Discover what Director Ben Mallaby has to say about his acclaimed short-film Milk! (2014) and get to know him a little bit better by reading this short Q&A with the man himself.
Milk! has screened at several film festival across the world, such as the 9th British Shorts Film Festival (Berlin), Leeds International Film Festival (Winner of an audience award, UK), and the Nashville Film Festival (USA).
One thing we can assure you: drinking milk will never be the same after watching this brilliant dark comedy!
1. Where did the idea for the story come from and what does it mean to you?
Toby [Williams] and Paul [F Taylor] handed me a script pretty shortly after our previous film Battlecock! They liked the idea of continuing the lives of these characters and wrote a new situation for them. As soon as I got to the part where they worked out how to make milk, I was on board.
2. What were the main challenges you faced when putting this film together?
The film was quite an easy production to my memory, I think it was post-production which took the time, there were VFX shots, and a lot of back and forth on what the pace of the edit should be. I think we got there though.
3. What were the biggest lessons you learned during the making of the film?
Well we learned how unpredictable blood gags can be, we spent ages lining the ceiling and floor with plastic sheeting for the spurting blood effect only for it to go straight into Toby’s eyes and onto the wall behind him. He was such a pro though, he saw the take through and it’s in the film.
4. What was your best experience during the shoot?
The gory stuff was a lot of fun. Fake fingers, scratches down the arm, we had a license to go over the top and push for the laughs, and the whole shoot was hilarious.
5. What's been your best experience screening the film?
There have been a couple which stood out, the London Short Film Festival opening night screening was a real joy, the audience was a little drunk and it was on after a great comedy so it got big laughs. London Comedy Festival was also a notable one but mostly because someone fainted because of all the blood.
6. How have you found the festival circuit?
The festival circuit has been very kind to this film, it’s played almost everywhere we’ve submitted it, often in the late night categories (thank goodness for them) and it’s picked up a couple of audience awards which is really gratifying.
7. What plans do you have to distribute your film?
It’s currently with Shorts TV who screen it on their channels, in a year or so I’ll put it back online and see if I can’t drum up some views.
8. What was the last short film by another filmmaker you enjoyed?
I’m a big and vocal fan of Big Red Button, their short This Is Why Gerald Should Be Supervised is genius.
9.Is there anything you would like to add as advice to fellow/budding filmmakers?
Get out to festivals and film nights and network, I’ve met a lot of my favourite collaborators in the pub after a screening.
To keep up to date with Mallaby's latest projects, follow him on Twitter @Mallaby. Take a look at more of his productions at Mallaby.uk
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