(Student BA) Short Film - 2024
Status: In Festival Run
University For The Creative Arts
During making the film, I worked a lot with the director for about six months. We talked a lot about his ideas for each place and character. Even though the project was changing, I stuck with his vision. I didn't know much about music, but I spent time learning basic notes and understanding what it's like to be a musician through research. This helped me create a musician's room that felt real and connected with the audience and the character.
I made each poster in the bedroom from scratch, including names and photos of the crew as special memories. To make things authentic, I searched for old instruments in second-hand shops, which I then changed them through painting to show the character's vulnerable side in his safe space.
Besides sharing creative ideas, I suggested showing the character Jacob as cold and wearing black in public, but his room would have bright colours to reveal his true self. The director liked this idea.
I was in charge of designing the sets and costumes and also had to manage a makeup artist. I didn't know much about makeup, but I tried to coordinate things well. Unfortunately, during the shoot, the makeup artist did things differently from what we agreed on while I was busy setting up set. Surprisingly, the director liked the makeup looks, even though they didn't match the characters' personalities as planned. Looking back, I see how important it is to communicate well in the department to avoid such issues in the future.
This experience showed me that even small things, like makeup, can have a big impact on the overall story. In the future, I am committed to making sure everyone on my team talks openly so that we can approach every part of making a film together, keeping the story true to its core.
Matteo Mikkelsen as Kevin
Byron Donovan as Jacob
Chole Edwards as Anna
Lewis Pritchard as Mark
Simonetta Gibejova as Lucy
Writer/Director : Ran You
Producer : Zeyu Pang
Exclusive Producers : Xuemei & Lijun Y
Director of Photography : Teodosieva Mileva
Production Designer : Melfin Pereira 👋
Editor : Yingyao Li
Music By : Average Life Complaints
Sound Designer : Muyu Zhang
Makeup Artist : Qingyi Zha
Casting Director and 1st AD : Samuel Thomson
2nd Assistant Director : Marc Nickl
Music/Sound Supervisor : Hopeson Makokha
1st Assistant Camera : Malaika Sequeira
2nd Assistant Camera : Mengdie Hu
DIT : Marc Nickl & Yingyao Li
Lighting Technician : Qinglong Liu
Boom Operator : Jinpeng Yu
Colour grader : Yingyao Li
Film Posters By : Yi Weng & Yun Xaun Shi
20th-22nd March 2023
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