Today we focus on Ugo Estublier, a 2nd year student at Cinécréatis: he tells us about his experience during the shooting of his short film “À la manière de …Le Silence des agneaux”.
“À la manière de…” is a recurring exercise that enables each year of 2nd year students to put into practice what they have learnt in tutorials, with the aim of producing a sequence as close as possible to the reference film or series.
Ugo Estublier was kind enough to take part in a question and answer session to share with us his experience of shooting his short film “À la manière de …Le Silence des agneaux”.
What was it like working as part of a team?
With the ALMD (editor’s note: “À La Manière De…”) it was our first project under ‘real’ professional conditions: a team of 30 people, a substantial budget, creation of sets…
On the one hand I was apprehensive about working with so many people, but on the other I was really looking forward to trying out new things and seeing how a group can evolve with such a large number of people.
Overall, I was very satisfied with the team as a whole. Each person was able to do his or her job professionally from a personal point of view, but also in accordance with the other heads of post, which on the one hand created a very good atmosphere within our team, but on the other hand also meant that we were able to work efficiently and meet the many expectations of the project.
For my part, working with Quentin, the assistant director, went very well. He was able to keep his cool at crucial moments, not stress the team, and be professional throughout the project. For a project to run smoothly, the director-assistant director relationship has to be top notch, which was the case.
What difficulties did you encounter?
We encountered a lot of difficulties in the prep phase, on the set and in post-production.
The search for funding
First of all, the search for funding to create the set. The decor required a lot of money, for paint, Plexiglas, furniture and accessories. This brought our total budget up to €1000…
Technical challenges
Making Hannibal’s cell believable was a real challenge, as we used polystyrene sheets to create the stone walls, so we had to make sure that we created unity so that we didn’t see the joints between the different sheets.
This was achieved by using plaster between each sheet of polystyrene. Creating a sound ambience corresponding to that of a prison cell was also problematic, and required some real mixing work in post-production.
Colour grading also required a great deal of work to achieve the same colour unity throughout the sequence and to ensure the same greyish atmosphere as in Silence of the Lambs.
What were the joys of the shoot?
The excitement came straight away during the preparation phase, as we had a number of challenges ahead of us that we were looking forward to tackling.
For my part, there were many moments of joy on this project. First of all when we found our 2 actors – Elisa and Richard – and then during the rehearsals when I saw their potential to be exploited for the sequence.
Finalising the set was also a great relief because it was one of our main challenges and it met our expectations perfectly. The shoot was a very pleasant moment, as everything was finally happening. The editing and viewing of the rushes confirmed how well the shoot had gone. In short, we had a great time with the team and the actors.
Why did you choose this sequence?
For a number of reasons. First of all, because this sequence is legendary: the first tense encounter between Hannibal and Clarice is played to perfection and Hopkins’ character manages to make us feel uncomfortable in a very subtle way.
I’m drawn to big challenges and this sequence presented many of them: the acting and the set design mainly.
What’s more, this sequence gave everyone a chance to have fun: there was some interesting machinery work with the use of a Dolly (a camera support on wheels or rails) and a crane.
The same was true of the framing, with several panoramic movements, the lighting, which required considerable installation, and the decoration, in order to create the same cell as the original, and also on my side with the direction of the actors, which required great subtlety in Hannibal’s acting, a professionalism that Clarice was trying hard to maintain, but also an interplay of looks between the two actors in order to create that tension and that feeling of unease.
To conclude: I think everyone enjoyed doing their job and everyone is proud of it. It was a really great project and I’m really pleased with the whole team!
The film crew
The team was made up of around thirty people, including :
- Quentin Chevreau(Assistant Director),
- Liza Bougeant(Production Manager),
- Néven Abollivier(Location Manager),
- Florian Blondelot(Director of Photography),
- Pauline Bernard (Head Electrician),
- Louise Rabiller(Cameraman),
- Gabriel Deschamps (Head Machinist),
- Sean Rocherie (Set Designer),
- Mathis Jauzelon(Chief Editor)
