We spoke to Borja Torres Sanchez and Erica Adarve about their short film which screened at the Cambridge Film Festival as part of the Short Fusion: Film Hub Central East strand.
In OUT OF DATE, a case of the late night munchies is our hero Kevin’s downfall. Even though the meat smells a bit off, he fixed himself a burger and ends up with the strangest case of food poisoning you could imagine.
Day Moibi: What made you go with the two leading actors?
Erica Adarve: We feel very lucky because we got a great response from people who were giving us away their time and passion so we could make our project reality. And I´d like to thank them all again for their patience and involvement. The two leading actors were David Gurney (Kevin) and Nora Silk (Ella). Both were the best choice we could make. We got in contact with them thanks to a couple of cast calls we made online. They fully understood their characters and make them better on screen. They were both great people and better professionals.
DM: How long did the shooting process take?
EA: In overall, the whole project process took place between the Spring of 2015 and 2016. The first draft of the script was completed by the end of April 2015. At this point we started to plan how we could make this shooting possible. We didn´t have the final draft yet, but the main ideas were solid, which gave us the opportunity of start looking for locations and cast and crew. In July the final draft was finished, which enabled us to go full time with the pre-production arrangements.
The shooting took place in two different phases. The first one, which included all the interiors in the apartment, went through the weekend of the 17 October. The second phase, when exteriors were shot, took place in November. Once the two period shooting was finished started the post-production stage. Edition and color grading went next and at the last stage, the soundtrack and sound design were completed. This takes us to April 2016 when the short film was officially finished.
DM: Is the final film what you initially envisioned?
Borja Sanchez: The first idea of OUT OF DATE was more complex than the one in the final film. It involved not only short time travel but also different places and eras, but due to the low budget we had that idea was impossible to adapt, so I decided to narrow it down to a story that happens in one night in the same location. I am really happy with the final result, it is my first short film as director and I think the whole team and I have achieved our goal. We wanted to tell the story of a regular person that out of the blue gets involved in a weird, almost surrealistic situation. We aim to distance ourselves from the life-threatening situations we usually see in this genre, so we added a comedy touch to it.
Anyway, a plot that has a toilet as the main turning point couldn’t be taken too seriously, so we decided to exploit that approach. I believe we have created a film that challenges the viewer to pay attention to the story and discover what is happening at the same time as the main character. We were afraid that the plot could be difficult to follow, especially because we barely give any explanation of the process the protagonist is suffering. There is no scientist giving a monologue or a time travel machine specifying to which point in time he is travelling to. So in order to give a time reference to the viewers, we worked a lot on the small details, some times they are in the background and others we were more explicit. They are small pieces of a big puzzle that are displayed throughout the story, hoping the viewer put them together to understand what is exactly happening. The overall sensation is more than satisfactory and after the hard work and time invested in OUT OF DATE, being selected for the Cambridge Film Festival is the best reward we could have received.
We met two years ago but it wasn’t until last year that we decided we should work together. We are a small production company [Cryogenic Films] based in U.K.: we aim to tell amazing stories and create stunning films. We are already working in our next project, a science fiction short film about obsession and hubris. We would like to shoot it in the first months of 2017 and, hopefully, be on time to submit it for the next edition of the Cambridge Film Festival!