GALLIMAUFRY, My First Feature Film

Written, Directed, and starred in by Leon Cole. The feature film is a series of comedy sketches, “ranging from settings in contemporary suburban Yorkshire, to 1920s USA. An ensemble cast perform various ludicrous characters in plenty of silly scenarios. It's a slapstick, farce and parody; a jumble of comedy” to quote the synopsis.  

The film really was quite fun to film, and whilst I'm a co-star and only in one scene, so much fun and chaos happened that day. So let's dive in.

How did i get the job???

A while before i was asked to sign on the project, leon asked me if the opportunity arrived would i like to be in one of his projects? Of course I said yes. (This happened at his after show drinks, for either his first or second show in uni) Little did i know he had a project in the works as he'd also just released a short film not too long before this. The actual conversation about Gaillimaufry happened closer towards filming day.

The week of filming I spent the first few days away with my partner, and I was originally set to film the day after I got back. However due to schedule conflicts we changed the day, and filmed a couple of hours after i got back. This gave me time to get ready and destress after the train journey, not to mention it gave me time to go over my lines.

The filming process

Where to begin? I arrived at our filming location. (the uni accommodation building) and was met by the amazing leon cole, who helped calm me down as i was initially in a slight panic as i was feeling not as prepared as I'd like to be, but Leon reassured me that everything was okay. Besides, he actually wanted to film around this time so we could use the sunset in the background of our first shot.

For those of you that have seen the film, you will know the type of feel this scene was meant to have. A nice touch of romance, a nice little date gone sideways towards the end. Well just before filming Leon tried to have a chat about first blind date with Aiden and i. So it turns out that neither Adiden or myself had done any of that, and had worked with our partners in education before then dating them. So all what Leon was trying to say was relatable, neither of us had done before, but we still knew what he was talking about and meant by it.

The first scene we filmed, Aiden and I had finished our dinner date (not on screen) and were walking back to my apartment. Now something to bear in mind, a lot of our friends live in the apartment building.  One of our mutual friends was walking back to his house after being out, saw me hand in hand on our first take, walking back to the student accommodation building, and thought, “ is Crystal cheating on her partner?”  

Spoiler alert. I wasn't. He just wasn't able to see the camera from where he was. As soon as he came around the corner, he realised we were filming something, and even shouted action for the next take. 

After that we moved inside to film the rest, and were trying not to laugh for almost all of it. It turns out, Aiden is very easy to set off laughing. Then again, awkward pauses and long eye contact isn't something we're the best in.

I’m not going to say anything more about  my scene or the film, so I'm not giving out full spoilers. However, what I will say is…

We Won Multiple Awards at the SRM International Film Festival

Yes that's right, our feature film won the awards for

-Best Story

-Best Screenplay

-Best Feature Film

-Best International Film

Obviously this is great news here. That our feature film, which was filmed in our local  towns of Scarborough and Bridlington, not only won multiple awards, but also before knowing this, our writer and director not only made it onto the radio and the local newspaper to promote the feature film as well.

I think it's safe to say that this has been an amazing opportunity for all of us involved.

So thank you Leon for inviting me to join this project, I've had a blast and looking forward to seeing it premiering soon.

Thanks for reading.

Byeee