Category: Sketch

Why I Never Started Smoking

Inspired by a true story.

Very loosely inspired. That is to say, I never fought the undead in a graveyard, but someone did threaten to injure me if I ever started smoking, due to all the grief I gave them about their smoking when I was a teenager.

Concluding my trilogy of garage-based green screen projects, this is my second lockdown production, as well as my second attempt to make this short. I shot and edited the short in it’s entirety, then decided I wasn’t happy with it. So I reshot it, with better makeup and wardrobe choices, as well as tweaks to the lighting, compositing and colour grading.

Here’s a look at that process:

This is the second project I’ve completed using Hitfilm Pro for all post-production.

Shot on my Canon 77d, with the Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens & Canon EFS 24mm f/2.8 pancake lens.

The Film Noir Detective Agency

An advert for a detective agency from a typical Film Noir. All tropes and fedoras are part of the deal. Short comedy.

Official Selection for The L.A. Neo Noir Novel, Film & Script Online Festival 2020.

So there I was, sitting around the house on a Thursday night, thinking, “I should make a movie today.” I had two lights, a green screen, an overcoat that used to belong to my grandfather and, of course, a fedora. So why why not shoot a Film Noir? I’ve always loved Film Noir, or at least the idea of Film Noir. Every time I try to write something noir-ish, it ends up leaning in a comedic direction, so I thought I’d go full tilt and poke fun at some staples of the genre. I got to write a 1-minute sketch that somehow managed to fit in two separate cheesy voice overs and I got to deliver both of them.

Conceived, shot, edited and uploaded within the span of 20 hours.

The second short filmed with my Canon 77D, exclusively using the 40mm pancake lens.

The Paper Trail

Bank robbers who don’t read their emails.

This sketch was conceived one afternoon and shot the next day during a lunch break. For something that took 40 minutes to shoot, I think it turned out pretty well.

Starring Terence Mentor and Leanne Phillipson. Shot on my Canon 600D, with Rode Video Mic and available lighting.

Scan-To-Scan Combat

This is a comedy sketch I wrote and directed for a very short-lived internet comedy troop, “My Lunch Break”.

Shot in three hours, with half the amount of desks the script required, this little film was a fun exercise in figuring out “How can I make my lounge look like an office?”

Shot on my Canon 600D, with a rode videomic, cheap plastic tripod and DIY lighting kit.

Fun Fact: The office memos stuck on the walls and the cupboards are the lyrics to Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”