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INTRODUCTION BY SILVIA FELCE

The Last Stop is my first film as a writer, director and co-producer. It was shot on September 2005 around North London.

The idea of the story came from a Stereophonics' song called "I Stop To Fill My Car Up", although I altered its basic concept to convey the meaning I had in my head. Once I wrote the script, I showed it to my friend Susan, who agreed that having both worked in other people's projects, it was time we put our experience and knowledge together to work on own project. This is how 2tails productions was born and how The Last Stop begun pre-production.

It took us about 6 months between jobs to put everything together and finally at the end of September we started shooting. The short was shot in 4 days around different locations in North London, including the flat I was renting at that time in Camden, an abandoned railway track in Highgate and funnily, a petrol station called Last Stop!

Ironically, after the first draft, I decided to take the rain away from the story (which was present in the song), but it rained so many times that we had to find a way to put the rain back into the story!

The short was edited in March 2006 and in April it was accepted at The Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival 2006 so Susan and I had a taste of the glamour and madness of Cannes. After that The Last Stop was chosen for the opening night of the Portobello Film Festival Winter
Programme and recently it has been shown at the Deptford Art and Design Festival 2007.

SYNOPSIS

The Last Stop tells the story of one girl's extraordinary journey on an ordinary day.
Contemplating the dullness of her life, a disillusioned 30 year old gets into her car and begins what seems like a regular drive around London. What will amuse her?
At a zebra crossing she catches the eye of an intimidating stranger as he crosses the road in front of her. A moment passes between them before they continue on their separate journeys.

But will their paths cross again, and at what cost?

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BEHIND THE SCENES

(images currently anavailable)

PRODUCTION
production information
cast and crew information
full cast and crew list

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

The short film The Last Stop was filmed in September 2005 on location in and around London with a duration of 6mins and 30 seconds. Shot on DV using a SONY DSR 570, DoP Dusan Krnac used a mixture of car mounts, dolly, steadicam, and handheld shots to film the images.

The story was inspired by the Stereophonics hit "I Stopped to Fill my Car Up," a song that had always struck a chord with writer/director/producer Silvia Felce.

"I tapped into the sad, lonely mood of the song and started thinking about why somebody would behave the way the female character in The Last Stop does, and I started to think that sometimes people can feel alone even when they are surrounded by lots of people. As a foreigner living in London, especially at the beginning, even if you make new friends it is difficult to connect with them. I was always thinking about my friends back in Italy, hoping for them to write or phone, I was worried they'd forget about me. So I started to imagine this girl who wanted amusement, acknowledgement, who ended up going for a car ride by herself feeling very lonely."

Felce explains how she inverted and changed the basic concept from the song to suit the message that she wanted to get across. "The song is written from a guy's point of view, while I was interested in seeing the story told from a girl's point of view. I thought it would be, not only scarier to have a girl kidnapped by a strange guy, but also her attitude to what is going on is far more puzzling. She doesn't have a normal reaction, and I wanted to discover why. I wanted to explore how your feelings and circumstances can lead you to manipulate a situation."

The film seeks to not only connect with the audience but interact with them. "I imagined that the people she felt neglected by were represented by the audience, so there would be interaction between her and the viewers through the rear view mirror of the car, as if she were communicating her feelings to the audience through this medium."

Once Felce had decided on, and written, the initial script for The Last Stop, script editor Susan Hodgetts came on board and worked with her to develop the story and hone the idea into the final shooting script.

Hodgetts, who also produced the film with Felce, says "Silvia had a very strong idea and a very good expression of that idea which impressed me from the outset. I knew it would make for not only a powerful film visually and thematically but that it also had a strong theme of alienation and apathy which I felt a lot of people could identify with. I was also surprised by the incredible range of emotions that could be brought across in such a short space of time. We were lucky enough to find such great actors, Anna Wollin and David Sayers, to play the leads who could interpret these complex ideas and emotions for us so perfectly."

With the script in place, DoP Dusan Krnac came on board. He says "Concerning visual approach the aim was clear, keep the camera moving and follow our leading character using car mounts, dolly, steadicam, handheld shots. This way we produced many dynamic shots supporting suspension and tension."

Krnac also praises Simon Ruben's editing: "From the beginning till the end the film is softly flowing thanks to gentle edit work."

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CAST AND CREW INFORMATION

Silvia Felce: writer / director / producer.
Susan Hodgetts: producer / script editor / 1st AD.
Dusan Krnac: director of photography.
Dusan graduated in 2003 from the Academy of Drama Arts (Film College) in Bratislava, Slovakia, with an MA in Film and Television, specialising in Cinematography. Whilst studying he worked as a cameraman on documentaries and short films for Slovak Television, Bratislava TV, and other production companies.
He came to London in 2003 and found work immediately on short films and other projects. He is currently working on feature film projects.
Anna Wollin: lead actress "girl"
Anna has made numerous appearances on television, in features, commercials and short films, and on the stage.
She played Big's girlfriend in the first series of HBO's Sex and the City and has also appeared in Yianni Stamas' Diary on Time Warner Cable and Outbreak Investigation for the National Geographic Channel. Her film credists include The Ciderhouse Rules for Miramax and The Computer Virus for Wild Iris Productions. Her vast stage and musical credits include Marta in Stepehn Sondheim's Company, Miss Spider in James and the Giant Peach, Queen Isabel in Richard II, Ariel in The Tempest and Viola in Twelfth Night.
Anna recently played Lesley in a UK Nr.1 Tour of Michale Frayn's Alphabetical Order opposite Imogen Stubbs.
Anna is also a professional singer and has sung the title songs on soundtracks for The Wolves of Kromer and Personal Justice. (bio updated 08th/12/2009).
David Sayers: lead actor "man"
David trained at The Poor School before going on to build up an impressive body of feature, short film, television, theatre and radio work. David has been in UK television hits such as "The Bill", "Seconds From Disaster" and Casablanca-Big Brother at the BBC. He has appeared in many shorts and the feature Badinage for Celestial Pictures (director Oliver Harrison). Theatre work includes Orsino in Twelfth Night and Edward in the German Tour of Sherlock Holmes, Stetko in The Monument at Battersea Arts Centre, Peter in Rules of Engagement, Franz Kafka in The Trap at The White Bear and The Usual Suspects National tour. Radio work includes continuous sketch comedy with Redundant Productions.

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FULL CAST AND CREW LIST

Girl
Man
Petrol station attendant
Writer/Director/Producer
Producer/Script Editor/1st AD
Director of Photography
Editor
Sound Designer
Location Manager
Continuity Supervisor
Focus Puller/Camera assistant
Grip
Sound
Line Producer
2nd AD
Editor's Assistant
Transport Manager
Catering
Production & Graphics Designer
Runners
Stills photographer

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update 24.06.2011