SHORT FILM
A Lying Smile
A young woman traps
herself within a marriage that begins to spiral out of control on her wedding
day.
When first approaching this darkly dramatic script ideas of Quinton
Tarentino, Kill Bill style were quickly bought to the table. However due to
time, budget and skill restraints this idea did not come to light. We instead
decided to follow a more naturalistic, realistic, linear approach. This new
approach changed the feel for both the cast and crew, halting the flow of the
production schedule. Although the linear approach led to a seemingly easier
shoot the communication between crew was often misinterpreted and old ideas
were still be followed by some. This led
to a change in the editing that had not being planned. Similarly the sound
design was changed very last minute. Overall this uncertainty led to the
quality of the final piece to drop considerably.
The challenges faced when developing the script into a
feasible film were numerous. Foremost was the locations and time of days. An
instant decision was to move the wedding from afternoon to morning and the
photo shoot from sunset to midday. This allowed for complete accessibility to
locations and natural light ability.
What worked well in
the film - I feel out cinematography was very well done and the approach
and style that the director was trying to take was followed by the camera
operator. Furthermore I am extremely impressed with the opening wedding day
footage and editing. The stylistic choice to have this part in black and white
is reminiscent of a wedding video and I feel sets the mood to be picture
perfect. The change in flowing edits to harsh cuts enables the audience to
understand the shift in tension.
What didn’t work
about this film - Most significantly the lack of creative options to create
a linear narrative stopped the natural flow of progression. The options in
terms of angles were limited for the editor and this could have been fixed by a
clearer storyboard. The sound design in A Lying Smile is fairly disjointed. It
would have been advantages for both the director and sound designer to have the
same clear idea from the beginning. Or when the direction change a clearer
communication of what was required was needed.
What I have learnt from
working on this film- Through my role as producer I have come to understand
the creative differences that can stall a projects success. I have also learnt
that the time and commitment that is needed from a producer cannot waver. I
feel the producer must keep the whole process moving along according to
schedule. Creatively I feel A Lying Smile perhaps did not do its script justice
and for this reason I am disappointed. However I am proud that we were able to
produce a finished product that we can be happy with. The process of making A
Lying smile was a largely enjoyable one.
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