Congratulations to Jad Jacob for sharing his film It's Not What It Looks Like with the Rod Serling Film Festival. His film received the award for Best Fiction/Story for 2017.
What is your film about? It's Not What It Looks Like is a one-shot comedic short film detailing the adolescent antics of Steve and Clara, a couple whose attempt at a breakup takes a quick and escalating series of turns for the worst.
How did you come up with the idea for your film? I wanted to challenge myself my making a short film that was all done in one shot. I've had a lot of experience in theater and so wanted to stage the film and rehearse it as if it were a staged show, and then add in camera movements and make it a movie.
Talk about your approach to the story and the technical elements you used. I liked the idea of constantly building on elements of absurdity, especially with new and contrasting characters being introduced throughout the film. I filmed rehearsals with my iPhone to get a feel for the way the camera would be moving, and then used a shoulder rig to smoothly glide the camera across the scene when it came to actually shooting the film.
Thank you for sharing your film with WSKG! How did you hear about the Festival? I heard about the festival from my high school film teacher.
Which part of this filmmaking experience did you enjoy most? I loved being able to block everything, including moving around the camera as if it was a person. I love long takes, so to be able to do a film all in one take, plug it into Premiere, and export it with very little editing was a very satisfying experience.
Anything else you'd like to share? Thank you for recognizing my film in your festival!!
https://youtu.be/nH2kFaL3fUoThe 2017 Rod Serling Film Festival will be held at the Art Mission and Theater on Sunday, October 8, 2017 at 3pm, in partnership with Binghamton Film Weekend.