A Leading Man

2010, 11 minutes

Daring to dream for something beyond the limits of reality

SYNOPSIS: October 17th 1955 we are invited to the after party premiere of the most eagerly awaited film of the year. The anticipation of the arrival of the film's leading man is wild. As the crowds wait for his arrival they mingle whilst drinking the finest champagne and eating expensive appetizers. The leading man is extremely nervous about going to the after party, as he has to give an outstanding speech to his fellow peers, press and his many admirers. He secretly takes swigs of whiskey from his flask in order to ease his nerves and get himself prepared. He arrives at the hall grounds with a beautiful woman on his arm. They open the doors to after party and the room turns suddenly silent. The crowd gazes at him in amazement. Soon the room is filled with uncontrollable applause and cheers. He goes to greet the crowd with his charismatic charm and sparkling smile. The crowd can't get enough of him. They all fight over him to have a moment to be in his presence. After a short period of time of conversing with the crowd of admirers he is called onto the stage to deliver his speech. The speech starts off spectacularly well. He really gets into the zone and commands his audience. However, as his speech progresses unusual and strange things start to happen in the audience. Things that start to play on his mind as he is delivering his speech. These strange and unusual occurrences put him on edge and clearly are the reason for the change of direction of his speech. His speech becomes more personal and deep rather than being a superficial crowd pleaser as he first intended. He really addresses his audience from the heart. His speech begins to hit a chord with his audience and he still pushes and pushes. A woman enters the room dressed in a Nurses outfit. He looks startled and soon it is revealed to us that things are not what they seem. ABOUT THE FILM: This film is about an individual, a leader who gives hope to a community. It started from the desire to explore the actor, his personal conflicts, the need to address the issue of how people who are institutionalized are perceived. This piece delves into his world, the invisible line between reality and non-reality and self-discovery. The visual style and structure of this film is a crucial contribution to the manner in which the story is told. The shooting style is quite intimate in terms of portraying the leading man's experiences. The camera moves with him, at his pace and follows his character quite closely in order to engage the audience and provide them with full coverage of his nervousness and paranoia. The after party is set in the 1950's era. We have set the mood with warm lighting and restricted our colour palette to vibrant and rich colours (deep reds & rich blues). A great deal of time has been put into organizing the props and costumes to match this specific era and achieve this grand ballroom look. The Cinematographer and Production Designer formed a strong and dedicated collaboration in order to tell this story that is important to all of us, in this very challenging and stylistic manner. The film is shot on the RED One camera, as this sharp high-resolution look is the rich look that is intended for the film.

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