Rob Munday
When I finished University, I tried various routes to get into the film/television industry, from unpaid runner to filming football games. Despite feeling like I was making progress at one point, after having a few projects screened on TV in the UK, my ambitions never came to fruition and I turned my passion for screen entertainment to writing instead. Although I know it’s not healthy to dwell on the past, I still harbour some frustrations about that period of my life and I think it’s this lingering regret that made Michael Demetriou’s (Telephone Me) latest short Hellspawn strike a nerve.
A surreal exploration of the life of the young creatives trying to balance their aspirations with the need to actually make money, despite the off-kilter vibe of Demetriou’s short it manages to retain a level of authenticity that alludes to real-life experiences, those of the director. “The film was inspired by my own personal journey”, he explains, as he details how his career led him to shift away from filmmaking and into music, before returning to the former when his path into music never quite peaked.
“I had to reframe what ‘success’ or the believed ‘fruition’ meant”
“Returning to film, I felt rusty, as well as a little left behind with low confidence”, the director reveals as we discuss his career so far. “All my aspirations as a late teen, early-20s seemed to feel quite unattainable. With all these thoughts and conversations swirling around, feeding into my late-20’s disillusionment, I had to reframe what ‘success’ or the believed ‘fruition’ meant. I decided to collate my experiences and these thoughts into what would eventually be Hellspawn. Exploring how individuals measure success and the feelings that come with the pressures of expectation”.
How to measure success is a popular discussion at SotW, where our featured films are often judged by views, likes and comments, but this isn’t the only connection to the short film world in Hellspawn, with one of it’s character directly addressing what she sees at the problem with the format:
“I find it increasingly common that short film content that is narrative focused, 99% of the time makes me want to fall asleep. Then short film content that is more visual is 99% of the time vacuous, washed-out, gimmicky bullshit with trendy-looking people either sulking or looking sultry in obscure locations, which also makes me want to switch off.”
Commentary, that by association, you attribute to the director, especially when you consider that Hellspawn‘s narrative is, as Demetriou describes it, “almost non-existent”. In that same scene the characters, a young up-and-coming director and a more established filmmaker, discuss filmmaking trends and how clients see something that works and just aim to replicate it. Another trait Demetriou obviously dislikes in the world he finds himself, yet there are works he references himself in Hellspawn, especially those of photography/filmmaker brothers Frank and Tyrone Lebon. He even shows Frank’s Mount Kimbie video We Go Home Together on screen at one point, before replicating its shots of birds flying moments later. You’re just never quite sure if this is done as a tribute to filmmakers he actually aims to emulate or if he’s satirically mocking the industry and demonstrating the point he just made. I guess, it could be both!
“My passion for film blossomed over the last few years and to be able to pick up a camera and roll of film and start shooting something, once only a dream, is now a reality” – director, Michael Demetriou
Production-wise there’s a rough, DIY aesthetic to Hellspawn that feels perfectly matched to its story (or lack of it). Although, part of this do-it-yourself attitude was somewhat forced on Demetriou when he wasn’t able to find a cinematographer (the talented Rina Yang shot his previous short), who could shoot film and had free time, to work on his short. So, he did it himself! Admitting that “it was a great experience and I loved operating and feeling out the scenes through the lens.” It sounds like there was another side to this additional workload though, with the filmmaker revealing he “took too much on” by shooting, directing and producing the short himself, adding that it took “a heavy toll on my physical and mental health”.
Hopefully, Demetriou thinks the end product is worth it, as like Telephone Me (a short I still think of fondly eight years after we first featured it) Hellspawn is a distinct, thought-provoking piece showcasing the talents of a director trying to do something different. It’s not perfect, but it never claims to be and in a way its faults are what make it more authentic, as despite its specific situation there’s something inherently relatable about this struggle for identity in an industry that doesn’t always look for originality. As Demetriou explains:
“The feelings of delusion, anxiety, frustration and self-sabotage and helplessness at being at the whims of others are universal. I hope that the film is engaging and entertaining, funny and sad and that any person watching it can find something poignant or relatable within”.