DIRECTOR STATEMENT
Making a film is hard. It takes a lot of work, a lot of time and (if you self-fund like us) a lot of money.

So why do we do it? Well, we love it.

As no budget filmmakers, we often end up writing, producing and directing everything together - usually editing and starring in it too... and making all the tea and coffee on set! We are also fortunate enough to have built up a great team of camera operators, sound recordists and set designers who are happy to throw themselves into projects, giving up their time to work on something creative. Because, like us, they love it too.

But beyond the technical aspects of a shoot, the priority for us has always been the idea. The story itself has to make us excited enough to see the project through.

Rough Cut was that. The premise came to us while discussing other projects, and then, before we knew it, we were shooting it. Unusually for us, we didn’t have a strict script. We had a concept, an idea for an ending, and a couple of plot beats to hit on the day. The rest of the story came in the edit: an unusual and tricky process. Two versions of the corporate video were shot and edited. The editing process was then screen-recorded and inserted into the on-set footage to match our editor's hands and mouse movements. Then the film was structured into a beginning, middle and end. It was an ambitious project, far beyond anything we'd attempted before, but we are pleased with the final result, and believe that this is not the end of the journey for Rough Cut.

Since embarking on our filmmaking journey, we have already come a long way, but every shoot teaches us something new, and every story comes with its own challenges. Looking back, we are happy to say that all of our films were the films we wanted to make. We hope you enjoy, and thank you for watching Rough Cut!

DIRECTOR BIO
Chris and Tom have been making movies together since high school. Their recent short film Death Takes A Day Off won the Jury Prize at the 2024 London 48 Hour Film Challenge, and their work has collectively achieved over one million views online. Rough Cut has played in festivals all over the world, winning multiple awards for 'Best Film' and 'Best Editing', and nominations for 'Best Actress' and 'Best Directing'. Chris and Tom currently have multiple fiction and non-fiction projects in post-production, and are busy developing several feature films including a full-length version of Rough Cut.