IG: @vanessa.vandy
vanessavandy.com/

SYNOPSIS:

Feelings of grief bubble up for Mikey as his Mother isn’t there to share a special moment with him. Mikey's Father, who knows what’s up, has a trick up his sleeve to help Mikey process his mourning. However, the trick works better than expected which leads Mikey's father to question if there was more to it than just pretend.

HOW THE FILM WAS MADE:

The short film Farewell came about already in mid-2016 when Vanessa Vandy wanted to take some scenic footage of the mountains in Norway with her newly purchased Phantom 4 drone. However, after arriving in Norway with her gear she decided to do something more than just film scenic footage - to create material that could be integrated into a possible short film. The concept of the film was vaguely decided upon during the evening prior to her and actor Rune Kjelseth’s longest hike. The filming was then done the very next day. Climbing and filming up and down a mountain with a ton of gear turned into a 10-hour filming adventure.

Since there wasn’t much time to write a detailed script during the Norway trip, the script of the main story got finalised a few months later when the director was back in Finland. Since the story required a hill, she decided to film the rest of the film in New Zealand, where she had planned a holiday half a year later. Once in New Zealand, producer Bertrand Remaut from Melopy Films jumped on board the project and compiled the cast, crew and locations for the second filming day. The second filming day then took place mid-March 2017 and spanned about 6 hours.

Once back in Finland the director finalised the edit together with her post-production collaborators. The graphics artist Sonja Pennanen worked from Finland while Matic Prusnik (colourist) and Shamir Luis Rodriguez (sound post-production) worked over the web from New Zealand.

CREATORS:

Written, directed and edited by Vanessa Vandy
vanessavandy.com/
instagram.com/vivandy/

Produced by Bertrand Remaut
melopyfilms.com/

Cast:
Young Mikey - Finn MacEachern
Father - Francis Mountjoy
Older Mikey - Rune Kjelseth

Crew:
Cinematographers - Vanessa Vandy & Jasper Johnston
Drone operator - Vanessa Vandy
First AD, hair/makeup - Lola Bernard
Key grip, gaffer - Bryce Tobin
Sound - Luis Shamir Rodriguez
Gaffer/grip assist - Marama Galuenga

Post:
Editor - Vanessa Vandy
Music - Ian Post
Colorist - Matic Prusnik, http://mpcolour.co/
Sound design - Luis Shamir Rodriguez
Title design - Sonja Pennanen

Special Thanks to:
Simon Vandy
Prema Cottingham
Rosamund Britton
The Kjelseths
Pia Lehto
Jukka Lehto
Nilza Mafla
Sophia Seaton
Jess Vandy

Copyright © Melopy Films & Vivandy

AWARDS:

Finalist - One Screen Film Festival 2017 - New female director
Official Selection - Bermuda International Film Festival 2018
Winner - Auckland International Film Festival 2018 - Actor under 18
Official Selection & premiere - Film Shortage 2018

GEAR:

Sony FS7 (indoor shots)
Sony a7s ii (outdoor shots)
Phantom 4 (drone shots)