Diving Into The Filmmaking Process
‘’Coming up with the idea was an unusually backwards process that evolved from my love for the giallo film trend’’
Filmmaking is a challenging art to successfully achieve, especially as a film student, a lot of consideration needs to be done in pre, post and production.
We interviewed Cole Smith a film student, who was apart of making the short film Vittima, where he was the director, co writer and cinematographer.
The film is about a young woman who has recurring dreams of a mysterious threatening man.
‘’Her curiosity and fear deepen when evidence of the man begins to manifest outside of her dreams.’’ Said Cole.
Coming up with an idea for short film can be challenging, as there is a lot that goes into the plot that needs to be considered.
Cole stated that coming up with his short film was an unusually backwards process for him.
‘’My attraction to the genre comes from its insistence on style to generate impact, rather than focusing entirely on plot.’’ He said.
He explained that this was inspired by Deep Red, Suspiria and Opera, he liked how straight forward the narrative is allowing visuals to generate the visceral tone.
As a film student a good place to start would be finding a genre that you like and studying other films within that genre and techniques that they use to find what works best for yourself.
Within Vittima Cole incorporated camera techniques from Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson single point perspective and for dream sequences, David Lynch.
It took Cole ten drafts to come up with what he wanted for the film before moving on to storyboarding, which is a crucial step in pre production.
‘’When you’re storyboarding, you’re forced to ask yourself all those scary technical and logistical questions, ensuring you’re prepared for the shoot.’’ He said.
Makingmistakes during this phase of production can have a damaging effect on a project.
It is all about preparation and you can never have too much of it before shooting, this ensures the filming process is easier and you’re able to know exactly what shots you need to achieve a certain feel.
The production part of a film already is a long process, Cole’s short film took 6 full days of filming.
‘’Each day of filming, we worked for approximately 12-16 hours.’’ He said.
One of the hardest parts about filming a student film is that you do not receive mass funding, or even have a lot of money for production, which adds another difficulty.
Cole’s team had to fund themselves for Vittima, which meant a lack of access to a lot of materials that could help with filming.
‘’We had to limit the story to one location and two actors.’’ He said.
However, as long as you are aware of your personal budget and are realistic about what you can achieve you wont have many issues.
This means you wont have to miss out on any shooting, because you will not have to compromise due to budget if you prepare.
‘’I think understanding what your budget will allow you to shoot is an extremely important step that should be considered before even beginning pre- production.’’ He said.
Before going out and shooting, it is important to really analyze each shot so you’re confident when you begin the shooting process.
It is more than common when making a film you have missed a part and it can set back the whole production process.
‘’ My role on set as a director is to clearly communicate to all departments what I need from this scene, and if I can’t do that with confidence, I see it as a failure to completely understand the material I’m working with.’’ Cole said
A way as a student or a beginner filmmaker to get constructive criticism and an audience is to screen your film at a film festival.
This is crucial to develop your film making skills as you get a fresh audience’s perspective, which don’t know anything about the film and will have a different judgment and idea.
Submitting to a festival with one specific genre can also be a great way to screen your film, which is what Cole is looking to do next year.
‘’We’re leaning towards niche genre festivals, such as Horror ShowFest and Dracula Film Festival, whilst also submitting to more popular festivals such as Melbourne Underground Film Festival.’’ Cole said.
When searching for ideas for a theme you want to create for your film, start with something you would actually watch yourself.
Director, screenwriter and producer Peter Jackson who directed the Lord of The Ringsfranchise and many more, says it is very important to create a film that you enjoy.
“The most honest form of filmmaking is to make a film for yourself.” He said.
This also helps with the researching part of pre production because if you’re researching a topic you enjoy, you’ll find the final execution will be well presented.
‘’If you’re an expert in understanding a specific genre, then your knowledge should transfer powerfully to the screen.’’ Cole said.
For Cole, he enjoyed horror films so he started with incorporating horror techniques within his films.
‘’I think I’ve just always had a natural interest in storytelling, and then when I grew to about 12 or 13 years old I became obsessed with horror movies ... It was such a thrill to be terrified by a scary movie’’ He said.
Essentially, when creating a film production the pre production part is the most essential to perfect because this will reflect on your final productConsider your own interests if you are struggling to find a starting point, such as your favourite genre or directors techniques. Then after filming screen it at a festival to get critiqued which will help you develop these skills.
