There are obviously no fixed rules for a 90 second short. If there were, they'd sound like a silly Nike commercial. Most important is to have something to say, then to think about how to say it (this is where constraints come in handy), and finally to surround yourself with a team of people who believe in the project enough to stick with it to the end.
When I found myself having to come up with an idea that could be delivered within a few seconds, the non-fat coffee on the run franchise phenomenon sprang to mind immediately. The idea came to me after two years of working in a one-man coffee booth in Victoria station in London to support my studies. ‘Non-Fat’ came from the gut.
At first, I wanted to give all of the small budget to a couple of brave souls that would be willing to be filmed while throwing a car engine through the front window of a Starbucks café in the middle of town and run. Just for the heck of it. Then I came back to earth, and returned to Victoria Station armed with a camera. I interviewed a number of commuters, asking them what they thought of people who order cappuccinos with non-fat milk, no sugar, sweeteners, and no chocolate. I did this in the hope to find answers that would prove I was on the right track with the film. The answers were varied, some of them hilarious, and the footage I came home with unfortunately motivated me to go ahead with the awful demented short.
Winning the jury prize at DepicT! was both great and unexpected. The win led to distribution deals with Interfilm Berlin and Dazzle UK, and both Canal+ and Studio Universal bought the rights to broadcast my horrible short. Non-Fat then received funds from the British Council to finance a 35mm print and was screened at the Curzon Soho Cinema in London for two weeks alongside the feature Old Boy. It was short-listed for a number of film festivals worldwide, won the audience award at Clermont Ferrand, and was released as part of the Experience[s] 01 DVD distributed by Reperages in France. Since last November I've been working for Lloyd Newson as a Video Artist on DV8 Physical Theatre's new stage Production ‘Just for Show’ that is now touring, and have worked as a film story-boardist on DV8's new film ‘The Cost of Living’, commissioned by Channel Four. After a brief spell in Rome where I directed a commercial for the Ministry of Transport, I'm now back in London developing the script for a new short that, hopefully, will be longer than thirty seconds.
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