Short Film

Thankfully when writing, producer Natalie had kindly decided not to base the entire script in a mansion. Or a spaceship. Or a submarine. She had wanted to play with the restriction of the entire production taking place in a car. Which the team had access to. However, they were yet to establish where the car would be parked, who would shoot and who the other cast members were (we made use of the fact Natalie is primarily an actress, so at least we had one).

Much to our delight, our director had experience working with Timothy Saxby, a Hull-based DOP, and was eager to work with him again. So that was one thing established- next was Natalie's job; cast.

Casting was eerily simple: Natalie utilised her many actor connections and got in touch with Alice Murray and Joel Howard, who both jumped on the project, meaning we could ensure we were keeping things Lincolnshire-heavy, while building a friendly and talented cast. Perfect. Incredible. 

What next?

Rehearsals.

Before we jump into rehearsals, director Joseph Shepherd has kindly broken down his approach to pre-production below;

When Natalie approached me with the idea for How to Win Friends and Guinea Pig People, we were just wrapping up our micro-short Messages, written by Benjamin Peel. We’d had such a positive experience working together we went right into pre-production. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that approach to everyone! But in this case, I knew Natalie and I had a strong collaborative foundation, and even from the early draft, I could feel that this was a project I wanted to be involved in.

What caught my attention immediately was the script’s tone. It had this wonderfully offbeat, conversational humour (Natalie writes this really well), this combined with the scripts believable characters meant that with the right cast and a little breathing room, those great comedic moments could really shine. This informed a lot of my directorial choices early on. I knew I wanted to keep things intimate and performance-focused, which meant prioritising actor chemistry and delivery over stylised camera work.

Ahead of our shoot day breakdown, how did our director approach the direction in rehearsals and on set, while balancing the technical elements? He breaks down his process below;

When I direct, I have a very actor-led approach and working with Alice Murray, Natalie Yates, and Joel Howard made my job as director much easier. Everyone came into the film with so much energy and ideas for their character. So much of the comedy in ‘How to Win Friends and Guinea Pig People’ comes from the dialogue; to preserve the natural timing of the dialogue, I opted for a multi-cam setup and longer takes. This allowed the actors to settle into the scene and keep energy high, allowing for the natural comedy to shine. If you are opting for longer takes in a project, having actors really know their characters is essential.

So. We've rehearsed it. We've planned it. The producer's picked the director up. Reckon we should shoot it? So do we.

We arrived on set to the most wonderful sight; rain. Exactly what you want when shooting outside. Luckily for the crew, Natalie is incredibly paranoid about rain and cameras, so tends to keep several umbrellas in her car, which were promptly put to work. The sun was definitely shining on our little crew though; as soon as everything was framed, the sun came out and the rain went away.

The team worked efficiently and we managed to get the entire thing shot in a morning, with the help of a go pro and obviously our DOP's main camera. There was a lot of laughter and a huge amount of doubling up of roles (director handling sound, producer/actress handling clapperboarding), however the shoot day felt awfully smooth for such a tiny team. 

And to make things better? Our little film got a few festival selections. Not bad for an afternoon's filming.

We have lots more to come and we will be using bigger crews from now on, but it was wonderful to collaborate with Shepherd Creative and to create something with such a little group.

Check out the official trailer and outtakes below!