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DramaComedyDocumentaryAnimationExperimentalMusic
The Amazing Trousers
William Felix Clark
comedy | 2007 | London | sec |
Published 02 Nov 07
Terror comes tailor made!
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filmmaker's notes

What is your name? What was your role on this short?

Director.

What was the inspiration for your short and what ideas were you exploring?

The central idea for The Amazing Trousers was to be a parody on morality tales, such as Dr Faustus and Hans Christian Andersen's The Red Shoes , but with the twist of having the central character flippantly disregarding everything they have learned.


Where did you find your cast and crew?

On sending the script out to the agents of our preferred actors, we were very lucky to secure the talents of Kris Marshall, Alice Eve and David Bamber. This was of a great relief to me, as I knew the parts would require a considerable amount of expertise and comic timing to pull off. The cast were also kind enough to give me an afternoon's rehearsal, which proved invaluable considering we had only two days to shoot an eleven and a half minute period drama! This was all the time I could afford.


For visual reference, I looked at Terence Fisher's early Hammer Horror Dracula movies, Dracula and Dracula: Prince of Darkness as well as Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's Noseratu. I also wanted to make reference to Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes with the trousers.


The location colour palettes, as well as the costumes, were intentionally dulled down to browns, blacks and grays, to give a feeling of drabness. This was done for the purpose of giving the trousers a dazzling visual impact, whenever they appear on screen.


Shot on HD for the purpose of speed and cost, the film went through a lengthy grading process to acquire the 'Technicolor' look but without appearing cheap. The whole film was also shot on handheld. This decision was half for the look, which I felt gave the film an uneasy tension, and the other was, again, for speed. Only having a short amount of time, I felt it was more important to concentrate completely on character rather then spend my time orchestrating impressive camera moves. By shooting this way, I had more time to try out new ideas with the actors and make sure everything in the frame was a good as I and the art director's could achieve on our shoestring budget.


What was the biggest challenge in making your short?

Our limited finance restricted us to shooting on locations, as sets were out of the question. We were lucky enough to find two ideal locations; both in London. We were also fortunate that the owners were very accommodating and understanding of the fact that we were shooting a low budget Short.

Any further comments or information about your short?

I was blessed with a crew of professionals, as well as some fantastic post-production people, who all gave up their very sparse free time to help me produce this small movie and for that I sincerely thank them.
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