Written & Directed by James Quinn
Produced by Maria Ogunyale
On a bus journey across south London, a young man’s anxiety spirals into a vortex of self-doubt and torment - causing him to question: can he trust his memories?
An illustration of the process and impact of anxiety, and the demands of city life that intensify it.
ABOUT THE FILM
SCRUTINY was an Official Selection at the 2023 edition of our BIFA Qualifying Film Festival where is was nominated for Best Performance In A Drama (Isaiah Bobb-Semple) and Best Editing. I was also an Official Selection at the Manchester International Film Festival, S.O.U.L. Fest, EFN Short Film Festival, British Urban Film Festival, and South London Shorts.
ABOUT THE FILMmakers
James Quinn | Writer Director - James is a London based film writer and director whose work focuses on the internal battles we face. His latest short, Scrutiny, featured in the 1.4 Awards Shortlist, and screened at the BAFTA-qualifying British Urban Film Festival, Leeds International Film Festival, and S.O.U.L. Fest, as well as six BIFA-qualifying festivals.
Maria Ogunyale | Producer - Maria is an emerging producer known for her work on drama series for top broadcasters like Apple TV, Amazon Prime, BBC, Netflix, and Sky. With a strong background in production she focuses on creating high-end stories that are often untold, championing inclusivity and fresh perspectives. Maria's credits include "Trying," "This is Christmas," "I AM RUTH," "The Tower," "Mood," and "Top Boy." Her dedication to unique storytelling was highlighted in producing the short film "Scrutiny," showcased at the S.O.U.L Film Festival 2023. Maria is dedicated to exploring themes like social justice, mental health, and cultural representation, pushing the boundaries of traditional drama.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH JAMES
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
Hi, thanks so much for having me! I’m James, a writer director based in London. I picked up a video camera as a kid and made films to make my friends and family laugh… and it stuck. At that age, I was at a major crossroad to decide whether to try to be either a filmmaker or a carpenter. I picked filmmaking. In hindsight, I don’t think they’re that different as professions. Filmmaking feels like carpentry to me.
Tell us about the genesis of Scrutiny. We understand that it stems from your personal experiences with anxiety. Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind the film?
I expect like most people, I’ve had various battles with anxiety and poor mental health. I was in a privileged enough position to be able to afford therapy. Shining a light on the mental process of my anxiety was transformative - seeing how it worked took its power away.
I felt like I’d peeked behind the curtain, but I’d never seen anxiety on screen how I experience it. So, I wanted to pay it forward. This film was an extension of that. It was like, ‘How does anxiety light, block, and edit my thoughts?’
Hopefully other people can take something helpful from this film too.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Scrutiny and how did you overcome them?
Shooting on a bus was loads of fun but really tricky. We wanted the genuine feeling of a moving bus, so our production team found us an amazing bus hire. We created a loop around south London and circled it for a whole day. We knew continuity and shot precision was out the window so we leant into that limitation and made it our style. The disorientating, staccato editing was a deliberate choice to reflect the internal anxiety and disguise that limitation.
Our brilliant DoP (Jasper Enujuba) was shooting on an easyrig. With the bus swinging up and down the roads, he needed some help to stay upright. I was the lucky crew member selected to steady him with a bear hug.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights.
In truth, I’m quite shy about my films. I find distribution and self-promotion hard, so we did a focused and limited festival run. With the type of festivals, we aimed high and I was absolutely delighted to get into the ones we did - all BIFA or BAFTA qualifying. We played alongside some amazing films. To share a screen with them was amazing.
But, I’m less interested in the number of viewers than catching those few people who feel a deep connection with the film. I’ve had quite a few people reach out with very personal messages about Scrutiny. Those are more meaningful to me than a 5 or 6 figure view count.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
You’ll stop yourself long before anyone else does. That’s the case with me, at least. I get so focussed on the problem-solving aspect of filmmaking that I start finding more and more problems. And you can hide behind that and never make anything. A friend once told me ‘think less, do more.’ That’s advice I need to follow more.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
I was blown away by The Zone of Interest. My mind was in tatters for weeks after. And I recently watched the classic, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion. What a distainful deconstruction of misogyny and patriarchy.
