Filmmaker Spotlight - Pete Key
Welcome to the Filmmaker Spotlight – this series shines a light on filmmakers, actors, editors, and more, as we ask them a few questions and uncover why they love what they do.
This time - Pete Key
Writer/Director
Tell us a bit about yourself, how did you get into the industry?
Born and raised in Chesterfield, I’ve had the opportunity to work in areas across the East Midlands such as Nottingham and Derby, where I studied Film and TV Production. While I gained an interest in storytelling and film years before, studying there really gave me the opportunity to start building a creative voice through access to equipment and the chance to meet great, likeminded people.
Initially, my love for storytelling began with writing short stories and planning novels, but then a love for film grew in my teenage years that pushed me to pursue writing scripts and directing, and later opened doors to work on other visually creative work such as paid opportunities in videography and editing for music videos.
Although my main passion is films, I love various other art forms including books, music, and video games, and always looking to these mediums for inspiration and influence in my own work. One of my favourite video games, Alan Wake II, was a huge inspiration into the practical effects for one of my short films, Countenance.
What inspired you to start Niterap Productions, and what kind of stories do you hope to tell through it?
I co-founded Niterap Productions with my friend and colleague Jai Blanks as a way to keep a focused platform to showcase our work. We wanted our work to stand out, be recognisable, and be taken more seriously as professional creatives. Therefore a production name and logo was created. Since then, through our production company we’ve had the opportunity to make several short films and music videos, and collaborate with other creatives.
There’s no cut-off to the type of stories I want to tell. I’ve had ideas for social realism dramas, neo-noir, westerns, horror. If I like an idea, I’ll want to build on it. The sky (and at the moment, the budget) is the limit!
Has your directing style changed since your first project? If so, how?
Naturally, the more I’ve worked on and created, the more focused my approach and style has become. Though I’m still trying new things, new techniques, and open to changing up my style of directing depending on the type of project. What might work for a drama wouldn’t necessarily work for a horror film, so I think genre definitely has an effect on the style I go for. But no matter what it is I’m making, I always try new things and push the boat out creatively on each project.
You’ve also worked as an editor. How has spending time in the edit suite influenced the way you write and direct?
It definitely makes directing easier from a technical perspective if you have an idea in your head on how the shots will be arranged together and appear on the timeline. It can help you make decisions that will work towards what you originally envisioned for the project and also spot different ways of doing things that you might want to try just to see how it turns out in the edit.
When it comes to writing, knowing how I want a project to be put together can help when it comes to being descriptive on certain things that will help elevate the storytelling. For example, describing how a scene plays out together with a specific piece of music or describing a stylistic editing technique in the script to give a detailed glimpse on how a scene would ideally flow and look.
Has working with limited resources ever led you to make a creative decision that ultimately improved a project?
In all of my projects so far, I’ve had to work with shoestring budgets, through the generosity of friends and family who supported the project through crowdfunding and from directly helping during production. This would be kept in mind while developing and writing, but we wouldn’t cut off ideas from fear of budget limitations alone.
For example, in Countenance, we had to find a way of physically showing how Asha uses his powers, especially the visions, through mostly practical effects. I had lengthy conversations with Jai on how we should execute this without having to break the bank on expensive equipment. We thought of a solution to use a projector behind a screen. We projected bold colours onto the screen which we would change based on what emotion we needed to portray, and then had someone stand between the projector and the screen to create the silhouette of the person the vision came from.
We did lengthy tests to ensure it worked as we wanted it to and that it would look great on camera, and due to having access to this equipment already, it was completely free! It was one of the aspects of the story I thought would be the hardest to create due to the tiny budget, but it’s a great example where something we didn’t have to pay for paid off massively, and didn’t stop me from executing my vision.
What’s one project you’re especially proud of, and why?
All of my projects have a special place in my heart, but Countenance is my baby. Developed from an idea I had in the back of my mind for over a decade - a man with the power to gain insight into someone’s emotions through physical touch saves a stranger from taking their own life - I was incredibly proud to take that initial idea, develop and write it with two of my friends, and create a film I’m incredibly proud of. It was my first proper directing job, working with an actual budget, paid talent, a large crew, and proper locations that we needed to pay and secure filming permissions for. There was a lot riding on it, and the fact that everything that had the potential to go wrong, did; but my team and I fought long and hard to see it through, and after a long post-production process, it finally had its first proper screening in June this year.
What have you learned over time that you wish you’d known when you started?
Choose your crew wisely. On set it’s important to work with people you can trust and share your passion for the project. You’ve got to make sure you’re all in it together, and work as one unit. Collaboration is the backbone of every project, but be careful who you rely on.
I also wish I had gotten more coverage when editing some of the scenes in Countenance, as it’s harder to edit when you have less to work with. Coverage is King. Always get more than you think you need.
Where do you see yourself and Niterap Productions in the next few years?
The dream in the next few years will be to have some more shorts finished and put around, and to be to be actively working towards making, or to have made a small-budget feature length film. But that’s very ambitious for the next few years. No matter how long it takes, that is the goal.
What advice would you give to people wanting to do the job that you do?
Grow thick skin. Listen to your peers and be open to people suggesting a different way of approaching something, but don’t let people take decisions away from you.
No matter what happens, keep going, don’t give up. On my last two films, we faced issues during filming that could have derailed the production entirely, but we brought it back around and came out with films that I’m incredibly proud of.
Always work as a team. Without a crew, there is no film. But as I said earlier, choose your crew wisely. Make sure you’re all in it together, no matter what.
And again, coverage is King. Always get more coverage than you think you need, as you might not think you need it until you’re in the editing suite!
Favourite on-set snack?
I don’t think anything beats the classic bacon butty. Smothered in butter and ketchup, it’ll get you through the toughest of shoots.
Are you currently working on a project, or is there anything you’d like to plug?
While trying to push my last two short films around festivals, I’ve been building on projects that I hope to work on through Niterap Productions within the next few years, all of which are at different points of early development. I’m currently writing a short film, which I hope to be my next big project; and among developing ideas for other shorts, I’m also developing the story for a feature length film and a feature length animation that I hope to collaborate with some of my peers from University.
For any news on upcoming work, the Niterap Productions pages on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok (@niterapproductions) are the spaces to watch! And any enquiries can be sent to niterapproductions@gmail.com.
