Behind the Film: Soundcheck - Worcester Film Festival

Introduction:

Soundcheck is a character-driven drama set in the hour before an important gig for an emerging band. The short film follows a talented young musician, Alice, and tackles themes of safety versus risk, highlighting the courage required to step beyond familiar yet restrictive spaces – especially as a woman in a male-dominated environment and industry. Soundcheck was created by Flok Pictures, a crew of second-year students at the University of Salford.

Inspiration:

The film’s crew as a whole are really into our music, so the idea for Soundcheck started as us simply wanting to make a film about a band. The narrative evolved from this starting point, using the confined environment and time limits of a pre-gig soundcheck in order to explore universal themes of ambition, risk, and self-belief. Our protagonist, Alice, is the only woman in the band, and the film also aims to examine casual misogyny in male-dominated industries, touching on how insecurity and complacency manifest in toxic masculinity.

The Process:

Filming took place over three days at the Old Pint Pot pub in Salford. One of the limitations placed on us by our course was to shoot in a single location, and this was not only challenging during the writing process, but also became quite draining whilst on set, having spent 30 hours over three days in just one room. We cast each of the band members individually, and were unable to have a rehearsal due to time and scheduling constraints. Therefore, one of my biggest worries going into the shoot was whether this cast of near strangers would be able to convincingly portray an established and well-rehearsed band. As the crew were setting up, I set off the cast to do a few practices of the piece that we’d given them to prepare – and very quickly this worry turned into one of my favourite moments on set. We all momentarily forgot what we were supposed to be setting up and stared in awe as, despite having no rehearsal at all, our incredibly talented cast played together as if they had been rehearsing for months.

What It Means to Be a Finalist:

This project was the second film we had made as a team, and was much more ambitious than our first-year film, with additions to the crew, a larger cast, and more technically challenging elements. For Soundcheck to be recognised by Worcester Film Festival is an incredible honour, and it makes me even more excited for what we will go on to achieve in our final year of university and beyond. I’m also very excited to attend the festival for the chance to watch some great films and hopefully meet some of the talented filmmakers behind them.