Hi. Here’s a short film. My first one ever. I wrote, directed and (gasp) starred in it too!
The Why of Hi
I do believe the world would be a better place if more people simply said Hi. Saying Hi is really a way to say I see you — recognizing other people’s presence. When I connect with people through eye contact, smiles and universal gestures, it gives me the feeling of being alive and a reminder that I exist. That’s why Hi is important. I’m sure there’s a whole camp of people who think, “why are all these friendly people trying to wave and talk to me. I don’t wanna talk to nobody, see nobody! Damn them, friendly-ass people!” Sure, you’re free to be that way and it’s wise to sense when people are busy and flustered and just wanna get on their way... But a simple acknowledgment of presence doesn’t cost you time, and it can matter to someone. At its core, this film is a little way to encourage and inspire friendliness.
The Process & Pride
This is my first short film. It’s done! Woo-hoo! Now, I can say I’m a filmmaker. Look, I actually made a film! I feel a sense of completion and it’s wonderful. Is it a masterpiece? My grand opus and the pinnacle of my creativity? Let’s not get carried away. I humbly see this film as a stepping stone, another small win, and a way to learn, practice, and continue to collaborate with others. Over the past couple of years, I’ve picked up momentum with every creative project and this is a culmination of the skills I’ve learned around cinematography, writing, editing, directing, storyboarding, collaborating, acting… all of that stuff was essential to pulling it off and I’m happy, proud and taking a deep breath to soak in the achievement. It’s great to see it all come together.
Below are some of the storyboards and thumbnail sketches I scratched out and used to plan out the basic beats and scenes.
We shot the film over the course of about 3 months, most of it was shot on Sundays catching the early morning light. Those were great days and it was always an energizing reason for me to jump out of bed at 6 am. Creativity and collaboration is great exercise for the mind and an awesome way to kick off the day.
The People
Throughout the journey to make the film, I got to meet new talented, fun people and collaborate with friends. Good vibes were aplenty and that’s something that really enriches the whole experience.
Here’s a wave of thanks to the cast and crew and support community. A list of names that I couldn’t have made the film without and some whose feedback and ideas made it better than I could have on my own.
The Director of Photography —Jack Minnelli. The cast — Anna Kosotenko, Helen Pavlovskaya, Alexa Mendez, Rafael Mayfield, Esther Torres, and Kahra Keyes. The strangers on the streets of Brickell and on their boats who were friendly enough to wave at our camera.
For story notes and film community support: big ups to Jordan Brady for some essential editing notes, Lucas Zambrano for some early story suggestions, and Filmgate Miami for giving me a platform to share the film, motivation to create, and venue to pitch the project and find my cast.
Awards! Hooray! In January 2022, Hi “a short film” was honored to be part of the Filmgate Short Film Festival and thanks to the all the people who showed up and voted for our film, we took home the honor of the Audience Award. It felt great to be recognized for our work, and who doesn’t love a friendly film competition!
The Past & Future
Hi started with a video project for my site. (that’s the long running video on the front page of hijohnny.com). The Hi videos are something that I could repeatedly practice and forced me to get out and work on composition and cinematography the basics of working a camera. That project started in 2017 is still going on four years strong and has led to hundreds of hi videos across the world, shirts and various other Hi things. And now this short film.
Going forth, it’s my goal to continue directing and creating short comedic films - continuing to collaborate with other filmmakers, actors and creatives. So here’s to a world with more haha’s, more good waves and making more fun stuff.
To celebrate the wrap, we had a small gathering…. And we made a gif with a Hi pillow. Here’s that.