Film: Lena
Director: Maria Lee Metheringham
Writers: Maria Lee Metheringham
Actors: Chris Josty, Maria Lee Metheringham, Jamie Walker
Synopsis: A sexy stylish, neon infused short film, exploring the archetype and primitive mental image often depicted by a Femme Fatale and how one man ‘Owen’ is drawn into the clutches of the temptress without even realising what is happening to him. Although Lena is being played her own game.
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds I got a chance to ask Writer/Director Maria Lee Metheringham a few questions about the film Lena.
Lena will be playing at the Southend Film Festival on Saturday 8th June at 6pm as part of the Mostly Made in Southend Part 2 short selection.
Q. Your film ‘Lena’ has been selected to play at the Southend Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. Lena is very sexy and stylish with lots of neon infused city lights and nighttime scenes. It’s quite different from the usual style we tend to film in. It’s quite dark and gritty with a great original soundtrack attached which really drives the visuals.
Q. How did the idea for the film come about and What were your inspirations when writing the script?
A. Cardiff city at night time is very cinematic. Myself and Jamie on a night out around the Bay couldn’t help but notice the neon lights and light reflections on the waters edge etc, we discussed an idea for a short film utilising these locations and my mind went straight to the femme fatale narrative as I started to write the script.
Q. What were some of the influences for the look and style of the film?
A. I am very much driven by music and the visuals it creates in my head, I usually like to write with some atmospheric music in the background. One track I came across actually put the idea of femme fatale in my head and that was ‘Mad Women’ by Sevdaliza, which I would have loved to have used in the actual film, very slow, cool, gritty and sexy at the same time. We sent this track to our original soundtrack composers She’s Got Claws as influence for what we were after, as well as Massive Attacks ‘Angel’ , they did an amazing job recreating the feel and pace of the music. You’ll actually notice the flow of the film moves in sync to the pacing of the music. The scene with Lena and Owen in the living room when she is seducing him is actually performed live to the Massive Attack track , so myself and Chris could just move naturally and seductively with the right flow and we just layered the score by She’s Got Claws over the top. The colour scheme was very much neon blues and purples and pinks, 80s styling which I absolutely love.
Q. Where there any elements of the original script which were adapted during filming?
A. We had a few changes in terms of what LENA’s motive was and how the character Owen connected to her but that was only a few minor tweaks which were easy to iron out before the filming actually started. Usually on a no budget film you have to alter due to location restrictions but we actually did Gorilla filmmaking really well and even managed to film in a nightclub Gorilla style.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments whilst making the Film?
A. I particularly loved all the on location night shots outside by Cardiff Bay, they just felt visually stunning. Also filming in the Arcades in Cardiff the backdrop of the Architecture is really interesting and made those scenes really pop.
Q. Did you experience any issues whilst making the film?
A. We didn’t have any issues really, we rarely do. The only thing I would say is with Gorilla filmmaking , obviously you have the general public around you, so you have to wait sometimes after ‘action’ due to some kids coming around the corner or people will walk full frame into your shot and you have to be careful not to get the public in or make sure you can blur them in the frame etc. Having permission from the cafe to film in and around there helped though. The nightclub scene Jamie had to film on his phone in as high quality as he could as we were also shooting this Gorilla style and it would have been obvious what we were doing had he bought in a professional camera. He just looked like a guy filming his mates dancing …although a tad sexy on the dance floor , it also kind of made him look and feel a bit awkward!
Q. What do you hope people will take away from the film?
A. Just hope they only have good things to say about it, enjoy and are entertained by it and like the style as much as we do. We always try to make our films visually entertaining and not tackle subjects for the sake of virtue signalling or being ‘woke’. We just like to make something cool thats enjoying to watch, simple.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are working on?
A. Myself and Jamie are working on another short film with our company CineNorth Studios for the Horrorscopes Anthology part 3, with our film ‘Spider’, we go into production in July with that one and we are working with horror writer Matt Shaw instead of myself being the script writer. We thought this would be a nice change having a different perspective/writing style.
We are also in pre-production as Producers with film company Cupsogue Pictures for their next feature length film which is currently all hush hush at the moment, so unfortunately we can’t disclose anything in regards to this project yet but all will come out there when it is good and ready, just keep an eye out basically.
Q. If someone is looking to direct their first film, what advice would you give them?
A. Make sure you are organised, write lists , make sure you cover everything you need to cover before you start filming as this will give yourself and your cast and crew and really enjoyable filming experience. There is nothing worse than a disorganised film production for everyone involved. Make sure you finish what you started, we are all guilty of this but so many productions get shelved and its such a shame, plan out your shooting schedule and give yourself a date to get the edit finished by and stick to it. Don’t worry too much about what everyone else is doing, you have to find your own style and you’re allowed to do things differently, just make sure you are confident with what you are doing. Be up front and clear with everyone about what you are doing and how you are doing it.
You can find out more about films by CineNorth Studios on the website www.cinenorthstudios.co.uk – Vimeo and the following social media: Facebook – Twitter – Instagram
You can find out more about the Southend Film Festival on the Website.
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
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