'A Forest Film' (Short film, 2015)

The Forest Film stemmed from an idea to create a short, somewhat abstract, atmospheric film in a week, about a character becoming lost in a byzantine forest that came to embody their personal dissociation with the world outside it. The loose plot was derived from a fairly minimal script (leaving room for alterations and tangents) and was intended to eventually feature both heavy rainfall and fire. These elemental motifs were never filmed, though, and the improvisational production ended up being spun out across four seasons; we thought that these seasonal shifts could chart the character's arc, instead.

Over the course of a year, which included multiple production hiatuses, we shot a lot of experimental footage and various rough cuts were pulled together. We'd always intended that the footage be accompanied by some much-needed bespoke audio comprising both ambience and music to create/support the atmosphere required for each scene, but we hadn't yet produced anything on that front. Interrupting an already frequently punctuated production, we each moved away to separate universities and, by that point, felt pretty disconnected from the original inspirations for the project. After a few years, we still haven't returned to it, agreeing that we likely won't ever finish the film. This most recent cut is a messy workprint that would require some polishing (and lacks a 'hook'), but it largely represents the kind of character trajectory we had in mind and would have probably been used as the basis for a soundtrack if we were to ever produce one.

Shot 2013-4; edited...sometimes.