DISREMEMBEr
COMING
SOON
Making of
Disremember
Poster
Get ready, because you won’t forget ‘DISREMEMBER’!
The first-ever one-person narrative feature-length film.
It's a self-funded, big idea film that truly embodies independent filmmaking and innovation. Disremember is a psychological thriller that was as challenging to make as it is suspenseful to watch.
Rob, an alcoholic on the verge of divorce, awakens disoriented in his ex-military friend's apartment with no memory of how he got there. As mysterious blackouts continue, he starts a dairy, soon realising strange things are happening within them. However It’s not until he sets up cctv cameras that he discovers the unsettling truth behind the blackouts. On a mission to gain control and uncover why this is happening to him, he finds himself blacking out more and more, as his own mind fights to keep the truth hidden.
I'm Matthew Simpson, an English actor and commercial director. Known for acting in Masters of the Air, Bansu, Annihilation, & Eastenders, and directing over 30 commercials. I've got a deep love for indie cinema and stories being told in unconventional ways. I'm all about pushing boundaries and doing things differently. I come from the cozy coastal town of Lowestoft, England. I made my way to London for drama school and fell in love with acting and filmmaking even more. After graduating in 2010, I acted in a few indie films and later transitioned to directing, working on commercials for top brands. My years of being on both sides of the camera has given me a ton of filmmaking knowledge. Having a deep passion for filmmaking and fascination with its limitless possibilities led me to create DISREMEMBER.
Production
Over the past 6 years, while juggling work, I poured everything into creating 'DISREMEMBER.' Every stage of production was a challenge. It wasn't easy, and it's not a glossy Hollywood tale. It's raw, it's real, and it has been quite the journey.
PRE-PRODUCTION
And so, the journey begins. I started writing "DISREMEMBER" back in 2014. Initially, it wasn't conceived as a one-person film; however, as I gained more filmmaking knowledge over the years, I naively believed it was possible, so it slowly evolved into one. The script took me around four years to reach the filming stage, possibly due to my limited writing experience, but also because of the intricacies of creating an engaging and logically structured one-person film. I considered several titles for the film, starting with 'Whole Other Half,' then 'Lest me Remember,' and finally settling on 'Disremember.' The term "Disremember" (meaning to fail to remember) symbolises Rob's motivation and the struggles he faces. However, here's a 'SPOILER ALERT': hidden within the word is another term, the very reason why Rob can't remember. Can you spot it? Securing the right location was paramount for me. Reluctantly being a one-person crew, I didn't want to split locations or cheat too much. This decision wasn't just for logistical reasons but also because I wanted everything to feel organically connected. Not so surprisingly, it took me more than a year to find the right place, which was a warehouse apartment in Hackney, London. It was authentically gritty, open-planned, had access to an industrial car park, was covered with graffiti, and just oozed character. After locking in the location, I began storyboarding everything in 3D to the measurements of the location, using the program Storyboarder. By using Storyboarder, I was able to work out my shot composition, lens type, and lighting, allowing me to push my creative limits as a solo filmmaker and make each shot as dynamically interesting and relevant to the story as possible. Shots included subjective POV and snorricam shots, putting the camera inside things, and hanging it off things. The film is not VFX-heavy; however, it did require some TV and laptop screen replacement. I had to green screen all of the TV footage. However, for the online therapist chat and website searches, I needed to interact with the screen to make it feel real. So, I created multiple websites and the entire online therapist chat, which I screen-recorded to be able to play on the laptop during filming, aiming for a more naturalistic acting performance.
I knew filming would be a HUGE undertaking, so working from a storyboard and having screen recordings would at least ease this slightly, or so I thought.
PRODUCTION
Filming was a grueling 20 days that always ran into nights. The first day was a big wake-up call. Going into filming, I had no idea how much I could physically and mentally film per day. While I had experience with production scheduling, this was new territory. Using StudioBinder, a brilliant online production management tool, I scheduled what I thought would be achievable. However, I completely underestimated how mentally exhausting it would be to keep on top of everything; continuity, camera, lighting, sound, props, and often the last thing on my mind, acting. There were times when I forgot to switch my mic on, charge batteries, move things out of the frame, and even press record. I made so many mistakes; I dropped the camera multiple times, set off the smoke alarm to the entire building, and one time filmed a whole two-page scene without putting my necklace on, to which I said out loud, 'just fix it in post,' immediately realising I was doing post, so I gave myself another pep talk and did it all again. I slept at the location, sometimes in costume with a laptop across my chest transferring data. Aside from the handheld POV and snorricam shots, I was initially worried that the rest of the footage would feel static and lack energy, even with lots of cuts and coverage. So to add a little camera movement, I used a face-tracking gimbal from Rhino.
This allowed for some automatic pan and tilt movement, which worked wonders, when I had the patience. Other times, I was darting around the room trying to get it to lock onto my face. As for the filming kit, I wanted to make sure it was all cost-efficient without compromising quality. For the camera, I needed something lightweight that I could easily handle and rig to myself, but also great in low light so I went for the Sony A7s3. I used Rode wireless Go mics and predominantly Aputure LED lights. Everything I ended up using was simple to set up, handle, and move. In the end, I worked out that each day I filmed on average 5 pages, with four area setups, and around 5-10 shots in each. I can honestly say filming was extremely intense, sometimes even painful, but in the end, very rewarding. Now all that was left was post-production, and how hard can that be, right? I mean, it's just sitting at a desk!
POST-PRODUCTION
Where to start? Well, it took me just over a year, which I don't think is that bad, but I did age about 10 years, and at times, it felt like going back to school—primary school, especially in the sound department. I had edited, color-graded, and done basic masking for commercials in the past, but never for a film. Sound design and mixing were uncharted territories for me, as was music composing, but I was eager to learn and explore. To my surprise, the edit came together relatively quickly, editing everything in Final Cut Pro. When it came to grading, I knew I wanted a grittiness and an almost imperfect grade to match my imperfect filming and location. This led me to the film emulation plugin Dehancer, where I was able to create a gritty film look that worked with my camera and bold lighting setup. Then I moved on to sound. This time it was no surprise that my on-set lav mic had some issues due to costume and ambient sounds. However, I used a neat little plugin called Accentize, which revived and restored the majority of my mic audio to a respectable level. I also transformed my home office (the corner of a small room) into a tiny ADR studio to redo the unrevivable and record the narration and inner monologue. For music, I first temp-tracked my entire film. "Hit the Road Jack" was a particular fav of mine. I even tried to get the rights to the track; however, I too hit the road when I heard the price. So, I turned to composing. Now, in no means am I a composer, but that doesn't mean I didn't try. Using Logic, I composed one track that makes a brief appearance in the film. But soon after this, I realised unless I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing this, royalty-free music was the way to go. So after an extensive search, I came across Artlist, a royalty-free music site with some incredible artists, where I not only found the most amazing tracks but also inspiration for alternative music. I couldn't be happier with the end result. Post-production was a marathon of long hours staring, shouting, and sometimes crying at a screen. So many hours that my perfect eyesight is now extremely imperfect, just like my film. Despite all the relentless challenges, here I am—battle-scarred but extremely proud and ready to share 'DISREMEMBER' and all it's crazy stories with whoever may be interested.
A MATCHA MOVIES production.
A one person production by MATTHEW SIMPSON.
Special thanks to NATASA ZAGAR SIMPSON & JOSHUA SIMPSON