The goal of this project was to build off of simplicity. The concept was simply the phrase "Run." I wanted the story to be vague, and leave a lot of it to the audience to imagine beyond what happens on screen. I wanted to imply as much story as possible. When working with the main actor (Alex Savvas,) I gave him more to work with than I wanted to give our audience. I told him the character is running, exhausted, desperate. He's running from something and behind followed. The thoughts going through his head are to just keep moving. I wanted to bring that adrenaline out of him, so we gave him wounds and shot on a steep hillside, that was difficult to traverse. We had some happy accidents, like the cars honking when the character takes a pause. Alex stayed in character, reacting to the cars, and making the decision to scramble out of his hiding place and take off on foot again. I was so happy. I like encouraging my actors to make decisions like this.
In the spirit of implying story, I wanted to use little to no dialogue. The audience can wonder if the character is good or bad. A victim or a criminal. I wanted them to feel like a fly on the wall to the moments like the Runner sitting by the water. I hoped this would push the feeling that he is alone with his thoughts.
While I have my own backstory in my head, I have been curious and interested to hear people's own ideas of what they think is happening. The smile at the end gave some viewers the impression that he had gotten away with something. Others interpreted the whole thing as some kind of test that he had passed. I wanted these types of reactions and hope that everyone who watches this has fun coming up with their own version of the story.
