Blog -> Proof of Concept
As you may or may not know, about a month ago, we stopped pre-production on our feature film, THE LOST CHILDREN. While working on some of the side content designed to go along with the film, we had the nagging feeling that that side content would be more interesting than the film itself. So we decided that the best course of action would be to stop and re-assess how we wanted to tell this story. We now know we made the right decision. And everyone involved with the project was supportive, and willing to give us some breathing room.
When we did this, we realized that we were embarking on completely new territory. Not only was this a different approach from our last short, but from every short we’d ever done. So the first thing we did was step back and look at what we needed to do. And the first thing was to see if we could even pull this off. So we assembled a small four-day shoot of a few scenes that could be used to create a ten minute proof of concept.
That is done and we think looks really good; good enough to give us the confidence to go forward with our planned re-imagining of the story.
One thing about the new approach a strict adherence to realistic performances. So we approached this four-day shoot much as the material would have been captured in real life. Meaning, the cameras were all in places they would have been in had the situations been real. For the most part, the actors were locked in the rooms with the cameras placed, and the crew outside. The actors were allowed to be alone in the rooms, as they would be in the actual scenes.
When it came time to cut the piece together, I looked at the material we’d shot and became momentarily panic-stricken. I was afraid that the piece would not look like certain other films, that it would not live up to expectations, that it would not conform to some pre-conceived notion in my head.
And that’s when it hit me that one of the whole points to this new approach was to allow that to happen. Allow the process to be much like it would be if this were all real. And what that meant, was looking through the footage I had and just letting it tell the truth. Don’t worry about making it exciting, or interesting, or fun, or any of that. Just tell the truth, and trust that the material is all of that in and of itself. Trust in the material. It’s easy to forget in film-making, because so many people are always trying to impress, or make the next big thing, or be edgy and hip, or whatever, that there is a constant pressure to keep up, to compete for attention.
So this is what I’ve taken away from this four day shoot. In addition to some material I am happy with; trust in the material and just tell the truth.
I’ve made this proof of concept available on Vimeo as a password-protected video. If you’re interested in having a look, email me.