Brand New Series - Throwback Thursdays - “Don’t Look Yet”
Welcome to the third instalment of our new film article series, Throwback Thursdays!
This is a weekly article being held over the month of February, where film-maker Paul Darroch re-visits a selection of short films held within Oak Tree Productions’ vaults from the past.
During a three week travelling holiday with my partner, Geraldine, throughout the length and breadth of Italy in the summer of 2006, we eventually arrived in the beautiful island city of Venice.
As well as being stunned by its Renaissance and Gothic architectural grandeur, there was an aesthetic mysticism that instantly struck me about both its look and feel.
I simply could not resist the opportunity to film something.
Since childhood I had been in awe (and somewhat terrified) by Nicolas Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now” (1973). Having limited time to spend, I quickly decided to shoot a short story chase sequence throughout Venice’s labyrinth of alleyways, canals and small bridges – all with a view to it being first and foremost a direct homage to Roeg’s horror masterpiece.
Although taking only as couple of hours to shoot, it was not without challenges due to the scorching Venetian heat, annoying amount of fellow tourists getting in shot and the need to self film myself from below whilst hurriedly pursuing the “mysterious woman” on foot.
Once back home in Scotland, editing eventually took place in early 2007. Due to its relatively short running time, I decided to have an attempt at both composing and performing an original film score on a traditional piano. And to reiterate the point that it was a homage to Roeg’s film, I slightly tweaked the original title to “Don’t Look Yet”.
Despite it being very much an experimental piece of work, the film appeared to go down well with audiences. Before long it was included in both the BBC’s British Season of Film and also the BBC Film Festival in Glasgow.
Not bad for a couple of hours filming on holiday.
We hope you enjoyed reading the third instalment of our Throwback Thursdays series.
Watch this space next week for Part Four!
Title: Don’t Look Yet (2007)
Plot line: An intrigued tourist follows a mysterious woman into the dark alleyways of Venice.
Running Time: 1 min 30 sec
Starring: Paul Darroch as The Pursuer and Geraldine Smith as The Pursued
Music Composed & Performed by Paul Darroch
Written, Produced & Directed by Paul Darroch
Copyright Oak Tree Productions All Rights Reserved
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