I’ve had a passion for film ever since it was forced upon me when I was fourteen years old. I had always admired film up until that age but never in an adoring way. When I was fourteen, I had to choose subjects to continue to study at school. I did not get my first choice, or my second choice – but I did get my third and final choice. Sadly, I didn’t want to do it, but I had nothing else so I became a Media student. Little did I know, this was the birth of a career path for me.
“I owe a lot to MoMo Film Festival, more than MoMo can ever know.” ~ Adam Ray Palmer
I fell in love with film and TV; so much so that I went on to study them at university. Once I graduated, I moved to London to pursue a career in the industry and I had an incredible time. I met people from Sandra Bullock to Daniel Radcliffe. I made programs like a comedy chat show and a BAFTA award-winning David Attenborough show. I loved this life.
Then early January 2015, while having a break from the manic London life back home in the Midlands, United Kingdom – a twitter user followed me. This twitter user was @MoMoFilmFest. I check out every follower who chooses to take interest in my twitter profile so I had a look at a few tweets and then the website. I was instantly impressed with what MoMo were trying to achieve. The motto #ThinkBigStartSmall stuck with me from the very start and I completely got behind that statement.
I read about their ideas and about the first festival this year and it really interested me in regards to using nothing but a phone or a tablet to film on. I looked at the submission page and I knew I wanted to be a part of this first and potentially revolutionary festival. I truly believe this festival will go on to great things, so to be involved in the first ever one would be an honourable thing. Using nothing but a mobile phone to film on sounds so simple, but it proved a lot more difficult when you have bigger ideas than a phone can cope with.
Working with animals is a famous ‘Don’t do’ but I wanted to test myself…
My short film idea came about when I was talking to my partner about submitting a potential entrant to this festival. I wanted to be original and creative else I didn’t want to enter. I decided I would have two dogs star in my film for originality and have over 700 photos mixed in with video clips for creativeness.
Working with animals is a famous ‘Don’t do’ but I wanted to test myself… and also because I didn’t believe it – I do now. Dogs are honest and unreliable, if they wanted a lie down – they had one! In the end after the best part of a day, I had shot all the clips I wanted to do. Once this stage was over, I felt immediately relived as I felt a large chunk of the journey was complete.
Although, this wasn’t the start of it! I was worrying because I only started my project two weeks before the deadline. Time was against me.
Following the filming, I started the editing process. This was incredibly rewarding and at times tedious too. I loved putting my film together then clicking ‘play’ every few minutes to watch it run. However, when it came to editing the 700 photos; it took me around six hours to get them to a clearer quality. This was the tedious part. Although, once complete and in order, I was actually in awe of what I had created.
I love dogs and I wanted to humanise them so people could potentially see that animals are like us too.
The last forty-five seconds or so of my film is all pictures edited together. I believe there are around 400 photos edited together to create a video montage going back in time. It is my favourite part of the film and exactly what I aimed to do in my script. This may have been my favourite part of the film, but it certainly wasn’t my proudest moment of my MoMo Film Festival journey.
That moment came when I started to show the film to a few family members and friends. My partner, my mother and my partner’s mother all shed tears as they watched my short. In addition, a colleague at my partner’s father’s work also cried whilst watching it – and she didn’t even know me or the actual dogs! These elements made me very proud of my work as it must have been connectible and that is what I wanted. I love dogs and I wanted to humanise them so people could potentially see that animals are like us too. So once I heard about people liking it, it had all been worthwhile.
If I was to do this process again there are a few things I would do differently. Firstly, always use a tripod. I used a tripod only near the end of the film because I wanted to give the first half of the feature a ‘rugged feel’ like we are running around with the main dog. In the end, it just made it more difficult to edit as I had to cut some bits out. Secondly, I would get the soundtrack or music you want in the film all licensed and ready to go beforehand – you don’t want a big rush. Finally, perhaps stick to humans as the actors. I’m only saying this because they understand you better of course. I wouldn’t change my film or the dogs for anything, I am happy I did this but I wouldn’t rush back to make another animal-based film.
Whether my film is chosen to be screened or not, whether it wins anything or not – they are incredible bonuses to me.
I owe a lot to MoMo Film Festival, more than MoMo can ever know. I learned a lot about myself and my career whilst taking part in this process. It made me reignite my passion in film after at times feeling not good enough to be in the industry. It also helped me find out what kind of filmmaker I would be. In fact, this festival has made me start my own production company and I am ready to shoot my next film as I write this.
Whether my film is chosen to be screened or not, whether it wins anything or not – they are incredible bonuses to me. MoMo has made me open my eyes more about film and myself so I am already a winner I believe. If it was to be chosen, it would complete this process for me and be an honour to take part in the first ever Mobile Motion Film Festival. How good that would be to say you were there at the very start of this project, because one day, this festival will certainly always #ThinkBig but it certainly won’t stay #Small.
Adam Ray Palmer
Watch his film here: Me & My Shadow
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