Bright Sparks & Darkness is my first project post Uni. I'm very proud of it as like so many film ideas it almost didn't happen. The opportunity to make something short, cheap and quick arose and I had an equally short, cheap and quick idea that I went with and 6 weeks later a short film was made. Bright Sparks & Darkness is a black and white silent short film that follows the loneliness and isolation of a Drag Queen in a single evening.
Full documentation of the film making process can be found below. I was very lucky to be working with the talented cinematographer Simone Scott and composer Peter Dillon during the filmmaking process and was able to produce the project for under £100 pounds. This film taught me to appreciate a good team and listen to them and their ideas. Sometimes you don't want to hear it, but sometimes they may just save you some time and energy and more importantly make your film better. For example I had storyboarded separate shots to tell the audience the the protagonist had no money and no cigarettes but during the shoot Simone suggested an alternative one shoot. This is what you can see in the film.
The main purpose of the film thematically was to play with social perceptions of an alternative lifestyle and pay homage to a lost style of cinema. Obviously subjectively this may or may not be the case but for me the film is what I envisioned and contains several unexpected moments that my team created that satisfy me as a director.
Key Skills
- Working to strict deadlines within a short timespan.
- Quickly working around unexpected obstacles to continually move forward.
- Making time to listen to your team and applying useful advice to the project.
- Appreciate the help and time people give to you - especially when it's unpaid.
- Remember things can be changed in the edit so don't aim for perfection, aim to get every shot in the can before the end of the shoot.
