What in case your telephone did not simply distract you? What if it posed a supernatural hazard to you?
The brief Do not Ignore Me, a horror challenge, explores a haunting by way of social media.
The movie follows Sofia, whose harmless scrolling takes a sinister flip when an app begins sending her ominous messages.
Director Charli Fletcher made it when she was simply 14 years outdated, capturing fully on an iPhone.
Fletcher’s movie swept the 2024 Worldwide SmartFone Flick Fest, taking dwelling 5 awards, together with Finest Movie, Finest Screenplay, and Finest Enhancing. She went on to win Finest Quick Movie on the Inside West Movie Fest.
Fletcher and her producer, Raymond Mendez, checked in with No Movie College to share their secrets and techniques behind the movie and provide classes for different filmmakers seeking to shoot one thing on a low finances, regardless of the age.
Why Horror? Why Social Media?
Fletcher did not stumble into the horror style. She’s been making scary content material since childhood, creating brief clips along with her sister and pals.
“I’ve all the time beloved J-horror as a result of it lets you discover actual feelings in excessive methods,” Fletcher mentioned. “Concern makes individuals sincere. It strips the whole lot again to who they are surely.”
The choice to set a ghost story inside social media got here from observing how telephones have grow to be a metaphysical house the place many individuals spend most of their days. It may be optimistic or unfavourable. Fletcher wished to mine that duality.
“I wished to discover how our telephones can really feel each comforting and haunting,” Fletcher mentioned. “Most of us spend a lot time on-line that we overlook how a lot management it has over our feelings. I assumed it might be fascinating to flip that concept and ask, what in case your telephone did not simply distract you, however truly took over?”
Balancing Supernatural Scares with Emotional Actuality
The most important problem Fletcher confronted was within the tone.
She wanted the viewers to care about Sofia’s loneliness earlier than introducing something supernatural.
“The most important problem was balancing the supernatural aspect of the story with the emotional actuality,” Fletcher mentioned. “I did not need the movie to simply depend on jumpscares or results, I wished the viewers to care concerning the character’s loneliness first.”
Working with restricted time and sources meant each shot needed to serve the story.
Mendez noticed this constraint as one of many manufacturing’s strengths. From his perspective, impartial filmmaking all the time requires problem-solving, however Fletcher’s age introduced contemporary instincts unencumbered by business formulation.
“Impartial filmmaking all the time brings inventive downside fixing, and this was no exception,” Mendez mentioned. “We had restricted sources, so each division needed to suppose good and transfer quick. Time was one of many largest challenges, balancing a professional-level manufacturing inside a youth-led setting.”
The crew’s range grew to become an asset. The largely feminine, multicultural group included neurodivergent artists, and every individual introduced cultural and private views that formed the movie’s appear and feel. They did not have Hollywood sources, however they’d ardour, and in response to Mendez, that exhibits on display.
Do not Ignore Me
What She Realized Directing Actors
For a first-time director barely in highschool, working with actors may have been intimidating. Fletcher approached it by prioritizing relationships and communication over management.
“I wished the performances to really feel pure, just like the characters may exist outdoors the display,” Fletcher mentioned. “Earlier than filming, I spent a variety of time with the actors speaking about who their characters have been and what they have been feeling in every second. We constructed belief early, which made it simpler for them to be susceptible.”
The manufacturing additionally shot a pre-viz animatic beforehand to visualise how photographs would edit collectively and what the ultimate product would seem like. This planning software helped everybody perceive the movie’s rhythm, a wise technique for a micro-budget manufacturing the place reshoots aren’t an choice.
Fletcher discovered one vital talent on the shoot, she mentioned.
“I discovered that listening is without doubt one of the most vital components of directing,” Fletcher mentioned. “My solid and crew got here from various backgrounds, and their completely different views helped form the story in methods I could not have imagined alone. It taught me that good directing is not about management, it is about connection.”
The Quick’s iPhone Manufacturing
Do not Ignore Me was shot fully on an iPhone 14 Professional Max utilizing the BlackMagic Digicam App—paradoxically, the identical telephone Fletcher acquired as her First Nations Award winner on the earlier 12 months’s SmartFone Flick Fest.
The movie was edited and shade graded in DaVinci Resolve, Blackmagic’s free post-production suite.
Fletcher and her AD targeted on temper by way of framing and pure mild. They experimented with handheld photographs to seize the unease that comes from dwelling by way of a display, making the viewers really feel the protagonist’s digital vertigo.
“The picture high quality gave us a cinematic look whereas protecting the setup small and versatile, which was excellent for a brief movie,” Fletcher mentioned. “I wished the visuals to really feel sharp however intimate, so the lighting decisions targeted on temper relatively than spectacle.”
Even with minimal finances, the group aimed for polish by way of good selections about composition and lighting relatively than costly gear.
Do not Ignore Me
What Younger Perspective Brings to Horror
Mendez, who has produced a number of initiatives, sees Fletcher’s youth as a bonus. She would not imitate what’s been completed earlier than.
“Charli brings reality,” Mendez mentioned. “She’s unfiltered in one of the simplest ways; she would not imitate what’s been completed earlier than, she builds from intuition. That is highly effective in horror as a result of the style relies on emotional honesty.”
Fletcher’s age provides her a singular understanding of how know-how shapes identification and connection, including depth to a narrative about digital habit.
“At 16, she’s grown up with social media always in her every day life, so her tackle digital habit feels lived in, not theoretical,” Mendez mentioned. “The movie makes use of horror to discover loneliness and obsession in a approach that feels present however emotional. It is uncommon to see that sort of honesty in a style piece, particularly from a voice so younger.”
Recommendation for Aspiring Producers and Filmmakers
Mendez’s recommendation for producers desirous to champion rising voices is to guard their imaginative and prescient and never attempt to “repair” it an excessive amount of.
“Be affected person, but in addition be daring,” Mendez mentioned. “Younger filmmakers usually have one thing to say that is uncomfortable or unconventional, and that is the place one of the best tales reside. Your job as a producer is not to shine their voice, it is to guard it.”
Style filmmaking supplies a great playground for younger voices as a result of it lets them discover massive concepts by way of heightened emotion. Mendez additionally mentioned constructing crews that mirror the world round you is vital.
“Watching a younger Indigenous filmmaker lead a multicultural, largely feminine group with such readability and drive was inspiring,” Mendez mentioned. “It proved that expertise doesn’t rely on age or sources; it relies on imaginative and prescient and collaboration.”
Fletcher agreed.
“I am actually pleased with the group behind this movie,” Fletcher mentioned. “We had a multicultural crew that was largely feminine and included Indigenous and neurodivergent artists who every introduced one thing particular to the challenge.”
Fletcher hopes her movie evokes different younger filmmakers to inform their tales no matter sources.
“I hope it evokes different younger filmmakers to inform their tales too, even when they’ve restricted sources,” Fletcher mentioned. “All you want is a robust concept, a supportive group, and the braveness to make one thing sincere.”
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