Short Film: completed it!

My film ‘I Wish I Was There’ is done. Yes, 100% completed. What a journey, 17 months of hard work, including 781 hours of animating (not counting creating the animatic, scripting, filming, editing and so on which all took a lot of time). Here’s the teaser:

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.

I Made a Hat!

Not sure if the 'sewing' tag is the correct one for my crochet stuff, but I suppose in my head it's an all encompassing 'stuff I've done using fabric' term! Anyway, it's my blog, let me do what I want! Also, I'm not sure how long I'll stick with crochet for, so be a bit silly to make a tag for it if I only ever do like 5 projects- but who knows... I'm very much enjoying it at the moment- all new and exciting stuff.

As the title would suggest, this is my first 'proper' project if you like, rather than the test pieces I wrote about in my previous post. I followed this idea, kind of, but also ad libbed in places, but because this is the closest thing to it, then it's only fair I link/ credit the creator.

I used white and a dark-ish green for my design, not because they are my favourite colours, but because the green one was on offer and I thought the white would go nicely alongside it! But, I do think the colours look good together and it is a hat I would wear. In theory. Unfortunately the one I made ended up being a bit too big. But, I am not going to unravel it, as it's still an achievement and I'm still really proud that I made it. It's something I can learn from and develop as I get better at the craft. I'm already excited to start the next piece- not too sure whether I should try another hat straightway, or try making an amigurumi plush that I have a pattern for. Decisions, decisions...

Below is the final piece, followed by a couple of work in progress pictures.

Crochet!

On my most recent holiday a couple of weeks ago, I taught myself how to crochet- at long last! It's been something I've wanted to learn for a few years now, ever since I was gifted a hand created amigurumi plush by a friend. But, I always thought it seemed crazily complex and out of my skill range to ever learn it, despite buying a couple of kits. Though for some reason I thought, this is the right time(!), so I put my embroidery to one side and put my mind to the task and learned several types of stitches/ techniques. I found this YouTube video the most helpful as a complete novice.

At first I found it extremely difficult to get my head round and definitely struggled, but once I got going with it, I found myself in a good rhythm and it's actually really enjoyable! I'll post a few pics below of my progress.

I started with a US Single Crochet- you can see how much I struggled with the first piece (on the left) and then my progression of how I improved throughout each try:

After that, I learned how to crochet in the round- another super useful technique, especially for making amigurumi. My first one (on the left) was a typical beginner's mistake- where I didn't alternate the increase stitches, meaning that my circle ended up looking hexagonal. I then tried again once I researched how to increase correctly, so the next one was an actual circle- now how about that!

Continuing the theme (kind of), I wanted to make a sphere. Again, especially useful when making 3D objects. The first one on the left isn't quite as neat, but I re-did it (in the gold), which had a much better result.

Must say, I was pretty proud of the second sphere! Very fun just to have on my desk to play catch with! After those, I wanted to learn how to change colour, because one colour is just boring, isn't it?! I got the technique down, but the 2 sizes of the yarn are both different, so it didn't really work that well:

Aaand finally-ish, I just tried a load of different stitches out- mainly ribbed/ stretch ones, to enable me to be able to make garments to wear. As well as US Half Double Crochet and Double Crochet stitches. This piece was really fun and relaxing to make- once I got the hang of the stitches. Using 100% acrylic yarn by the way, because 100% vegan! 

Bonus one below- this is a sneak preview of my first 'proper' project, if you like. Basically chose those colours because the green one was on offer(!) and then I thought the white would look nice to contrast it with. It's taking a while and no idea if it'll look any good when it's finished, but it's an enjoyable task and I would quite like the sense of achievement when I eventually finish it. Of course, you will hear about it in here, however it turns out!! xo

New Camera... kind of

I say 'kind of', because it's actually an upgrade on my previous camera phone, which was shockingly bad! It didn't even have a 2x zoom. Yes, seriously. And I was not enjoying being out and about with it- especially for taking it to football. And if you know me, then you know how much I enjoy taking photos (and football)! So, since upgrading to a Samsung S24, I've reignited my enjoyment of photography. I know it's not the best camera phone out there by a long shot (no pun intended), but it's a serious upgrade from my last one. Here's a few of the results: