A young boy struggling with depression navigates through his daily routine, while being followed by a grey cloud.
Writer/Director - David Yorke
Producer/DOP - Phil Beastall
1st AC - Rich Bertenshaw
Sound Recordist - Nicola Dale
Art Director - Laura Moss
Make up - Katherine Evans
Editor - Trace Taylor
Music & Sound Design - Alex Ellerington
Recording Mixer - David Sendall
Colourist - Gemma Parr
VFX - Jade Fitzgerald
CAST
Boy - Ethan Higley
Girl - Chloe Kelsall
Mum - Susan Husband
Nurse - Sue King
We are delighted to present CLOUDS from David Yorke as this week’s Short of the Week. David won Best Director at The People’s Film Festival in March for his film SAFEKEEPING, as well as having his horror flick EJECT featured at our Late Night Grindhouse, making him the only filmmaker to have two films featured in our first annual festival. When we saw that he’d released his latest film online, we were quick to be first in line to watch it and once again he does not disappoint. Clouds is a wonderfully personal film, but similar to his previous work it packs an emotional punch.
We caught up with David last week to ask him a few questions about his latest project…
TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR FILMMAKING BACKGROUND:
I’m a multi award-winning director with over 15 years of experience in short films, corporate, music videos and broadcast television.
Since a young age I have always been interested in making films. It began when I purchased my first video camera at age 11 and it gave me my first proper taste at directing.
When I graduated in 2008 I worked as a freelancer on a variety of productions, including feature films, music videos and promotional projects. I then decided to take a big chance and move from Birmingham to London to pursue my dream of becoming a filmmaker.
I was lucky enough to get a job creating trailers for TV shows, this has been really beneficial as I have been able to learn more about the industry and I have also been able to fund my own personal projects.
I UNDERSTAND THIS IS PERHAPS YOUR MOST PERSONAL FILM. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE INSPIRATION BEHIND IT?:
Clouds has been in the making for a long time, I had the initial idea about 12 years ago and I tried to get it made several times over the many years, but without a budget I couldn't get the support I needed to make the version I wanted.
In 2010 I lost my mother to cancer and It affected me a great deal and after some time I started to think about Clouds once again and I decided I wanted to make this film to honour her. So, after a script rewrite and many other failed attempts trying to get it made, I enlisted the help of my long-time collaborator Phil Beastall, not only would he shoot the film but he would also produce it.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BRING THIS FILM TO LIFE AND WHAT OBSTACLES DID YOU OVERCOME ALONG THE WAY?:
The film overall was very difficult to get made as there was no budget. After many failed attempts, I just became really frustrated and my dop/producer Phil Beastall could see this. He went above and beyond and pulled in many favours and we managed to secure an amazing cast and crew and also shoot at multiple locations for free, including a school, a bus and several houses.
We shot the film in July 2017 but as it was a heavy visual effects film, it came to halt. We had many issues in post-production which I won't go into, but to sum up we had to restart the project multiple times.
This was obviously very frustrating for me and in that time I had finished 3 new short films and a couple of music videos. Which brings me to 2020, the actors may be older but the film I wanted to make is now finally finished.
DID YOU HAVE ANY CREATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR CREATING QUALITY CONTENT ON A MINIMAL BUDGET:
My creative solution was just to work with a passionate cast and crew. They knew how personal the film was to me and they really liked the concept. I was just very lucky to have the right people on board and shooting it out of London was also very important because I don’t think I would have been able to film in schools and on buses for free.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF THE FILMMAKING PROCESS:
I always find this question difficult to answer because it changes on every project I do. I have never been fortunate enough to make a film with a proper budget as I self-fund everything I make. Most of the time I have to cut corners and demand a lot of my cast and crew. But having said this I tend to enjoy the writing process the most, only because in a way I have made the film I’ve wanted to, only it’s in my head. But when I finally secure funding on future films I will hopefully be able to answer this question properly.
ANY FILM RECOMMENDATIONS THAT WE CAN WATCH TO KEEP US BUSY WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING:
Absolutely, every year I make a list of the films I watch but I don’t want to overwhelm everyone so here are a few that stood out - Parasite, Queen and Slim, Uncut Gems, JoJo Rabbit, 1917, Relic, Vivarium, The Invisible Man, Onward and The Platform.
Interested in getting your work selected as Short of the Week?