Reality is merely an Illusion

I am currently in the process of creating a short film called ‘The Illusion’ for my final project at Uni. It is about two characters ‘James’ and ‘Tom’ that are on a mission to find a mystery item, that will solve all their problems. Only things get a little complicated…

I started developing ideas for the project around the last week of March, this year, trying to come up with a story that would be both engaging as well as enjoyable to make. I started formulating ideas and bouncing them off my supervisor to see what she thought about them. I managed to come up with a main storyline and a rough ending around the end of April. I sent this draft script to my supervisor, who then sent it to a script writer friend of hers, who got back to me and gave me some pointers on how I could improve it. This was extremely helpful, as I could then see how someone who is not involved in it could see the story progress, but also how a mind who is in the industry believes it could be done better. By now it is the start of May and with the deadline only three and a half weeks away, going back to the drawing board really ramped up the pressure.

After a few days I had formed a new script that stuck to the roots of the last one, but that was much more interesting. Both my supervisor and her friend agreed it was much better, now only needing a few tweaks. Time to decide on the shoot dates and find some actors.

It was now the end of the first week of May and I had really struggled to find some actors. I tried the University Drama society as well as emailed the Course Leader of Film but neither came to fruition. As a last ditch effort, the Course Leader suggested I use a casting website to see if anyone would be interested. So I submitted a request and a brief synopsis of the project and by the time I had walked home from Uni I had had two people apply and by the end of the week I had almost fifty. This created another challenge as I had to decide which two I wanted. I ended up creating an Excel spreadsheet so I could more easily see my choices and make my decision. It took about an hour to create and other one or two hours to narrow it down to three. There were only two characters, so one of them, if they were available, was confirmed. I messaged the other two and one of them got back to me saying they didn’t realize the filming would be in Brighton, and was therefore too far for them to travel, and the other one was completely free which made my life a lot easier.

On the day of the shoot, 11th May, the crew roles were me as director, Teo as Director of Photography and Will was on sound. This meant that I had enough time to properly read through my shot list and direct the actors, to ensure they fully understood the script and their positioning.

At first I had no idea how long it would take to film this project, so to give myself some flexibility, I told the actors and the crew, who was made up of Teo Simon and Will Soltz, that I was expecting it to be a three day shoot. However when it got to the day of the shoot, we were all so quick and efficient that we managed to get the whole project filmed in one day, which not only cut down the costs of the travel expenses, but also gave me more time to start the post-production phase.

We had a couple of challenges during the shoot including difficulties with one of the locations. There was a room in one of the university buildings that I wanted to film in, however I hadn’t had a response to my email, asking permission from senior technician. Though on the day, there was some students in there who were more than willing to let us film the scene, which meant that the project could be as I was envisioning it.

Overall, the project has been a success, with the areas that need I need to personally develop being time management and sound editing.

I am currently in the final stages of post-production, with only the colouring and final touches left to do.