There are many qualities you need to be a successful filmmaker. These include recognizing a good story, scouting interesting locations, and solving the problems that almost always arise during the production. Oliver Richards—an English filmmaker residing in Cork, Ireland—adds another element: flexibility. In the interview below Richards explains how that personality trait helped him create a flying saucer for his short sci fi film, “Abduction.”

Interview

MMM: How did you get into filmmaking?

Richards: I began filmmaking working in as an editor and producer at a documentary production company, Yellow Media Entertainment, in Oxford. I gained a lot of knowledge and experience of film production working there. I’ve also worked on various short films and gained experience that way, a lot of trial and error.

MMM: Are there any filmmakers whose work inspired you?

Richards: There are many I admire. But for this project I studied “Snow Steam Iron” by Zach Snyder and was impressed that it was filmed on an iPhone. I also watched the films of Gareth Edwards and David F. Sandberg, plus the very creative and fun Instagram videos of Zach King. Another CGI artist on Instagram I enjoy is Vernbestintheworld. There are many more that I admire but those are some of the direct inspirations for “Abduction.”

MMM: How did you come up with the idea for this project?

Richards: It was mostly a desire to get back into special effects, something I hadn’t done for a long time. Also, I enjoy storyboarding and had begun storyboarding concepts for single-location films that I could make just on my own. So it was an experiment at the beginning, which over time grew into something more formal.

MMM: Is there a reason you shot the movie using a phone rather than a traditional camera?

Richards: Most of my film equipment was in storage so all I had was a my iPhone 6s. But I’ve always had an interest in using phones and have seen them as a perfectly good way to tell a story despite various technical limitations. I found it was a good experiment to mix mobile footage and special effects. For me, the iPhone is still a long way off from producing the image quality of professional cinema cameras, but they are a great option for indie film making. The main technical limitation I encountered in making “Abduction” was low light, which created image grain. This can be removed to an extent in post, but it’s not ideal, and I hope future models of the iPhone improve on this.

MMM: What other gear did you use?

Richards: Apart from a tripod, I used a Beastgrip Pro cage which is great for controlling handheld shots, and I used the Filmic Pro app.

MMM: Without spilling all your secrets, could you describe how you achieved some of the visual effects?

Richards: I was determined at the beginning to create the flying saucer from miniature models. I played with makeshift UFO models and green screen for a few weeks but I couldn’t get the movement of the saucer looking any good, so I finally allowed myself to compromise and create the flying saucer in Cinema 4D, which I’m glad I did in the end.

MMM: The disintegration shot is terrific. Any hints on how you accomplished that sequence?

Richards: Thank you very much. I changed my mind multiple times on how that should look, firstly for pacing, and secondly as I had never used particle special effects before, so it was the most complicated shot to get right. But when I switched to Cinema 4D to create the flying saucer, I thought I would try doing the disintegration as 3D as well, which was for the better.

MMM: If that’s you playing the abductee, could you talk about the challenges of directing yourself?

Richards: Yes that’s me. I’ve never acted professionally but I didn’t know any actors in Ireland at that time so I just thought I would just film myself. It was a case of me setting the phone up on the tripod, then running around the other side to perform in front of it with no idea how it was looking. Many shots I had to reshoot because I was performing in the wrong part of the frame. I’ve never filmed like that before and it felt ridiculous. So for future projects, I’ll certainly do it with more than just myself.

MMM: Could you talk about how you put together your audio track?

Richards: When doing the VFX I still had no thoughts about the sound design, or even if I was going to add any music. When I started doing sound it was just a natural process of acquiring sound effects and seeing if it worked with the visuals. Then I played with various soundtracks as I couldn’t decide how dramatic I was trying to make the film. But in the end I was very lucky to find a soundtrack that wasn’t too serious but still fitted the pacing of the action.

MMM: During the production did you encounter any big challenge that you had to overcome?

Richards: I think filmmaking is a problem solving business. You can plan a film for weeks but still encounter unforeseen problems. You have to solve them one at a time as they present themselves. Like I said before, my main problem with this film was making the flying saucer look good, which I was trying to do with miniatures, but I had to solve that problem by switching to CGI. Initially I didn’t want to, but accepted I had to, otherwise the film was going to look terrible. I don’t see compromise as defeat, especially if it’s between your project getting completed or not.

MMM: What advice would you give someone just starting out as a mobile moviemaker?

Richards: I very much advocate the use of smartphones for film making, but I still think filmmakers should get experience on as many different types of camera as possible—and then see what works for you. If you are trying to use special effects in your films, I recommend thinking carefully in advance about the shots you are trying to create. Never approach a film project with an ‘I’ll fix it in post’ attitude. Post production and CGI software should always compliment good footage, not fix bad footage.

MMM: How can readers learn more about your work?

Richards: For starters, there’s Twitter. Some older work I’ve been involved in is on Vimeo.

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“Abduction” was chosen as a Mobile Movie of the Week by the editors of MobileMovieMaking.com.