Short Film: Fired

After being fired from his job, a common man works with an his partner on the inside in order to take revenge on his boss and murder him.

Synopsis:

Derek is your typical 9 to 5 worker who takes pride in his job. Unfortunately, it all goes downhill when he gets fired from his job. Ted feels as if his life was taken away from him, now he plans to take his ex-boss' life. But he is not alone, a mysterious insider has given Derek all the details and helps him out in his plot to murder the boss. Will Ted succeed in murdering his boss and reclaiming his dignity, or will he end up with the knife in his back?

Crew:

Director: Easton Laird

Producer: Matt Clary

Director of Photography: Zack Saldana

Key Grip Kyle Mu

Reflection:

The style of Fired was a psychological horror film inspired by films like "The Shining," "Psycho," with a little bit of "Friday the 13th" mixed in. I contributed by bringing most of the props on set such as the mask used by Derek, and the fake blood. To contribute even more, I acted as one of the main antagonists (Ted) in this short film too. My major role was key grip on set. I set up and supervised all of the equipment for our film set as well as reported back to the Director of Photography. I also watched out for the safety of the equipment on set as well. I focused to make sure each shot was lit perfectly and supervised other people such as Matt and Easton who acted as grips on set as well. I asked the D.O.P. what else is needed and collaborated with him to make sure we got the best shots.

Some of my favorite shots from the short film included:

- 0:22 Close up of the villains back as it adds mystique to this character and sets the tone.

- 1:07 to 1:14 Tracking shot of Derek walking into the room as it builds suspense for what would happen next.

-1:48 Close up of the knife that Derek is holding, foreshadows a huge turning point in the story.

- 2:03 to 2:05 panning shot of two characters running from Ted as it makes the viewer feel uneasy, almost as if they are there themselves.

- 2:47 Close up of Nick and I looking to see if Evan (Derek) is still there. Builds up so much suspense, makes the viewer almost think that Derek is behind them.

-4:12 Cleaning of bloods from the boss' hands. Shows that he murdered Ted and makes the viewer wonder if he is the next murderer.

I feel as if all of these shots best display my role well as I made sure the lighting was made well in every single shot. My greatest challenge was having to both supervise and act at the same time as I could be bad at multi tasking. Next time, I could probably not act as such a huge role to make sure I could focus on my job as Key Grip and nothing else.

The overall quality of the short film is impressive. It is dark, gritty, and messes with the viewers head as they watch it. I love the part when they are running from Derek after he murders a co-worker. I also like when our actor Nick washes the blood from his hands. If we had more time, we could have expanded on and explained the story a little bit more. Collaborating with my crew was wonderful as if we all had the same goal, to make a great short film and put all we got into this. Our collaboration and similar goals worked, although our communication through texting could have been a bit better. This film demonstrates my ability to multi task as both an actor and filmmaker although it was excruciating at times, as well as my desire to get the best shots possible.