With each passing day, I’m learning new ways to create low budget short films. The secret can be the use of a small or no amount of dialogue, simple locations, and simplified cinematography to save money without losing quality. I have watched several short films and I try to understand how to tell a good story with a zero-low budget. One of these films is Serenity Now (2005) by Simon Cartwright.
Serenity Now is a very little short film. Creating references ranging from Hitchcock to Coppola, this film is a mixture of puppetry and digital animation with great design, cinematography and sound work.
The films setting is set in a cabin of a train with only two characters and it is enough to tell the story. The film shows us the moment when the man is affected by the bad manners of his cabin neighbor. The story has two plot points, one when the other character put their feet on the seat and it makes the other man have a mental attack, and another plot point is when this character takes his feet off the seat. Between these two plot points, we can see the nerve attack of the character and everything that goes on his head in a few seconds. After this, it all goes back to the normal and it seems like nothing happened.
The puppets are heavily stylized and it is almost weird. Reminding me of modern sculptures, the puppets can express emotion only by using movement and changing the positions of their mouths. These movements are simple but combined with edition and composition fulfill the role.
The design of the background is simple but not poor. The entire action takes place inside a cabin of a train and the set is composed of only three walls. In one of these walls, there is a window which shows the landscape passing by. The Chroma Key and pre-filmed scenes were the solutions applied to create the sensation of movement outside the train. The background has the detail that it needs and this works perfectly with the rest of the film.
In the scene where the other passenger put their feet over the seat, we can see a good work of depth of field. The focus change from the feet to the character’s face to show his expression. This gives us a sensation of tension and prepares us for the next scene.
The camera work in a puppet film has to be carefully thought out. The characters, backgrounds, and props are so small and the distance between the camera and the characters can be a problem. This type of film requires the use of the lens for nearby images, like the 50mm.
In Serenity Now, the lightings sets the mood of each scene, like in the angry montage scenes or in the begin and end scenes. Although the background and set are so small, the lighting works very well.
With few lights, one camera, one background and only two characters, this film is for sure a well-solved low budget project.
The sound is one of the most important things in the film. Each movement or emotion of the characters is translated by a different sound. The scenes can show us tension, danger, and relief and tranquility without the use of music just with sound effects.
As the performances of the puppets are more limited than live action, the solution to demonstrate the emotion is achieved through the use of editing techniques, composition, and sound effects.
When the character had the attack, the editing is fast to transmit the idea of the speed of thought. The cuts are quick, the lights are flashing and the scenes are changing. All these techniques are used to show the tension of this sequence.
The montage sequence shows us some images that we can recognize in few seconds. Those images are a mix of real images well known with the face of characters. The use of that real images allows us the easily understand the connotation.
This film is an example that we do not need to use music score or dialogue to advance the emotion. The editing, lightings and sound designer are responsible to create the mood of the scenes.
The Inshallah Thesis Project is a zero-low budget short film, we need to come up with creative solutions to overcome the obstacles and make a great film. As the Set Dresser, I will perform my job using as little as possible. We will use a real location to shoot, instead of soundstage set construction. To the set dressing, I’m collecting and preparing to transform the space we have in a normal group home bedroom and an office.
Link to Serenity Now by Simon Cartwright: vimeo.com/78475963
