This year, there are 25 short films, out of a total 49 projects, being undertaken by final-year Film students as part of the Graduate Practical Project, a year-long capstone unit.
One of these projects is Hook, Line, and Sinker: a short fiction film that follows Tiggy, a young journalist who visits her estranged uncle, Joan, in Cornwall during the off-season to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Malcom, her uncle's friend, which she believes is linked to the Bucca, a sea-spirit from Cornish folklore.
I managed to catch director-producer Freya Woolfenden, production designer Tom Kroker and sound recordist Cooper Brown in one of the edit suites on the sixth floor of Richmond Building, editing the first rough cut of the film. Missing from the room was scriptwriter Matthew Evens and gaffer Arthur Pelling.
The inspiration for Hook, Line, and Sinker came from the location, Newlyn and Sennen Cove, near Penzance, and its stunning, rugged coastline. From there, Freya and Matt began to dig deeper into Cornish folklore to craft the narrative around, from which they found the figure of the Bucca.
One concern that Cooper had was about the relevance of Cornish folklore in modern-day life: 'I thought that the Bucca would be quite a niche thing, and we were making it into a bigger thing than it actually is, but it's actually quite close to reality.'
'People genuinely do still worship, and are engaged in this folklore because it gives them closure,' Freya added, quoting from a fisherman they met in Newlyn that also gives history tours of the harbour.
Whilst development began in late September, Freya noted that it was not until after Christmas that momentum behind pre-production really picked up.
'Especially after we had done the recce,' Tom added, 'it was so much easier to visualise the story, because we had where they were going to be.'
Filming was done over the course of six days during Reading Week. Shooting almost went entirely to plan, other than for a few scenes, one of which ended up being Tom's favourite moment of the entire shoot.
'Tiggy [was] just taking a phone call on a cliff, but it was pouring, and we were like "We can't make her stand on a cliff, we haven't seen her with an umbrella. So then Freya was like: "Let's shoot it in a phone booth." And then we drove around checking out phone booths, and we found the perfect one, it's like on the side of Sennen Beach.'
'It was like, so quick, and so spontaneous, because also we had our actor just in the rain. We got it done in, like, 15 minutes? I mean, its a really short scene, but it was just fun to do it really quick.'
Katerina Ralli
All three were in agreement about the amount that this project has taught them; from technical skills related to the camera and the microphone, to the importance of pre-production planning.
'One thing I learned from this was that you have to be an energiser. You have to talk to everyone clearly,' Freya added,
'You really only have one chance to talk to an actor and tell them: "This is our vision, this is the approach we're going to go for, and this is what I need from you."'
Hook, Line, and Sinker will be screened at the School of Arts Graduate Festival in mid-May, alongside other final-year projects from the whole School of Arts.
Featured Image: Chirs Cordell
Epigram is grateful to the team of Hook, Line, and Sinker for their words and pictures about this short film.
