Synopsis: Whilst relaxing abroad on a solo holiday, a woman receives a series of phone calls from the hospital. She decides to ignore these in effect to enjoy her vacation, but her imagination gets the better of her. An unpleasant time ensues, with the growing realisation that she needs to confront her fears.
It’s been a while since posting anything about my film, but I was still quietly working away on it in the background. It just felt a bit silly updating every week, when there wasn’t a lot of big new news on it etc!
I completed the film Friday 19th September, but for some reason it’s taken me forever to get this post out. I often feel strange on completing a big project such as this- kind of a weird sort of empty/ sadness feeling. So trying to come up with something to write about on here regarding the completion of the film hasn’t been the easiest things to do. I think experiencing this feeling on completing projects is quite common within the world of creativity (a lot of creatives speak about this) and it’s a feeling I’ve experienced many times before and have written about in here previously, so I won’t dwell on it too much. I know I’ve just got to ride it out and distract myself with other things (skating, crochet, football etc) until it passes. But still, it makes it hard to appreciate what I’ve accomplished. Which is a lot.
I’ve animated a film from start to finish all by myself with no external funding or pressures. Which is a big deal. It’s hard to finish projects, especially big ones like this which have a lot of challenges. But I did it! I pushed through the difficult parts, found solutions to the problems and came through the other side.
Whether it does well in the realm of festivals or not, it is a piece I’m extremely proud of in terms of both look and feel. It’s a step up in that regard from my previous short, and the story is a lot tighter and more refined. It’s also a film that shows the kind of work I want to continue to produce as a director: thematically and stylistically. Yes, it’s not perfect, but to have been able to produce what I have done without a budget shouldn’t be ignored.
Despite it being largely a solo effort, I’m not going to gloss over the help I received in various ways throughout, such as trusted friends giving me feedback at different stages, family for helping out with locations and friends for technical tips. And, my wonderful partner Ben, who kindly supported and encouraged me throughout the whole process, listening to my turmoil at times when the project wasn’t going so well and giving me honest feedback on various story aspects. As well as assisting as camera operator for a lot of the live action rotoscope reference shoots. Thank you <3
I also have my voice cast: Nathalie Codsi, David Holt, Marta Madrid Manrique to applaud for breathing life into the characters, as well as Tom Parker, Lucia Pires-Reeves, Najma Heybe, Ronny Calow and Charlie Lightning to thank, who played the amazingly creepy nurses:
And then, Barnaby Templer at Fonic, for providing me with the best sound design I could have ever asked for. I always felt it was the sound design (or lack thereof- I tried, don’t judge me!) that let my previous short down. So for this project, I was determined to not repeat that and instead have the sound design created by someone who knows exactly what they’re doing! I also didn’t want to include a score in this film, so the sound design was especially important, because that would be the thing that would be used to build tension and emotion.
This is the first film of mine I’ve worked properly with sound designers. I must admit going into it, I was a little nervous about how it might go and whether we’d be on the same page etc. I didn’t want to not give them any creative freedom, but at the same time, I didn’t want the film sounding not as I had imaged it. But, he did an honestly fantastic job with only minimal direction from myself. He picked up the themes and story and ‘got’ exactly the film I wanted to tell. I think this was because we had several long calls about the film before work was started on it, so could get to know the story I wanted to tell, plus who I am as a director and person. I’d say he pretty much took the film from around 70% to 100%. So Barnaby Templer (sound design and mix), Stephen Maxwell (foley recordist) and Andrea King (foley artist), I can’t thank you enough!
Right, have I done gushing about all the help I’ve received? I think so! So, what’s next? Is it going to be that feature I keep going on about that I want to make? Yes, yes it is.
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