Jack Parfitt is an Upper Sixth pupil who studies History, Classics and Theatre Studies. With a keen interest in acting and being on the stage he has taken a new point of view from behind the camera for his Independent Project. I spoke to Jack about his inspiration and process behind the film.
Jack always wanted to do film from a young age and was always interested in learning about the theoretical side of filming. He therefore decided to create a film for his independent project which went on to become a huge project that Jack wrote, shot, directed, and edited.
The concept of the film, called The Scales, was initially inspired by visual landscapes. This slowly developed into the plot that Jack wrote and stitching both the screenplay and visual elements together jack was able to create the screenplay. The Scales ‘centres around a pair of morally polarised characters: a troubled young thief with a heart of gold and a vile and corrupt detective obsessed with the suffering of others. Locked in an inevitable and deadly confrontation, these characters represent the peaks and troughs of the human moral complex and across three chapters, the film will see them weighed against each other on the scales of justice.’ It took Jack between 2 to 3 months to write the whole screenplay and filming has taken place from mid-March 2022 until October 2022, with an overall of 17 days shooting. Jack had to be careful to measure his expectations when looking for locations as he was restricted to the Norfolk area and the landscapes of the film were chosen/found after the screenplay had been written. Thematically speaking Jack wanted urban landscapes until the end of the film, ‘to create the feeling of the crushing weight of being in the city’, thus he filmed a lot of the scenes in Fakenham and Norwich city centre.
As an actor first then a film director, Jack had an added awareness of the performers which gave him a better understanding into how to direct them and how to keep up their spirits. Filming is a long tedious process to find the right shot, as Jack explains that the hardest thing to do was keep moral up, especially after long days where they had struggled to find the right venues/ locations when plans had fallen through. In these times it helps that he was surrounded by an incredibly helpful and patient group of both actors and friends.
Now completed after months of hard work and nearly a year in the making, Jack’s initial expectation/ inspiration for The Scales never altered and the finished product replicates exactly what he wanted to produce.
Jack also participated in the 48hour film competition in London in September. This is a professional competition in which avid filmmakers must write, shoot, and edit a film in just 48hours. Each film is given the same character, prop, and line which they must have in their film but with a choice of genres. Jack chose Dystopian for his film and says that the competition was ‘very awesome’ but slightly intense due to the time limit. It also took him out of his comfort zone as the time limit prevented him from the process of trial and error to get the perfect shot.
Jack loves making films more than anything else and has already got a few ideas for the next few films. He plans to take a gap year next year to work on these shorter films so that he can submit them to local film festivals.
The Scales is due to be released early December and we can’t wait to watch it. For a teaser of what’s to come Jack has created two trailers available to watch online at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgJZEM-KajU
(52) The Scales: An Independent Short Film - Trailer 2 - YouTube
