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HAMPERED (2021)
A short film I wrote and directed as my final project for my Higher music technology qualification. The purpose of this film was (much like Breaking Eggs), to serve as a strong base for sound design. I was assessed on my sound design for this film, from Foley work to composing.
The narrative in this film is pretty basic, however this was done for a reason. I wrote the story for this film with my friend Joseph, and we wrote it together because the story involved two films - this was just one of them. Both films follow the same narrative but from the perspective of the two characters. We thought this would be an interesting idea for two shorts, and it meant we could film both films on the same day which was a major time saving advantage.
Planning
We wrote the story fairly quickly for this film (as I'm sure you can imagine), because we had to get it filmed very quickly to begin post production work on the two films - which we were being assessed on. So we kept things easy - just two characters, filming locations nearby, one day of shooting. We filmed the two films in Ardrossan and Saltcoats in Ayrshire. The two characters were played by my friends Archie and Josh, so the four of us secured a day and got to work.
I storyboarded the full film and stuck to it pretty closely to save time on the day.
Characters
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James
Not that his name or story is very important to this fairly 2 dimensional story, but this character is a nervous criminal who is paranoid in his own skin, the protagonist of the film.
Interrupter
This character is a very odd, outgoing character that delays James for no real reason and allows his pursuer to catch up.
The Pursuer
This character follows James along the streets and appears to know about his illegal pick up. At the end however, his reason for following is innocent.
Behind the Scenes
The shoot was a big success, and a lot was learned through shooting two separate films side by side. It helped getting a sunny dry day too. Now it was time to begin a year long project of post production...
Post Production of Hampered
The film itself was fairly straight forward, and I compiled a working rough cut pretty quickly. From there, I took this file and split it over two Cubase projects: one for Foley and one for music. I worked on both fairly split, not doing one before the other because I found both projects influenced each other.
Similarly to other composing work I've done, I try and work to my strengths; what VST instruments sound good? what can I play? what further sounds can I source? And usually this thought process takes me back to the same sort of answer - I focus on a piano or keyboard part as the most complex element (because it is the only thing I can play), and everything else is made up of mostly VST sounds mixed with a few real instruments and quite heavily processed to make them sound less fake.
The final track map of Foley sliders
Final Foley project
Final track map of the music project
Final Music Project
Final Films
Here is a link to both Hampered, and the sister film to it 'High Noon' directed by Joseph McIntosh.
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