SIDESHOW – the independent short movie that opened a pandora box
Little did we know during the first lockdown that less than two years later will be releasing our first independent short movie, in collaboration with the fantastic Mole Face Film and Andreea Dican Photography (yes, THE Andreea Dican who we featured in our first episode of The Artists behind the Art). Our creative director Beatrice Benedek has joined the enthusiastic team of film makers from the North East as producer and actress.
Logo by: Bobby Bowyer
But what is Sideshow about? In the word of film director Nigel Judson, Sideshow is set “…in the late Victorian era. Young Eliza sneaks out to visit the travelling fair that has come to town. Her insatiable curiosity draws her into the closed freak show tent on the edge of the fairground. Hoping to have caught sight of the freaks, she is disappointed to discover that it is all fake. A sobbing sound coming from the depths of the marque reveals a strange man in a cage, pleading to be freed. However, when she tries to help him, she gets drawn into his
nightmare.”
With that said, you can only imagine how fun it must have been on set to decorate these tents to look like authentic Victorian circuses, build the appropriate props, find the right design for the logo and promotional material to convey this vintage look, not to mention finding the right costumes for that era. It was a real rollercoaster for the producers to source all of these. But we got there in the end, and it looked great, and ultimately we were all thrilled to get shooting – despite the freezing cold temperatures (who thought beginning of November in the North East can be so frosty!).
Photos: Andreea Dican / Josh Ryan
Most of the set and props were built by our multipotentialite film director Carl B Harrison, who’s done an excellent job at creating some beautiful pieces – and it was a combo of using traditional methods with modern technology! The perks of living in the 21st century, ey? But he couldn’t get by without the little help of his friends! Nigel Judson provided us the location and massive tent where the magic happened, Nick Daniel has been a star in building and decorating set pieces, and Bobby Bowyer evoked the vintage feel of freak show in his incredible designs. Not only that, but as a professional graphic designer, he’s created the amazing logo, posters and other promotional material which will represent us at hopefully many international festivals! Andreea Dican joined as cinematographer, photographer, and AD from Berlin – now that is what we call commitment to a project! Liam Foster, after being initiated in the art of sound recording by our director-turned-tech-master Nigel, was not only our sound recordist but runner, set decorator, actor, at times cloak person, and an absolute joy and laugh on set. Him and Luke Lovejoy, playing the character of the Mind Thief, have developed the quickest bromance on earth (2 days!) and it is still going strong now! Co-producer Heidi took on several other roles once on set and delighted us with being runner, clapperboard person, Eliza’s mother even, and, as probably everyone one else in the team, set decorator!
Photos: Andreea Dican
We’ve also had the privilege to work with makeup artists Jaydeen Clark, who’s brought the character of the Mind Thief alive through her seamless makeup artistry! And to make our team even more international, we’ve teamed up with a Romanian music composer Cristina Negoiță to deliver the feel, the mood, the tone, the subtleties, the music for SIDESHOW. And man has she delivered! Last but not least, the project wouldn’t have been produced at the high-quality level it is now without the continuous support and help of our families, friend, and pledgers!
And boy are we excited for the PREVIEW EVENT end of February! The cast and crew, their friends and families, as well as our fantastic supporters, will get the chance to see the final result (COVID-allowing!) before we send it off the international festival circuit! What a great way to celebrate all the hard work, moments of frustration and happiness (all part of the creative journey, no doubt!) and the joy of our incredible cast and crew!
Photos: Josh Ryan
The journey has been an incredible learning curve, as producing a movie and working on a set is so different from directing and producing a theatre show! “Of course they’re different” more experienced people would say, but hey – it is one thing to understand it on a rational level and another thing to actually do it! And everyone has to start somewhere!
We’d love to hear what you think of this heart-warming project, and we’d also love you to join us our journey, so why not head over to our social media outlets and have a look at what we’ve achieved so far? You can find us on Facebook: @SideshowFilm, Instagram: @bndkpro and IMDb: Sideshow (2022). The next weeks will see the cast and crew coming together again for some very funny Q&A sessions! And we’d recommend not to miss out on the unfolding bromance between Luke & Liam.
Speak soon!
Yours,
Sideshow & BENEDEK Productions Team