Triumph

I directed the film TRIUMPH because I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could make a winning film that audiences liked in 72 hours. We were given a Theme: through Thick and Thin; an Object: Creative Light Source; and an Edit: Shadows and provided 72 hours to write a script, film and edit. One of the things I felt strongly about in the making of TRIUMPH was that the audience understood that it was about a man who was struggling with money and paying his bills and that boxing was the only way he had to pay his bills. I wanted the audience to connect to Josh Rain’s struggle to win the fight against Rousseau so that he wouldn’t get evicted from his home. I created a montage of Josh training to show how he kept struggled to achieve his goal through Thick and Thin. I tried to incorporate smoke into the scenes because I thought that it made the lighting look less harsh and in post-production, I made the smoke look blue and the actors skin tone more orange to bring out the contrast between the two colours. I chose to use headlights as my creative light source to create the mood after Josh Rains talks to the promoter and drives to the park to let his anger out. I also filmed a small light coming through the building at the boxing ring after Josh Rains wins the fight to show how the light comes bursting through even in the darkest of times. Throughout the film I tried to add as many shadows as I could to add mood and at the end of the film the shadow in the boxing ring shows that Josh Rains was triumphant and is the bigger man because he stuck to his goals. Some of the challenges in making this film included filming during a windstorm that caused a power outage at the Evolve MMA Fitness Boxing Ring, coordinating scriptwriting, actors, filming and editing between working and training for Brock Men’s volleyball, lack of sleep, and having a zero budget (but expenses!). It was great to finish this film within the 72 hours and win the film festival and audience choice award!