Welcome back

Today, we will shortly visit the making of my first short short film. Everything usually has its beginning and I have long wanted to do a short film but finding the right topic to film was the issue. I had always heard great film makers say that when starting one should try doing silent films because it would help them focus on the story instead of the dialog.

So I accepted my own challenge to find a topic/theme to shoot. Now the first idea came when I was watching Film Riot when Ryan Connolly suggested that however you shoot a wall, however you light it, in whatever angle nothing will come out of it. Well, I decided to combine a wall and something else that would bring meaning to it; a human. But I still faced the problem of finding my theme. But an idea popped-up some time later. Being home alone the whole weekend the idea of loneliness came to mind and so I decided to shoot a lonely man staring at a wall. But as we all know that we, the no-budget film makers have either little or no crew, lighting and the like which are essential for the making of a successful film. Thats our first challenge.

So how did I go around the problem. First, shoot the whole thing with available lighting and so the evening time was perfect for me because the sun was just outside my living room window. Second thing having no actors I decided to act by myself which was okay! I also decided to sketch my short short film before I started shooting so I would have everything sorted out. I roughly sketched the idea of a man staring at a wall, writing the different expressions the man would have to perform with every changing shot.

Done with the pre-production, I started shooting the easier stuff; the empty chair and the wall. Then came my part. Now, I wanted to maintain that shallow depth of field (the beautiful blurry background) but that would mean I had to focus exactly at the point I was sitting to avoid an unusable blurry image but I had no assistant so no one to focus on me while I was sitting hence another inconvenience. So I had to go around this as well to make sure my film comes true. At first I thought of measuring my distance then focus but I had nothing of the kind to help me do that and it wouldn't be accurate as well. Now this is were the help of my dad came through. Of course, he wasn't here with me nor did he know I was making a film. But he helped me think around the problem. When I had started photography he had bought an infrared wireless trigger for the camera. Although it is for photography, I decided to use it because when I press the trigger it would automatically focus before it takes my shot. So I did this for every extra move I had to take towards the camera. Problem solved.

The shooting took me about 30 minutes (I also had to use an onion to get teary eyes :D). After the shoot came the editing, a part I also really love. I did my editing with Premiere Pro and graded with Magic Bullet Looks around 1-2 hours. And so my short film came to a desirable end. I loved the theme and my acting as well :) The main concept of the film was mainly to express loneliness, not mine but general loneliness and how what and who surround us might at times not help solve this problem.

But some friends had different understandings towards the short film which helped add alot to the theme.

Said Mwamba, a great friend and medicine student wrote: "In a world where everyone is so occupied with one thing or another the people we want to actually connect with don't return the effort or don't notice it. It ends up being a case of staring to a corner waiting for a reply."

Khayru Mchengule another great friend and engineering student wrote: "Its short in time paradigm, yet very long in real life paradigm. The real moment when time crawls, a moment when everything is in slow motion, a moment when even a corner of the room carries a big meaning."

They say there is no excuse for not trying and that every mistake you make is a step towards success. Watch, enjoy and please leave your comments and advice. Until next time. :)

Blog

BEHIND THE SHORT SHORT FILM