Rob Munday

You wait ages for a time-travel short to come along and then two hit Vimeo in the space of a week. Hot on the heels of Jesse Atlas’ smart sci-fi RECORD/PLAY comes Rani Naamani & Carlos F. Puertolas’ Call Back, a tense thriller with a pinch of science fiction thrown in for good measure.

“We all do things we regret, things we want to erase, forget, change. What if you’re offered a dose of hope?”

With the initial idea behind their short spawning from the vision of its opening shot, a guy sitting on the edge of a motel bed surrounded by bodies, Call Back is the tale of a vengeful husband offered a limited chance at redemption after a bloody encounter with his unfaithful wife and her lover. Much like Atlas’ film, this isn’t a vision of a future full of robots and aliens, but instead a narrative firmly rooted in reality.

Created in their spare time, with a limited budget, Naamani and Puertolas’ short took just 4 days to shoot and close to six months in post-production (the filmmaking duo have full-time jobs as animators). Speaking to the pair over email, they revealed to Short of the Week how they managed to create their film with limited finances and time:

“Limiting the amount of sets, actors, and scenes really helped us spend very little amount of money on the project. In terms of gear, we used what we had and rented a couple of lenses and lights. We used a Panasonic GH2 (hacked), it’s an extremely inexpensive camera, and with a little bit of research you can really make its footage shine.

We were also very economical wherever possible; shopping at thrift stores for wardrobe, making our own props such as the battering ram or the brain splatter. So we ended up saving a lot of money, because we tried our best to build and do most things ourselves. We’re also lucky to have close knit team of friends who are passionate and can contribute to different areas of the film making process. Side films is a labor of love for us, every team member tries his or her best to be resourceful and take initiative.”

With Naamani and Puertolas’ now looking to develop their narrative into a feature film, the pair are currently working on “finding out which plot combination provides the most entertainment and originality”. Only time will tell if the universe of their short will successfully transfer into a longer format, for now all we can do is sit back and enjoy Call Back (and that fantastic door transition) over and over again.