University News Last updated 28 April 2015
English student Scarlett Kefford has been awarded the runners-up prize in international short film competition ‘How to Capture our Hearts in 16 Seconds’, organised by Robert Redford’s Raindance Film Festival.
After taking a screenwriting module at Birmingham City University, Scarlett spotted an opportunity on Raindance’s Facebook page and began scribbling down and storyboarding ideas.
Scarlett’s film called ‘What Hands Do’, creates the enigmatic concept of a date through the use of a person’s hands. Inspired by quotes from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, which has been used to establish greater meaning with the action on screen.
The Help of Friends
Scarlett’s main source of encouragement was a friend and fellow writer, Scarlett says: “We spend a lot of time sharing our writing with each other and talking incessantly about Hollywood film dreams and sharing competitions we find for screenwriting and film making online.” Scarlett also gained help from fellow student Nina Bailie, with the filming and photography.
The inspiration for the film came from the screenwriting module studied on BA (Hons) English says Scarlett: “I didn't know a thing about formatting scripts and the process of making a career out of it until I took this module.”
Actors going AWOL
“Honestly, I found it stressful,” Scarlett says of the production process, hardly surprising given her cast and crew were only available on the day before the submission deadline. On top of this, the lead actor ‘went AWOL’ on the day of the shoot, with a friend stepping in last minute.
However, the final film made it all worth it, according to Scarlett, “It feels incredible to become runner-up considering the little time we had and the disaster that it had felt to me on the day of shooting. I'm definitely going to continue to write and make film but I'm going to give myself much more time to perfect my work!”