Written & DIRECTED BY Natalie A. Evans
Produced by Luiza Herdy, Verity Wislocki, Morgan Tovey Frost & Ronnie Mukwaya
A mother and daughter connect during a road trip, but their destination isn’t what you’d expect.
ABOUT THE FILM
Road Trip received several awards, nominations and official selections at BAFTA and BIFA qualifying film festivals while on the circuit. Awards include winning Best of the Fest at the BIFA qualifying North East International Film Festival and the Nottingham International Film Festival, Best British Film at the Soho London Independent Film Festival and LA1 Shorts, Best Editor at Toronto International Women Film Festival and Kate Robbins won Best Actress at the Birmingham Film Festival. The film was also nominated for the XX Award at the BAFTA qualifying Underwire and Best Comedy at the Crystal Palace International Film Festival.
ABOUT THE FILMmakers
Natalie A. Evans' 2018 debut short - TODAY IS A GOOD DAY - and 2019 follow up short - #BRUNCH - are award-winning films. Born and bred in the North West of England, Natalie graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in Film Production and now lives and works in London. She has worked for many reputable studios including Warner Bros, Amazon Studios and most recently, Marvel Studios. Her ambition is to write and direct feature films; to create raw and honest stories that resonate with audiences all around the world.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH THE FILMMAKER
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your filmmaking background?
Hey, it's good to be here and thanks for selecting our film! I'm Natalie - the writer/director of Road Trip. I'm a northerner and moved down to London to work in Film. I didn't know anyone here (or in the industry, for that matter), so it was pretty difficult to find a way in and land my first entry level job. It took about 2 years of working for several smaller companies, getting my foot in the door, then an opportunity came up at De Lane Lea (now owned by Warner Bros.) for an Office Coordinator, so I went for it and got it! I soon realised this role was more front-of-house, as I was the first person who the clients would see when they came in to edit and mix their films - and I immediately loved it! This really helped me gain confidence and meet industry people, so even though I was still far from doing my dream role of writing/directing, I knew this role was helping me on my way. It opened my eyes to the world of post production and being surrounded by such talented people, I learned so much with what you can achieve in this part of the film process. So, it was during my time here that I started making my own short films. Over the past 6 years, I've been making shorts while working my way up to a Post Production Supervisor role in my 'day job', which I feel has massively broadened my filmmaking abilities with understanding what exactly is needed to be captured on set to make sure we have a film in the edit.
Tell us about the genesis of Road Trip, how you came about the idea and decided to put it into production?
Two things. The first was my Mum having cancer and how we dealt with it as a family - choosing tears of joy, over tears of sadness to get us through it - laughter is magic, so any opportunity to crack a joke, we took it! Seeing that twinkle in a loved ones eyes when they laugh is priceless, especially when it could be for the last time... The second was my friend's mum who drove her friend to Switzerland to end her life with dignity. I was fascinated with the actual journey itself in the car - I presumed it would have been sombre and heavy hearted the whole way, but she said it was the complete opposite. By that point, her friend was so far beyond doubting her decision, that the journey was like any other day - they laughed, sang along with each other, and shared memories. There was so much love, respect and admiration for one another. So I wanted to combine both of these experiences and have it be a mother-daughter relationship - not only focussing on the strength of the mother making this decision, but also highlighting the strength of the daughter who was able to honour her mum's dying wish - all of this, along with a strong message to never underestimate laughter!
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making of Road Trip and how did you overcome them?
Bad weather! There's always the risk of bad weather when shooting exteriors in the UK, and we got it really bad! What made it worse, was one minute it would be cracking the pavements with sunshine, then 10 minutes later, the heavens would open, and repeat... In between takes we'd need to constantly cover and uncover all of the kit and dry down the car which wasted so much shooting time.
You guys shot quite a bit in the car. Can you tell us about the logistics of that and the variety of rigs used? Did you mount to the hood or was the car being towed?
Yeah, we shot this film over a weekend. On Day 1 we shot the moving car scenes, then on Day 2 from when they pull up at their destination. As the actress didn't drive, we hired a private proving ground track and used a low loader on day one, but the suspension on it broke at some point early on in the day, so our camera rigs (that were attached to the car) were making the car panels dent inwards/outwards constantly with the vigorous shaking when we were moving, so we had to strap our DOP (Damian) to some scaffolding at the side of the low loader to get the close up 3/4 shots of them inside the car... I'd planned for the whole sing-a-long sequence to be one take to help stay in the moment with the characters, so to avoid having that shot all bumpy and naff-looking for the audience, we decided to change the (countryside) road that we were shooting, to a 1-mile straight which was like a tarmac'd motorway which eliminated all of the camera jerkiness. Luckily, the actresses absolutely nailed their performances and we managed to capture the whole performance in one take. From beginning to end of the shoot, all of the troubleshooting needed was free-styled to a premier league standard! But we got what we needed.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences.
This is actually Road Trip's public premiere online! It's been on the festival circuit since Feb '22 and I'm so grateful for all of the audiences that this has exposed us to - it's enabled us to connect with complete strangers all over the world, which is the exact reason for wanting to make this story, in particular. So, I can't wait to have it public online now for anyone and everyone to stumble across it, and hopefully it'll reach some people who will either get comfort or joy (or both!) from it.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
Don't wait around for someone to give you money to make your short films, because you'll never get anything made. I personally feel it's unfair the way funding is distributed and who some of it goes to, but it's just the way it is. I've spent so many weeks/months filling out applications for short film funds and never received a penny from a funding body, so I got bored of waiting around and found ways to save little bits of money (I'm talking 'very little' as my wage was minimum), but there's always a way to do things on the cheap, without jeopardising the story that you want to tell - you just have to get creative both in-camera and in post! I do feel a lot of short filmmakers underestimate the power of post production sound, and what you can achieve with this to help build on the images you've got in the edit to really breathe the life into the 'world' you're creating for the audience. Another important thing I'd say is, it's about having the right people around you who understand the story you're trying to tell, and to trust those people - let them bring their views and expertise to the project, because (as much as you think you do) you don't know everything! And being open to this only makes your projects better.
What do you think is the biggest challenge short filmmakers face trying to break into the industry?
A few things. One if the prices of festival submissions - it's one thing scraping together enough funds to make your film, but once it's complete, I feel the festival circuit can quite quickly get out of hand with costs and is a factor as to why a lot of short filmmakers just can't get their films noticed by industry people. I totally get that festivals need to make money to be able to run the festival itself, but particularly US festivals are SO expensive - some of the submission fees are crazy, and immediately limits to type of filmmaker who can submit their work. But I guess that's the beauty of the digital world we now live in - anyone can put their film up online for free for people to see! It's just getting it in front of the right people who can help take you to the next stage of your filmmaking journey as a professional filmmaker. I've been told it only takes for one person to take a risk on you, so having a catalogue of your short films to back you up, surely, will help for when that time comes.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
I really enjoy films with good characters in it, so Ridley Scott's 1977 debut feature The Duellists is a cracker. The tension and rivalry between the two leads is awesome! I'm also a nerd and slightly obsessed with the Lord of the Rings films - they're just SO good in every. single. way... On the flip side, I enjoy sci-fi and horrors also, but so many films reveal the monster too soon, or reveal too much of it - so much so, that it's no longer scary. That being said, still to this day, whenever the (1987) Predator reveals himself at the end of the film, it's way worse that I had ever expected and imagined!! It's such a good lesson in how not to reveal the monster but still be able to amp up the tension and threat throughout the whole film - a priceless tip for short filmmakers!