Second-hand Experience was my first (and, currently, only) funded short film and was part of the Screen Gems 2002 scheme funded by Sgrin and ITV Wales. The scheme ran for five years and enabled ten writers and directors a year to make one of ten three-minute films on either digital or 35mm film. I was part of the third collection and it was the first year to feature HD as the digital source when it was still in its relative infancy.

I had just graduated and, during my time at university, had a chance to meet some of the executives at Sgrin, which was the Welsh film and media agency at the time. A script was submitted in the summer of 2002 and, although it went through a large number of rewrites (some more tense than others), the film was finally shot in late autumn, premiering at the Welsh Film Festival.

Each film only had a day to shoot but, since mine was a fairly straightforward conversation, we achieved it with an hour to spare. When the day finally arrived, I had a bit of a shock at the size of the camera and how much space we actually had to shoot in. The location was in the board room of the National Museum of Wales, high up above the entrance hall and at the base of the dome. The camera was an early Sony HD camera with a full HD zoom lens attached, much larger than the handycams I was used to. Because of this, I spent the lunch time rethinking my storyboards and adjusting them to match the room and the manoeuvrability of the camera.

I kept it to a simple conversation three-shot setup: a wide centre shot and then two over the shoulder closeups. We shot at a variety of zoom lengths but mainly used the locked-off closeups. The opening and closing shots were done with a circular track and the disappearing/reappearing effects simple wipes. This was actually my first foray into visual effects, simple though it was, and it gave me the confidence to make Something Real a year later.

To be honest, I regret how standard my direction was for this film. I was somewhat overawed by the scale of the project and the fact that it was funded. It doesn’t matter that it was a three minute short and a fairly simple script, the realisation that someone else’s money is now involved and you’ve got a responsibility to get the film made within the time available is a heavy burden and I don’t think I was really ready. I should have shot it with a looser style, made more of the location, moved the camera and involved some of the extras a little more. If I’d had more experience on other sets, I could have prepared myself for the decisions I had to make. Then again, I probably still wouldn’t have made it any different.

In all, I’m pleased with the film and it marks another stage in my experience of filmmaking. I like the lighting and don’t mind my script too much!

Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site

This Youtube upload is taken from a PAL DVD copy I was given and not the original HD master. I've upresed it to 720p and colour corrected it slightly to improve the brightness for computer screens.

Second-hand Experience has been screened at the following events and festivals:

Premiered at the UGC Cardiff at the Cardiff International Film Festival 2003.

Screened with Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Star Trek: Nemesis on Wales Cinema Day 2003.

Screened as part of the Screen Gems programme on HTV on Friday 14th March 2003 at 11.30 pm.

Screened with Punch-drunk Love at Chapter Arts Centre 21st - 28th March 2003

Screened at Ucheldre Centre, Holyhead 14th - 20th May 2003

Shortlisted for the Festival des Tres Courts (Very Short Films Festival), taking place from April 25th to 27th 2003 simultaneously in Paris, several other French cities and in Quebec (Canada).