Souled out is a fun and funny short film with a twist in its red,pointed tail! :-) It touches on the question: "Is rock 'n' roll the devil's music?" The synopsis: "Simon Lake discovers what it takes to become the greatest rock star of all time." It was directed by Stephen Broekhuizen.
Director’s Statement:
Souled out was perhaps the most fun we have had on a shoot. The actors were great and everything really came together well. The idea for the story was just in taking a little twist on how the Devil is often thought of in both the world at large but also in film and TV. It really was a joy to work with such a talented crew and as professional a group of actors as anyone could ever hope to work with.
ROFFEKE: How long did it take you to film this?
STEPHEN: It took us 7 hours to film it, but that was down to doing a lot of prep the week before, having all the sets ready to go. The makeup for the devil took a further 2 hours. The actors had the scripts for maybe 8 weeks before we started filming, so while it was fairly quick to shoot on the day, a lot of work was done before filming. We had the lighting set up ready to go and the fact that we had not far to travel between locations also helped. Like we always say, the more you put into pre production the easier the production goes. We were also so lucky to have a group of actors who fully bought into the script and just had fun with it. Had we a budget or anything we would have maybe done a bit more with it but given it was done without any funding we did the best we could.
ROFFEKE: Did you write a full screenplay for this or did you just work with the idea/treatment and had the actors ad lib?
STEPHEN: It was scripted. The only ad lib was a little in the radio interview but even parts of that were scripted. I usually write very quickly; the script took about 40 minutes to write once I had the idea.
ROFFEKE: Any challenges?
STEPHEN: Getting the hospital bed was very tricky. We already had the radio studio as we do a podcast now and then and double it as our editing suite, but for sure getting the hospital bed was tough as patients can't get them. We were lucky in that a nursing home was able to give us a room they use for training for a few hours. The next challenge was, for sure, getting the devil looking right. Our makeup girl is fantastic and our wonderful devil (Paddy Gilley) was so patient in his having the makeup applied. It was always going to be key to have the devil look somewhat right or the film wouldn't work really so that was a worry but it turned out very well. Other issues are the usual things you come across such as issues around camera angles in tight spaces. The radio scene was filmed in an attic space that was very tight so that was a technical challenge for sure. Outside of that like anything else you need a little luck for things to work out and we managed to get that as well. My crew are all fantastic and that gives you a confidence to focus on the story and know the shots will look good and everything else will be taken care of.
Director's Bio:
Stephen Broekhuizen grew up between Cork in Ireland and Lisse in Holland. He graduated in 2008 from the University of Southern Maine in America and has been involved in film making and radio production and podcasting since 2003. He is a founding member of Here is No Why productions and has been making films and music videos with them since 2013.
This blog offers a behind-the-scenes look at ROFFEKE. ROFFEKE is pronounced "rafiki" which is a Swahili word meaning "friend". 'Friendship, Fun, Freedom' is the motto of the ROck 'n' ROll Film FEstival, KEnya. The mission of ROFFEKE is to promote rock music in Kenya by dispelling rock 'n' roll myths and misconceptions via the medium of film. The Purpose of ROFFEKE is "Lighten the Burden".