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We are delighted to announce that the June 2021 winner of our Film of the Month competition is When the Sunset Fades, from filmmaker Daniel in London - see the winning film above!
When the Sunset Fades (engaging for 11+) sees a teenager scrolling through his phone and suddenly being struck by a surreal but overwhelming need to get more out of life.
A very creative and engaging film exploring the impact of social media and the internet.
Film of the Month judge on 'When the Sunset Fades'
We got in touch with Daniel to find out more about his film.
Because of lockdown and the affects of COVID-19, many people including myself became unmotivated and so relied on phones and technology for entertainment, or just a time passer. So I thought I could make a film to re-motivate people, as well as to keep myself productive.
Most of the production was done at home, by myself, because I couldn't have anyone over; some shots would take 30 minutes to an hour to get the perfect result I wanted. My tripod helped me a lot, as well as the Wi-Fi setting on my camera, which let me see the display through my phone. I definitely felt like giving up at some points, but I got through it eventually.
I take this question as a pretty good compliment, because the "archive footage" is actually of my brother, which I filmed a couple months ago, with overlays and effects that I used to make the footage seem old.
This film isn't telling the audience that "technology is bad", or to "get off your phone right now, you're lazy!". I think there are more pros to cons in development in tech, but sometimes we are so blinded by dopamine and short term entertainment that we forget our surroundings.
This short is just a reminder that opportunities come from actions, and what you give comes back around. Whether you take the chance or not is your free will.
I think film - as well as all sorts of means of expression - is a pretty good way of keeping you active and fulfilled, but I don't think that being online is a bad thing. Recent generations are probably smarter and more knowledgeable about the world because of being online. My film is being shown online, and maybe people are taking something from it.
However, when people eat their life away by doing pointless things on their phone, that they wont remember in a week, that's a bit sad.
Everything you see and do takes part in influencing a piece of work you make, so the greenish colour palette during the house scenes was influenced by Parasite, while the story was influenced by lockdown. Although most of the film is somewhat original.
I'm still not sure exactly what kind of short I'll be making next, but knowing myself it'll probably be some deep topic about *life* and hopefully I can learn from the flaws in this film and create something better.
I don't think I'm qualified enough to be giving out tips, but...
Don't procrastinate about making a short. Even if it's horrible, you probably would have learned from it, and experience is more important than the result, especially for a first film.
The first step to making the audience enjoy the film is to create a character that the audience can sympathise with. Don't make the protagonist boring, and maybe add a little internal conflict.
Of course the content in a film is much more important than its looks, but if it doesn't look good, then people aren't going to take you as seriously - drop a nice colour grade and you're of to a good start.
Daniel's film will now be showcased to over 300,000 film club members online and all of our Film of the Month films are now on the Into Film YouTube channel, and he has also secured a £100 Amazon voucher to help further develop his future films. Think you could win Film of the Month? Find out more about how you can enter our ongoing Film of the Month competition.
If you've been inspired by When the Sunset Fades then make sure to check out the following films:
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