Finding an old paintbrush in his back garden, a lonely young boy comes up with an imaginative way to restore contact with his absent dad.

This heart-warming short film was written by father and daughter, Nicholas & Shiona Penrake. Shiona directed, and Nicholas produced.

My directing debut

I was 15 when I came up with the original concept for the film – using colour to show a change in feeling and fortune for a boy who misses his dad. I then worked with my dad, Nicholas Penrake, to develop the story so that it resonated on many different levels. After 9 or so drafts, Andrew Fleming was brought in as DOP, and the casting process got underway.

One of the criteria for producing a film for me was that I had to write a script that served as a vehicle for my younger brother and actor, Jay Penrake. Admittedly, we are biased as family members, and yet just as often, your family is your harshest critic. Suffice it to say, Jay’s performance was spot on throughout, and he needed virtually no directing; he just got it.

Elio, we’d seen in a short on BBC Network – ‘Sofa So Good’ – and thought his understated style was perfect for the role of the dad.

For the mum, we had to search a bit harder. As Jay is half Japanese, we were hoping to find a woman who was either Japanese or had a hint of the Far East in her bone structure. There were no Japanese actresses who caught my eye, but when we saw a picture of Lois Winstone, my dad was struck by how similar her bone structure was to his grandmother when she was a young woman. 

So my dad and I met her for a coffee in Soho one afternoon in August 2012. Both my dad and I were so taken by her enthusiasm for the story, we couldn’t not cast her as the mum.

My first shot at directing got underway a fortnight after my 16th birthday. There was a bit of a gap between days (the availability of actors and DOP prevented us from shooting 3 days in a row), and we wrapped in October.

I wrote the theme tune to the film, which my uncle, Jim Meacock, helped to develop. Jim also provided us with the theme to the reunion scene. Christopher Barnett then wrote the main score, which perfectly complements my theme tune.

'The Paintbrush’ was distributed in Shorts International. In 2014, ‘The Paintbrush’ reached the finals of the Reed.co.uk Short Film Competition, and I won the Best Young Filmmaker Award.

Cast

Leo Jay Penrake
Leo’s Mum Lois Winstone
Leo’s Dad Elio Ruggieri
Delivery Man Richard Goss

Crew

Directed by Shiona Penrake
Screenplay by Shiona Penrake, Nicholas Penrake
Produced by Nic Penrake
Editor Shiona Penrake
Music Chris Barnett, Shiona Penrake
Director of Photography Andrew Fleming
Camera Assistant Chris Ferguson
Sound Recordists Doug Fayers, Alex Grassi
Colour Grade Carlo Ortu, Andrew Fleming
Mix Jon Gordon