Hi there

Here for your enjoyment and delectation are a few thoughts and experiences that occurred during the making of my first short movie "Flipwreck". Well, movie might be a bit strong, but it will have to do.

THE IDEA

It came (if you pardon the pun) to me during a brainstorming session when I was trying to think of a one-person/one location scenario. As anybody who knows me well will know, all my ideas up till now have involved blowing shit up or shooting shit down. So when Flipwreck was born I was surprised that I could keep this small scenario and not let it escalate into something that was impossible to achieve with no money... It was a sick/depraved idea (other people called it that, not me), it wouldn't cost much, it would be an easy shoot (sorry) and I would finally have a movie to my name. If only it was that easy.

THE SCRIPT

The problem I had (at the start) was that there was no dialogue; it was only visual shots so it looked more like a shooting script. However during the production I decided to have inanimate objects talking to the protagonist of the piece, so the script was actually written during and after production.

The thing is I knew what shots I wanted and what they looked like, so I rarely used the script that I had written.

THE SHOOT

The shot with the camera snaking along the floor was, we thought, going to be a nightmare to pull off (ahem, no pun intended again), but it turned out to be very easy and we did it in one take. We used a towel as a cradle and hoped for the best. It turned out better than expected. Without access to proper equipment, you definitely have to improvise (which adds to the fun). The POV shot where the glasses are put on to the camera lens was a pure fluke. We had thought we would have to focus the camera as they went over the lens, but the glasses lens did the job for us (as it would, some would say). Unfortunately I taped over the end of it and that's why it cuts away so quickly in the final edit. Idiot!!

The shoot took three days and was pretty much hassle free. But then the camera decided, that on the final day of filming (or what was going to be), it would stop working. FUCK!!! It was quickly taken to a Sony shop and several weeks later the estimate for fixing it came in. £357. Yup, you read it right, £357 (and some pence, I can't remember the exact amount). I was gutted. It would have been cheaper to get a new camera. So that's what I did. It was a drastic measure, but I was desperate to finish my first film and make more. The things you have to do for your art!
 
 

THE SFX

Right, the blood was made with tomato sauce, strawberry food colouring and water. I can't give you an exact recipe as I pretty much played it by ear when I was concocting the stuff. The consistency of the blood is a little off, but the colour is spot on. The only drawback is that it stinks and when you have to cover yourself in it, it does get a bit honkin'. It's all a case of experimenting, and seeing what happens. For the spurting effects we used a Jif Lemon. It's a bit noisy but it's effective. You do have to put a bit of pressure on it to get it to spurt, otherwise it just makes farting noises.
 
 
 
 

The dismembered penis is as you probably gathered, a vibrator. It cost £12.99 from Leather and Lace in Edinburgh. It looks real enough and I wasn't prepared to shell out forty quid for one that looked like it had just been chopped off some well hung porno star mid shag and then dipped in quick drying latex. Anyway, Pistachio Films is trying to pride itself on making movies that cost next to nothing and forking out forty notes was going to fuck that up.
 
 
 

Jump Cuts Are Cool Man!!!

Every book I have read on editing techniques have basically said, "don't jump cut". Well I say Do use jump cuts, indulge in them, over dose on them fuckin' cram your movie full of 'em. The jump cut adds zest and energy. I t should also throw the audience off kilter a wee bit. Let me back track a bit here. The jump cuts should be subtle, not in yer face to the point that it makes you look like a shoddy amateur (look whose talking, I hear you shout). Just check out Godard's A Bout De Soufflé if you don't believe me.

Cuts So Fast, They Make Michael Bay Look Like Quentin Tarantino

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a card-carrying member of the MTV influenced generation. I love fast cuts, fast edits, fast, fast, fast! My compadre was so infuriated with the fact that some of my shots lasted no longer than a second, he was surprised that the film came out at the length it did. Anyway, I'm not going to apologise for the way I want to cut my movies. It's part of my style (which, unfortunately, is being done to death so that when I get my chance to make a proper movie, I'll be accused of ripping everyone off who has done it before me. Which is a real pisser!). But hopefully over time I'll add a certain something that will make it fresh and exciting again.
 
 
 
 

Soundtrack From Hell

Anybody who says that the soundtrack isn't as important as the images, is basically talking out of their ill-informed ass. The sound track is important, VERY! I once did an experiment where I played a song by industrial metal gods Ministry over a gunfight scene from Desperado. The tempo of the scene went off the fuckin' scale. Ever since that day, I've wanted to be the soul creator and designer of the soundtracks (and choosing the heaviest, loudest metal music around) for all my movies. Unfortunately we can't use anything other than classical music. Until, that was, I remembered that the band Pitchshifter had included a lot of free samples on their most recent releases. Just as long as they were mentioned on anything where a sample was used, it was cool to use them. So there I was happier than a pig in shit in the knowledge that I could create my own soundtracks and sound effects. A David Lynch film would sound like a lullaby in comparison. The way I see it, if you are creating a movie, why should you let someone else have the fun of creating the sound effects for it. Play around with sounds and voices, slow 'em down, speed 'em up. Experiment for chrissakes. You have nothing to lose.

Recommended Reading and Viewing

You must get a copy of Robert Rodriguez's book Rebel Without a Crew. It is a truly inspirational book and if it doesn't get you making movies, nothing will. On top of that, watch the DVD of Desperado/El Mariachi, his 10 minute film schools and directors commentaries are astounding, you actually start to think that you can make a movie.

Final Thought