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Six Questions with Charlie Lewis

17 May 2008

Charlie Lewis answers 6 questions from the FTI team, his short film ‘Brood’ that was created in FTI’s Member’s Production Group has recently screened at the Bradford International Film Festival in the UK as well as ‘Thriller Chiller’ in Michigan. In 2008 the films will also screen in Brazil and Oklahoma.

How would you describe your film ‘Brood’?

I guess I never really know how to answer questions like this, I feel like I either end up selling myself short or sounding like a complete tool.

At the risk of doing both, it’s a noirish interior horror film about a psychiatrist and his patient. At it’s basis, I think it’s about the way we anaesthetise ourselves to the things inside us that don’t fit with the way we’d like to be perceived.

Who else was involved in making the film?

It was written and produced by Mark Hudson, Cassidy Hill was the Director of Photography, Bruce Kentish Edited, recorded the sound and did the gore effects. The lighting was done by Brett Turnbull and Aaron Kamp. Cathie Mcginn was the production manager and Tracey Pender was the 1st assistant AD.

I would run out of superlatives if I was to try and describe the contribution they each made individually, I really would – particularly the visual team.

I mean, 85% of the movie is just two guys in a room, and yet, even watching it now, the framing and the lighting make the film feel very stylised – it looks good.

I remember marvelling at this 8 light set up we had for the office scenes, each picking out some little detail of the room – it was exactly what I wanted when we started.

Leigh Cowan and James Davies are the principal actors. They were brilliant, which they had to be, given the film is so driven by dialogue and performance. James’s background is in theatre. He did a reading from Othello in his audition that scared the hell out of me, and he’s just such a powerful presence. Leigh’s character is much quieter and more insular, which is tough to pull off, but he does a great job.

What was the Production process like?

Because the crew and the actors were so good, to be honest, making ‘Brood’ was an absolute doddle. Every other film I’ve made (or even been involved with) has had serious problems of one kind or another during the production , but this time I really lucked out and had a lovely, more or less event free shoot.

What do you look for in a script?

It can be any number of things – I mean, generally I like to have a hand in the writing process, but in the case of ‘Brood’, what really appealed to me was the fact that it was such a movie movie, it was unashamedly a genre piece – It was very visual and had snappy dialogue and I thought it would be really fun and interesting to create something stylised and cinematic that didn’t have any illusions about taking place in the real world.

What’s next on the cards for you and member’s of the team?

I’m just finishing my next short, a sad comedy called ’4 ½’ about filmmaking and the creative process.

Cassidy and I co-wrote another horror film called ‘A Basement on A Hill’ which we’ve submitted to the current Oomph round. Fingers crossed.

Mark and Bruce collaborated on a film called ‘The Man Upstairs’. It’s not complete yet, but I look forward to seeing it when it is.

What advice would you give to someone about the make their next short film?

I don’t know that I have that much worthwhile to pass on just yet. There’s obviously the mandatory need for commitment and desire. I guess aside from that, and this might be a long way around explaining it, but anyway, a few years ago when I finished my first movie, the way I looked at it was, this was my first contribution to world of cinema. A tiny, microscopic contribution, a decimal point followed by a million zeros and a one, but it was there. I still think that’s true of any movie, so it’s very important not to be lazy, to really give everything to make sure the movie is as good as it can be.

Filmmaking, particularly at this level, rarely offers an even effort to reward ratio, at least initially. The best reward you can really hope for is come to the end of the process with a film you believe in.