Gone Gray Film Spotlight
Today’s film spotlight focuses on the short film Gone Gray directed by Koura Linda and Spaceship.
What is the title of your film and what inspired said title?
“Gone gray” – it is from a spy term describing when a spy has gone so far undercover that they have totally blended in, unnoticed, they have “gone gray”
Tell us a little bit about the story and origins of your film.
The story was written by my husband, spaceship. It was by his mother who spent the last months of her life non-verbal after suffering another stroke. It was written for the organization of independent filmmakers arise challenge, as a spy genre film.
The film follows a captive spy in an interrogation room and a team of operatives amid planning a raid. It serves to remind us of how strong we can be.
Any films or filmmakers that inspired this film?
Not specifically for this one, no.
What is the goal of the film for you?
To tell the story. It also was a bit of a filmmaking challenge for us in that we were the entire crew from the development through post production. My husband and I co-wrote the script, we ran the auditions with the scheduling help of our intern; we designed the wardrobe, and I created all the props and wardrobe pieces, and set design. Day 1 of filming we had a pa and our intern on set with us but we ran everything (camera, lighting, art, hair, makeup, set, wardrobe, sound, etc), day 2 was just my husband and i, day 3 was my husband and me and our intern, and day 4 was my husband and me and my assistant and that was it.
We then did all the editing and vfx and color grading and sound design with the help of one assembly editor for part of the assembly edit and used our friend’s song for the end.
it was really cool to see what we were able to do as the full crew for the film, just the two of us.
What has the journey been like getting the film into production?
It was a bit challenging. We had a lot of twists and turns during the casting process and securing the locations. For our exterior shoot night, we had last minute scheduling changes and had to rewrite the script on the spot, twice.
Doing it with basically no crew was a LOT of work. If it wasn’t for our intern and my assistant, it wouldn’t have happened at all – they were lifesavers! as was our cast – it was really awesome to work with the cast we ended up with – they were totally professional and incredible (our lead won “best actress” and our supporting actress was nominated for “best supporting actress” at the awards night following the premiere.
We also won “best editing,” “best cinematography,” “best music,” “best director(s)” “best original story,” “best picture” so that was pretty awesome!
One thing you learned from this project?
We re-learned that you can totally make films with your friends and keep your friendships while making an awesome movie. Drama belongs on the screen, not off of it. We had an amazing team on this and we are thankful for everyone who helped pull it off!
Also – backup your backup! We seem to never learn that lesson too many times!
How can folks find you and your film online?
on socials (ig/tiktok/fb/etc) @spacedreamproductions
our website www.spacedreamfilms.
our podcast https://anchor.fm/
our patreon https://www.patreon.
Any last pieces of advice for fellow filmmakers?
No matter what – don’t give up. So many things went wrong on this film and there were so many times we should have just given up and no one would have wondered why if we told them what we ran into. But we didn’t give up. And instead we won the contest and got to make a film we are really proud of and meet some really awesome and talented people!
Also – we filmed this on a dslr with a cctv lens we got off amazon for about $25. you don’t need big fancy gear or expensive (anything) to make a movie – you just need to know your tools and know how to use them and be resourceful with a range of knowledge. Money is not what stands in the way of indie filmmakers making great movies! So don’t make excuses and don’t feel like you need millions to get started. Go out there and start making things!
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