Happy Sheffield
This short film was created by DoP Tom Read, and Directed by Alice Allen for the ARRI Short Film Challenge at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2015.
The brief: “Sheffield: the happiest city in the UK”. Yes, you heard it right.
The Challenge: to shoot and edit a 3 to 4 minute short film over 3 days during the festival.
Embarking upon the challenge our reactions were mixed: purified glee at the prospect of putting the sleek AMIRA camera through its paces… abject horror at a tight production turn around whose success depended on the appearance of fickle things like sunshine and smiles.
How and where to hunt happiness in Sheffield?
Mulling ideas we asked ourselves lots of soul-searching questions about what it means to be happy and how we make ourselves happy. Two recurring themes that emerged in surveys and articles were exercise and relationships. Even, or perhaps especially, in the Internet age it seems we remain steadfastly social and physical creatures.
We decided to film in three key locations around the city where we might be able to reflect some of the joy people experience in challenging their bodies and the pleasure they take in the company of those around them: the House Skatepark, the iconic Peace Gardens and dance studio City-Limits Dancentre. Happiness showed its face in the camaraderie and sense of achievement pulling tricks; in the satisfaction of chatting with friends in the sunshine or energetically fighting water fountains; and simply amongst those dancing to the same beat.
Our thanks go to all those individuals who shared their happy faces with us. The film would certainly not exist without the open and warm attitudes we encountered throughout the city.
Alice & Tom
RUNTIME:
3 Minutes
DIRECTOR:
Alice Allen
RELEASED:
2015
Reviews
"Happy Sheffield is a charming short movie. It captured smiles and actions eloquently to tell the story and directly respond to the competition's brief on a theme ”Sheffield - the happiest city in the UK”. Alice and Tom are certainly names to watch"
Milan Krsljanin – ARRI