Part 7
You are going to read a magazine article about people who make short films. For questions 43 – 52, choose from the options (A – D). The options may be chosen more than once.
Which film-makers …
43. produced a short film at a very busy time in their lives?
44. are realistic about their future together?
45. mention the need to keep on working hard at producing short films?
46. made early career decisions that would lead them towards film-making?
47. gained financial assistance after impressing an organisation in the film world?
48. like variety in their working lives?
49. have benefited from observing professional film-makers at work?
50. were not concerned by the fact that nobody recognised them?
51. suddenly realised the great potential of their film?
52. felt their studies were not providing them with what they wanted?
A short cut to Hollywood
We meet the most successful young makers of short films in Britain. These short films usually last no more than ten minutes and are often shown before the main films in cinemas.
A Kevin Teller and Justin O’Brien
Anyone who saw Together, the surprise arthouse hit, will have been as charmed by Jumping Gerald, the short film which ran before it, as they were by the main feature film itself. Yet Gerald’s creators faced financial difficulties from the start, and the final version wasn’t even finished until the eve of its first screening. As they sat in the cinema watching it for the first time, it dawned on Teller and O’Brien just what they had achieved. ‘The way people were laughing,’ Teller remembers, ‘we knew we were on to a good thing.’ Jumping Gerald was nominated for Best Short Film at the British Film Festival; although it missed out on the award, it was thought by many to have deserved it. The two men are presently involved in their second production. ‘We make a good team,’ Teller says, ‘and we’ll continue to work as one. Unless, of course, one of us gets an offer he can’t refuse.’
B The Collins brothers
Tim and Mark Collins first fell in love with the art of film-making when they were young boys. Their father was often abroad on business, and his two sons would send him video diaries to inform him of the goings-on at home. Several years later, their first short film was lucky ever to get made. At the time, Tim was writing a novel between takes, and Mark was preparing to get married. Oh Josephine! was made with a cast of hundreds for just £500, but it went on to win several video awards nevertheless. The film really began to get the brothers noticed, and several others followed, all exceptionally well received. The brothers now feel ready to move into full-length feature films, and are busy writing a screenplay. The only disadvantage of having had such a perfect start to their careers is the weight of expectations: they have to keep coming up with the goods.
C Brian Radley and Nicky Tomlinson
Radley and Tomlinson’s very first short film More Cake Please was nominated for a prestigious award at the Cannes Film Festival. Tomlinson says, ‘We couldn’t believe it when we found ourselves on a red carpet at Cannes. Noone knew who on earth we were, but that couldn’t have mattered less.’ Although More Cake Please didn’t win, Radley and Tomlinson were sufficiently encouraged by the nominations to enter the film into Channel Four’s short film competition at the British Film Festival. To their surprise it won, and their film-making career began to look even better with Channel Four’s promise to fund their next project. The duo had chosen university courses – in media and drama – with a film-making future in mind but, disenchanted with the theoretical rather than practical experience of the industry that was provided, both men left university before completing their courses and went to work for production companies in London. They place enormous value on the hands-on experience that their work on film sets provided them with. ‘We’ve seen so many directors get it wrong, that we kind of know how to get it right,’ says Radley.
D Hiroko Katsue and Mica Stevlovsky
Katsue and Stevlovsky speak fondly of the days when every feature film at the cinema was preceded by a short film. Katsue and Stevlovsky’s short film-making debut, The Big One, was rather unusual, as it became the cinema advertisement for Big Issue magazine. It won award after award. ‘Winning a festival is great in that it raises your profile, but it doesn’t mean you can rest on your laurels,’ says Stevlovsky. ‘Right, you can’t just expect things to happen for you,’ echoes Katsue. ‘You could spend years going around festivals with the same old film, but we’re not into that. We’re always looking for different sorts of projects, never standing still. Even when we’re lying on a beach on holiday, we both have ideas churning around in our heads.’
For this task: Answers with explanations :: Vocabulary