CULTURE
FILMS
Words: Selina Hooper
SCENE STEALER
CHALLENGE I
’m Selina Hooper. A year ago, the most I knew about films, was enough to understand that the film “Team America,” is not a documentary. I recently joined MannIN Shorts; a local initiative that provides a platform for filmmakers of all abilities to develop their skills and knowledge right here on the Isle of Man. Through participation in this scheme I have learned more about me at the age of 31 than I ever have before and developed new found skills that have been applicable in my daily work life.
One of the projects that I have been involved in recently was the Scene Stealer Challenge. The idea was that the teams had to entirely and accurately, recreate a full scene from a famous film. The scene that was chosen was the flash card scene in Love Actually. We were split into two teams – Team Ginger and Team Orange and roles within those teams, were assigned based on which role someone was doing in the upcoming short films that are currently in production. This is one of the best ways to learn how a film set works in a soft setting. There were a number of stipulations for this challenge. We were only given ten days prior to the first day of shooting to plan everything and we were only allowed one day to shoot the scene with a maximum on set time of just twelve hours. We were only given a budget of £50 and once filming was complete the editing of the finished product had to be concluded within one week. I was assigned the role of First Assistant Director. This is the person who runs the set and ensures everything remains on schedule. They are the first person to whom all those on set report to when they arrive and when they leave. I was on team Orange. The first thing we did as a team, after studying the clip, was to organise an local open casting call for all those who looked like the three actors in it; Kiera Knightley, Andrew Lincoln and
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Chiwetel Ejiofor. Both teams, thankfully, plumped for different choices of cast member for each role so there was no need for a fight to the death over which team was to get which actor. We all thought twelve hours would be more than enough but it’s surprising how fast the time runs away with you when you’re trying to painstakingly recreate every frame of the scene. Both teams encountered issues such as having to shoot day for night by blacking out windows with bin bags and shooting what is supposed to be exterior shots indoors. Team Orange had borrowed a house that had a red front door which was not suitable as a match to the white door seen in the scene. In the end we had to get creative with the under-stairs cupboard door. Team Orange filmed in Hatfield Grove in Douglas and would like to wholeheartedly thank all of the residents for assisting us in every way possible and moving their vehicles so that we could film the kiss in the street at the end of the scene. If you’d like to see the finished scenes, please check the MannIN Shorts page regularly for updates as to how, where and when you can see them via: www.facebook.com/manninshorts
ISLE OF MAN PREMIER MAGAZINE