Working On My First Short Film (Part 1)
The Small Talk shoot seems to have sadly been plagued with setbacks, first having to cancel due to Storm Dennis back in February and then again once we finally got into the swing on the evening of the 7th March we were struck down by a man looking for trouble who decided to attack our crew and damage our equipment. But we push onward and will be back to shoot again! Everyone working on the shoot has been so lovely to meet and I’m excited to get back to shooting soon. Up until we were rudely interrupted the shoot was going well; here’s my experience of being a part of my first short film.
I was so excited to join Vanessa and her team in Richmond to get ready to shoot Small Talk, a film exploring the realities of male suicide and the fact that a simple conversation can sometimes change someone’s outlook completely. We got to know each other and enjoyed some lovely snacks before getting stuck in as James and Joe, our actors arrived. Vanessa and I had both bought a variety of options with us, after I had created a mood board which I had sent out to the actors. Both of them also bought some great options and using a combination of what we had all brought we built the looks ready for the shoot. With James’ character, Adam, it was important to create sharp lines and allow the audience to instantly view Adam as a businessman. In contrast, with Joe’s character, Jake, we wanted to create a softer silhouette and make him the opposite of how Adam looked. Much more casual and a little worn down.
Once these looks were sorted we moved onto the shoot location in Teddington. I met the supporting actors. The key that I had tried to develop with their looks and that I had worked with Vanessa on was to make them look modern while blending into the background. With only two actors the focus really needed to be pulled on them, so I had to avoid the colour white in such a dark scene and stick to dark greys, blacks, browns and greens.
With the supporting actors dressed and on set it was time to start shooting! My main job from here was ensuring that the actors were all warm enough. I was armed with hand warmers and blankets so between takes I did a quick whip around of each actor to ensure they were alright as it was a cold evening and some of them were lacking in scarves etc. which meant they were a little more open than they might ordinarily be in that weather. We managed to complete the first shot and then unfortunately had to cut the shoot short, but we will be back for Part 2 as soon as possible!
I really enjoyed my first experience on set and can’t wait to get stuck back in when we are able to re-shoot. It was so lovely to work alongside everyone and I’m excited to work with them again to get the rest of the shots.
