A Case Study: The Making of 'Wednesday In Space' by Hudson Hughes

Wednesday in Space_indieactivity — **Julien Mathus** and **Josh Vaatstra** in **Wednesday in Space** by **Hudson Hughes** (2020)

Title: Wednesday In Space
Genre: Sci-fi Comedy / Murder-Mystery (with the bits left in)
Date: November 20th 2019
Director: Hudson Hughes
Producer: Hudson Hughes & Benedict Evans
Writer: Hudson Hughes
Cinematographer: Molly Ellis & Liam Beazley
Production Company: Hudson Hughes Films
Case Study: The Making of Wednesday In Space

indieactivity : What is your film about?
Hudson Hughes : Wednesday In Space is dark sci-fi comedy with the bits left in. It derives much of its feel from a love of old school sci-fi aesthetics, think Alien meets Spaceballs. Add to that an admiration for the highly physical comedic styles of Keaton and the Pythons and there you have the recipe for Wednesday In Space. We wanted to make sci-fi affordable and accessible. Partially because we had such a small budget, but also because we were interested in seeing how well we could work within the creative limits that such a budget necessitates.

indieactivity : Tell us about the festival run, marketing and sales?
Hudson Hughes : Most, if not all festivals have either been cancelled or drastically altered as a result of the ongoing global pandemic. In lieu of attendance at selected international festivals in L.A, Canada and Tokyo (amongst others) we’ve focused on marketing the film through ‘traditional means’; contacting publications, influencers and press releases as well as producing comedy skits under the Hudson Hughes banner.

Narrative/Dramatic Features
Cinematographer: name
Budget: £1500
Financing: Self-financed
World Premiere: International Independent Film Awards: Narrative Feature Winner Silver/ Concept – Silver Award/ Title & Credit Sequence – Silver
Awards: 20 +
Website

indieactivity : Give the full Official Synopsis for your film?
Hudson Hughes : Set in a futuristic vision of space where ‘The Pleasance Party’ acts as an intergalactic autocracy, Wednesday In Space follows traffic detective Lucha Flax as she is caught up in a battle between wet work operatives known as ‘the Boogeymen’, French-speaking rebels, a money-hungry diner owner and crazy aggressive telemarketing. Hounded by ‘The Boogeymen’, the cigarette-puffing rebels hole up in Mr. Yim’s rundown diner. When a boogeyman is killed in the cubicle whilst searching for them, the diner is quickly flooded with mysterious hazmat-clad figures who believe that a rival operative by the name of Solomon Pink is to blame. Enter stage left one lowly traffic cop named Lucha Flax, intent on solving the mystery of the man whose brains are splattered all over said cubicle, in space, on a Wednesday.

indieactivity : Development & Financing?
Hudson Hughes : Given the incredibly low budget of this film, the director is the writer and vice versa. Certain elements of the dialogue, especially character monologues to the TV commercials were improvised, but the body of the writing was written by myself. Finance for the film was secured by working at a theatre school on weekends, in between slogging away for an Engineering Degree and directing university productions.

indieactivity : Production?
Hudson Hughes : Almost all of Wednesday in Space takes place inside a diner which we built inside my garage using chipboard donated by a set construction company and furnishings found on websites like Freecycle and GumTree. As this was a no-budget film; the cast and crew were working for nothing more than a hot meal. To secure the team we wanted, we shot in the minimum time possible: a week. It was an intense week with 15-20 sweaty people crammed into a small garage. Scenes involving the French rebels were shot in a separate small shed on the first day. This was a challenge for the whole team as the cast were smoking during each take and all windows and doors had to remain shut for shooting.

The second day focused on green screen footage for the TV commercials and TV battle of the bands that takes up 15 minutes of the films runtime. After this, everything was shot inside the diner with construction only finishing the day before. During the shoot, many members of the cast and crew had to take a day off to go to their university graduation ceremony. Most notably, the producer Benedict Evans was up until 4AM in a poorly constructed spaceship the night before receiving his bachelor’s degree.

It took two gruelling months to reach the first cut, VFX and all. I did all the editing and visual effects myself but wisely left the colouring to Leo Barton.

indieactivity : Festival Preparation & Strategy?
Hudson Hughes : We were looking forward to a festival run but unfortunately, like everything else, film festivals have been forced to close doors this year. Through the number of festivals still running online, we’ve received some amazing feedback and look forward to bringing the film to a wider audience.

indieactivity : The Release?
Hudson Hughes : Wednesday in Space is releasing in UK cinemas this Winter with a London premiere yet to be announced.

indieactivity : Advice from the Filmmaker?
Hudson Hughes : There’s no such thing as a free lunch. I reminded the actors that every day after they’d been shooting since 6AM. Seriously though, feed your team. An army marches on its stomach and you don’t have the budget to pay that army then at least give them a big curry to look forward to.

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