A few years ago my wife and I took a long overdue holiday to Sri Lanka.
We started our trip at Kadju House, a lovely villa on the south coast of Tangalle, where we could relax for a few days before beginning our “real” adventure. But the villa was so nice, and the food so delicious, and staff so friendly that we kept extending our stay.
Being on holiday in one spot meant I finally had some time to play with an app called FilmicPro I’d downloaded ages ago. And it was while I was out for a stroll that I envisioned filming an epic chase scene on the rocky beach.
Inspired, I set about scribing a simple story that could be cobbled together using local talent and our villa staff as the cast. Everyone loved the idea and the next day we were in production.
The film is full of mistakes and I can’t say the chase scene is “epic,” but I learned a lot about phone filmmaking, and the film ended up winning some awards in a few mobile phone film festivals.
And more recently the “Stick Steadi-Cam,” that I built by channelling my inner MacGyver, was featured in an Apple Store seminar on iPhone filmmaking, so this little short delivered more than just a few smiles.
But more than anything else, its a wonderful souvenir from a wonderful trip.
