Fusing the words from a short script written by Academy Award winner, Geoffrey Fletcher, this year’s Bombay Sapphire 'Imagination Series' films (which you can view at the bottom of the page) showcase the imagination and talent of the next generation of aspiring filmmakers from across the globe. Independent Films again worked with with agency Gravity Road to produce the films, having secured the accolade of the 2014 British Short Film BAFTA, for one of last year’s films, Room 8, directed by James W. Griffiths. LBB's Laura Swinton spoke with Independent's Verity White to find out more.
LBB> It’s the second year that Independent and Gravity Road have collaborated on the Bombay Sapphire series – how did this year’s project differ from last year’s?
VL> They changed the competition this year. This year the competition was open to anyone but it was to write or adapt Geoffrey's words. It was the same concept as last year but this time around the person who won the competition would work alongside us and Gravity Road and Bombay Sapphire and the director who would develop their idea. The previous year the competition had the possibility that you would get to direct it subject to your experience, which is basically how James Griffiths ended up directing his short because he had a lot of directing experience.
LBB> It must have been daunting to follow last year’s success, because of course he won the 2014 BAFTA for British Short Film.
VL> That was amazing wasn't it? When it was announced I was blown away. He did an amazing job. Entered a competition and won a BAFTA! I can't even begin to imagine how he must feel.
LBB> From a production point of view, what sort of challenges does a project of this diversity present? What sort of time scale did you have to create all of the films?
VL> The judging process was the same as last year. When the films were picked they were all picked to be as different as possible and then Independent attached directors who we work with. Apart from Mary who had a connection with. We developed them for as long as we could but it was a very short period of time. I think the selection happened in mid-to-late October and we tried to have as long a period as possible to work on them. Most of them were shot immediately after Christmas. Exit Log required the most post time so Gary and the writer had to turn that script around to give The Mill as much time as possible. Quite frankly we relied on an enormous amount of good will from the crew, from all the facility houses that we used from The Mill, from MPC because the budgets were so incredibly tight.
LBB> In terms of camaraderie and friendly competition, what sort of atmosphere does this sort of project generate internally?
VL> We brought in Kim Knowlton who basically produced the series and organised all the directors and I oversaw that with her. Between us we ran the production and each production had its own producer and the producer pretty much ran everything. As soon as the script was ready to be shot, they pretty much ran with it. If you look at the films, each director was approached because they would bring something to that film. It was a very creative and warm atmosphere.
LBB> How did you go about deciding which directors should work on which script treatments? Did the directors have to pitch internally or did the division of labour fall fairly obviously?
VL> How it worked was that we approached Gravity Road and Bombay Sapphire with our suggestions. We looked at the roster and we narrowed it down to who we thought would bring most to the projects. It wasn't so dissimilar to how you would expect to be sent an agency script. Between the agency and Bombay Sapphire we all chose them together.
LBB> Of all the script treatments that ended up being made into a finished film, which were the most surprising and unexpected? And which were the most challenging to realise?
VL> They all had their own merits and their own surprises. Probably if you looked back on the original scripts they all changed quite a lot.
LBB> What was the collaboration like with Gravity Road and Bombay Sapphire?
VL> It was a lot easier this year. It's never easy because it's a creative process and everybody has an opinion but it was a lot smoother because we'd already done it once before. There was already a degree of trust in place, opinions were being listened to and battles fought and lost as they always are. But generally everybody was on the same page. As with any film or commercial there will always be a producer or EP who will disagree with a director but in this case the directors really did have a lot of say over what the end films looked like. It really was very different from a commercial. But it wasn’t quite the same as a short film either because you usually have a lot more time for your development and probably post production and the edit too. I think the reason that it went through a lot quicker than they usually do is that we'd done it once before and we knew the process. We knew that decisions had to be made fairly sharpish.
The 2014 Imagination Series films:
Reflections from Anthony Khaseria (UK): Directed by Adam Randall
A beautiful couple in beautiful surroundings - it should have been the start of the ultimate love story. But a romantic meal turns dark and fantastical when they discover a hidden mirror which shows their true reflection.
Graffiti Area from Maite Fernandez (Spain): Directed by Weareflink
A mesmerising look at the inexplicable and unpredictable nature of our own fears. When two young graffiti artists start painting, the graffiti takes on a monstrous life of its own. Can they escape their own creation, or even themselves?
The Other Side of the Game from Kiara Jones (USA): Directed by Zoe Cassavetes
A newly married couple are battling to get out alive from an unfamiliar hostage situation in this taut psychological thriller. You won’t expect what happens next.
Need for Speed (Dating) from Allyson Morgan (USA) : Directed by Mary Nighy
Nate and Polly have the perfect relationship. A nice house, a white picket fence. There’s just one problem – the relationship is just a dream. In this light hearted comedy, Polly tries to find her dream date at a speed dating event. But will anyone live up to her dream boyfriend?
Exit Log from Chris Cornwell (UK)
In 2249, two space engineer’s journey through deep space takes a dramatic turn when they discover an emergency message from the past. They’ll have just three minutes to decipher the message and decide their fate forever.
