In 2008 an independent production company set out to make the
micro-budget feature film ‘Just For The Record’.
Armed with a stellar cast of top actors, the world’s most
advanced digital camera and a quirky location to die for ... what
could possibly go wrong?
A lot, as it happens.
A year after the film has been abandoned, the cast and crew reunite
for a series of interviews about the ill-fated production. It’s a
constant round of accusations, recriminations and humorous anecdotes
as everyone tries to answer the central burning question: Why did
the film fail and whose fault was it?
The interviews reveal a host of possible candidates:
For a start there’s the alcoholic, womanising and mostly incompetent
Producer. Then there’s the wunderkind Director who doesn’t make
films, he creates experiences - bad ones; the writer who’s read
every screenplay book going without actually managing to develop any
talent; the bi-polar editor who can’t even agree with himself and
the DOP who would struggle to understand a ZX Spectrum, let alone a
state of the art camera.
Mix them all together with a two week night shoot, a budget smaller
than most films' catering bill, an incompetent crew, a cast who
can’t stand each other and a location which proves to be dark,
inaccessible and downright un-filmable ... and you have the perfect
conditions for laying a cinematic turd.
JUST FOR THE RECORD is a warning to anyone thinking of making a
feature film on the cheap. By turns hilarious, tragic and poignant
the direct to camera interviews of the cast and crew expose what
it’s really like in the seedy, cash strapped and ultimately
thankless world of micro budget filmmaking.
Reminiscing about every stage of the process from conception through
scripting, casting, preproduction, shooting, editing and ultimately
giving up in despair - this pathetic tale will entertain, inform and
warn off anyone thinking of getting involved in a similar project.
JUST FOR THE RECORD is a how-not-to manual which proves you can have
all the talent in the world ... or you can have a micro-budget
movie.
Just for the
Record
