Gargantua (2019)
GARGANTUA (2019) was the last film I made in the United Kingdom before I made the move to the US. With the events that followed in 2020 and the eventual pandemic, this film marks as an eery foreshadowing of what was to come; isolation, uncertainty and doubt. As you can tell, I am writing this in retrospect but each of the desired sections were from surviving blog posts at the time of release. It will follow the brief portions that were in the films development with much more disclosure after the films release.
Project Announcement and Title Design
My next short film project is going to be a film entitled GARGANTUA. I've designed the title to act as a slight tease into what the film is about. Beginning humbly back in 2019, the film has seen a totally new draft written and a total overhaul of how it will shot with new storyboards set within a fixed location.
As much as I have learned about creating media and design for the films I create (as much as it's more a staple of my films of late) is the cohesion of all the media that is used. From the colour scheme to the style, it will be the same elements used throughout the piece. These two designs for the title will be fine tuned but will remain very much the same up until the release of the films' media in the coming months.
Teaser Release
After a long and arduous edit schedule and "difficult to capture" final couple of scenes the teaser is ready to release upon the world. The final edit will be ready soon enough but in the meantime, here's the short teaser to wet the appetite until then. At the brink of what may be becoming the end of the world as we know it with a looming gigantic creature terrorizing the city, lowly "everyman" Thomas is at odds, dealing with some personal issues of his own; the excavation of his ex-girlfriends' belongings from their, once shared, abode. But what he is yet to realise is who is the true monster in this tale?
Poster Release
The posters for my latest short film effort GARGANTUA have been released. Incorporating some of the specific elements of the story; the girl by the beach, the imposing figure of Thomas and the universal yellow graphic coloring, its befitting of the some of the other graphic design I've made for films in the past. Whenever I've created a title or set a theme, I want it to transcend any and all of the media that accompanies it. My brief sketches (seen below) highlight the portrait and landscape versions of the poster but the universality of the chosen imagery remains the same. Important for film festivals and the like, I see that the posters will be a great start to get the ball rolling on public interest in the film before its eventual release later in the year.
* A selection of the final posters made for the film and including some quick sketches for the overall design concept.
Much like many of my previous short films, GARGANTUA started life as a set image and a personal through line. The imagery was a culmination of well-trodden themes and content that had become focuses in my work up to this point. What I wanted from GARGANTUA was a bookend to that chapter of concern. GARGANTUA's first script draft was back in 2017. 2017 saw me create some of my best music videos to date. It was an incredibly creative year that was meant to be finished off with the making of this short film. Fortunately, this wouldn't happen for another two years and a further three drafts before GARGANTUA became what it was.
It was a story about a man who was in the middle of separating from his long-term partner amidst the coming of the apparent apocalypse; a giant, looming figure that has settled in the middle of the city. Focusing on the microcosm of the dwindling relationship between Thomas and Miah and in the background, the terror unfolding, juxtaposed against the history of the relationship. There was some strong themes emerging from the story; lost romance, secret guilt, male anxiety, domestic violence and regretting the past. There is a darkness to the film that precedes throughout the course of the narrative. It was intended that we didn't know much about the relationship coming into the film at the very end of it. What we get from the snippets included, is a repeating image of Miah at the beach, which is again repeated in the photo frame with the flawed picture and the reactionary response to the image from Thomas's perspective within the flashback itself. The darkness of the character, effectively rattling around his own home, feeling haunted as his ex sneaks in and out, as the world outside slowly destroys itself around him, was slowly revealed. We follow his story, it is his arc we're following but, we don't need to be expected to empathize with him when it's all over.
Film Completion and Release
The role was written for Tamas Fazakas, someone who I had worked with before on the Two Flags video for "Foreign In My Own Country". This casting never changed but the role of Miah which, in earlier drafts, saw her have spoken lines of dialogue and literally confront Thomas in the final scene, developed less and less as time went on. The role was played by Laura Hensel when it obvious that Miah's mere presence in scenes was strong enough without the need for dialogue. When the opening and flashback scenes were shot, that role was sealed in before Tamas even came on board to begin rehearsals.
Through the course of the pre-production, I was creating the newscast that is shown on the TV. This involved creating a plasticine model, lighting it against a green screen and superimposing it on pre-shot plates (backgrounds). Using modern News programming as a template for how the video would look, I had pre-recorded and shot on a green screen Laura (playing Miah also) reading the news as the news caster. It turned into a 2:30mins news broadcast that would be seen and heard through the course of scene 2; the most dynamic scene in the film that set the entire history of Thomas, his family, his ex Miah, his character and the ensuing events that were unfolding.
Originally, after the final drafts and boards were completed and rehearsal dates were ironed out, I was using a living space as the main location. I went through a series of tech and camera tests. This involved shooting scenes on camera, testing a variety of colour temperatures camera moves within the space. Including Tamas in the rehearsal process, the entire film was blocked and ready within a few hours.
The films look and feel was about keeping a level of vibrancy within the imagery, keeping a strong, colorful palette but gradually dip the warmth and light as the narrative continues. The film got progressively colder and darker as Miah comes closer to removing any trace of herself from the home.
The film's look was a delicate balance of orange and blues. I didn't want such a stark colour contrast at any point of the film to make the imagery seem muddy or undefined. Shooting the majority of the film at the suitable colour temperature for the time of day and location, I'd be using the natural colors of the environment with hints of vibrant colour casts I'd been used to creating in my earlier work as a form of stylizing the film. This would help to unify the visual cohesion of the film from start to finish. But the key was 'cohesion' and how it would all help to make the movement of the shots, put in sequence all flow together.
The shoot itself was a long 5am start to a late 8pm finish and without getting into specific details, what was planned was shot and in the exact way it was planned. And for all of the time spent shooting this one long day, we could not guarantee a sunny morning for the opening and closing running scenes. For the amount of sun we happened to get this summer, it was miraculous we eventually got one decent morning to catch the 6-something shots we needed. This was the state of the morning on the shoot day and for a few mornings before this, I would get up to see how the light would hit on the location we were set to use. Unfortunately, it would be a further 2 weeks, well into the completion of the edit of the film, before these two scenes were finally in the bag. All in all, the editing took a number of weeks, over the course of a month, only hampered by the lack of decent sunshine on those mornings.
A more analytical and structured look at the creation of the film, I'll go into more detail about the creative side in the director's notes post that will follow this. As a solo filmmaker who works without a crew, making zero budget films in the hope he can rely on a crew in the future, GARGANTUA is the culmination of a series of 46 music videos and 7 short films that mark the beginning of a new chapter in my work. It's got a level of polish that much of my earlier work lacks but a flow and sense of style that work still exudes. Like I say, this film was effectively created during a time I see as my most productive but at a time that was much of an end of the work I had been making. I identify with the more mature aspects of how I produce work now so that I can scale it up in the future; the dream being to eventually make a feature film. As an example of being able to tell a narrative, construct it creatively and make it feel like a 'whole product', I feel I have achieved and it marks for an interesting increase in quality for the work to come.
Director’s Notes
Very much as complete as I could make it, GARGANTUA from start to finish is as "fully realized" a film as I could make. From its various script iterations over the course of 2 years, stylistic and personal changes I saw in my own music video work and to what the final iteration this film began, there is a deeper tale behind this film. It marks a moment in my life when many different aspects were in-flux and the outside world around me was having a direct effect on the art I was producing at the time. For that, like many of my other short films, they become vignettes on how I was, as a person, at that time in my life. It's a film that encapsulates and bookends a chapter of work but is the beginning of much more new and exciting ventures. From the filmmaker perspective, it's as close to "finished" and "complete" a film I have ever produced, from how it looks, how it flows and how it depicts its narrative.
Near the end of the editing for GARGANTUA, I began adjusting the initial director's notes for the FilmFreeway page that would be the hub, for the time being, of the films general release and submission to festivals. This is not the making of the film but really the end note on the origins of the film and what GARGANTUA eventually became. The original notes that accompanied that page are what is included below;
GARGANTUA is a tale about lost love, coming to terms with our past mistakes, realizing your end and moving on. It's a romantic drama with science fiction and apocalyptic elements.
At the brink of what may be becoming the "end of the world" as we know it with a looming gigantic creature terrorizing the city, lowly "everyman" Thomas is at odds, dealing with some personal issues of his own; the excavation of his ex-girlfriend Miah's belongings from their, once shared, abode. Noticing that certain belongings are going missing, as she attempts to sneak over to the house when he's not there, Thomas has to face some old demons. But what he is yet to realise is, who is the true monster in this tale?
The tale revolves the concept that an unknown creature has settled in the middle of the city and its mere presence has turned the world upside down. Its the looming, ever-present figure that brings in the feeling, the world is about to end, inducing a panic world-wide that can't be avoided or ignored. Within the framework of this, we focus on the microcosm of Thomas' world; his girlfriend has left him and slowly moving her belongings out of their shared home. Military occupation, midnight Airstrikes, religious fanatical, 24-hour news coverage, curfews and a giant step backwards into much simpler times with constant power outages and rationing all creeping into the quaint "one-room" depiction of a man dealing with his demons and ghost of his past trying to escape. Miah is referred to a physical ghost who is tied to the home, trying her best to finally escape.
It is Thomas's tale. His arc is what drives the journey of the story and how we reveal to the audience the themes of the tale. It is revealed that Thomas has not treated Miah, his ex, kindly. The parallels we make in the visual iconography between the creature and Thomas through the course of the story elude to the fact that he was an intimidating presence. It never crosses the line into depicting physical abuse but it's clear, from her own behavior in trying to 'escape', Miah has suffered in the relationship. It's an element of the story, and Thomas' characterization, that is fed gradually. Life within the home begins as a warm environment getting progressively colder and stark as the story unfolds. This "starkness" is seen in the use of the colour casts and the shadow ratios from scene-to-scene, and the total lack of music; using a realistic soundscape to underscore the piece, to maintain an un-cinematic feel to the telling of this relationship breaking down. The relationship between these cinematic elements and the characters' story is heard in a removed and effected bit of non diegetic sound in the film, the "boom" sound on the opening title; Thomas banging on the door in scene 8. It’s inferring that his behavior from the past echoes in the present, reflecting his need for change and realization.
The "Gargantua" is a metaphor for current affairs and is the epitome of public fear, as we live in uncertain times with uncertain destinations politically, socially and personally. But it's in the background, online, in the news, something that impacts their lives but never changes them. It's more a personal journey than a socio-economic one. A tale of ennui, the ordinary off-set to what happens to all of us at some point in our lives; making mistakes, dealing with it and eventually moving on. Whatever your interpretation may be from watching the film, I hope that you understand the depth that was employed from a simple story through line and the personal aspect that pervade the imagery and the direction itself.
Storyboard to Screen Comparison
As I've stated in the previous post, GARGANTUA is one of the most complete and finished films I have made. This is down, in most part, to the comprehensive storyboards that were created beforehand. These boards went through two drafts (both you can see below; an original conception without a location in mind but with an openness to change and the second draft that had a specific location in mind. There is always room for change when filming but the strong framework, which I have always employed when possible, is what I feel sets the best produced and organised shoots from the ones that are not. The boards below are from the first draft.
