"The Man Who Met Himself" nominated for Palme d'Or at Cannes 2005

"A short by a group of young British filmmakers has been officially selected for competition in the 2005 Cannes film festival. The Man Who Met Himself, is the only UK entry in its category. The group, some of whom have known each other since school, are all under 30. None of them have any official training, and funded the film themselves. They all have day jobs and shot the film on weekends in London. 27 year old Ben Crowe produced, directed and wrote the film and edited it on his home computer. It stars his brother Dan in the lead role."Taken from official press release

The 10 minute soundtrack to the film was composed and produced by Oli Bartlett of MelodyFactory. The final soundtrack is a combination of live and synthesised instruments combined with samples from recordings taken on set. The themes were composed to raw footage prior to editing. These were then brought together as the edit evolved. By maintaining core rythmic themes throughout the film, it was possible to remain flexible with the structure of the soundtrack. This was essential given the nature of the film - the music is continuous throughout so there was no freedom with silence. Only once the final edit was complete, were the themes strung together in such a way as to create an unobtrusive yet affecting and vital backdrop for the footage.

"We shot all the scenes in a mixed order, and the dialogue was separately done all in one day. Creating the soundtrack was a step-by-step process: as the edit evolved, so did the music. "

Ben Crowe - Director