By Victor Bennett, Film & TV Sub-Editor
The process of brainstorming ideas with your friends, shooting footage with your friends and collaborating creatively with your friends is what makes student filmmaking such an enjoyable and rich experience.
This is the conclusion I came to after attending the second shoot of ‘Playing House’, India Pluves’ debut student film as a scriptwriter and director. Playing House is a short film which explores the importance of the House as a physical space that holds generations of memories. Delving into the experiences which build and shatter relationships, Playing House is a film which contributes to the rich body of student films Bristol has to offer.
The film is framed by two parallel narratives. One strand centres around the lives of a young couple who navigate the difficulties that come with moving in together for the first time, and the other strand focuses on a group of students’ manic lifestyles. These narratives are characterised by the fact that they both occur within the same House, where the young couple used to live and where the students now live. The handing over of the baton occurs when George (the man from the young couple) rents his house to his student tenants, signifying a new chapter in the House’s history. In so far as Playing House is a film coloured by human experiences, central to its integrity is the living experience of the House. A testament to director India Pluves, the House becomes the subtle protagonist where complex human relationships and emotions are allowed to flourish before our eyes.
The inspiration for the film was derived from a first-hand experience Pluves had with her student landlord. When showing her around the living room, the landlord explained: “My daughter took her first steps here”. “About four hours later”, Pluves told me, “My mates and I were getting s*** faced in the exact same spot”. “It was fascinating”, Pluves added, “how people have had these amazing family memories in the same space that we students live in”.
For actress Beth Amber, playing the role of a student was refreshing. “I really enjoyed taking this role because it is close to who I am”, she told me. “Rather than a method actress”, Beth is “more trying to find similarities and characters that are close to mind”.
What better way to play a student than to be one? Indeed, the whole cast, except for one, were student actors/actresses who had met each other through their Film course or Bristol Collaborative Arts, a film, music and theatre platform aimed at getting young creatives a head start in their respective careers.
Shot in Malachy Ivo, the behind-the-scenes videographer’s, student house, there was little need for producer Mariia Nesteruk to purchase props or tinker with the setting because empty beer bottles and crisp packets were readily available to hand. Adding to this authentic student atmosphere was the passing by of Ivo’s housemates, who were either intrigued by the film-making experience or simply needed to access the kitchen.
For student filmmakers Beth and Frasier, “the most important thing you get out of a Film degree is the connections and people”. Providing students with “one or two workshops on how to work film technology”, they said, a Film degree’s greatest strength is not so much its ability to teach hard technical skills, but “more the opportunity to meet those who share a passion for film”. This passion was felt in every corner of the house, from working together to find the most suitable camera position to tweaking the script to their own preferences, every cast member was engaged in the art of student filmmaking.
A film produced by students, shot by students and played by students, the very essence of student life is woven into the fabric of this short film. But this is not to say that Pluves’ Playing House is only defined by its student experience. Rather, the film’s driving force is enacted by the House. Experiences coloured by fleeting moments of laughter, grief and love, the House remains the only rooted force amidst such a hectic experience of youth.
Playing House will premiere at the Bristol Collaborative Arts Exhibition on the 26th of May.
