BULLET IN THE HEAD (2014) A woman turns up dead with a bullet in her head and her baby is missing. The first suspect is her abusive ex-husband, but the truth is much worse.
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This was my first time directing ACTRA actors and I was fortunate to find Melissa Hood and James Murray who are both amazingly talented and a dream to work with. Both have remained good friends and I hope to work with them again. You can catch James lose a lot of blood and part of a testicle in The Sublet on VOD in Canada at www.blackfawndistribution.com/vod
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This was also the first time I directed a decent sized crew and worked with super talented cinematographer Scott McClellan, who has one of the most gorgeous Instagram accounts available (as well as being a ridiculously amazing DP to work with). We shot in my home. Very simple set up and I love the way we shot this. Scott employed a natural approach to the lighting essentially amplifying natural and source lighting, filling most of the set with light and allowing the actors to roam free within the frame for the most part. We also decided to shoot the entire short static. The camera remained on sticks for every shot Melissa Hood is in except when she loses control where we had a very subtle push in that is oddly disturbing after having the camera sit still for so long.
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This was my first of many collaborations with composer Jeff Morrow and editor Jordan Crute who I continue to work with. Hats off to Peter Harvey for lending me his lens kit to shoot with and William F. Whites for donating the grip and electric as well as a very generous amount of time from my friends at Urban Post where it was finished - including the best looking man in post production, Ahmad Ismail who has been a behind the scenes part of nearly everything I’ve done. Would not have been possible without their help.
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Written & Directed by John Ainslie
Cinematographer Scott McClellan
Production Designer Jennifer Marie Thomas
Edited by Jordan Crute
Composer Jeff Morrow
Produced by Kerry Young & Rechna Varma