat heading for the Mediterranean and was on watch with the steward who was entertaining Dad with a story about an argument he’d had with his girlfriend. Neither of them admitted fault or defeat. Then, several days later, she thanked him for the flowers he’d sent, they ended up in bed together and the whole thing was seemingly forgotten. However, while he was happy about the outcome of the disagreement, the steward was still puzzled, as well as concerned, about the flowers… you see, he’d never actually sent her any. So, on the long night watch the steward and the bos’n wrote the poem.
My dad sent me the poem a year or two back in an email. I kept it and would occasionally read it for a laugh. Then, in the summer of 2005, I came across the 15-second film festival online, sponsored by Nokia. Like many, I was intrigued how you could possibly make a film so short. Then I remembered the poem, re-read it with a stopwatch, and decided I would turn it into a film.
Did you always envision it as one shot, or did you consider other ways of making it?
It’s always been a one-shot film in my mind although the focus of the shot went through a number of changes. Originally I had it in mind to start at the foot of the bed with her legs, face down, poking out from under the duvet. Then we’d track up the bed to the only head on the pillow: his, enjoying the pleasure she was providing… until he suddenly realises that he hadn’t sent any flowers. He does this now with a more subtle glance to camera.
Roughly how long did you spend on pre-production for the film?
As I recall, I spent remarkably little time in pre-production. This is one of the beautiful things of working on such a short film with one location, a crew of three and no budget. Once I’d got the location and the equipment, I’d say most of the time was spent discussing the camera movement. We were maybe two or three weeks in pre-production, but if you added all the time actually spent working on the film, it would probably fit into a single working day.
How did you come to choose Simon Reed as DP?
Actually, he came to me. He’s a local filmmaker and a friend who’d recently purchased a Sony Z1. He’d very kindly offered his services with the camera. I think he was keen to try it out on a project other than his own so that he could focus solely on the camerawork for a change. He’s normally a director.
What was the budget and how did you raise the finances?
We had no money. Actually, I spent £3 on a DV tape, but that was it. This is the beauty of modern filmmaking; once you’ve got the equipment you can start making films. And the equipment is so much cheaper than 10 or 20 years ago. I don’t recall exactly how we raised the £3, but I imagine it was self-financed.
Which format did you shoot on and did you look into shooting the film on other formats?
We filmed it on MiniDV. We’d considered shooting on HDV as we had the Z1 but Simon the DP decided against it – quite why, I don’t recall – and I was happy to go along with it. I think I was more eager to get the film made than spend time worrying about the format.
How long did it take to shoot?
We spent a couple of hours setting up the jib and rehearsing the shot and probably another couple of hours filming it.
Did you have that particular camera move in mind prior to the shoot?
The camera move I had in mind is the camera move you see: a rotating crane shot. The more prepared you are with a shooting script the better the day will go and therefore the better the film will look. To go into a shoot without any ideas on your camera movements is suicide.
How many takes did you do, to get ‘The One’?
I honestly can’t remember. Maybe about 20 to 30 if you include the incomplete shots. It was a lot because we had difficulty with the jib. The Z1 didn’t fit onto it correctly, so we had to rig it up so that the camera was on the outside of the housing. As Gary Leach, the grip, lowered the camera end of the jib, Simon had to account for the perpetually changing angle of camera with a remote. To make things worse, the remote was attached to the head of the jib with a short cable, so as well as trying to get the shot right, he was clambering over the actors in the bed to prevent the cable from pulling taut. The shot that made it into the film was the only one that was perfect.
So how did you find directing and acting in your own film?
I loved it. But it was only a one-shot film. It would be far more complex on a bigger movie. That said, I would relish the challenge. Besides, I think the only acting jobs I’ll get are in my own films.
Short Films Page 24