Deathmate Film Spotlight
Today’s film spotlight focuses on the short film Deathmate directed by Luca Di Paolo.
What is the title of your film and what inspired said title?
The title of my new short film is Deathmate. The title comes from the name of the app the characters use to find partners to share a couple’s suicide with.
Tell us a little bit about the story and origins of your film.
In the story Alessio and Francesca get to know each other thanks to an app called deathmate, and they decide to spend the last hours of their lives together. There is no specific moment when the idea came to me. It was a time when every day I don’t know for what reason; I was fantasizing about my own death. Then one day, a mentor told me that I was having those thoughts because they actually made me feel better. Because I imagined the people around me feeling bad about my death and I could tell they really cared. From that thought came the idea for the film.
Any films or filmmakers that inspired this film?
When I produced Deathmate, my biggest dream was that it could become a series. In fact, Deathmate is not only a short film for me, it is also a pilot. I wrote the Deathmate series. Someday someone will realize how important it is to talk about the issues we’re having with teen suicide and produce it for me.
That’s why the main references are purely TV series like Black Mirror, 13 Reasons Why and Mr. Robot.
What is the goal of the film for you?
The goal of my short film, and especially that of the series of the same name, is to help young people deal with dark times. Teen suicide with the pandemic has increased by twenty percent and I find it absurd that no one is talking about it, trying to make awareness among young people. The Deathmate series, and to some extent the short film, is about annihilated youth who are about to end it all but at some point awaken to life.
What has the journey been like getting the film into production?
I chose to produce Deathmate myself from my own savings. When I shot it, I invested almost everything I had. I decided to produce it on my own because I wanted to seek production for the series, only once the pilot was finished. The short film cost very little. This is thanks to a number of partners including Augustus Color, where we did the post production, Red Roots who provided the red helium 8k to shoot, and Arim Video, who gave us the lighting and audio equipment. Without them, it would have been impossible to get the project off the ground.
One thing you learned from this project?
On this project, I learned how important it is to have an exchange with the actors. With Rocco Fasano and Blu Yoshimi it was like this: I would tell them the story, what the characters were feeling, and then together we would adjust a few lines of dialogue to make it sound more natural. Reading the script with them was fundamental to getting them to understand the characters well, but the biggest work was done with the rehearsals. All rehearsals were shot with two cameras and then edited. By doing this, when I felt a scene was starting to work, I would edit it, and send it to the actors.
How can folks find you and your film online?
Deathmate is not online right now but in festivals. I think it will be available online starting in March. For now, you can see my first short film Voci on my YouTube channel, and my second short film Viaggio nei mondi dei piccoli istanti che ci dividono on Prime video.
Any last pieces of advice for fellow filmmakers?
The advice I would give to any aspiring filmmaker is to make lots of short films. Thanks to the new cameras you can shoot at very high quality with very low costs. I think the best way to start is with a few independent short films. The great skill at the beginning is to write shorts that are easy to produce but have a great impact. So write good, inexpensive stories.
For more reviews and content stick with To Tony Productions and don’t forget to subscribe to our blog to stay up to date!