Where was I when this all started
So there I was, behind my computer at work. The work that provides a roof above my head (it’s a great roof). The work that feeds me and my family. The work that let’s me laugh with my collegues. The work that let’s me be part of society. But also the work that makes me want to put a gun against my head and pull the trigger (I’m slightly exaggerating here for drama purposes), so boring, demotivating and energy draining I find it.
Ridley Scott
Surfing the internet frantically searching to lift my spirits, I see a post about a competition for Philips and Ridley Scott Associates (RSA) to promote the new Philips 21:9 television. You have to admit it’s a fine looking TV but the fact that Ridley Scott is involved was the real hook. I still remember the first time that I watched Blade Runner. The film was on TV. I was still a kid and Rutger Hauer was about to give one of his best performances. More recent the film Gladiator was an instant classic. Also one of my favorites.
The Competition
Five stunning shorts with all the same dialogue were made by RSA, inspiring filmmakers around the globe to make the sixth short. The dialogue and their order being fixed, the only other rule was a maximum lenght of 3 minutes.
Prizes
First prize is tagging along for a week at one of the Ridley Scott Associates offices and of course your short next to the other five. Other prizes include invitation to a Ridley Scott Associates premiere in London or New York plus spending money, a Philips 21:9 television for the top 5 and a Philips television for getting in the top 10 .
Additional deadlines for Dutch competitors
Additional deadlines were installed for Dutch competitors to get feedback from well known Dutch professional filmmakers and producers. This would be a great opportunity to get my work exposed .
My motivation
My brain was hooked from the moment I read Ridley Scott. Winning first prize would be great but it’s not something I count on. Getting feedback from the Dutch filmmakers and knowing that your submission will be reviewed by people from RSA and by people from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) was enough for me to get me started. The five example shorts really showed what was possible and if I had any doubts, those shorts wiped them all away.
The Storyboard
After writing the script ‘Het Spel / The Game’, which I finished the next day, the first submission deadline needed a storyboard. Now I’m creative and resourcefull and all, but my drawing sucks. I posted an ad for a storyboarder on the NFTVM site and within two hours production designer Stephan Duquesnoy responded. He already knew about the competition when he saw my ad and was looking for a way to join the competition.
With only 4 days until the next deadline, Stephan started on the drawings while I experimented with the ones already finished in After Effects, mainly looking for the right order and lenght of the drawings. Soon I realised my ambitions were to high and shots had to be deleted. After getting the shots right, I recorded some soundseffects and found a couple on the internet. Then I recorded a guitar song and mixed the whole thing together. This would leave me one whole day for uploading the moving storyboard. More than enough.
Feedback on the Storyboard
Within two weeks and just before we were going to film I received the feedback. The storyboard was reviewd by Andre van Duren and Matthijs van Heijningen. They were very impressed by the way the storyboard looked and with the emotion it expressed. On the other hand the story was not totally clear for them. There was still work to do there.
On the filmset With or Mitout sound
With this project I went back to basics. There were five pieces of dialogue, and our sounddesigner was capable of foleying everything, so I didn’t even bother looking for a someone recording the sound. Finally its was just me, the actors and the steadycam operator on the filmset. We could have used a first AD and someone for continuity but we managed and at the end of the first day (around 2:30 AM) we had what we needed.
Working with a steadycam and crashing it
This would be my first project filming with steadycam. I was very enthousiastic about getting Pieter Bruin on board. This would definitely widen the possibilities of filming it. 
Pieter uses a Segway in combination with a steadycam (see the link to his site below). He has also the normal harness, but he can’t do that the entire day since it’s an extra 20 kilo’s to carry around.
The second day filming, we were in the woods. Filming the chase on the ‘horses’ , I saw Pieter from a distance, slowly falling forward. He crashed! The wheels of the Segway are big enough to handle rough terrain, but somehow one of the wheels got stuck and he fell, breaking his steadycam and severely damaging his camera. Luckily it could still film. We carried on and improvised the rest of the shots. I was sad for the Pieter’s equipment damage but also for missing out on some great steadycam shots I had in mind. The good thing was that without the steadycam, we were filming at a much faster pace. We were able to wrap it up before the sun went down. Check out this super smooth steadycam shot (it didn’t make it due to time and pace purposes):
Feedback on the first edit
We submited a first edit with almost no sounddesign, without the intended score and without any grading or compositing. This time our submission was reviewed by San Fu Malta, owner of Fu Works & Producer of ao ‘Black Book’; Danyael Sugawara , director and Gouden Kalf winner with his film ‘Alles Stroomt’. and Rob Lucker, director at Hazazah and known for his short films ‘Spielerei’ and ‘Skoda’. Again positive remarks like ‘Good script and concept’ and Good casting’. The pace in editing could still be improved and some other remarks to explain the story even better.
Final Draft
After finishing Sounddesign, the score and the grading and compositing it was time to upload it to the Philips youtube channel. Things were of the wall there.
People were stress out because uploading was unsuccesfull and there were only a few more days before the official deadline. The amount of ‘last minute’ submissions were obviously more than expected. Confirmation and approval of submissions were promised but alot of filmmakers never got them. Fortunately Philips did post a message once and a while about the process. Our submission ‘Het Spel / The Game’ was submitted and approved without any hassels.
Deadlines and Structure
The two additional Dutch deadlines chopped up the whole process in smaller bits which in it’s turn helped me alot with managing the entire production and having a good overview of what was the next step.
When will the winners be known
August 23, the top 10 will be known. After that viewers can select the top 5 by voting until September 5. From September 6 until September 19, viewers can vote on their favorite film regardless whether or not the film is in the top 10.
Feelings about this project
I really had fun doing this project. I feel proud of doing this in just over 2 1/2 months next to a full-time job. That said I couldn’t have done this without my excellent cast, crew and a lot of patience of my wife. I’d like to thank all of them.
Keep making films you girls and guys!
Links:
Everything about the competition incl all the submissions
Filmmaking tips by Ridley Scott Associates
Check out the site and amazing portfolio of Production Designer Stephan Duquesnoy
Check the gear of our steadycam operator Pieter Bruin
Dutch ‘New Film and TeleVision Makers’: NFTVM
Brandfighters, also in English, who organized the extra deadlines:
http://www.brandfighers.nl
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