In-between making my first webseries, "Night is Day", which was about a superhero vigilante in the mean streets of Glasgow (think Taggart meets Angel), I made a handful of short films between 2007 and 2010.
The first is "Two and a Half Minutes" (I liked obscure titles...) a gritty black and white thriller about a man up for promotion against a potential rival, only to find out his wife and daughter have been taken hostage and he has a few hours to take out his competition or he'll never see them again.
I got to work with Colin McCredie, best known for his role in Taggart and Wooly and Tig. I was fortunate to work with Colin on "Night is Day" when he had a cameo as a criminal stopped in his tracks by our superhero.
Colin kindly invited me to the set of Taggart when they were filming at Stirling University. I ended up talking to the main cast throughout the day, but spending a wee half an hour with Colin and Alex Norton was the highlight. Learning all about the show, how it was shot and produced, it was an eye opening experience, one that I took with me onto future projects.
The next is "Hush"...
"Hush" had been in my head for years before I finally got round to shooting it. I got to work with Anna Walseth again, who had played Caitlyn in "Night is Day" a year or so before. I also got to bring in my favourite actor, Karen Bartke, best known as Officer Karen in "Scot Squad".
A fun little spy thriller, with no lines of dialogue whatsoever. We shot it over a day in Glasgow and my lasting memory is decorating my flat to look like Christmas time... in Summer. Ah, the magic of film.
This is one of my favourites so I hope you enjoy it.
Next up is "I Heart You"
A bit of a struggle making the film. The actress we hired from the auditions didn't show up on the day of filming and so the makeup artist kindly agreed to step in. Then after the first day of filming she said she didn't want any of her footage to be used... so in the bin it went!
A few months later we came back to it and filmed all the scenes with the lead character's ex-girlfriend in it.
I also wrote the role of the best friend for a then-long-time-collaborator; but he said he didn't see himself in that type of role. So I contacted one of the spies from "Hush" and he kindly accepted the role.
I was also going through a breakup at the time so my emotions were all over the place. I still think it's a nice, sweet little film but I can see what I was going through in my own life when I re-watch it, which I think is interesting.
I also have the briefest of cameos as a pair of legs and a hand that puts beer on the table in the bar!
And finally, "No Distractions"
My first entry into the Virgin Media Short competitions (a good few years later we'd end up shooting 3 over 4 days!) back in 2010 just before I shot my feature film version of "Night is Day". Kenny Boyle and Clare Sheppard (of "Lost at Christmas" fame!) play feuding neighbours in this 3 minute flick.
Filmed in just a few hours, using the same door to the flat for two different flats (magic of film!) and an actor who didn't watch football pretending to enjoy the sport (acting!) this has a special wee place in my heart.
And that's it - 4 short films for you to enjoy on Christmas Eve.
Maybe I'll make a Christmas short film next year, I've not tried that yet!