Written, Directed & Produced by Ry Williams
Parting Frenzy was the winner of the Best Horror Short at The People’s Film Festival earlier this year.
On an impromptu tour of boyfriend, Lee's, newly inherited warehouse and would-be photography studio, Cate makes a confession of infidelity. But it plunges her into a desperate fight for her life when Lee tells her he already knew...and the doors locked.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH RY
Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
I’m born and raised in North Wales in a small town called Wrexham – it wasn’t a place where many filmmakers came from, if you wanted to be a plumber you were considered ambitious. Mobile phones had just started circulating in schools as I was growing up so I got a little Sony Ericson that had a camera and could record video. I used to shoot things with my friends and make little spoof adverts and things, and then my parents bought me a cheap video camera and I started making sketches with my friends. I studied creative media production at college and basically used the course to make loads of shitty short films, music videos etc. Somehow I got a grade from that course, then applied and got into The Northern Film School in Leeds - I graduated from there with a First in Directing. Whilst there I made some more films but really felt there was a big gap between what I wanted to make and what I was making in terms of quality. So I decided to get some experience in the industry and became a production runner working on shows like Peaky Blinders as Cillian Murphy’s PA and was able to basically be on set with him all the time, watching how a set is run - got to watch him rehearse with Tom Hardy and basically absorb as much as I could. Then I went to work in script development for 18 months, developing scripts with writers and pitching ideas to BBC, Channel 4, Sky etc. At that point I decided to step away and pursue my own work again. From there I started a small theatre company and wrote and directed some short plays and wrote a full length play too. I then wrote and shot Parting Frenzy, which was the first film I’d made in 3 years at that point. Since then, I’ve written another full length play, made a short experimental, and now I’m in prep on my next 2 shorts.
What inspiration and influences made you want to create Parting Frenzy?
I knew I wanted to make a genre film and I knew I also wanted to write something about a relationship, specifically between two people who have been together for a little while but not long . There is a period of time where you’re still getting to know the other person but you’re also very intimate with them. This is probably my own personal paranoia talking but I’ve always found it interesting that we can spend the night next to people because we’re in a relationship but have sometimes only known them a few months. I was fascinated with the idea of a relationship between two people who don’t fully know each other and then they find out and it’s awful. That dovetailed into the genre desire and it came out as a psychological horror thriller. I was hugely inspired by the Patrick Marber play, Closer, for an expert portrayal of relationships falling apart and took cinematic inspiration from films like Panic Room and the spate of fast-paced 90’s thrillers that don’t stop moving such as, Run Lola Run.
The aim was to combine all this into an archetypal genre film that dealt with two flawed human beings, and examine the masks we all wear throughout life and what is actually underneath.
What obstacles did you overcome while in the making of this film?
Biggest one was probably finding a location. I won’t bore you with the details but finding an empty warehouse with a side room, that’s also empty, and would allow me to film, was just impossible. I viewed about 30-40 under the pretence of purchasing it just so they would simply agree to show me the bloody thing. I had one lined up in the first place with a contact from a prior shoot and that’s why I wrote the film. Unfortunately, it fell through just as I finished the script and so we had no location but a script written for a specific one.
Then I would say all the obstacles we faced from there probably came down to money, but we felt the pinch on the schedule the most. It was a very tight shoot – I was behind schedule when I got out of bed. We had to basically use the ceiling lights for most of the shoot, which doesn’t look perfect but works and this allowed us to basically rattle through a 4 day shoot in 2 days. 1-2 takes per set up and then move on. Certainly not the way I would want to work in future but I feel you always have to adapt to the environment you’re in as a filmmaker. Plus, when you’re being pushed you have to find innovative ways to get around obstacles that sometimes end up coming out better than the original plan. The ups and downs of filmmaking!
Any tips or tricks for micro-budget filmmaking?
PFP – Plan for post! The project your making is not just leading up to the filming. It’s the day you finish the film with a poster, an EPK for festivals and a list of when and where you’re attacking with this film. So you need to make sure you have accounted for how you’re going to deliver the film on no budget. Why are you making the film? Work back from the end goal and plan from there. Too many filmmakers just work towards the filming days and don’t think about the end product. You’re baking a cake, if you mix all the ingredients in a bowl but don’t turn the oven on and put it in. You have cake mix. And you want a Victoria sponge.
Second big one, and this is free – make sure the script is really good. I know that sounds obvious but get other people to read it who will give you honest feedback. Listen to them when they say “hm, I didn’t really get this bit.” If you’re hearing that from a few people, do not go into production yet. I think if you’re learning, go out and film whatever - doesn’t need to be great, just the act of doing it and completing a film puts you ahead of 90% of other people who want to make narrative shorts. But for when you want to make a good one but you have no money, start with the script. Learn how to write even if you’re working with a writer - you need that knowledge of story and structure to direct and piece the film together at all levels.
Lastly, get yourself out there and it will give you a bigger playground to create work in. I attended acting classes to meet actors and I wrote a film around a location I knew I could get from a previous shoot I’d helped out on. Make sure you’re working on other people’s projects, attending workshops etc. Because when you come to make a film for nothing, you’ll need people who trust who, who are willing to work for free, and you’ll need to know what’s available to you. Essentially on this budget you’re writing a small concept piece or a character piece. The film will live and die on how well you tell a story in a space with actors. It’s as simple as that. Put all your time there because money can’t buy a good performance and a well told story. That’s on you.
What are you working on now?
I’m developing 2 new short films at the moment. One is an erotic thriller about a salesman who’s late for a meeting but gets trapped in the wardrobe of a mistress at a brothel. And the other is an autobiographical piece - a coming of age story set against the backdrop and harsh realities of working-class north Wales. It’s called - Isn’t my life interesting...
Only joking! I can’t say what they’re about at the moment as I think they’re pretty flipping great ideas and don’t want to spoil them before they’re developed properly. I’m super excited though and planning to shoot those in January and April, so should be knocking about Kino again soon. I also just finished a full-length play.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
Cinema Paradiso - watched that for the first time the other week and it blew me away. The ending...holy shit. Also love The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise from Buñuel. Pain and Glory and Volver by Almodóvar. And new films: Another Round – probably one of the best new films I’ve seen in a while and likely already on everyone’s list. It’s incredible. Beautiful portrait of life and how safety can be the most dangerous and stifling thing in the world for us. Again, what an ending!
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