ABOUT

a Short Film from director Tom Stone

Go to Next Slide to Watch the Short Film.

WHAT TEARS REMAIN is the result of a

University TV Production assignment.

The brief was to make a 1 minute film (+ or – 5secs)

The film had to focus on one of three words:

HOME, DILEMMA or CONTRAST. I chose DILEMMA.

Production of the film

took 5 hours in total:

4 hours to shoot and a

further hour to record

Jessica’s voiceover.

Originally filmed at 25 frames per second, the

frame rate was reduced to 18 FPS in post-

production.

This produced a more choppy motion which helped

to emphasise the gritty nature of the scene.

The continuous follow shot, when Jessica walks to the

post-box, was carefully choreographed to include a dip

to the floor. This camera movement is not the natural

way to shoot the shot, but was used to create a rotating

motion on the tarmac, in an attempt to emphasise how

Jessica’s world is metaphorically spinning.

In order make Harry (real name

Rory) cry on set, his father would

pull his dummy from his mouth.

Although the collective guilt of

filming a crying baby was difficult

to bear, the results were wonderful

and I hope Rory will understand

when he’s old enough to watch the

film.

It took 15 takes to get the continuous follow shot, so in order to make

best use of the envelopes Jessica posted, we addressed each one to a

different Bournemouth University student flat with a copy of the script

and a unique code inserted inside.

These letters were used as a marketing tool, with instructions on how to

follow the Facebook & Twitter pages and film credits offered to those who

responded with their code. The response to this was somewhat

underwhelming, with a total of ZERO respondents.

In the original edit (and all through planning), the film was backed by

an excerpt from a beautiful song called ‘Cold’ by Jorge Méndez.

Jorge kindly provided permission for me to use his piece and although I

took it out in the final edit, I would like to thank him, both for

inspiration toward the mood of the film and for permission to use his

work. Here is a link to the original song on

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCD0pu29-N0 and on

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/silhouettes/id681363075 as

well as the link to the original film edit: http://youtu.be/1CEefPZKcXc

The opening and closing wide shots are

intentionally off-level. The idea was that in

posting the letter, Jessica has had to walk from

right to left on-screen, as well as seemingly

uphill. This creates both a negative movement

(progressing backwards, to English-reading

viewers) and an arduous movement (uphill).

The rear-view mirror shot was initially designed to

have the post-box in the background, positioned

between Harry and Jessica. However, in practice this

was difficult to achieve within the tight shooting

schedule, mainly due to the height differences of the

3 subjects.

To find a suitable location, I spent a day

cycling to over 50 different post-boxes in and

around my hometown of Bournemouth. The location

needed to be spacious enough to park a car;

quiet enough that vehicle and pedestrian traffic

wouldn’t cause an issue, as well as having the

right aesthetic look.

Believe it or not, this was a difficult task. At

one point, I considered building a prop post-

box, but with minimal budget and timescale, to

achieve a realistic look was unfeasible.

When Jessica pulls the letter to Carl from her pocket the

address that reads on the front is that of a mental health

hospital in Poole, Bournemouth’s neighbouring town.

This adds further complexity to the subtext of the story:

Is Carl mentally ill? Does Jessica know this? And will the

letter actually reach him?

The title, ‘What Tears Remain’, was taken from

the last line of the script, which reads:

“As the realisation of her actions takes hold;

throat dry and uncomfortable, Jessica swallows

what tears remain.”

The child actor, Rory King, is the son

of a good friend of mine: Tom King.

The day before shooting, Tom asked me

to be best man at his wedding.

Tom will be marrying Roxanne later this

year and I am delighted to be in charge

of the stag-do!

TomRon TV

@TomRonTV

/TomRonTVlike

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watch the film: http://youtu.be/2ro9-HVFqzI