Fighting talk: two new directors take us behind the scenes on their powerful shorts

When Lammas Park – the film production company founded by Oscar-winning British artist and director Sir Steve McQueen – teamed up with Canon to make two short films, Jade Ang Jackman and Samona Olanipekun were selected from the roster of fledgling directors to bring their visions to life.

"Working with Lammas Park started with a lot of conversations," says Samona. "I wanted to challenge the stigma around male mental health. I also wanted to illustrate this internal struggle with two characters."

The film takes place on the protagonist's birthday, which happens to fall on a Sunday. Samona says that often around birthdays, "You start to think about the direction of your own life, or lack of it." There's also a symbolism to birthdays, marking the end of a year, as well as to Sundays, marking the end of the week.

Meanwhile Jade saw her film, a period movie set in Edwardian Britain, as an opportunity to not only direct an action film with a stunt team, but also to channel her research into the politics around women's bodies. "The women's suffrage movement was pivotal in women's fight for equality," she says. In 2021, Jade also began martial arts training, affording her a deeper understanding of the sport, which would later help when it came to directing fight scenes.

For Jade, when developing her narrative it was important to steer clear of the clichéd Edwardian villain, and along with stylist Mia Maxwell, she researched supervillains through film archives. "For Sullivan's character, played by Alfie Allen, we took inspiration from Gary Oldman in Leon, as well as Alex DeLarge in [Stanley Kubrick's] A Clockwork Orange. We included different elements in his outfit."

Jade also wanted to bring in touches of her playful and bold aesthetic. "The character played by Ayesha Hussain wears a lime green dress, paired with period boxing boots with green laces," she says.

Samona, meanwhile, avoided bright colours and wanted the lighting to look very natural. "The Canon EOS C300 Mark III was mostly used handheld, letting the camera follow the action," he says. "We decided early on to root the camera in a naturalistic world."

Samona believes the line between fact and fiction in filmmaking is precarious. As a director, you can hugely influence an audience in documentaries, he says, "from who you choose to interview to the camera angles used". For him, it's about connecting with his audience and fiction offers more freedom. "Fiction is where projects take a life of their own," he concludes.

For Jade, her film is a continuation and exploration of the adversity and abuse women have faced throughout history. It's also about reimagining the characters beyond what we might read in history books.

She is particularly interested in how these women fought back. "I like imagining the motivations for retaliation. One character uses her body whereas another fashions glass bombs in an Edwardian dress shop. There are so many tropes in film and TV where women have to be strong and powerful, but they also have to be good," says Jade. "I'm excited about creating characters that are nuanced, complicated and sometimes not very nice."

Jade is always part of the casting process, and because of her earlier work in journalism and documentaries with Vice and The Guardian, she's built up a pool of acting and sporting contacts. "For a film to be good, every single character needs to be nuanced," she says. "The actors breathe life into what everyone else has created around them."

Samona, however, was quite new to the experience. "The casting director, Coralie Rose, guided me through it," he says. "Seeing the artistry that goes into acting was such an eye opener for me. The two actors, Samuel Adewunmi and Jonathan Ajayi, elevated the film to new heights. Just before the final tape, someone passing by saw what was happening and called the police, thinking it was a real fight."

Lammas Park's ethos is to champion diversity, inclusion and representation, and it encompasses everything they do. "It was a colourblind casting," says Jade of her film. "I wanted to challenge audience expectations, that it's perhaps not two white women playing these characters."

There is one section in the middle of Samona's film which stands out from the other scenes, due to its dramatically different tone. "The lead is walking along the high street with headphones on, but you don't know what he's listening to," Samona says. "It's a joyful scene and acts as a bridge. It is also a relief for the audience." The scene was shot with a Canon CN20x50 IAS H E1/P1 ultra-telephoto Cine Servo lens. "We wanted to convey a voyeuristic feel as though we were watching from a distance."

Samona put his trust in DoP Korsshan Schlauer who has shot films for Netflix, Channel 4, Apple TV and more. Korsshan said: "We had a full set of Sumire Prime lenses, which are gorgeous. What we really loved and what was key to several shots was the 50-1000mm Canon CN20x50 IAS H E1/P1 lens. It was just amazing; there's nothing like that lens because it has such a huge range.

"It not only isolates the characters fully when you go to these extreme lengths, it completely compresses the space," he continues. "You can pan the camera 30cm and that movement feels so big – that can add a sense of chaos, and for certain scenes that's just what we wanted, to match how the character feels."

"We also used a body rig to capture one of the characters running, so we went for the lighter camera," Jade adds. A Canon EOS R5 C was mounted to the body rig and paired with a Canon RF 24mm F1.8 MACRO IS STM lens, which meant it was still lightweight, but capable of wide-angle shooting in low light.

Fabian, who shot the majority of the film on the Canon EOS C500 Mark II, says he pushed the kit as much as he could. "The location offered a huge amount of interesting angles," he explains. "It was really about building it out visually – starting wider, observing the characters, how they react to each other, and then continuously getting closer with the tension that was transpiring throughout."

Mia Powell at Lammas Park was determined to champion sustainability throughout the filming process. She worked with AdGreen, a company that offers training and resources around the negative environmental impacts of productions.

"Productions are often carbon-heavy by nature – the lights, the generators and so on," she says. "I made sure we were sourcing everything as locally as possible and the majority of the crew used public transport. Food was delivered on a tricycle and all packaging was recyclable. We encouraged everyone to bring water bottles. Small things really do add up.

"Fabian only had about two lights for the whole day," Mia adds. "It was great to have a DoP who was able to do that."

Both Jade and Samona have learned to manage the balance between protecting their ideas, and allowing others to interpret and expand them.

For Jade, it's about choosing when to make a stand. "Pick your battles, don't be immovable," she says. "One of the most beautiful things has been working with such amazing actors, writers and crew."

Samona believes "an idea is fragile in the early stages, so you have to be protective". But, he adds, "You need to trust your co-workers too. It was important for me to invite and empower everybody on set to offer suggestions. It was an honour to have so many people supporting my idea."

For Mia, Paida Mutonono (Head of Development) and Anna Smith Tenser (Executive Producer) the experience has been overwhelmingly positive, and one they are all keen to repeat. "Our ethos at Lammas Park is to represent the underrepresented, and tell socially and culturally transformative narratives," explains Mia. "To give space and platforms to voices like Jade and Sam is our mission. And for Canon Europe to take a leap of faith to work with us – as a newly formed division of the company – is a testament to their understanding that great things can happen with amazing people, if you just give them the opportunity to flourish. So yes, it's been incredible to be on this journey with everyone."