THE RAINBOW PENCIL – A SHORT FILM
It took:
– 2 days of auditions
– 9 cast members
– 5 days shooting
– 20+ hours of raw footage
– 4 costumes made
– 7 stunt pencils
– 1 original musical score
– I don't want to know how many hours editing
I am eternally grateful for my amazing team members, (Allan Ha and Sorrel Hanemann–Fayers) who despite having moments of abject terror at the daunting prospect of turning my slightly over–ambitious vision into a reality in just 7 weeks; bravely put their doubts aside and threw themselves into working day and night to make it happen.
'THE RAINBOW PENCIL' – FINAL CUT
THE BRIEF:
Part 1 = Script & Pitch: Write a script for a short film to run minimum of one minute in length. Accompany this with a narrated storyboard and put both together in a short film to support a pitch for your idea to the class. Groups of three will then be formed and will vote between their three ideas as to which pitch they want to make into a short film
Part 2 = Pre–Production: Create an animatic for the film, finalise script, hold auditions, choose cast members, schedule film dates, prepare and familiarise with equipment, write scene/shot lists, and choose location/s.
Part 3 = Film and Post–Production: Film, rough cut edit and final cut edit of raw footage, add sound effects and/or music and present final film along with promotional poster to be presented at screening night held at Billy Blue.
THE CHALLENGE:
The concept for my script came from a story that I wrote when I was about 8 years old (albeit with a slightly darker plot than my young, idealist self had outlined) and its length and complexity was a daunting prospect from the beginning. It was clear to the three of us that it would require much, much more work than was expected of us from the brief, and a huge and unwavering commitment as a group if we were to bring it to fruition.
It took a bit of convincing on my part and some heavy negotiations, but my vision was so clear that soon enough the others began to see it too. Normally to be polite, I would have backed down a lot easier but as I sat there in class with my group, I decided to hell with it, this one is worth rocking the boat for.... After I made the promise to shoulder the greater part of the extra workload that would be required, (which still meant that theirs would be at least double that of most of our classmates) we were in agreement. My childhood vision was going to be brought to life.
I have never worked so hard on a project and I still can't believe how much we managed to accomplish in so little time, no budget and no experience. On top of having a huge cast of nine to manage and schedule and scores of hours of raw footage to go through, I also managed to get the fashion design department to create costumes for us and learned how to use Premiere Pro, and even co–wrote the musical score with my mate Seb (who also acted in it) and somehow managed to get it in just before the deadline. The entire thing was done from start to finish in just 7 short weeks and is one of my proudest accomplishments to date.
PRE PRODUCTION
THE RAINBOW PENCIL ANIMATIC
ARTWORK: Allan Ha, artistic prodigy
SCRIPT, ART DIRECTION AND EDITING: Laurel Howard
SIDE NOTE: Until the point when we showed the animatic to the class and a fellow student brought the true lyrics to my attention, I had thought that they had been singing "You got to get paid as you go...." or something similar. Needless to say, my classmates had a good laugh at watching my reaction as it dawned on me the politically incorrect reality of what he was actually singing! It was a running joke in the class for the rest of the term.
YEAR: 2017 (Trimester 2)
CLASS: Sequence and Narrative (Andy Marsh)
CONTRIBUTORS: Laurel Howard, Allan Ha, Sorrell Hanemann–Fayers
SKILLSETS: Film production, Adobe Premiere Pro, casting, screenwriting, direction, editing, pitching
ROLES:
LAUREL HOWARD (ME):
– Director
– Head editor
– Screen writer
– Co–producer
– Director of photography
– Casting director
– Musical score co–composer
– Sound editor
SORELL HANEMANN–FAYERS:
– Producer
– Production coordinator
– Videographer
– Cast liason
– Assistant editor
– Casting assistant
ALLAN HA:
– Lead artist & illustrator
– Graphic design
– Gaffer
– Assistant videographer
– Lighting manager
– Assistant editor
– General legend
THE RAINBOW PENCIL – BEHIND THE SCENES
REFLECTIONS
The experience yielded several important lessons to me (some of which were a result of my own mistakes) regarding leadership and how to manage resistance in your team in the right way. I also learned the importance of committing to your vision 100%, and to fight for it all the way; without faltering or compromising on that vision for even one second.
I learned to put aside my concerns about being liked and fears of rocking the boat in favour of striving for something better and how to inspire and motivate by leading by example and through your own unfaltering belief.
But the best thing was discovering in myself a previously unknown passion and unexpected talent for filmmaking and editing, something which was quite a surprise to me, and which has given me much joy ever since. I discovered that within myself resides an eccentric and unorthodox director who must have appeared quite chaotic and slightly crazy in her methods at times, but who has a knack for drawing great performances out of cast members, and a natural instinct for knowing which scattered pieces of imagery will be needed for assembly later, in order to make a tangible reality from a vision which had previously existed only in imagination.
