Elizabethan Seen Running Through Sheffield

Previously, two other actors and I had gone out into the city of Sheffield and taken three primary, absurdist photos based on public reliant performances, such as Can You See Me Now? and Super Night Shot.

Now, we wanted to expand these to make a short 3 minute performance.

A screenshot from a clip of Russian Arc

Russian Arc and Adolescence are two pieces of film, which are recorded entirely in one shot, with no cuts. We wanted to experiment with this kind of idea and therefore took inspiration from it.

We went back out into Sheffield city centre and began to connect our pictures into one continuous film with action sequences showing us getting from one picture location to another.

To begin with, we picked out new costumes to try something different and add to the element of absurdism further.

A snapshot of our film - a replica of the image we took inspiration from with new costume

Once we were out in the city, we realised that our photos were too far apart and we only really wanted a 3-minute film (one minute for each picture). To solve this, we drew inspiration from one picture specifically.

We started with the idea of a character standing in a doorway and liked the idea of interacting with the camera on an intimate level as the character gets up close and is checking their teeth. The rest of the storyline flowed from there, becoming that of a robbery.

With the location we had chosen, we knew we could easily make an interesting one shot because of the amount of alleys, roads and doors leading off the main road, meaning there was a lot of space to experiment and play with, as well as a lot of places for a person to hide in order to receive the camera and smoothly contribute to the filming of the one shot.

When we thought we were done, we reviewed the footage and found that it was not quite 3 minutes. To combat this, we added a sequence of movements for a different character in the beginning, that sets the audiences expectation, and the tone, for the rest of the film.

Overall, I had a really good time experimenting with this style of film, especially working out how to pass the camera around smoothly – often involving me running around the streets of Sheffield while dressed as an Elizabethan man! I’m looking forward to developing this film and our ideas further.

https://youtube.com/shorts/WSa0BVMrEWA

The unedited film we produced