"Give your costumes a history and a back story". Brilliant. By the way, I thought it was an electric shock treatment he was recalling, not an execution chair. Anyway, huge respect to the thought and detail here. Some of it the audience will register only subliminally, but it still makes a difference.
Great work! Very well done by the crew and everyone involved. I'm curious about the story itself. The opening scene he paints a bit and pins a ballon (that disappears), which confused me. Was he prepping or cleaning? The paint on his fingers disappears from the opening sequence and I was curious if the color blue held any significance. After watching this video I see why you used blue but I was slightly bummed it didn't hold any major significance. With the consistency I figured there was a correlation, maybe the water?? I wondered why he was in the asylum in the first place, which might not have really mattered depending on where the story went. But since he was executed I feel like we needed that info, but we never learn why. And if he starts the record, why does the song surprise him? Was the mop fantasy a love interest he once had? But as he is about to die, he calls for his mother at the end...mystery solved. I assumed in the mop fantasy he was reliving a happy memory/fantasy with a love interest, but then he calls for his mother. I thought the dancing didn't fit mother/son aesthetic. Maybe if the dancing was more mother/son like in an elementary/primary school dance before his brain turned to mush by whatever affliction led him to an asylum, it could even add to the idea that only his happiest memories were with his mother, as she was the only one there for him. But then again, maybe he was fantasizing of life outside of the asylum dancing with somebody. Then I guess he just grabs a sliver of happiness in his terrible world. Obviously I wasn't there for the idea conception and could be completely off. I know this is off topic from the cinematography of the whole thing, which was fantastic. It's very easy, as some have said, to take for granted the amount of work that goes into a 3 min short film. But I always find myself interested in the building blocks of a story. And yours has such an abrupt twist, I just felt more confused than drawn in at the end. I learned a TON from watching the BTS and I'm a happy new subscriber! I know you probably don't have time to explain to me every tiny bit of detail that went into the story but any insight, especially if I missed something, is greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the feedback! Really appreciate it. A lot of the details in the film were experimental, so it's great to hear what did and didn't work. We can only hope we included enough, then see what the audience takes from it. In order to keep the film as short as possible, we drew the line at explaining every detail. Things like the significance of the colour blue and the relationship with the mop were supposed to be explained just enough that the audience can fill in the blanks. We intended intrigue rather than frustration, but maybe we left too many questions and plot holes. The blue was mostly a shot-tie in. Placing splashes of blue in there was an aesthetic choice, to begin with. Then we wanted to give it more reason in the film but didn't want to explain it as a plot point in order to keep the fat cut from the story. Giving the colour blue a "story" was more for us to weave it into the film. You almost hit the nail on the head about the mop. We wanted to give the character a romantic connection to the mop, and he expresses himself through the only happy memories he holds: dancing around with his mother. Because he is a character who isn't a straight line, we liked the idea that the only woman he ever loved was his mother. But I can see why, without adding some story points, this is confusing. That's our bad. Because this film is quite arty-farty and doesn't hold a strict structure, we threw every experimental idea at it. In some ways, this was a screen test to see whether those experiments would ring true. At the core, we just wanted to place a loveable character on screen, then in a snap, flip it on its head. Any more questions, just let us know. It's been great speaking about this. Its really helping us see the film from an audience perspective.
The Film Look That makes total sense. I forget that this three minute film is a huge success and you guys achieved a great feat. I appreciate the response and I look forward to all the great stuff you make in the future!
The idea of the invisible audience watching over is so creepy, I love it. As well as the execution chair in the background!
Hopefully it adds something, even if people aren't thinking directly about it.
Great video! This is so often over looked in student films
"Give your costumes a history and a back story". Brilliant. By the way, I thought it was an electric shock treatment he was recalling, not an execution chair. Anyway, huge respect to the thought and detail here. Some of it the audience will register only subliminally, but it still makes a difference.
Thanks Nigel! Great to see people looking through some of our previous episodes. Loved making this one.
Love the shirt!
Cheers!
Just brilliant. It's the simple things that impress :)
Appreciate the consistent support, Toast!
Nice, this was very informative!
Good to hear cheers :D
Awesome! Thanks
Hope it helps :D
thankss
Thanks Spiderman!
Thank you so much!!
No problem!
Great work! Very well done by the crew and everyone involved. I'm curious about the story itself. The opening scene he paints a bit and pins a ballon (that disappears), which confused me. Was he prepping or cleaning? The paint on his fingers disappears from the opening sequence and I was curious if the color blue held any significance. After watching this video I see why you used blue but I was slightly bummed it didn't hold any major significance. With the consistency I figured there was a correlation, maybe the water??
I wondered why he was in the asylum in the first place, which might not have really mattered depending on where the story went. But since he was executed I feel like we needed that info, but we never learn why. And if he starts the record, why does the song surprise him? Was the mop fantasy a love interest he once had? But as he is about to die, he calls for his mother at the end...mystery solved. I assumed in the mop fantasy he was reliving a happy memory/fantasy with a love interest, but then he calls for his mother. I thought the dancing didn't fit mother/son aesthetic. Maybe if the dancing was more mother/son like in an elementary/primary school dance before his brain turned to mush by whatever affliction led him to an asylum, it could even add to the idea that only his happiest memories were with his mother, as she was the only one there for him. But then again, maybe he was fantasizing of life outside of the asylum dancing with somebody. Then I guess he just grabs a sliver of happiness in his terrible world. Obviously I wasn't there for the idea conception and could be completely off.
I know this is off topic from the cinematography of the whole thing, which was fantastic. It's very easy, as some have said, to take for granted the amount of work that goes into a 3 min short film. But I always find myself interested in the building blocks of a story. And yours has such an abrupt twist, I just felt more confused than drawn in at the end.
I learned a TON from watching the BTS and I'm a happy new subscriber! I know you probably don't have time to explain to me every tiny bit of detail that went into the story but any insight, especially if I missed something, is greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the feedback! Really appreciate it. A lot of the details in the film were experimental, so it's great to hear what did and didn't work. We can only hope we included enough, then see what the audience takes from it.
In order to keep the film as short as possible, we drew the line at explaining every detail. Things like the significance of the colour blue and the relationship with the mop were supposed to be explained just enough that the audience can fill in the blanks. We intended intrigue rather than frustration, but maybe we left too many questions and plot holes.
The blue was mostly a shot-tie in. Placing splashes of blue in there was an aesthetic choice, to begin with. Then we wanted to give it more reason in the film but didn't want to explain it as a plot point in order to keep the fat cut from the story. Giving the colour blue a "story" was more for us to weave it into the film.
You almost hit the nail on the head about the mop. We wanted to give the character a romantic connection to the mop, and he expresses himself through the only happy memories he holds: dancing around with his mother. Because he is a character who isn't a straight line, we liked the idea that the only woman he ever loved was his mother. But I can see why, without adding some story points, this is confusing. That's our bad.
Because this film is quite arty-farty and doesn't hold a strict structure, we threw every experimental idea at it. In some ways, this was a screen test to see whether those experiments would ring true. At the core, we just wanted to place a loveable character on screen, then in a snap, flip it on its head.
Any more questions, just let us know. It's been great speaking about this. Its really helping us see the film from an audience perspective.
The Film Look That makes total sense. I forget that this three minute film is a huge success and you guys achieved a great feat. I appreciate the response and I look forward to all the great stuff you make in the future!
Nice tips!
Cheers!
I'm so grateful I found this...
Glad you did.
Nice video!
Cheers!
Your actor of Asylum Groove Does look like Gary Oldman
He does! Like his son or something.
I'll take that as a compliment 😊
Bebas Neue Records
Happy you spotted it!
I really enjoyed this video. Would love to email you for some questions.
Thanks Tom Holland