Gravedigger

“I wrote and directed this film, Gravedigger, as part of a film collective with no budget but access to equipment, and experienced crew. After holding open auditions, we assembled a talented cast and shot the film over two days during the summer of 2022.
The film itself is a tale of good and evil and who decides or justifies where that line is. All the characters in the film draw the line at different places. Our main character Joe can justify his actions but those decisions do take their toll. Joe has echoes of The Driver character in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, although coming from a good place, the choices he makes impacts him heavily.

In terms of style, tone and pace I was inspired by the works of David Lowery (A Ghost Story & The Green Knight) in allowing the drama to breathe; which is a great antidote to the fast paced cuts that we have become accustomed to. The experience of working on this film allowed me to experiment with that style. I have also been a long time admirer of the stories of Boon Joon-ho (Mother & Memories of Murder) his use of humour in the mist of seriousness. I admire how he directs and in particular his use of the profile shot. What the audience should think the film is about at the beginning is very different to the end. Additionally, I wanted to make the audience aware that something was being hidden from them. I revisited the films of Denis Villeneuve for inspiration for techniques he uses such as the shallow depth of field and unusual framing to obscure our view, which leads the audience to gain an understanding that there is more going on and we need to look closer.
While shooting I wanted to take the words of David Fincher on board, when he said (I paraphrase) ‘I want to allow the actors to do numerous takes so they become comfortable and there actions become muscle memory, they’re completely comfortable in their surroundings.’ I found it really rewarding to see the characters and performances come alive as the actors grew into the role with each take. The exterior location demonstrated the desolation of the life these characters lead while the interior location was a deliberately confined space to be a metaphor for Joe’s internal thoughts and struggles.

As I was also producing the short, I found the pre-production intense, securing the last location two days before didn’t help. The shoot was enjoyable and went smoothly under sever time pressures. The crew and cast developed a family type atmosphere very quickly. Lacking a budget, was a significant challenge, however it ensured everyone who was there, wanted to be there for the pure and genuine love of filmmaking. Post-Production was controllable and having such great footage to work from made it enjoyable. It was great to put the finishing touches to the project to justify everyone’s hard work and generosity of spirt. The experience has helped me hone the stories I want to tell and how I want to film them. ’