2020 has been a weird year so far. COVID-19 has presented many challenges for everyone around the world. But nothing can stop film-making. Using zoom, my version of the script ‘On the Run’ didn’t come out as a masterpiece, but as a fantastic learning experience for me. By circumstance filming via zoom really fit into what Deliberate Film was all about; focusing on the little things. Without having to plan out an elaborate film or a fantastic story, without all the nuisance of working on a set, I was able to focus on the fundamentals of film. The framing and eye-lines, the sound design, cutting, the way in which composition has an effect on the audience’s emotions. Whilst the film I created is not one I’d ever brag about, it was a trampoline launching me into better things.

Creating a film via zoom and then performing extensive experiments upon it was almost a genius idea by Paul. I learnt so many lessons by constructing such a simple scene. There is so much knowledge I had thought I had known but had never really put into use. For example, just by experimenting in editing I found the importance of J and L cuts, I found how sound can be essential in making a scene work, and I even found how the positioning of characters from left to right can change the audience’s emotional connection with the characters. I have learnt so much through this experience. I can see a wonderfully a bright future ahead, and solely because Deliberate Film gave me the tools and ambition to create truly fantastic films. So many film-makers my age have brilliant stories, but lack the essential knowledge that allows their films to succeed. By slowing things down and by refining the basics, I feel I have gained the skill, the essentials and the ambition that I required.

I wish a massive thanks to Nan and Jess for working so well with me throughout the latter half of the semester, and a gigantic thanks to the man, the myth, the legend, Paul himself, for bringing us a course that could finally get us off the ground.

Now, it’s time to fly.

-Lachlan Falzon, Deliberate Film