Watch the Short Film Here: http://youtu.be/2ro9-HVFqzI

1. ABOUT
a Short Film from director Tom Stone
Go to Next Slide to Watch the Short Film.

2. WHAT TEARS REMAIN is the result of a
University TV Production assignment.
The brief was to make a 1 minute film (+ or – 5secs)
The film had to focus on one of three words:
HOME, DILEMMA or CONTRAST. I chose DILEMMA.

3. Production of the film
took 5 hours in total:
4 hours to shoot and a
further hour to record
Jessica’s voiceover.

4. Originally filmed at 25 frames per second, the
frame rate was reduced to 18 FPS in post-
production.
This produced a more choppy motion which helped
to emphasise the gritty nature of the scene.

5. The continuous follow shot, when Jessica walks to the
post-box, was carefully choreographed to include a dip
to the floor. This camera movement is not the natural
way to shoot the shot, but was used to create a rotating
motion on the tarmac, in an attempt to emphasise how
Jessica’s world is metaphorically spinning.

6. In order make Harry (real name
Rory) cry on set, his father would
pull his dummy from his mouth.
Although the collective guilt of
filming a crying baby was difficult
to bear, the results were wonderful
and I hope Rory will understand
when he’s old enough to watch the
film.

7. It took 15 takes to get the continuous follow shot, so in order to make
best use of the envelopes Jessica posted, we addressed each one to a
different Bournemouth University student flat with a copy of the script
and a unique code inserted inside.
These letters were used as a marketing tool, with instructions on how to
follow the Facebook & Twitter pages and film credits offered to those who
responded with their code. The response to this was somewhat
underwhelming, with a total of ZERO respondents.

8. In the original edit (and all through planning), the film was backed by
an excerpt from a beautiful song called ‘Cold’ by Jorge Méndez.
Jorge kindly provided permission for me to use his piece and although I
took it out in the final edit, I would like to thank him, both for
inspiration toward the mood of the film and for permission to use his
work. Here is a link to the original song on
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCD0pu29-N0 and on
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/silhouettes/id681363075 as
well as the link to the original film edit: http://youtu.be/1CEefPZKcXc

9. The opening and closing wide shots are
intentionally off-level. The idea was that in
posting the letter, Jessica has had to walk from
right to left on-screen, as well as seemingly
uphill. This creates both a negative movement
(progressing backwards, to English-reading
viewers) and an arduous movement (uphill).

10. The rear-view mirror shot was initially designed to
have the post-box in the background, positioned
between Harry and Jessica. However, in practice this
was difficult to achieve within the tight shooting
schedule, mainly due to the height differences of the
3 subjects.

11. To find a suitable location, I spent a day
cycling to over 50 different post-boxes in and
around my hometown of Bournemouth. The location
needed to be spacious enough to park a car;
quiet enough that vehicle and pedestrian traffic
wouldn’t cause an issue, as well as having the
right aesthetic look.
Believe it or not, this was a difficult task. At
one point, I considered building a prop post-
box, but with minimal budget and timescale, to
achieve a realistic look was unfeasible.

12. When Jessica pulls the letter to Carl from her pocket the
address that reads on the front is that of a mental health
hospital in Poole, Bournemouth’s neighbouring town.
This adds further complexity to the subtext of the story:
Is Carl mentally ill? Does Jessica know this? And will the
letter actually reach him?

13. The title, ‘What Tears Remain’, was taken from
the last line of the script, which reads:
“As the realisation of her actions takes hold;
throat dry and uncomfortable, Jessica swallows
what tears remain.”

14. The child actor, Rory King, is the son
of a good friend of mine: Tom King.
The day before shooting, Tom asked me
to be best man at his wedding.
Tom will be marrying Roxanne later this
year and I am delighted to be in charge
of the stag-do!

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watch the film: http://youtu.be/2ro9-HVFqzI