After a few years off we once again braved the Sci-Fi London 48 Hour Film Challenge over a weekend earlier this month. As a team we were given two days to write, shoot and edit a sci-fi themed short film with a title, line of dialogue and prop to include provided at the start of the challenge. A tiring and incredibly rewarding weekend of filmmaking ensued and the outcome was a gratefully received Special Mention and screening at the Sci-Fi London Film Festival 48 Hour Challenge Evening! Being just one of only twenty films screened out of nearly 130 entries is an achievement we are very proud of.
During the production we were thrilled to able to work with such a talented and dedicated cast and crew who went above and beyond to help us realise this film. In advance of the challenge we had brought on-board our behind the camera team and sourced locations, keeping our options open due to not being able to lock a script until the weekend of the competition. Writer Dan McGrath and director Christopher Bevan collaborated once again on the project following Transcended, our entry from 2016’s challenge, with Director of Photography Karl Poyzer returning to bring his considerable skills to the table. Freelance producer James Hutton joined the YSP Media team earlier in development and production designer Milly White was also an integral element of our conceptual process, helping to shape the world we were hoping to create without having a specific script to hand which made the process that much more challenging.
Our given title for the challenge was ‘Make Do Or Mend’ and after an intense scriptwriting session with director, writer and lead actor Miranda Heath, we were able to share the final script with the team and shortly thereafter began shooting through the night with a short break before resuming in the morning to complete the final scene. The specifics of the incredible experience during this time would take too long to write in full detail but suffice to say everyone single one of the team gave it their all and our sincere thanks go out to the cast and crew for their hard work and passion.
One of the most memorable parts of this project was working with Father Phantom Studio, a Birmingham based SFX Make Up and Prosthetics team who designed and built the creature mask, scars, claws and other additions that were so detailed and further helped build the grimy sci-fi world of our story. It was a true pleasure to have them onboard and we hope to have the chance to work with them again. We were also joined by Chris Morris of Vengeance FX on the project who worked as costume designer, providing and creating key costumes, character props and additionally much of the set elements as envisioned by our production designer Milly.
Make Do Or Mend is now available to view online below. You can also view even more of our behind the scenes photographs taken by Gemma O'Brien on our Facebook page here.
