Toronto – What happens in that moment when you capture the eye of a complete stranger? In a fraction of second, it seems like the shields that separate the two of you are down; and you’re looking directly into the being of the other. Taking just such a moment and expanding what that might look like into a three and a half minute short film is exactly what Arev Manoukian did with Nuit Blanche. As a result, he won top honours at LG’s inaugural Life’s Good FilmFest.

In 2009, with the sponsorship of celebrity film buffs Jamie Foxx and Steve Nash, LG decided to launch a new short film fest contest that would celebrate the theme “Life’s Good”. This year’s event culminated in an award ceremony held last Thursday at the Mod Club and hosted by our own George Stroumboulopoulos. It was a fun night of film, open bars, and novelty $100,000 cheques. To see pictures of Ricky and I pretending to win the $100,000 cheque and the award, click here and here. Did I mention there was an open bar?

There were four finalists. Individual winners in each of their respective categories were awarded a cash money price of $10,000 for: Animation, Sports, Fashion/Music, and Narrative. All the finalists were interesting, but the one that stole the show was a black and white piece sans dialogue. George was struggling for most of the night to keep the crowd confined to a dull roar as the open bar beckoned. Nuit Blanche was the last film shown, just as the crowd reached its rowdiest. The fact that we somehow all managed to shut up of our own accord and pay attention is testament to this work’s ability to captivate. Don’t take my word for it; you can view the entire film here.

What’s so surprising about this film is the sheer production value. It exudes a polish that is typically reserved for projects that have teams of professionals. Yet it remains in essence a labour of love from a handful of people dedicated to a singular idea. The graphics were done by New-York based artist Marc-André Gray, and production was handled by Stephanie Swedlove.

“I had to translate [the director's] visual language into a musical language.” – Samuel Bisson

This is a short film with two principal actors and no dialogue. As such, the soundtrack itself is a critical and ever-present character in its own right. The task of setting sound to this film was accomplished by Toronto-based cellist and composer Samuel Bisson. I had an opportunity to chat with Sam and he walked me through the task of scoring such a poignant film.

There are essentially three main components to this work. The first draws heavily from the golden age of cinema soundtracks (30’s, 40’s, and 50’s). This section channels from great era composers such as Max Steiner (Casablanca), and Bernard Herrmann (Citizen Kane). The layered strings ground the work in a time that we all wish still existed, but has long since vanished. After just over a minute, the tone of both score and film change; we enter a new reality. The sound glides from the ethereal of a bygone era to a more visceral present. All of a sudden it dawns upon us; this wasn’t filmed in the 30’s after all.

Sam explains that the minimalism in this section draws upon the more contemporary thinking of Phillip Glass and Danny Elfman. It fuses a traditional sound with a contemporary one, all the while maintaining the character of the original movement. The credits of the film signal a return to the original Casablanca-esque score, complete with quaint vinyl-like qualities.

It’s interesting to think that in this modern day of technology, it is now possible for a few creative and inspired people to get together and conjure something that has a production quality that rivals the juggernauts of Hollywood. Upon digging a little deeper, it also became clear to me that accomplishing such a task requires layers of dedication, commitment, and talent.

The Panic Manual congratulates Arev, Stephanie, Marc-André and Sam; and we’re curious to see what’s next on the conjuring block.

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