"A Gift for the One Who Has Everything" - my short horror film for Christmas!

[krakenslayer]

Hey folks, I haven't posted on here in like forever, I've been too insanely busy with stuff in real life... including a bunch of film-making projects. Anyway, as fans of the macabre, I thought you might get a kick out of this little horror short we filmed over the weekend. I co-wrote, co-directed and co-starred in it. It's about a materialistic and snobby woman who gets a very Christmassy comeuppance at the hands of a junkie she left for dead: I hope you guys enjoy it, and I hope it's not to spammy of me to disappear for ages only to return when I have a film to show off But I figured it would be up your street and it seemed like a good excuse to catch up with the old HPotD crew!

[MinionZombie]

Hey dude, it's been a while! I rather enjoyed the short film - nicely to the point, and it has a kind of 'Creepshow morality' to it as well. What was it like filming the bits on the streets in public - did you get a lot of nosey parkers or coppers asking what you were filming etc? Regarding the last shot, it would have been nice if the hand could have lingered in the frame a bit more and grabbed her face more noticeably ... and oh, if it was kind of dead/diseased/bloody looking. I trust you'll be doing more such tales in the future?

[Neil]

Ho ho ho Nicely done with an effective sound track too!

[krakenslayer]

Hey dude, it's been a while! I rather enjoyed the short film - nicely to the point, and it has a kind of 'Creepshow morality' to it as well. What was it like filming the bits on the streets in public - did you get a lot of nosey parkers or coppers asking what you were filming etc? Sure has, man! Good to see you. It's cool you picked up on the Creepshow thing. That movie, and the EC Horror comics, are a huge influence on a lot of this stuff. That whole genre has a sort of fast, tongue-in-cheek, joke-like formula (setup -> punchline) that lends itself really well to very short material. We had no problem with cops or anything like that. There are a lot of colleges and universities around where we shot, STV and BBC Scotland are based in Glasgow, and a lot of TV shows and movies are shot here too, so small film crews out-and-about are a pretty common sight and don't really attract much heat. As for nosey parkers: yes, we had to do a lot of re-takes due to passers-by staring down the barrel of the lens Regarding the last shot, it would have been nice if the hand could have lingered in the frame a bit more and grabbed her face more noticeably ... and oh, if it was kind of dead/diseased/bloody looking. Yeah, you're absolutely right: in the script the arm that burst out was in covered in sores and infected track marks, but we ended up shooting the whole thing in one day to get it out in time for Christmas. We shot in sequence, just hopping between locations, so we didn't have time to go back to base and make up my arm. I would also have liked to have done more takes to get the movement of the arm just right - it was originally supposed to grab her by the throat - but we only had two "stunt presents", so we were limited to a couple of takes. As for the other take... there exists a pretty amusing blooper of me punching Zoe in the face (she took it very well, as did my co-director, her boyfriend) I trust you'll be doing more such tales in the future? Yeah, we have another one almost done. One of the guys is doing a custom soundtrack for it so it's taking a bit longer. That should be out in January. There another one we've been working on for about a year, and is almost finished except for the effects shots, which are pretty complicated. Fire effects are hard to do practically, but look shite if you CG it, so we're trying to do the former, and it's pretty time consuming. Ho ho ho Nicely done with an effective sound track too! Thanks a lot man!

[MinionZombie]

Glad to hear there's more in the pipeline. Ah yes, I understand the constraints of low budget indie short film making quite well myself, hehe ... sometimes it just has to get done. Oh yeah, a part of World War Z was shot in Glasgow wasn't it? Well yeah, then I suppose that makes more sense if the city is more used to camera crews being out and about, although for average joe public it's always something to gawk at as you don't see that sort of thing every day ... we humans are curious devils, aren't we? On the times I've shot in cities or in public it's the usual things like you say, people in the back of frame having a good old shufty, although I've been stopped a couple of times by security guards and had to do some sweet talking (not that I was even up to any mischief anyway!) ... I've often preferred the "go into the woods with a camera, a couple of mates, and some fake blood" approach ... one time we did such a thing and one of our lady friends did an awful lot of screaming and then emerged from the treeline covered in "blood" ... the fishermen around the nearby lake must have looked rather curiously at that! Anyway - like I said, I'm glad to hear there's more shorts coming!

[krakenslayer]

On the times I've shot in cities or in public it's the usual things like you say, people in the back of frame having a good old shufty Hah, indeed. Shallow depth of field is very bloody handy sometimes. On close inspection I think the couple in the far right of frame from 1:07 - 1.14 are having a right good point-and-stare, but it's not really noticeable due to being out of focus. I've often preferred the "go into the woods with a camera, a couple of mates, and some fake blood" approach ... one time we did such a thing and one of our lady friends did an awful lot of screaming and then emerged from the treeline covered in "blood" ... the fishermen around the nearby lake must have looked rather curiously at that! Oh, we've done a lot of that too! One or two of our upcoming films are shot in more rural or postindustrial locations. As you say, it's more convenient for avoiding inquisitive civilians. It was my co-director's idea to shoot this in the city, as a conscious decision to keep things fresh and varied. In fact, we had the locations before we had a story! I think it worked out well, though. You have all that beautiful architecture and designer lighting already in situ which is just priceless for adding production value.

[MinionZombie]

It was my co-director's idea to shoot this in the city, as a conscious decision to keep things fresh and varied. In fact, we had the locations before we had a story! I think it worked out well, though. You have all that beautiful architecture and designer lighting already in situ which is just priceless for adding production value. Oh absolutely, the story and the locations fit together well, you couldn't really tell that story without showing the shopping district and the twinkly Xmas lights etc - it looks rather good.