Influences and Audience

The idea of One Two Many was drawn from a number of styles as well as influences. To begin with, the idea to write a gritty (I say gritty simply down to the violent scene towards the end) comedy, came from the viewing of a few british comedies through the means of iTunes. One of these being Roach, a short funded by the Hackney Film Fund, which immediately got my attention as that kind of support feels fairly achievable, moreover the short film was brilliant and so triggered immediate inspiration. The film itself took very common life situation, introduced a problem and then slowly took it slightly outside of the 'norm', a great technique of which I kept in mind when writing One Two Many, and in all made for a very funny short film lasting around 8 minutes.

Another quite prominent influence was a short entitled Stingray, which played a key role in a major decision made during post production and editing. Stingray is a short film that lasts around 13 minutes and stars Matthew Horne (best known as ,Gavin in Gavin and Stacey). Stingray in fact also seems to follow a similar pattern to Roach in how it takes an everyday situation and allows it to slip outside what's thought of as normal in a very comedic fashion. However, it's not this aspect of the short film that was most influential. I remember watching the short film and being taken almost by surprised by it's ending. Not because it didn't make sense, or was incredibly abrupt, simply because it appeared to be just over half way through the running length of 13 minutes. This reason this of course became evident when some deleted scenes and 'bloopers' began to roll as the credits proceeded, which I thought was very effective and in turn created an almost warm mood, and in my eyes left the audience feeling more fulfilled than if the film had simply ended and allowed the credits to roll. I liked the idea so much that I thought I'd use a similar technique at the end of One Two Many, which wasn't particularly necessary but I think worked well.

The location of a toilet was chosen almost before the actual idea for the film was, down to the fact that filming in one location would not only be easier and involve less organisation, but if done well could make for a professional looking product. The idea of using a toilet as the location sprung to mind, after watching a 90's french film entitled 'La Haine'. Midway through the film there is a scene in which the three main characters are a public toilet having quite an aggressive argument about what they plan to do next. During this fiery exchange, a flushing sound comes from a toilet cubicle, and out comes an old man who'd clearly been using the facilities during the length of the confrontation, however was completely oblivious to the fact and came out happy as ever, completely disarming the youths. I loved this idea of people being so caught up in their own thoughts, that they don't stop to think how their own thoughts apply to someone else's situation. I'd like to think this idea is evident in the story of One Two Many.

The target audience for One Two Many directly corresponds with the age of all who work on it. The idea simply came from a situation that some in the ages of around 18-22 could easily find themselves in, and at no point does the short film attempt to veer away from this audience. The almost brutal violence is a technique that's cropping up ever more frequently with British cinema, and is often used in films that my friends and I have taken a particular liking to, for example, Hot Fuzz and Kidulthood. Furthermore the music used throughout the short film is very current, and has had particular success within the ages that the short film portrays. For example, Dubstep is a genre that's really only begun to get attention within the last three years, and I think that it's usage in the fight scene not only captures the energy but would immediately grab the interest of anybody the protagonists age.

It also became clear from audience feedback that the actor playing the main character Fish (Chris Waller), portrayed his role particularly well. People reacted to well to the light hearted exposure of a stereotypical character often seen in club toilets.