The Difference In Shells

ROLLPLAY PRODUCTIONS // 2007

 

Film Synopsis

This film mainly uses visual imagery when it explores how an individual deals with grief and loss. The film was shot with an extremely tight time frame in the middle of winter, which made the beach scenes and swimming very cold.

 

Filmmaker Notes

The Difference In Shells
Written by Sankaran Kasynathan Filmed and Edited by Mitchell Ford Drifting through life, held captive by his lover’s untimely death, a young man awakens to find a symbol of hope reaching for him to let go. But is it enough to allow him to let go of his past, and learn to live and love again? Filmed over 6 days, with 5 actors and a limited budget, I wanted to create a visually appealing film, which would highlight the change of emotions experienced by the lead actor – from his sombre, monotonous life, to his beachside ‘awakening’ revealing to him a new perspective and giving him a new lease on life. Due to the limited dialogue of the script, I
wanted to highlight the emotive state of the lead character, through the use of various camera angles and crop settings. Due to the minimal script, it was integral for the actors to convey the proper emotion for each scene depicted following the script’s narrative. It was because of this that I opted against using added soundtracks, instead relying on the actors’ emotive performances, coupled with minimal sound to portray the mood for each scene. Due to the filming constraints of the actors’ availability on scheduled days, times and needing favourable
weather on these set days, it was important to not only keep to the scheduled days, but to order the scenes being filmed, using the time of day the scene is set in – to the availability of light available on the day of filming. Although the production crew tried to organise the same time frame (time depicted in the scene of the movie and the ‘real time’ of filming) we still had to ‘cheat’ time by filming ‘early morning’ scenes during the evening sunset of the scheduled
film days – to achieve the right light conditions and bird calls that are synonymous with early mornings.

Having completed the filming, we converted the footage into editable .AVI files and the final process of editing began. Having storyboarded the outline of the film, and having used the same angles as illustrated in the storyboards when filming the live action, the editing was a relatively simple process of using the best takes of the set camera angles. With the cast and crew having all volunteered their time and support when creating ‘The Difference In Shells’, a unique experience was manifested, as strangers with a common ideal of expressing themselves through the medium of film combined their talents to produce an original screenplay production, under the guidance of RollPLAY Productions. Thanks go out to RollPLAY Productions for providing a service where people can come together and express themselves in the medium of film. Thanks also go out to all our cast and crew, for lending their support and
time, in order to realise Sankaran’s screenplay into the film it is today. Special thanks go out to David Mora, who sacrificed organized games of competitive sport in order to finish filming certain scenes by the designated period.

Warm regards,

Mitchell Ford
Director of ‘The Difference in Shells’