Failed Mission (Jonathan)

Failed Mission – Directed by Jonathan Christian, Originally written by Saud Hayat

John and his friend are separated during a trip in a park. Lost and alone, John encounters something in the dark.

I chose this, and did this script because I like how simple it is, but also to take the chance to film outside because lockdown had ended in Melbourne at that time. I had a long moment when John and the animal met, because in the wild an animal won’t just pounce or chase you the moment you stumble across one and I had the idea of building up the tension by extending the scene.

There are a lot of challenges during production, which also alter the end result. The story was supposed to be between 2 characters but an actress cancelled before shooting day and I had to alter the story for only 1 character on screen. Lighting and sound was also a restraint I had, since I had to film outside at night, so it’s dark and windy, and I did work with what I had and some parts of the lighting actually inspired me to take bolder shots.

In the end, I really enjoyed shooting this film and learned a lot based on the constraints and issues I had during shooting, and learned to adapt to changes and problem coming my way.