Director and Editor Darren S Cook

Darren S Cook is the founder of Scruffy Bear Pictures and has had vast experience in editing, directing and much more. Originally he worked in graphic design for CD and DVD cases but wished to learn more about what and how film and music was put onto these CDs and DVDs. He worked his way up by becoming a runner on set then slowly working his way up through cinematography, production, and then finally becoming his own director. What I didn't realise is that the director themselves don't do much apart from telling people what they want filmed and how they want it to look. It's the production crew who then have to make this idea a reality but adjusting lighting, camera angles, colour correction for the cameras etc.

 

He then went on to show us some of his own short films and short films he has worked on which included 'Wisdom', 'Three' and 'Little Angles'. He spoke about how not all short films need a budget and that he has worked on many short films that have had no budget at all. The camera I have been currently been using for filming my short film was used for filming 'Wisdom' and proves that you don't need expensive cameras to create a good looking short film. Another thing I learnt was that good sound is crucial. If the footage looks good, that's brilliant! But if the sound is poor or you can't understand what they are saying your mind distorts the image making it appear a poorer quality than it actually is, which could mean the difference between an investment from a company or nothing at all.

My favourite short film of his is 'Wisdom' due to the fact of the unusual story line and use of camera angles and hit of humour. The main woman within this short film owes a debt to the 'tooth fairy' and is reminded that she has nothing in life, everyone and everything running away from her. The spliced humour and horror in this makes it a brilliant short film. The humour was also written well, which will always remind me, that the genre I write about must be written well, and to only have actors speaking if they can act, otherwise it can make my short film look unprofessional.
 

Next he told us about tips and tricks with cameras. He told us that a brilliant short film can even be made with the camera on your iPhone or tablet and that there are many applications that are free that can help with the production of your short film. For example, Darren uses an app on his phone which tells you where the sun will be during the day, this can tell you where the shadows will fall and whether you will need extra lighting for the time of day you want to film. Another is Celtx which helps you create and plot out a storyboard and add images to get a clear idea of what you want for your short film. A trick he told us for smooth panning is instead of using a track, which is what people use on set to move a camera with gliding movements, use a penny board or skate board along with a piece of material or something to keep the ground smooth and flat.

All of this will aid any more filming I will need to do and is invaluable to my work. I will take what he told us and use it throughout my work from editing to camera work.