INTERVIEW with Patrick Rooney
Can you explain to the audience your career?
I started my freelance filmmaking career in 2018, working under the title of Dear Friend Films where I began to work on a number of different projects all on a similar scale. This has gradually built up more over time, allowing me to create more ambitious projects in recent years and travelling internationally for film work.
How many years have you been making movies?
I have been making my own films for the past 10 years, starting with student/art films for around 4 or 5 years, then moving into my freelance filmmaking work and onto a sponsored feature length documentary in 2019. Now I am continuing my freelance work, whilst also working on new ideas such as my micro-budget experimental short thriller film ‘Done For’.
Why did you start making movies?
I have always loved movies and loved learning about how films were made from a very young age. It was just something I felt that I had to try and as soon as I picked up a camera, I couldn’t stop. It is such a unique artistic medium and it has the power to engage people, telling stories and transporting you to new worlds like nothing else can.
Tell us a little about your project. What will the audience be able to see in your film?
My film ‘Done For’ is a micro-budget short horror/thriller, made with a small cast of underrepresented talent from the local area surrounding the small town of Blairgowrie, Scotland. It tells the story of Georgia who returns to her home town to visit friends after her relationship ends, only to be forced to immediately leave the town after a local power plant explodes, infecting the towns population and threatening their lives. It was filmed over the course of 5 days during lockdown restrictions with most of the dialogue being completely improvised by the small cast and crew.
Why did you do this project?
This project came out of desperation to make something during the pandemic - particularly something different than what I had made before and that tested my abilities as a filmmaker.
One of the problems some directors encounter is directing actors and dealing with some actors, especially in the amateur world. How do you see this topic? What kind of work do you do with them?
Although the actors I had worked hadn’t had a lot of previous experience in front of the camera, they were all so professional and came across very naturally.
A good movie takes care of all departments. But normally we can not allocate all the resources to have a good photography or spend a lot of money on sound post production or budget to hire actors. In your project what % have you allocated to. I don't just mean money but time as well. Of 100% of the time/money, what % did you dedicate to each department?
Our film had a budget of approximately £4000 and was spent on paying the actors a day rate so that they could take time off work during lockdown restrictions, a sound recordist for half the shooting schedule and renting accommodation/filming locations. I directed, filmed, edited and created the VFX for the film myself.
-Direction: 10%
-Photography: 5%
-Sound: 15%
-Postproduction: 10%
-Work with actors: 50%
-Art direction/locations: 10%
If you could go back, what would you change about this project? (1 thing only)
I would change the script slightly to add in a little more exposition dialogue at some key moments later in the film.
What are you happiest about this project?
I am proud that we managed to make something that isn’t terrible! I think that it could easily have been a complete mess but we all worked together well and made something that I’m really pleased with, something that is quite unique or different from what people might expect a short film made by a group of local filmmakers to be like.
Make a wish to the movie gods. What do you ask?
I wish that my next attempt to further my filmmaking abilities and create a more ambitious project like this just gets to happen soon!
What movie would you have liked to direct?
Anything in the Star Wars universe would be my dream.
What kind of cinema do you like? Genre, directors, actors?
I love all types of cinema, particularly sci-fi, horror/thriller, action/adventure, documentary, and especially films directed by Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Greta Gerwig, Gareth Edwards, Zack Snyder, Robert Rodriguez, and NWR.
Imagine that all the movies are going to be lost. If you could save 3 movies, what would they be?
The three films I would save would be Drive, Little Women and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
If you have more projects underway, can you give us a bit of information?
I have a number of films I’d love to make, particularly feature length projects that are fictional/scripted. However, I feel I need to make a couple more short films first.