Short film collaboration: 'Something Pointless'

Behind the Scenes: Art Directing the Award-Winning Short Film 'Something Pointless'

At the launch of my solo exhibition, Annwn, filmmaker Keefa Chan (Opium Fire) approached me with an intriguing question: Would I be interested in collaborating on a short film?
I let the idea simmer over the winter, and by the time spring rolled around, I felt ready for a new creative challenge. I wanted to see how my visual practice could translate from the canvas to the screen.

Initially, my role was focused on world-building - curating the props, interiors and textures that would establish the film’s specific visual atmosphere. However, as the production grew and a producer came on board, I was officially invited to step up as the film's Art Director.
This meant taking charge of a small art department and collaborating closely with director Asa Bailey. By a brilliant coincidence, I was in the middle of watching Silo on Apple TV+ at the time, completely unaware that Asa was leading the pioneering virtual production workflows on that exact show!

Stepping onto a film set as an Art Director was a brand-new landscape for me. While the industry terminology was fresh, I quickly realised that the core principles were exactly what I have been doing in my studio for over thirty years: managing space, balancing composition, and using colour to evoke deep human emotion.
An ideas board, mood board, or vision board is integral to this process. As you can see from my initial sketches below, it doesn't have to be clinical or super-neat - it just needs to be a visual anchor to keep our core concepts front and centre. Of course, film is a collaborative dance, and these ideas evolved beautifully over the course of many late-night online production meetings.

To get into the headspace of the project, I was given the script and the director's visual 'treatment' - a polished blueprint detailing potential filming locations and cinematic references. Later, I was sent a curated project Spotify playlist which inspired our composer Andrea Belucci.  listened to this soundtrack on repeat in my studio, letting the music dictate the energy of the artwork and environments I was designing.
I'll be adding more to this post when time allows, but for now, this is where the journey began...

Translating Dreams: From Children's Literature to Cinematic Shadows

When it came to designing the look of the film, my inspiration came from an unexpected but deeply treasured place.
I have always loved this specific illustration from the classic children's book The Mousehole Cat (1991), written by Antonia Barber and illustrated by Nicola Bayley. There is a rich, atmospheric texture to Bayley's work that has stayed with me for years. 
In the script for Something Pointless, the main character - a young tween boy - struggles with vivid, intense nightmares, seeing terrifying shadow monsters creeping across his bedroom walls.
I wanted to capture that raw, childhood vulnerability. Using the delicate, cross-hatched energy of The Mousehole Cat as a visual touchstone, I sat down to sketch out how these dream-state monsters might actually manifest on screen.
Below is one of my initial concept sketches. It was a fascinating exercise in taking the dark, heavy theme of psychological distress and translating it into a physical, cinematic shadow framework that our camera and lighting teams could actually work with on set.
 

https://theestablishingshot.org/2026/04/something-pointless-is-something-quite-special/

Let’s stay connected
If you enjoyed the story behind this project, you will love my new journal, Artings & Inklings over on Substack. It is my dedicated space for fresh studio updates, creative essays, and reflective writing.
Join my Substack community to receive my latest notes directly in your inbox.