CTRL + Z

REWRITING REALITY

I directed my first short! Well my first short of this scale (with a crew and using filming equipment). Filming took place in the first week of Michaelmas Term (October 2022). I had written the script during the Christmas vacation in 2021. It is not necessarily a script or narrative that I love (I do not consider myself a writer, nor do I enjoy it) but I was keen to direct something, and this script seemed like a great opportunity to do so. 

'CTRL + Z' follows Michael, an English student whose romantic short stories leave him confused about the reality of his dating life. It is short, funny, and a little dark. The script was inspired by Black Mirror (notably the episode 'USS Callister') and the aesthetics of the production were inspired by Whiplash.

I started building a crew in the summer of people I had met on previous film projects and who I wanted to work with again. This included my producers (Rit and Smriti – Smriti had never worked on a film production but is a friend and was keen to get involved), my 1st AD (Bora), and my Director of Photography (Hugo). In September I added by post production team: Nathan and Talia as editors and Aris as the Composer. 

This production was made as part of OUFF's Projects initiative, which seeks to support new and first time filmmakers. I thus made an effort to select additional members of my crew from those who had registered interest in being part of the initiative.

I began pre-production early because I wanted to ensure that everything was well organised, and I was worried about locations. Rit and Smriti were amazing to work with and coordinated the locations quickly: we filmed the cafe scenes in JoJo's Cafe Bar and the restaurant scenes in the Jolly Farmer pub. Neither charged us location fees (they were great locations to work with). 

We had many auditions and I am really happy with the cast. I did a short rehearsal with each of them to build their characters and we did one longer group rehearsal to work through the scenes. The script is only six pages so it was easily manageable. I also designed the shot list and went over it with Hugo. We decided to film the reality scenes on a shoulder rig to create some subtle movement, and the fantasy scenes on a tripod to reflect the contrived nature of the character's imagination.

We filmed over four days. This allowed us to take more time and to not feel pressured. Shooting was very enjoyable and we all worked together very well. I would definitely love to work with this team again. It felt very relaxed, and the environment was supportive of experimenting with different ideas and camera / character decisions. I even worked the camera for a few scenes, which made me feel more confident to work as a Director of Photography or Videographer on student productions in the future. 

UPDATE: Post production was also very smooth. Nathan did the first two cuts and Talia did the colour. She created a filter to go over the fantasy scenes that looked like a laptop screen – I loved this idea and I think it makes it more clear to the audience what is happening. The film was completed in February 2023. It was screened at the OUFF Short Film Festival, where it won four awards: Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best of Projects, and Audience's Choice for the night it screened. It has also been selected for the Lift-Off First Time Filmmaker Sessions twice.

-Emma