ONE MORE MINUTE
BAFTA QUALIFYING | SHORT FILM
One More Minute follows Arianna, the Deaf owner of Sunrise Corner, caught in the middle of a robbery at her own store. With her customers trapped alongside her, she has one chance to fight back against the danger unfolding and get everyone out safely. I created, directed and cast the film as my MA graduation project. It has since screened at two BAFTA-qualifying festivals, the London Short Film Festival and the Carmarthen Bay Film Festival.
BACKGROUND
One More Minute grew out of two things I'd encountered around the same time, the news of Breonna Taylor's death, which left me wanting to build something of my own around a strong female lead facing danger, and The Sound of Metal, whose sound design stayed with me long after watching it. I wanted an audience to feel what it's like to be hard of hearing in a high-stakes situation, not just watch a character go through it. The film is told entirely from Arianna's perspective, so the audience only knows what she does.
IDEA
Sound was the backbone of this film. We built a heavy layer of sound design in post to make the audio feel like it was passing through a hearing aid, unnatural and metallic with a tinny distortion running underneath. When Arianna loses her hearing aid during the robbery, the audio dips further still, as she's hard of hearing rather than profoundly deaf. We shot across two nights in a grocery store. To direct the film properly, I wanted full and direct communication with my cast, so I learned BSL and gained a Level 1 certificate. We had a BSL interpreter on set to help with the rest of the cast and crew. I wanted the audience to feel constant unease, so every shot has something moving in it, whether that's the actors, the background, the lights flickering, or the camera itself.
EXECUTION
ROLE, RESPONSIBILITIES & PROCESS
DIRECTOR & PRODUCER
Created and directed the film.
Cast the actors.
Sourced the location.
Learned British Sign Language to Level 1.
Post producer, overseeing the full post-production process.
Film festival strategy.
TRAILER
PRESS
Making Of One More Minute
by Elise Czyzowska | Met Film
Film Review Of One More Minute
by Chris Olson | UK Film Review
We are thrown into a unique visual and audial experience that is palpably disconcerting, that even the hardiest of thriller fans has unlikely witnessed anything like this on screen.
CHRIS OLSON
Film Critic | UK Film Review
