Fool's Errand

Fool's Errand is a cautionary tale of romantic longing in the me too era. It’s about Michael who is haunted by the memories of his relationship and inevitable break-up with Rachel. At his lowest point he’s offered a second chance by an enigmatic man, it’s then that we see the extreme lengths he is willing to go, to win her back.
This is not your average love story, we wanted to create a short that’s unique and relevant set in the world we currently live in, but looking at the typical themes we’re used to in the romance genre and putting a twist on them. As we developed the script, we deconstructed the typical romantic narrative tropes, of destiny and the thought that we’re all supposed to have that one person we’re meant to be with. The arrogance of man; thinking you can fix something or make it work, which is a theme relatable to humankind thinking we can control everything.
The selfishness and impractical nature love stories can have; you can’t enforce your will to make something happen, this is a theme constantly shown in romance where a character thinks they can make someone fall for them.
Having a black actor in a role where traditionally it would have been played by a white actor. It’s the female who is strong, career driven, knows what she wants, and doesn’t want children. The male character believes in love and finding ‘the one’ as he wants to get married and settle down. These characteristics have typically been shown the other way round.
As well as the “what if” scenario, what if i’d have said this or that or if I’d have done this or that, which is relatable for everyone at some point in their life.
With all of these elements intertwined in our story, one of the key challenges was ensuring the audience understands the journey that Michael goes through.
To do this I had to ensure the audience is with him every step of the way by creating a visual style and language that aides the audience through Michael’s journey. I created a colour scheme for Michael and Rachel’s costumes that mirrored where they are in their relationship, with the colours being similar on the colour chart when things are going well to slowly moving into opposites as their relationship unravels. I also created a visual style and colour scheme for each of the different worlds/times Michael enters ensuring the audience is subtly guided along whilst also making use of all the filmmaking tools I had at my disposal. Being the performances, cinematography, sound, editing, grade, and score to help in weaving the story together so that we created an experience that’s easy for an audience to follow whilst being dynamic and engaging. I believe we’ve done that whilst leaving the story open to interpretation, was this all in Michael’s head, or did he actually experience everything we see him go through?
With influences of American Gods and David Lynch, I believe we have fused together a unique story that encapsulates an age old fable into a modern tale that’s similar to “Faust” but set in today’s world.
And being a firm believer that film is an art form which should leave you with something to ponder on and to take home with you after the viewing. Hopefully with Fool’s Errand we’ve created a short film that can do just that.