This is an occasional look of what’s happening in the world of Barigord arts, often published on the weekend! While we’re probably best known for making films, we dabble in all sorts of other art forms. Plus we love to share and connect! Leave a comment or a link so we can see your artwork too!
Hey there film lovers! Once again, we have successfully completed a Film Race!
That’s right, one of those competitions you might have heard of, where teams of filmmakers get some prompts at the beginning of a set time period, and have to make a whole finished film by the end of it. Not for the faint of heart!
Last week I did a preview post:
And today, after some recovery, I’m happy to report that our film was made to our immense satisfaction, and submitted on time with all required elements and paperwork.
Now it’s time for the judges to decide if it’s any good. We think it is!
We can’t release the film until Film Racing HQ says we can, but I will tell you a little about it.
We had a crew of 5, and all of us acted in the film. That includes me, which is a bit of a gamble these days. It’s really tough to put myself into a proper headspace when I’m doing other film jobs at the same time, directing especially. But I think I did ok.
Our main cast, Kate Besworth, David C. Jones, Nicola Whitney-Griffiths, and Andrew Wade were all exceptional, and I’m so proud of them.
Above: Kate Besworth as Professor Alison Crowley
We did end up making a mockumentary, as I thought we might. It’s a really achievable structure, based around interviews, outtakes, still shots, and some staged scenes. It really worked for us.
Above: David C. Jones as David Q. Jones
Some of the other options, like a non-comedic fake documentary, stop-motion, Lego stop-motion, and a one-room/one scene/maybe one continuous shot, might’ve been cool too, but once we started talking about how the required elements fit into a mockumentary, it seemed pretty dead on.
The Theme we were given was ‘Seeking Clout,’ as in trying to elevate one’s importance or ability to influence others. Great theme.
Above: Nicola Whitney-Griffiths as Scythia Corwin-Dziedzic
We had our cast, and me in reserve if needed, and we’d asked them for a ‘bucket list’ character. That means a role they’d always wanted to play, but never had for whatever reason. Maybe a specific character, or an archetype, or anything.
Above: Andrew Wade as Dean
I want to give the actors reasons to do our films, because we can’t always pay them. One way we try to do this is write roles for them that they want. Actors often get cast for type, and things like age, gender, and somebody else getting a role can stop you from getting what you want.
And you can adapt anything if you’re clever about it. If me, a person who does not look like Thor, wanted to play Thor in a movie (an example – I do not need to play Thor), I could find reasons why I look like me and not your typical Thor. A different manifestation, a multiverse thing, a trick of Loki’s, a trial of Odin’s, etc. etc. etc.
Any of those things could be the basis of the plot of the film, too.
Above: Josh Hallem as Yves Haricot
Anyways, Andrew and I wrote the film together, and we wrote the roles the actors wanted to play. Why wouldn’t we? We took a look at what they wanted, and how that tied in with Seeking Clout, and how that somehow intersected with the Horror genre, and a plot emerged.
We’re filmmakers, so we wrote a film about making a film. A horror film.
Seeking Clout is a pretty common theme in the movie industry at large, and this gave us a lot of comedy meat to stew on. Each of our cast has a different motivation, and stake, in the film-within-a-film.
When it came to filming, choosing Mockumentary style was a big win for us. We were able to break up the filming into each cast member’s interview, plus a bit of extra stuff. David, Nicola, and Kate weren’t ever on set together.
Above: David C. Jones, with Disclaimer
I actually went to North Vancouver to film David, as he is extremely busy, and only had a brief window mid-transit to film over the whole weekend. We were right by the Seabus (aquatic bus) terminal, with the water in the background, and Vancouver in the distance. One shot has the Seabus in it! I like the Seabus a lot.
This was a huge risk. It was windy and rainy, and there were people and birds and everything around us. Completely distracting pizza smells. But David is a pro’s pro, and our Rode Wireless Go 2 lavalier microphones showed up.
Seriously. I think I might have to make a video showing the difference. I don’t normally recommend products unsolicited, but camera sound was a literal roar. The lavalier sound was like it was in a calm, quiet studio.
Here’s a link to the Rode Wireless Go 2 so you can check them out for yourself.
The other Required Elements for the film were the Action of ‘Using a Keyboard’ and the Prop ‘Sticky Notes’. We often try to get several versions of the Action/Prop into the film. We only did one instance of Sticky Notes, and it’s a good one, but we tried to get a few interesting interpretations of Using a Keyboard in.
Above: On Set with Yves Haricot
Since we have a very small crew (Andrew and I do pretty much all of it, and I did all the editing this time, groan) things are very hands-on. It’s a LOT of work. While it’s daunting, what me co-writing, directing and editing does is create continuity. It speeds things up, because I don’t have to interpret what the other guy was thinking. When editing, I start with a pretty good idea of what takes I’m going to use.
Above: A BTS Shot featuring BTS Gum!
I really appreciate these Film Races, and the opportunities they present. They are such an unbelievable challenge, and I learn so much, that they’ve been indispensable to my growth as a filmmaker. I’m able to cut loose, and try the stuff that’s scary, and go as big as I dare.
We went really big this time. We didn’t hold back on complex storytelling, complex dialogue, and a substantial narrative. It’s long, but I’m not apologizing for that.
Conclusion
We feel we made a really strong film. We’d love to see it in the Top 10, and let it loose on an unsuspecting theatre full of people at a real premiere. The judges will decide, and we’ll know fairly soon.
It’s called ‘The Something’
I can’t wait for you all to see it!
Thanks for Reading!
