The Challenge
I was commissioned by OnFife with support from Creative Scotland and funding from Scottish Government to create a short film. Part of the 'Shining a Light on Performing Artists' campaign, the short film 'Remember: A Year of Uncertainty', was a reflection piece of 2020 and the Covid-19 Pandemic.
The Idea
The short film would take a look through almost each month and the biggest happenings of 2020 including how it affected the overall mental wellbeing. Almost a reflection piece progressing from each period of the year. Starting with optimism and new laid plans to achieve in the coming year – to slowly introduce ‘new’ words such as: lockdown; quarantine; restrictions; curfews, as it was introduced to us in 2020. The piece would touch on a variety of themes from personal development, anxiety, the corona virus (hope and despair), social media, news, race, and other world happenings. A recap of how we were rocked by the world around us, but also the world within. The short film would end with a sense of hope, that not all has been lost and that the series of events has been a process where the protagonist has seen a sense of personal development in a world in crisis.
There would be subtitles added to the video. This way, the message could be understood by a larger audience. The short film would have a blend of video content & music that mirrors the message of the poetry piece.
The music would be essential to tying the video and poetry together. The right sounds would enhance the atmosphere and emotional aspect. Sourcing suitable music or collaborating with a musician was taken into consideration.
Connecting the dots
Script Writing
*Taking a holistic approach in researching domestic, national, and international news stories.
*Analysing each month of 2020 with the focus on various major world rocking events and how they affected the populations (positively or negatively).
*Taking into account conversations and happenings in my personal life.
*Revisiting each month of 2020 with the focus of identifying positive news stories that were not commonly known (this was a challenge).
*Tying in all of the above to create a naturally flowing piece.
The script writing process for the short film took approximately 3 weeks, while filming the spoken word performance took approximately 2-3 hours.
Sourcing Video Content
*Reviewing and sourcing hundreds of stock video footage to identify pieces to aid the storytelling.
*Getting licences for the footage used.
*Editing Spoken word performance and video content to tie in together.
Sourcing the video content took approximately 5 days.
The Music
I introduced the idea for 'Remember: A Year of Uncertainty' to Simone Seales, an amazing cellist I had previously collaborated with on another project (Garden of Memories). Simone composed a unique musical score specifically for this project, and the result was a fantastic piece of music with tones that enhanced the script and film. The turnaround was a week.
The Result
A spoken word short film titled 'Remember: A Year of Uncertainty' that premiered the 19th March 2021. The entire process from the date of commission to project delivery was 6 weeks.
