One man. One camera.
Making a short film on a micro budget.
The challenge
I wanted to make a short film and like most people I was on a micro budget. Getting friends and work colleagues to work for nothing/expenses was one way to go, then another way occurred to me. I would do everything myself including acting in it. Going down this route not only appealed to my budget but the control freak in me. The other side to this was that it vastly shrunk the scope of what I could do, which in a strange way I found liberating. I liked the challenge of coming up with something interesting within these constraints, it also meant I'd acting in something for the first time which was out of my comfort zone.
The idea
I wrote the film based around a seed of an idea I'd had for a couple of months about a man responding to a rejection and that being a catalyst for a transformation in the character. I chose this idea because I knew the subject matter would lend itself to static shots which I would be limited to. I wanted to get across the characters lack of movement in his life and static shots would help illustrate this. It would all take place in one room (my bathroom). Very early in the writing stage, I decided to approach this film with essence of a silent film. There would be sound but very little dialogue. I would have to work the production design, lighting and camera that bit harder to communicate the narrative. It was important that the scenes had the right mood and feeling to show the internal story of the character. I wanted some of the scenes to communicate almost like a piece of music on an emotional level, leaving room for interpretation although there is something being said about the characters journey in each scene.
The production process
One of the biggest difficulties when making this film were the logistics of shooting in such a small space and trying to get the right camera position and focal length that made sense for the story and that particular scene, there were some compromises that had to be made when the only alternative was smashing through a wall with a sledgehammer to move the camera back to achieve a different focal length. I used a Black Magic pocket camera and shot in raw mode. This camera was ideal because of its size considering the small space I was shooting in and I knew it would give me a really nice image. I used a stripped down rig so it was less likley that the camera would be creeping into shot in the mirror and made it more maneuverable which gave me the best chance of getting the shots I needed. The test shots that I did along with my pre-production proved invaluable and helped the shoot move along a lot faster than it would of had I not taken the time to put these things in place. Although I filmed entirely on my own there was one shot where a 'car headlight' shines into the bathroom where I had to ask a friend to pan the light across the room as I couldn't physicaly be in two places at the same time, apart from this shot it was just me the camera and the lights.
Although I'd be the only actor to appear on screen I cast my wife Emma Clarke who's an actress as a voice that speaks to my character. This added another dimension to the film and meant I didn't have to have the character speak to himself to push the narrative forward which is something I wanted to avoid for this film. Just before I began shooting Emma landed the role as the Starship Avalon in the movie Passengers. She still agreed to do my film though(!).
What I learned from making this film
For my next film I'm definitely getting a crew together, I've written the script and yes it has more than one location.
David Richard Birtles, February 2017
Film Maker
Trevor's House Productions
Read more Case Studies here
I wanted to make a short film and like most people I was on a micro budget. Getting friends and work colleagues to work for nothing/expenses was one way to go, then another way occurred to me. I would do everything myself including acting in it. Going down this route not only appealed to my budget but the control freak in me. The other side to this was that it vastly shrunk the scope of what I could do, which in a strange way I found liberating. I liked the challenge of coming up with something interesting within these constraints, it also meant I'd acting in something for the first time which was out of my comfort zone.
The idea
I wrote the film based around a seed of an idea I'd had for a couple of months about a man responding to a rejection and that being a catalyst for a transformation in the character. I chose this idea because I knew the subject matter would lend itself to static shots which I would be limited to. I wanted to get across the characters lack of movement in his life and static shots would help illustrate this. It would all take place in one room (my bathroom). Very early in the writing stage, I decided to approach this film with essence of a silent film. There would be sound but very little dialogue. I would have to work the production design, lighting and camera that bit harder to communicate the narrative. It was important that the scenes had the right mood and feeling to show the internal story of the character. I wanted some of the scenes to communicate almost like a piece of music on an emotional level, leaving room for interpretation although there is something being said about the characters journey in each scene.
The production process
One of the biggest difficulties when making this film were the logistics of shooting in such a small space and trying to get the right camera position and focal length that made sense for the story and that particular scene, there were some compromises that had to be made when the only alternative was smashing through a wall with a sledgehammer to move the camera back to achieve a different focal length. I used a Black Magic pocket camera and shot in raw mode. This camera was ideal because of its size considering the small space I was shooting in and I knew it would give me a really nice image. I used a stripped down rig so it was less likley that the camera would be creeping into shot in the mirror and made it more maneuverable which gave me the best chance of getting the shots I needed. The test shots that I did along with my pre-production proved invaluable and helped the shoot move along a lot faster than it would of had I not taken the time to put these things in place. Although I filmed entirely on my own there was one shot where a 'car headlight' shines into the bathroom where I had to ask a friend to pan the light across the room as I couldn't physicaly be in two places at the same time, apart from this shot it was just me the camera and the lights.
Although I'd be the only actor to appear on screen I cast my wife Emma Clarke who's an actress as a voice that speaks to my character. This added another dimension to the film and meant I didn't have to have the character speak to himself to push the narrative forward which is something I wanted to avoid for this film. Just before I began shooting Emma landed the role as the Starship Avalon in the movie Passengers. She still agreed to do my film though(!).
What I learned from making this film
- How to really work a location and get the best out of it.
- Being creative, flexible and adaptable with a story and working it around a location.
- Crew banter when you film entirely on your own gets boring very quickly.
- Moving out of your comfort zone is good.
- Use what you've got around you, sometimes what you need is right in front of you.
- You really have to commit to a project, in the final shots of the the film there is no fakery or make up it's all 100% real.
For my next film I'm definitely getting a crew together, I've written the script and yes it has more than one location.
David Richard Birtles, February 2017
Film Maker
Trevor's House Productions
Read more Case Studies here