Short Films That Kill It - Whistler Writers Festival

by Rebecca Wood Barrett

I caught up with three Whistler filmmakers who are die-hard World Ski and Snowboard Festival 72 Filmmaker Showdown competitors, to hear about their fledgling mistakes, and their award-winning flights.

Angie Nolan has competed in the Showdown nine times. She’s a two time Finalist and Winner of the People’s Choice Award for “Adventures in Loonie Land.” This year her short film “The Twisted Slipper” played at the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner.

Filmmakers and actors Angie Nolan and Katie Schaitel on the set of the quintessentially Canadian “Adventures in Loonie Land.”

1. What “fledgling” mistake did you make in one of your early scriptwriting efforts for the showdown? Were you able to fix it in the final film?

I think on some level I’ve always overwritten my scripts for the length of time allotted. What can I say, I like epics, ha ha! After the first few frustrating times in the editing process I learned to streamline things a bit more. It took a few tries before getting into the finals because of this. Thinking that we needed to shoot everything that was on the page (sometimes 7-9 pages) proved to be way too much to piece together and still make sense for a 5 minute film.

2. Now that you’re a seasoned flier in the Showdown, what story advice would you give to a filmmaker who’s starting out?

Using visuals to tell the story instead of dialogue when possible has helped me tell the story better and will help anyone become a stronger filmmaker.

Jonny Fleet is a six-time Finalist of the Showdown, three-time People’s Choice Winner, and Best in Show Winner with films “The Staff: A Ski-Bum Musical” and “Poached Earth.”

Jonny Fleet demonstrating the proper use of a ski pole, with actors on the set of “The War of 1910 and/or 1924.”

1. What “fledgling” mistake did you make in one of your early scriptwriting efforts for the showdown? Were you able to fix it in the final film?

In Poached Earth, in the script we originally had the characters pretending they were animals, as it was supposed to be like a nature doc. This involved them making animal noises too. We shot one scene, and immediately realized how crappy and weird that would have been.

2. Now that you’re a seasoned flier in the Showdown, what story advice would you give to a filmmaker who’s starting out?

5 Minutes isn’t a lot of time to develop a big deep story with characters and back stories. Keep it simple, effective, and entertaining. Take the audience for a ride. Roller coasters are 5 minutes aren’t they? Doesn’t hurt to change the game too and do something that has never been done either. Easier said than done of course.

Lisa Fernandez is a ten-time competitor in the 72 Hr. Filmmaker Showdown, a five-time Finalist, and Winner of the People’s Choice Award with short film “Rush.”

From left to right, cinematographer and actor Michael Bruno, filmmaker Lisa Fernandez, and actor Fish Boulton, shooting “It’s How U Spin It.”

1. What “fledgling” mistake did you make in one of your early scriptwriting efforts for the showdown? Were you able to fix it in the final film?

Having watched numerous Hollywood films over the years I’ve often thought…that is so obvious! How stupid do they think we are? Well the flip side is trying to be so clever that everyone misses the plot entirely. And in a short film where every second counts and one line of dialogue can get lost by audience laughter, or audio that is less than crystal clear, this is a big problem. It’s really hard to recover from that. Screen testing your film to a few people and getting some feedback would be ideal, but as we know in the 72 hour showdown we do not have the luxury of time. It’s a bitter pill to swallow when you realize your mistake cost you getting into the finals, but it’s part of what helps you grow as a filmmaker. We all do some sort of fixing up before we post the films on YouTube later, but there is one of our early films in particular that I will never even post ha ha.

2. Now that you’re a seasoned flier in the Showdown, what story advice would you give to a filmmaker who’s starting out?

Whatever your idea, always remember that the best story grabs our attention early, has some element that the audience will identify with and will make them want to follow. So a good story should go somewhere. The simple notion of a beginning, middle, and end is a valid strategy that usually doesn’t fail if the execution is successful. There are plenty of good ideas, but if they don’t go anywhere the audience will feel less than satisfied and that is not a winning strategy.

Lisa Fernandez, Jonny Fleet and Angie Nolan are on the panel of Short Films that Kill It, moderated by Rebecca Wood Barrett. The event is part of the Whistler Writers Festival, and takes place Saturday Oct. 17 from 2:30 – 4:30pm.