BOX

Directed by Oscar Simmons
Cinematography by Ciara Rigney
Production Design by Claudia Morles

NFTS Student Film 2023

Premise

BOX is a project done at NFTS in collaboration with the Directing Fiction, Cinematography and Production Design courses. Each team had a word in which they would need to conceptualize a 1-2 minute short film from.

Design Development

Our assigned word was depression, so the concept consisted of trapping our main subject in a box and have a series of shots depicting her struggle to cope within.

To do this, the design consisted of hanging cardboard through a primary and secondary structure. The primary structure was what the carpentry provided to us— wooden pieces that we could attach walls or anything to. The secondary structure consisted of fishing wire, in which the pieces of cardboard would hang from.

The idea of not having a solid structure behind the carboard came from the desire of wanting to see some light poke through the cardboard during a 360 degree shot which can be seen at the end of this page.

Construction Progress

We had three days in total to make this project. One day to design, one day to construct, and one day to shoot.

Final Design

In the photo below, a few pieces of cardboard can be seen sticking out of the main structure. Those pieces were attached only to the string behind which were cut during the 360 degree shot to reveal apertures where light would poke through.

Design On-Camera

360 Degree Shot

This shot consisted of placing our actress in a wagon and turning it slowly 360 degrees while many helpers cut the strings and threw ripped paper on the set. For more insight on the shoot process please check out the blog post on this project!