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Two shadowy figures meet on a shadowy evening in a shadowy car park. There is an illicit deal to be struck but even the most carefully orchestrated plans can come undone at the seams!

Director's Notes

When it was suggested that OTT members should submit films to the Nokia 15 second film competition I thought it was a great idea, and a good way to make my first film. After trying for a while to come up with an idea, I spotted John Condon's idea for The Exchange and immediately knew I wanted to do it. Within a few days, with the help of the producer (also John) all the cast and crew were in place.

On the day of the shoot we all met up at the home of Michael Stanmore, who allowed us to use his underground garage as the film's single location. The actual shoot went relatively smoothly, apart from having to stop several times because of the sounds of planes and drains. The actors (John Bateman and Colin Black) were both excellent, a pleasure to work with, as were the crew who made my job very easy. The whole shoot took about three hours, to get all the necessary shots from the storyboard and some others, which on the evening I had felt inspired to capture to tape.

As for the editing process, I handed the editor (Yann Marig) the footage and a copy of the storyboard, and from that a first cut was made. Upon seeing that initial cut I was happy with what I had, it just needed a few tweaks and it would be perfect. The only problem was that it was over 30 seconds long; twice the length it needed to be!. After further cuts and tweaks, we managed to get the film down to the required 15 seconds but I now felt that something was missing. However, after receiving the music from the composer, Jo Robinson, I was delighted to see that it fitted perfectly and the film finally worked.

The Exchange, as intended, was entered in to the 2006 Nokia 15 second film competition.

Once again, thank you to everyone involved in the making of the film..