Archives: Portfolio

Starring
Muireann Ni Raillaigh
Leonora Cooke
Gleb Daniels

Directed by Craig Andrew Robertson
Written & Edited by C.J. Lazaretti

Produced by Jasmine Lindemann & Yasmine Renaud
Director of Photography: Gordon J. Campbell
Assistant Camera: Kieran Colquhoun
Gaffer: Luis Maurizzio

Sound Recording: Alba Atencia de Pablo
Sound Mix: Jon Youell

Music by Aidan Smith

Trailer

Synopsis

A desperate girl times her first break-up to coincide with Christmas dinner at her boyfriend’s parents.

Credits

Starring
Leonora Cooke
Craig Andrew Robertson

Written & Directed by Craig Andrew Robertson
Produced by Alison Robertson
Film Editing by C.J. Lazaretti
Director of Photography: Calum Menzies
Sound: Alba Atencia de Pablo
Sound Mix: Andrew Samson

Poster designed by Craig Andrew Robertson

Recognition

Accepted into:

• Festival del Cinema di Castel Volturno (2020)
• Weihnachtsfilmfestival (2021)

Full Film

Synopsis

Deborah is an assassin posing as a Priest-in-training.

Little does she know that pretty much everyone else in the church is an assassin.

My Thoughts on the Film

This was my first film I’d directed as part of the 48 Hour Film Challenge in Glasgow. This is an event were teams of filmmakers get given a Character name, line of dialogue, prop and genre and are told to make a film over the course of 48 hours.

My team was “Craig’s Carpool”, so named because I had originally intended the group to consist of the four people I would at that time be driving to University every week. In the end it was only me and C.J. Lazaretti from that original group that were in the team, so the team name was made redundant.

After getting the respective prompts on the Friday night (a character called Jessie Cutler, a prop Marble, Spy/Thriller as a Genre and the line “Is it supposed to be purple?”), we sat down as a team for about an hour as we came up with a story. I then went home and wrote the script till about 2am.

Production took place in St Margaret of Scotland Episcopal Church between 8:30am and 10:30pm on the Saturday. It was a great shoot. Jasmine had got me four lovely actors to work with and the crew were very easy to work with.

C.J. edited the film overnight on Saturday and in the morning I gave him my thoughts for the final touches.

Unfortunately, because there were some exporting problems, the film was not submitted in time for it to be eligible for being competitive. It was still sent in before 9pm so it was screened in Glasgow Film Theatre which was a good experience.

The film is way too complicated. I continuously bite off more than I can chew, but this story is hard to follow even to the point of parody.

I’m very pleased with the performances and cinematography, though the sound is somewhat lacking.

This was the first film I had C.J. edit for me and I am so glad I have someone like this as my resident cutting boy.

Jasmine acted as producer and effectively my assistant director and did a great job at cracking the whip.

I see This is my Blood as an essential stepping stone in this ridiculous journey. It might not be great, but I was able to complete a project in effectively 49 1/2 hours.

Credits

Written & Directed by
Craig Andrew Robertson

Produced by
Jasmine Lindemann

Cinematography by
Calum Menzies

Sound by
Joseph McCawley

Film Editing by
C.J. Lazaretti

Runner
Elliott Osmond

Organist
Hugh MacDonald

Cast (in order of appearance)
Abbie McIntosh as Danielle/Deborah
Alwyn/Andrew – Michael Lynch as Alwyn/Andrew
Phil McGregor as Jordan Baker
Naomi Delvin as Jessie Cutler

With Special thanks to our location
St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Newlands
and to
The University of the West of Scotland
for the provision of equipment

Full Film

Synopsis

Stand Up (Or 3¹/₂) follows Craig and his friends on a night out in Aberdeen after a comedy open-mic night. While Craig is away at the toilets, a drunk stranger sits in his seat. At first, they think it’s all a bit of fun. Eventually, they conclude that he’s behaving inappropriately.

My Thoughts on the Film

This is easily the most personal project I’ve ever made. That’s indeed obvious since the lead is literally me.

I wanted to make something which could be my statement of intent. My yardstick. Something straight from the heart about how I felt as a 20 year old.

The events as portrayed are pretty much what happened on the 27th of February, 2017. A completely insignificant anecdote to bore people with at parties. My little barely non-teen mind fell into an existential fugue. Is my life a series of boring stories?

So I decided to film that question.

Post-production was interrupted by my fourth year of my undergraduate degree. Certain things fell by the wayside, like getting a good sound mix or finishing off the score. By the time graduation rolled around, I didn’t feel like I could cope with this movie anymore. It was from a different time. That alongside some other more personal reasons, made me release this film as it is, passable.

It’s an OK film. The acting isn’t really that good and the writing could have been better, but I’m glad I got this one out my system.

Credits

Written, Directed & Edited by Craig Andrew Robertson
Assistant Director: Emma Malins
Director of Photography: Louis Martin

Sound: Eilidh Kellaway
Assistant Camera: Elizabeth Owen
Catering: Denitsa Andonova
Runner: Ann Dempster

Music
Composition & Bass – Nick Harbourne
Guitar – Drew Erfle
Piano – Rossano Cariello

With Special Thanks to our Location
The Vulture Lounge in Aberdeen

Cast (in alphabetical order)
Sophie Ellen Buxton as Sam
Scott Christie as Scott
Phil Geddes as Phil
Sebastian Rennie as Craig
Lucy Smart as Shara
Ruairdhri Wright as Guest

Poster designed by Craig Andrew Robertson

Film

Synopsis

On the day before Prom, Samantha (Sam) Rhodes has still not bought a dress much to the bemusement of her best friend Debbie, her Mum and her sister.

We follow Sam over the course of an afternoon as she continues to put off buying the dress by any means necessary.

On her journey, she is exposed to the expectations put upon men and women.

In the end she does finally get something to wear. She turns up to Prom. And she is wearing a suit.

My Thoughts on the Film

I joined the BFI Film Academy in 2015 and there met three people. Emma Malins, Calum Menzies and Sophie Buxton. This was the group I joined when the class was divided between those who wanted to make a dark-themed film and those who wanted to make something a bit lighter.

Having just come off of How to Read Lips, I thought I should do something lighter. This “Light Side” Group brainstormed and came up with a film about the expectations society has for women. Emma spawned this story and it became Sam.

While How to Read Lips feels more “pure”, in that it was 100% my film with no filtering, this is in every way a more refined beast.

Working with this four-person team, Emma as my 1st AD and later co-director, Calum on camera, and Sophie as the lead, I finally had the courage to let my guard down a bit. I became a bit better as a person and certainly a collaborator during the course of making this picture.

Personally, I view this film as the rounding off of a trilogy. I think that ultimately, Boiling Point, How to Read Lips and Sam are feminist movies with a message on sexual equality, though I certainly didn’t intend it at the time.

My only regret looking back is that I didn’t have more time to make this film. We had about 4 shoot days and 4 edit days, each not quite long enough and I was always not patient enough to get quite the right moment.

Other than that, this is a film which I’m genuinely proud of. Not only am I pleased with the end product, I’m so grateful for it introducing me to my crew, who are now very close friends to me.

Recognition

Accepted Into:

• Loch Ness Film Festival

Won:

• Best Live Action, 13-19 years” Film at the Scottish Youth Film Festival 2016

Full Film

Synopsis

Miss Johnston has just moved University. She is trying to make new friends, but due to her experiences in her previous University, she feels disconnected, deafened even.Miss Johnston was in fact assaulted by a friend at her previous University and this is the cause of her pain.

Only by coming to terms with the past does she find the strength to confide with others.

My Thoughts on the Film

Over the summer between my first and second year of University, I decided to write an art-house picture. A film that tried something I’d never seen in a film before, for better or worse.Since I hated audio editing, I decided to make a film that required no audio and instead would have dialogue replaced in post with an electronic, Stephen Hawking voice.

I think the effect worked out OK in the end.

I was still using the tape camera from the University, the big Sony Z1. I was somehow convinced that because it was bigger, it was somehow better. The tape has a certain grime to it that I like, though there still are scenes which are too dark.

The rape scene was the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been while filming, but my actors were complete professionals.

There are some cool little moments in the film and I’m glad I could kind of go for broke on some artsy stuff. I am really grateful for the time and energy put in by the tiny group of people involved in the picture. I’m sure I didn’t make it clear what the film was about, but they somehow understood.

I am definitely more proud of How to Read Lips than my previous work. Who knows, with a bigger budget and a bit more experience, I could make a remake!

Recognition

Accepted Into:

• 2^nd Asia International (Wenzhou) Youth Short-Film Exhibition, China
• Post Mortem Film Festival in Mexico

Finalist:

• IndustryBOOST Competition in Miami

Credits

Written, Directed & Edited by Craig Andrew Robertson

Starring
Lucy Axford as Miss Johnston
Kirsten Gair as Female Student
Pete Jeffries as Pete
Andrew Cunningham as Michael Williams
Rory Buchanan as Party Host (uncredited)
Adam James Johnston as Lips (uncredited)

Produced by Adam James Johnston

Cinematography by Adam James Johnston

Music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven

With Special thanks to
Rory Buchanan, Rima Chaudrey, Ryan Connolly and Leon Thomas

Full Film

Synopsis

A Man has an irrational fear of women keeping from going out on most days. When his laptop breaks he is forced to come into University to get some work done. During the day, he can’t stand any interaction he has with women and on his way home he believes he is followed.

The next day the repairer of his laptop, a woman, comes to his house. He cannot cope with her being there, so he murders her with a kettle. It is only after this that he realises that she was not a threat. He is left alone in his guilt and shame.

My Thoughts on the Film

I made a few films with my family and friends before Boiling Point, but this is the first time I really took myself seriously and felt I had something to say with a film. I was still basically doing any job I could on set and I didn’t really know what I was doing.The idea germinated in school as a creative essay on a man who believed he was followed. At a brainstorming meeting with the Film Society that Roxana (my co-director who really helped keep me together) called, I brought up this idea and people pitched some points for expansion.

Everyone makes films that are too long when they start out, I feel that I finally learned my lesson after this one. It is a bit too long. I tried trimming it down later, but it still never felt right. It is also way too dark and shaky in some scenes.

I am still pleased with Boiling Point. It really was a milestone for my journey and through the production I really got to know Adam James Johnston, someone I would collaborate with in the future.

Recognition

Accepted Into:

• 8^th Annual International Inter-University Short Film Festival at Dhaka University, Bangladesh
• 2^nd Asia International (Wenzhou) Youth Short-Film Exhibition, China
• Post Mortem Film Festival in Mexico

Finalist:

• IndustryBOOST Competition in Miami

Full Film

Synopsis

This is a bizarre parody of a horror movie trailer. Not much else to say really.