Get The Film Look with Art Direction

If there is one aspect of zero budget filmmaking that gets overlooked more than any other, I feel it’s art direction and production design.

I’m talking about costumes, set dressing, props, graphics; the things that give a movie life. These are things which contribute towards achieving the film look and will give your film a convincing visual identity and will embed it into your make-believe world.

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[AdamOpie]

The idea of the invisible audience watching over is so creepy, I love it. As well as the execution chair in the background!

[willmalin]

Great video! This is so often over looked in student films

[ToastedSynapseGaming]

Just brilliant. It's the simple things that impress :)

[nigelgould-davies]

"Give your costumes a history and a back story". Brilliant. By the way, I thought it was an electric shock treatment he was recalling, not an execution chair. Anyway, huge respect to the thought and detail here. Some of it the audience will register only subliminally, but it still makes a difference.

[overlordmega]

Great work! Very well done by the crew and everyone involved. I'm curious about the story itself. The opening scene he paints a bit and pins a ballon (that disappears), which confused me. Was he prepping or cleaning? The paint on his fingers disappears from the opening sequence and I was curious if the color blue held any significance. After watching this video I see why you used blue but I was slightly bummed it didn't hold any major significance. With the consistency I figured there was a correlation, maybe the water??

I wondered why he was in the asylum in the first place, which might not have really mattered depending on where the story went. But since he was executed I feel like we needed that info, but we never learn why. And if he starts the record, why does the song surprise him? Was the mop fantasy a love interest he once had? But as he is about to die, he calls for his mother at the end...mystery solved. I assumed in the mop fantasy he was reliving a happy memory/fantasy with a love interest, but then he calls for his mother. I thought the dancing didn't fit mother/son aesthetic. Maybe if the dancing was more mother/son like in an elementary/primary school dance before his brain turned to mush by whatever affliction led him to an asylum, it could even add to the idea that only his happiest memories were with his mother, as she was the only one there for him. But then again, maybe he was fantasizing of life outside of the asylum dancing with somebody. Then I guess he just grabs a sliver of happiness in his terrible world. Obviously I wasn't there for the idea conception and could be completely off.

I know this is off topic from the cinematography of the whole thing, which was fantastic. It's very easy, as some have said, to take for granted the amount of work that goes into a 3 min short film. But I always find myself interested in the building blocks of a story. And yours has such an abrupt twist, I just felt more confused than drawn in at the end.

I learned a TON from watching the BTS and I'm a happy new subscriber! I know you probably don't have time to explain to me every tiny bit of detail that went into the story but any insight, especially if I missed something, is greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work!

[artraabe]

Your actor of Asylum Groove Does look like Gary Oldman

[darengnyam]

I really enjoyed this video. Would love to email you for some questions.