THE ABSENCE OF HEAT
Directed by Harding & Young
Written by Dave Harding
During a drive, an engaged couple engage in a lighthearted conversation that subtly reveals the dynamics of their relationship.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Harding & Young, a director duo born and bred in East Sussex, with backgrounds in commercial and corporate documentary filmmaking, David Harding and Thomas Young seamlessly transitioned from documenting real-world stories to crafting fiction, thriving on small teams and modest budgets. Their commitment to creative storytelling shines through in every project.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH DAVE
Tell us about the genesis of The Absence of Heat.
The Absence of Heat was born from an evening of doom scrolling. I (Dave) came across a video of Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about how cold doesn’t actually exist. Me and my partner almost never argue and if we do it’s always over the most mundane things. She often remarks on how I can look a little too deeply into the wording of things rather than the actual subject we’re arguing about. I usually see the humour in these arguments before they’ve even finished, much to her enjoyment.
The combination of these two things led to the bulk of the dialogue being written very quickly in my notes app. A quick polish, plus the fact I’d always wanted to shoot a driving scene, and we basically had a full script the next day.
My friend Zach is an amazing filmmaker and a big car guy so it felt like an obvious collab. We put his dad’s beautiful old car on a trailer on the back of Zach’s van and rigged the camera up. We did a few drives down one of our favourite hometown roads during golden hour and had the whole film wrapped in an hour, thanks to the absolute pros and real life couple Ed and Lily.
The edit also came together super fast the next day, along with writing and recording a short piece of music. It’s probably the quickest and most seamless anything I’ve created has ever come together!
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences.
So far we’ve only shared it on YouTube, but we’re hoping to have it screened at some festivals over the summer.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
Based on our experience of this film, I’d say look for something you notice in the everyday that you find some sort of humour, enjoyment or fear in, and write a small, contained moment in a character’s life. Try to keep it in one location and as simple to shoot as possible.
What are you working on now?
I’ve just written a new, longer short script which totally ignores all of the advice above. It’s a lot more ambitious and is going to take a while to get into production but I’m very excited for it!
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
A hugely underrated favourite of mine is A Ghost Story.
