Unemployed, broke and currently sharing a room with her six year old niece- 30 something Charlotte is not where she wants to be in life. Yet when she receives an unexpected invite to a Christmas party is her luck about to change?
Written, Directed and Produced by Vanessa Hehir
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH THE FILMMAKER
TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR FILMMAKING BACKGROUND:
Hi I'm Vanessa and my love of storytelling began when I was 6 years old and growing up in Manchester. It was the mid 80's and my Dad had returned home from a business trip in Singapore with a JVC video camera -this was the greatest moment of my young life! I actually thought I was Steven Spielberg. I would write horror scripts and force my school mates to dress up and I'd boss them about gleefully as I filmed them. I then moved in front of the camera and have been acting professionally since I was a teenager, working predominantly in long running tv drama. But after years of feeling powerless and uninspired by the roles on offer I returned to my filmmaking roots 30 something years later- only without the old camcorder and a slightly more impressive kit. I wrote and directed my debut short film 'Secret Santa' in 2019 and my second short film 'Cuckoo' is about to hit the festival circuit in 2021.
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE INSPIRATION BEHIND YOUR FILM?:
Secret Santa was inspired by a real incident that happened at my annual 'Girls Christmas Drinks'. We all exchanged secret Santa gifts and one of ladies opened hers to find5 lotto scratch cards. My friend who had given that gift casually announced that if anyone won the grand prize of £100k she would take it back even if it meant killing them for it. How festive.Luckily no one died as there were no winners- phew! But it got me thinking.... what if?
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BRING THIS FILM TO LIFE AND WHAT OBSTACLES DID YOU OVERCOME ALONG THE WAY?:
Making this film was truly the happiest moment of my life. (Don't tell my husband or child). Seeing what had come from a eureka moment and6 weeks later actually bringing this world to life was just so exhilarating.
Time was a massive obstacle-. We shot the film over one weekend as we had no budget and this was the only time the brilliant Stuart at VMI could loan us the camera. So complicated set ups had to go in order to tell the story with the time we had available. Yet the biggest obstacle was something no one could have predicted- First set up of Day 2,a prop picture frame fell of the wall and smashed onto my head splitting it open. Oh the blood!! However, there was no way I was abandoning filming to go to hospital (I also played Charlotte)So concussed, fuelled on adrenaline and painkillers I pushed on through. I went to hospital the following day and I still have the scar.
DID YOU HAVE ANY CREATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR CREATING QUALITY CONTENT ON A MINIMAL BUDGET?:
Coming from an acting background I was able to call upon my super talented actor mates- when you write them a part they find it hard to say no! I also called on loads of favours from people I knew in the industry, luckily people really responded to the script so were happy to give their time. As we were unable to pay people, we made sure everyone was really well fed with delicious food which kept everyone's energy up and there were chilled beerswaiting at the end of wrap- always a good incentive.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF THE FILMMAKING PROCESS?:
Collaboration definitely. I'm not precious, if someone has a suggestion that serves the story better than what I've got- let's try it. I learnt so much from my cracking DOP and my fabulous Editor.
DO THINK THE SHORT FILM IS A GOOD SPRINGBOARD INTO FEATURE FILMMAKING, OR IS YOUR END GOAL TO CONTINUE MAKING SHORT FILM?:
Most definitely, I've made 2 shorts now, both vastly different in genre, tone and budget. My skill set, alongside my confidence has grown enormously and making these films has been the biggest learning curve of my life. I hope to use them as a showcase of the type of filmmaker I am and what I'm capable of. I'm currently writing a feature and determined to get in made by the end of 2022.
ANY FILM RECOMMENDATIONS THAT WE CAN WATCH TO KEEP US BUSY WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING:
It's not very festive but His House on Netflix. Original, current and utterly terrifying or on the opposite end of the spectrum - I'm a huge Richard Linklater fan - the 'Before Sunrise'/ Sunset/Midnight' trilogy. And if you have kids ELF, again and again and again.
Interested in getting your work selected as Short of the Week?