I wrote, directed and produced a 6 minute short film called 'The Homecoming' and it won the Best Film award at the March on Filmcompetition at the Final screening in The Irish Film Institute in Dublin earlier in 2018.
It is a bittersweet drama, mostly silent, set during the London Blitz in 1940. We filmed the short over 2 days, on a weekend, but there was lots of work done behind the scenes beforehand getting locations, actors, making props ... oh... and we needed a post vintage 1940's car!
,
The Gong ..... and myself and Marco, the Cinematographer and co-producer, at the Awards in the Irish Film Institute.
Here are some of the props that I needed to make :
Part of the film was set in a Red Cross hospital setting in Malta so I created some posters for the walls to try and set the location. Thank you to the Mill Community Centre in Celbridge for the loan of a vacant unit.
These chocolate boxes created in Photoshop play a part and they are identical - but set 50 years apart - so one was aged and distressed with sandpaper and stains. I even found and used fonts from the 1940's!! The paper was wrapped around real boxes of Butler's Chocolates !
I used an original photo from the 40's and cloned in our 2 actors for a framed desktop prop.
We needed a tombstone epitaph supposedly from 1940 so I made one up in Photoshop and this was attached to the real gravestone, covering the original epitaph. Took a few attempts and many photos to match the lichen and stonework but in the end it looked good. Some ivy and pastel chalk helped disguise the edges on the gravestone and I dont think anyone noticed.
We also needed 2 actors that could conceivably pass for each other 50 years apart - I think we got a pretty good match !!
As of October, 2018, have a composer working on an original score, colour grading the film and then readty for final sound mix. Then it will be time to send out to film festivals, etc around the world.
Thanks to all the team - Marco, Robin on sound, Elli make-up, Caiman sound location, Chris, Emma, Mo, Brian, Vince, Jordie, Kyle, - actors, Tom for his help and his car, John at the Mill, Celbridge, Gregg Ryan in Donadea and Jack Doyle in Terenure, and to Film Equipment Hire, Swords, Dublin.
