Shot in six days by a crew of six guys, on a budget of just six hundred Euros, Aislados ("Isolated") re-writes the definition of an independent movie, with a helping hand from Avid...

 

Isolated but not alone

Everyone was telling us we were stupid and this was not the right way to make a film….

The tricky question of budgets tends to put a stop to many independent productions before they even get started. But this was not the case for a group of intrepid Spanish film makers who, with an unbelievably small budget, have created a film which is the talk of the industry and currently winning numerous award nominations on the film festival circuit…. Aislados (“Isolated”) rewrites the definition of an independent film production.

Seizing the opportunity

Our story starts in the summer of 2004 when scriptwriter and director David Marqués and producer Jean- Luc Ducasse found themselves frustrated by the all-too-familiar process of trying to get a film made the conventional way. In Spain this often involves a lot of waiting around for permission and funding before the project can get off the ground. Rather than wasting time, Marqués and Ducasse decided to put their energies into another production and try to do things a little differently….

It was not just low budget - it was no budget.

Jean-Luc Ducasse, Producer

A friend’s offer of a house in Ibiza over the summer sparked the gem of an idea: they would use the location to bribe friends and colleagues into making a low-budget film with them. Or as Ducasse puts it: “It was not just low budget – it was no budget.” In fact the budget for making the movie was approximately €600 of spare cash. So, relying on firm friendships and their already solid reputations in the Spanish film industry, Marqués and Ducasse persuaded a small team to join them in Ibiza for a few weeks during the summer. The fact that everyone had to pay their own air fares to Ibiza is just the beginning of this remarkable story.

The difference between Aislados and many first time, semi-professional features is the level of experience involved. For filmmakers and actors who have already experienced some success, such a way of working might seem a little bit like a step back. But the simple truth is that a small team of friends recognized an opportunity to sidestep the traditional Spanish film industry waiting game, and were bold enough to seize the opportunity when they saw it.

The fact that everyone had to pay their own air fares to get on location is just the beginning of this remarkable story.

Friendships, favours & freebies

Once scriptwriter Marqués had written a basic script, there followed several weeks of rehearsals for the main actors, where the dialogue was fine-tuned and finalized. When rehearsals ended and filming began, the script didn’t change – all of the dialogue in the film is taken straight from Marqués’ final script.

It was all about fun and friends. Everyone was telling us we were stupid and this was not the right way to make a film.

Jean-Luc Ducasse, Producer

Actor Adria Collado, one of the two lead roles in the movie, enjoyed the experience tremendously. Collado is something of a celebrity in his native Spain after appearing in a weekly Spanish soap opera, and has over 20 films to his credit. He says that despite having to pay his own way to take part in this movie, he loved every minute: “David wrote the script, and we spent time rehearsing, just talking about things that made us laugh. As an actor it was a real pleasure to work like this. It’s a funny way to work, but I love it.” Producer Jean-Luc Ducasse adds: “It was all about fun and friends. Everyone was telling us we were stupid and this was not the right way to make a film.”

The original plan was to self-shoot on two small miniDV camcorders with no direct sound. Something approaching a more conventional way of working was achieved when director of photography Arie van Dam and sound-recordist Dani Navarro offered to pay their own fares to Ibiza and work for free, largely due to the director’s reputation as a filmmaker. Even so the budget remained stuck at €600, with the time scale for the shoot set at only six days. Everything, including video tapes, was begged or borrowed from friends or relatives and no skills were wasted. For example, the cameraman’s previous experience in porn movies proved very useful, especially with the time pressures and the need to shoot close-ups from flattering angles!

Everything, including video tapes, was begged or borrowed from friends or relatives and no skills were wasted.

From rough cut to 35mm

After just six days of shooting, the next trick was editing the footage and getting it into a presentable state, again with very little money. Sound-recordist Dani Navarro had the answer in the form of his girlfriend, Laila Torrent. “Laila had recently been on an editing course and learnt how to edit on Avid Xpress DV so we went to see her, although she hadn’t done a feature film before," explains Ducasse.

So the first rough cut was done using Xpress DV, with director and producer working alongside first-time editor Torrent, selecting shots and assembling them in narrative order. "It worked well, partly because there wasn't too much editing involved for a lot of the film, as it is a series of conversations shot in long takes," explains Ducasse. Xpress DV allowed Torrent to cut the film in six days, matching the number of days it took to shoot. Meanwhile Ducasse and Marqués had secured, at short notice, a slot for Aislados at the Malaga Film Festival. Suddenly they needed a broadcast quality version of the film, complete with English subtitles and incidental music.

The first cut of the film, using Avid Xpress DV, was done in just six days, matching the number of days the film took to shoot.

The biggest task was the subtitling, as the film is dialogue heavy. Torrent typed the translated lines into a Word file and transferred them to the video using Xpress DV's title facility, which resulted in 1346 subtitle scenes. In a frenetic five-day process, Torrent cut and pasted the subtitles into the edit time-line to match the dialogue. Incidental and theme music also had to be added, and were provided by Spanish composer Juanma Redondo and his band Statuas.d.sal. The soundtrack of dialogue and Redondo's music was remixed and edited on Digidesign Pro Tools.

After a further two days to make a transfer to DigiBeta, the film and its makers went to Malaga for the festival where it was picked up by heavyweight production-distribution company Alta. This involvement brought €60,000 of extra money which covered the cost of more extensive post-production, transfer to 35mm and Dolby SR sound mixing at Tecnison. At this point the Avid team in Madrid, who had been following the progress of the Aislados project with interest, offered the use of one of their edit suites for a couple of weeks.

Everything was quick and professional, giving us broadcast quality and something that we could make a 35mm print from.

Jean-Luc Ducasse, Producer

Ducasse praises the support and technical know-how of the Avid team, who advised on the re-edit and finishing of the film, done mainly on Avid Xpress Pro. "Everything was quick and professional, giving us broadcast quality and something that we could make a 35mm print from." Ten days were spent recapturing the miniDV footage at a higher resolution. Finally the film was transferred to 35mm at Fotofilm, who praised the high quality of the cinematography and post-production work on Avid Xpress Pro.

Festival fever!

It has been said that Aislados more than bears comparison with American independent productions such as Sideways and Before Sunset. Director David Marqués explains: “People seem to identify with the movie, they see the characters talking about the same things they talk about. They like it because it is real.” The film started to create a real buzz of excitement on the festival circuit. So far it has received four different awards from festivals in Spain and enjoyed sell-out screenings at festivals all over Europe, including the London Film Festival where it also received an award nomination. The film is now set for a full premier and launch in Madrid next Spring.

Aislados more than bears comparison with American independent movies such as Sideways and Before Sunset.

Ducasse and Marqués agree that the film could not have been finished without the additional money brought by the Alta coming along as co-producers, or the technology and expertise offered by the Avid team in Spain. Far from being Isolated, they used every resource available to them to produce something truly memorable.