Outside of a few notable examples such as Alena Shevchenko’s Sorry I am late, I was masturbating, films that have female desire and sexuality at their heart and not simply as an adjunct to a male character’s wants are woefully few and far between, which is why Hunter Allen’s new short Roger is a much welcome, breath of fresh air. A comedy which sees its horny protagonist – delightfully portrayed by actor Charly Clive who we saw on DN last month in Housewarming – Roger tells the wave crashing story of a woman who gets more than she came for when her order of the newest, most sophisticated sex toy on the market arrives at her door. An impressively playful blend of advertising and comedic filmmaking which we’re delighted to premiere on DN today, we invited Allen to talk to us about the key role lighting played in bringing Daisy Bard’s script to vibrant life and the suggestive motifs he borrowed from the realm of real sex toy ads which helped nail the transition between Roger’s distinct worlds.
How did this sex toy AI idea come together and then the script and production team form?
I am a comedy director and editor and over the last couple of years my wife Daisy Bard, who is also a comedy writer and works in advertising, and I wanted to make something together that she could write and I could direct and edit. Our parameters for ourselves were that it could start in the world of advertising and slowly break out into something different. Daisy had the idea of: what if a sex toy was just some random guy? We then talked it through and worked out the small narrative arc for where that idea could go. It was fun trying to make a really condensed romantic montage within such a silly concept.
We knew that to sell this crossover from the advertising world into the naturalistic world, we had to really nail the style and tone of a sex toy ad.
We’re lucky enough to know Charly Clive and love her comedy performances so she was a no brainer. She understood the comedy and horror beats so intuitively, and Will Attenborough (also a friend) easily slipped into the ‘gormless king’ energy of Roger. Our DOP Jim Petersen used an Alexa Mini LF and Canon SK rangefinder lenses to commit fully to the lush advertising feel and then to contrast it with the dull, underwhelming reality thereafter. We had a great lighting team to help us tell the rest of the story in a series of mostly two shot tableaux, lighting each one beautifully.
How did you find the process of working on the project together? Were there any unexpected joys or perhaps issues or did the juices just flow – excuse the pun!
It was great! I think our sensibilities are very similar and we spend all our time chatting about film, TV and what we’re both up to so this felt like a natural extension of that. It never felt like too much work.
Most Popular
I very much enjoyed the way you crossover over from advertising spot to narrative comedy within the film.
We knew that to sell this crossover from the advertising world into the naturalistic world, we had to really nail the style and tone of a sex toy ad. So we watched lots of them and found it funny how they always use random objects to suggest sex (fruits/water/wind) so we really leant into that. Luckily Charly is a fantastic actor who could completely sell the sex ad role without making it too hammy. And we were so happy when we managed to cast Cat Cohen for the VO, who elevated the comedy so much. Her voice and intonation were perfectly suited to what we’d written and she intuitively got what it was and delivered.
You clearly have a knack for the lighter side of life, what about comedy appeals to you and your creative talents?
I’ve always loved comedy and that’s always been the space I’ve felt most comfortable directing and editing. Especially when you’re editing, the rhythm and pacing are so essential to selling a comedic beat. I used to direct and edit a wide range of stuff, from corporate to cooking shows and it wasn’t until about five years ago that I firmly decided not to take on any work which wasn’t explicitly comedy. It’s a great testament to finding your niche because I’ve never worked more. Most of my day job now is split between directing music videos for comedian Jazz Emu and editing the VTs for Taskmaster, both of which are such great spaces to play with the silliness of on screen comedy.
The narration upholds the comedy and the vibe of the piece so perfectly!
We always wanted to do something which had a tight narrative arc, as opposed to a single sketch idea which sputters out. Once we knew it was a funny idea those narrative beats weren’t too tricky to eke out. It essentially boiled down to “Can we convincingly make a micro love story out of this idea”. Daisy then found lots of nice naturalistic moments within that and Will and Charly were great at selling them in small quiet ways. We needed that foot in reality to keep the whole concept moored.
Tell us more about how you filmed and edited this tale of two halves – the shiny first half juxtaposing a duller more mundane reality.
Our DOP Jim was a great help with this. There’s the obvious side of using bold emphatic purple and pink gels for the advertising world. But he found more subtle ways to bring in a heightened, cinematic quality to the more romantic scenes. He did a great job constructing the cast light from the stormy window during the final sex scene, which worked well as a romantic image but also as striking horror lighting for the very end.
We always wanted to do something which had a tight narrative arc, as opposed to a single sketch idea which sputters out.
In terms of editing, cutting the advertising sequence was very fun, it helps I’ve cut lots of online promos so I tackled it pretty straight – lots of quick cuts, glitching text and playful SFX. Then the editing of the rest was relatively stripped back as I wanted to film everything outside of the advertising world in as few shots as possible – almost everything is a wide or two-shot, meaning that even when we’re in a montage it feels like a very different pace from the advertising world.
Lighting is often an unsung hero, what steps did you and Jim take to dial in on the right look for the story?
Jim scouted the location with us and we photographed every single shot. He then worked with gaffer Misha Panov and AC Christina Ivanova to plan each set up. My main steer, as mentioned, was that I wanted to move between three worlds: Advertising, Naturalism, Romantic. I tried my best to organise our shooting day to allow time for big set ups in each shooting direction.
My main steer was that I wanted to move between three worlds: Advertising, Naturalism, Romantic.
What I was really impressed by was how he used and emphasised the lighting already in the apartment. The main space has these great bay windows, and in the background of every shot he set up a small light to carve out the geography of where the sun would be cast. In the bedroom he also recommended orange sheers as curtains for the bedroom window, which were great for casting a warm wash over the bedroom, while feeling consistent with the set design. I’m sure there were dozens of small things we didn’t even notice he was doing, but I was impressed with how great it looks with such a tight turnaround between shots.
And finally, what are you working on next?
Daisy and I are planning another short, in among her various other writing projects. I’m in pre-production right now for directing a big 30 minute visual album for Jazz Emu and currently editing Season 19 of Taskmaster. That should see me through to the end of the year!
