Christmas is gone, but the spirit—literally—lives on in Elliott Maguire’s scary and touching horror movie “Lonely & Cold.” In addition to providing a memorable viewing experience, the short is a tour de force of solo moviemaking. The filmmaker shares some of his tricks in an interview following the movie.

Interview with Elliott Maguire

MobileMovieMaking: Can you fill us in on your background in film?

Maguire: I’m a screenwriter turned filmmaker from Manchester in the UK. I only took an interest in directing with the advancements in smartphone technology. I realised I could learn the skills in my own time and on my own budget instead of film school. I have recently created the YouTube channel NEW NORMAL, which is not just a way to showcase my work. I’m treating it as my own streaming service, which I hope to fill with shorts films, feature films, serial dramas, BTS, tutorials, all centered around the horror genre and DIY filmmaking.

MobileMovieMaking: Back in 2018 we interviewed you about “The Ferryman.” Can you update us on that project?

Maguire: The trailer can now be found over on the New Normal Youtube channel, and the movie will soon be available to watch exclusively in its entirety on the channel too. My plan is to provide an ongoing tutorial series in 2021 to accompany it, going into great detail on all the things I learned in the process: concept, script, pre-production, shooting, post-production, distribution. I want to help others avoid making the same mistakes I did!

MobileMovieMaking: We’ll look forward to seeing that series. But right now, let’s talk about “Lonely & Cold.”  How did you come up with the idea for this eerie and touching horror flick?

Maguire: “Lonely & Cold” was born out of my love for folk-horror, specifically the BBC A Ghost Story For Christmas specials like “The Signalman,” “Lost Hearts,” and “A Warning To The Curious.”  There’s something so creepy about Christmas, and it feels like a great time for someone to get taught a lesson by ghosts. With everything being so disconnected and bleak in 2020, I wanted to explore the theme of loneliness and connection with those that have been forgotten by most of society: the ill, the old and the vulnerable.

MobileMovieMaking: How did you prepare for the shoot?

Maguire: I had a fairly detailed script, and planned to do storyboards and a shot list. But when the gap in mine and everyone else’s schedule came up for me to shoot, I had to jump at it. I ended up shooting it about four days before I released it online, so the post was a rollercoaster. I definitely need to work on my planning and organizational skills going forward.

MobileMovieMaking: The set is simple but effective.

Maguire:The fireplace was kind of a little gag for the folk-horror crowd. With most of the Ghost Stories For Christmas being period pieces, I wanted to give the appearance of a period piece, and then show the transition into modern day with the reveal that it’s on a TV. Just a little fun spin on the artificiality of the era we’re in.

MobileMovieMaking: The lighting is particularly effective. Could you talk about that part of the production.

Maguire:  The lighting was something I noticed in that room when we put the tree up. It looked really effective with the light from the tree in the corner. But when you take the ISO right down, it’s pitch black. So I exaggerated what was already there with some LED lights. Same for the light from the laptop. I placed an LED light where the laptop screen is, in order to give a little extra light on my face. Cassius Rayner’s tips on YouTube have been a life-saver for shooting in low-light on the smartphone. I highly recommend everyone check them out.

MobileMovieMaking: Could you talk about any gear that you found especially helpful?

Maguire: Obviously the usual apps such as Filmic Pro and LumaFusion for the shoot and the edit. The sound recording was done with a Zoom H1 and the lights were dimmable LED’s from Neewer. All very user-friendly as I’m still a novice when it comes to gear.

MobileMovieMaking: Since this was a one-man shoot, how did you arrange the framing and other aspects of the camerawork?

Maguire: I’d set up the camera, keeping it all static tripod shots as that suited the mood anyway, and use Filmic Remote on a separate iPhone to adjust the angle as need be, and also the focus and exposure. It has a little lag but other than that is absolutely amazing for shooting alone.

MobileMovieMaking: Do you have any secrets for directing yourself?

Maguire: Oh wow it was tricky. I’m not an actor in any capacity, I don’t even like being in photos. I’m pretty shy like that. But the thing that got me through it was just trying to be myself as much as possible, so it wasn’t necessarily acting, just reacting as I would. If it was a much deeper character, having to interact with other characters on screen, I’d really struggle. It’s an incredible talent to have, but I definitely do not have it. If you are going to do it, I recommend doing it on something like this, without anyone watching and judging, so you can really relax and be yourself and do things in your own time. And just keep going! I did at least four takes of each angle in each scene, and tried things a little different in each one. It gave me a newfound respect for the craft of acting, and I really recommend it for filmmakers.

MobileMovieMaking: Did you give any particular attention to what you were wearing?

Maguire: I tried to keep it seasonal. I felt like, if the character was in his office, it would be Christmas Jumper Day (an annual fundraising campaign in the UK and Ireland organised by charity Save the Children). Unfortunately it is 2020 and he is working from home, but he decides to jumper-up anyway. I just wanted it to be specific to Christmas wherever possible.

MobileMovieMaking: What about the telephone voices?

Maguire: Carol, and Sarah, were both voiced by my partner, Sarah. I barely gave her any direction. I just asked her to sound like a fragile elderly lady as much as she could for Carol, and herself for Sarah. We recorded it the night before Christmas Eve on the Zoom H1, and then I played them both from the Zoom into my phone, and then applied a telephone filter on GarageBand to it. Then I edited it into the footage. When filming, I was saying the lines in my head so I knew how long to leave gaps between my own dialogue. And that was it really, it was really straightforward. The only other software I used for dialogue editing was Audacity, which is free software and very user-friendly.

MobileMovieMaking: Could you discuss the spooky sound effects and other aspects of the sound track?

Maguire: One thing I learned on “The Ferryman” was that my skills don’t lie in sound or music, so I subscribed to Storyblocks on LumaFusion and found all the music and spooky stuff from there. Modified a few things obviously, but yeah it was all stock sound.

MobileMovieMaking: What about those fingers appearing from behind the door?

Maguire: All me! I just slowed down the footage so that it made my fingers move more unnaturally.

MobileMovieMaking: Now that the film is done, is there anything you’d have done differently?

Maguire: I would have loved to have had an actual ghost appear at the end or something, but I enjoyed the challenge. I would’ve prepped more, done storyboards etc but I don’t think it would have affected the final product much really, maybe just made the shoot smoother.

MobileMovieMaking: Have you any advice for filmmakers who are thinking of doing horror pictures?

Maguire: I’m a huge horror fan so probably biased but…it’s the most fun genre to do and has the best fans out there. Just make something with what you have, no matter how little, and have fun with it. I genuinely believe that the horror genre is the best, and allows us to tell the best stories. There is so much value in horror and it’s a great genre for discovering filmmaking craft.

MobileMovieMaking: Anything else you’d like to say about “Lonely & Cold”?

Maguire: I’m just glad people are enjoying and responding to it, and if it’s made one person pick up the phone to speak to someone and check in on someone, I’ll be very happy. Also, this will now be an annual thing, and hopefully I will have a small cast and crew next Christmas to make something really special so stay tuned for that.

MobileMovieMaking:  What’s the best ways for people to keep up with you?

Maguire: I’m on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Anyone can feel free to get in touch about anything. I’m open for a chat, but please do check out the YouTube channel and give us those views, likes and subscribe, as that is going to be the epicentre of everything and I have BIG plans for it in 2021.

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The editors of MobileMovieMaking have chosen “Lonely & Cold” as the Mobile Movie of the Week.