Surviving. A Reflection.

There’s no way I could review a film that I’d made, for one thing I might not be very nice about it. What I would like to do is a little bit of self-indulgent reflection of my experience making Surviving, and the lessons I’ll take forward into my next project.

Surviving is a short film about a petty criminal who has made some poor choices, and is a broken man at the beginning of the film, he meets an other-worldly woman who makes him confront the past he has been trying to forget. The plot is based on a short story I wrote for a fiction-writing class, and so straight away I faced the limitations of translating my imagination into a script that I could reasonably expect to shoot. The script went through a few drafts, the most helpful process was workshopping it with the filmmaking society at NC State, they gave me some great advice and helped me get rid of some of the cheesier lines that I had included. Having spent hours with the film during the editing process, I can’t hear a single line of dialogue without cringing, and I know appreciate the challenge of writing dialogue that sounds realistic and advances the plot. Looking back, the script certainly needed another few drafts before shooting to have gotten the best out of the story, which brings me to my first major lesson learned - taking the time beforehand to plan and prepare is never time wasted. 

For cinematographers I could not have wished for better help than Christian Roach and Corey Reid. They both put up with my indecision and inexperience when shooting, and gave brilliant advice. I also learnt the importance of communication, I may have the clearest image in my head of how the shot should look, but I have to tell my cinematographer if I want it to materialise. Christian also helped me find the locations for the film, which brings me to the most important lesson I learned on this film - the absolute essential importance of scouting locations beforehand.

On the shoot we experienced all sorts of problems, at which I can laugh now, but at the time were incredibly frustrating. There was the fact that there was a parade downtown with heavy police presence while we had prop guns in the back of the car, there was the peddle pub (yes that’s a thing) filled with drunken middle-aged people who then crashed into a land rover, there was the train that ran past the set and the motorcycle club that had a engine rev-off round the corner. All these issues could have been averted with a proper location scout; of course there will always be unforeseen issues that you have to deal with on the day (that’s part of the fun), but you can make life much easier for yourself by taking the extra time to check your locations first. 

This was the longest film I’ve made to date, and also the first one to feature dialogue in a major way. Working with sound is a colossal pain, the extent of which has only become clear when editing and having to deal with things like different parts of a room having a different background ‘room tone’. The outdoor scenes were even more frustrating to work with, there being crickets, trains, wind etc in the background, and only having a decent mic for one of the two cameras we shot with. The key here is to be prepared and to devote as much thought to sound as you do to visuals. I’ve tried to learn every trick in the book from every internet forum for how to fix sound in post, the answer? Get it right on the day!!!

The cast of the film I owe a huge debt of thanks to, they all agreed to help me out in a very limited timeframe, without having had real chance to learn the script or rehearse. Added to that some of the lines were taken straight from the short story and so were overlong, it is a wonder they were able to deliver the lines with the quality that they did. I was particularly pleased with the amount of chemistry between Tim, Alex, and John as the gang, none of whom knew each other very well before the shoot - amazing how much more relaxed people are after you supply them with beer as a prop! I cannot say enough good things about Tim, he is incredibly generous with his time, easy to work with, and for my money he really can act. Kristin did a great job with a difficult role, I initially wrote it as a part with absence of any emotion, a cold character that was intended to seem remote and all-knowing. Kristin put some warmth into the character for which I am very thankful, as it makes their scene together more compelling. Again I would love to go back in time, rewrite and rehearse, but for what it’s worth they did a fantastic job.

I don’t think I can fairly evaluate myself as a director, but hell I’ll have a go. The part I’m most proud of is the section where Tim is sat in the car waiting, I think the quick shots give off a feeling of panic, Tim did a great job with his nervous mannerisms, and I’m happy with the way the classical music is juxtaposed with the frantic action.

Also, considering how little time the cast had to prepare (my fault) I think I got some good performances out of them.

Things I need to work on….
The film as a whole has pacing issues, the mid section is over-long while the ending feels rushed. I think this is something I can definitely improve upon with experience, and also figuring out how much screen time one page of dialogue actually turns in to.

I wanted to get a really creepy tone for the beginning, and looking back I would liked to have planned out some more elaborate, off-kilter shots to give this sense of unease. This goes back to the importance of knowing your locations before you shoot. 

This being the first film I was the only director on, I was perhaps a little to passive. Partly because of time constraints and partly because I already felt I was asking a lot of my cast and crew, I was reluctant to take the extra time to get each shot and each line exactly how I wanted. I absolutely don’t want to be some kind of dictator on set, but with my next project I’ll need to have a clearer vision before hand, and be more focused on set to make that vision a reality.

Overall I don’t think it is too bad for a first effort at directing, and there are some things in the film that I am really proud of, I certainly have learnt a lot of lessons to take forward. 

How to conclude this non-review? Surviving is a film I feel very lucky to have been able to make, and it has been an invaluable learning experience. The finished product, while a little rough around the edges, is something I think the cast and crew should be proud of.

WHO: The entire cast and crew. Thank you again.

WHAT: Tim sat in a car having a freak out. I really like that bit.

WHY: To learn from my mistakes! 

WHEN: Whenever you want, as long as I’m not in the room!

A handy link if you want to see the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-Qz4zk4kO4