Shaun Tayles
My work
Here are links to many of my different project I've made over the years. Click on the photos to find out more!
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01
Cold Caller (Short Fiction Film)
My first time as Director of Photography! It was a great experience working on this psychological drama in my first year at the University of Gloucestershire! This was my first time behind any camera and working with any sort of lighting and was a valuable learning experience
02
Housesitter (Short Fiction Film)
Housesitter was my first time producing a film and was I enjoyed every moment of it! finding locations, actors and props were amazing and writing up the schedule and working with the other departments went great, ensuring a smooth production.
03
Impenetrable (Short Documentary Film)
Impenetrable was a documentary that was my first time editing and it was amazing! It was great filming with the crew and interacting with the roller derby team and getting to know them and their sport. This helped me greatly putting this film together in the edit room.
04
Not to Sin (Short Documentary Film)
Not to Sin is a documentary I had to privilege to be Director of Photography on, learning more and more about religion and my director's experience with religion throughout his life and how that's shaped his views on some of the morals and ethics behind what they teach.
05
The Final Goodbye (Short Fiction Film)
The Final Goodbye was the first time I wrote and directed a film. Coming from a story of loss and grief, this story dives into the forgiveness of oneself and forgiving yourself for the things that are out of your control. It was great being able to work on a film of my own idea and seeing it come to life throughout production.
06
Elite (Short Documentary Film)
Elite is another documentary that I edited, following a local artistic roller skating team, tackling the obstacle of not being able to compete in the Olympics. This team "Elite" go into why there team should be able to qualify and how much it means to so many people within their community
Cold Caller
Dir. Billy Byers
Director of Photography
Shaun Tayles
Cold Caller was one of the first productions I was involved in the the University of Gloucestershire, this was during our production design module where we were tasked to pitch a film that took place within an interior that could be built in the studio and an exterior that we had to find. This was the first film I was able to be a Director of Photography on and it was an enjoyable experience, having it be one of the first times behind a camera and lighting equipment. I was really excited to dive into creating a convincing world that the audience can sink into.
I was wanting to utilise the Kino Flo we had access to in the studio and its ability to create multi coloured LED lights. I wanted to use the purple I can get out of the Kino Flo to imitate neon like lighting that might be on the street, because it is actually all set in his head we were able to be a bit more experimental with it. I also used two Arri 300W lights to imitate dingy office lighting which we changed settings and manipulated depending on what were shooting in the scene as some say need more tight lighting than others.
I worked with many great people on this project, as this was one of the first films we worked on at university, we were getting to know everyone at first but soon became friends and working together become smooth as we were able to communicate any issues or concerns openly and clearly
Housesitter
Dir. Meghan Robinson
Produced by
Shaun Tayles
Housesitter is a fiction film I produced in my second year at the University of Gloucestershire for my fiction film module. Producing was different to what I was used to, having to plan everything and ensure that we are within budget and on time was new for me but a welcome challenge.
Because this was the first time I produced a film I knew I had my work cut out in front of me. Straight away, I started working on finding actors, putting out a casting call and on the look for a suitable location, luckily my director soon had one secured for us through her personal links. After finding the location, actors and some of the probs, this was the time I finalised the budget and organised equipment, transport, accommodation and food.
Being a producer on a short film made me realise how important it was to be clear througout production, ensuring everyone's on the same page on everything, including shoot days, scheduling, etc. It made me realise how having backups to store all documents and important pre production planning is key for mitigating any issues that may arise.
Impenetrable
Dir. Elly Taylor
Edited by
Shaun Tayles
Impenetrable was the first time of being an editor and it was a wonderful experience, from helping out filming to being in the edit room with the director, I enjoyed working on this film. The main goal of this film was to showcase roller derby and gain more awareness to the sport, hoping that more and more people decide to partake in their local team, if that be taking part to turning up to support the players.
Working as an editor on a documentary made me realise how important it is to get coverage while filming. Many times within the edit room, my director would ask me to try out certain angles which we unfortunately did not have, even though we had three camera running the whole time! I did love the editing process though, piecing together the story into an interesting and enjoyable film is much as a challenge as it is fun.
I had multiple back ups of footage, both physical hard drives and cloud drives, as you can never be too sure about being safe! seeing this film come from its conception to its finished export was nothing short of a privilege and I learnt so much about the editing process and roller derby while making this.
Not to Sin
Dir. Hamza Tehseen
Director of Photography
Shaun Tayles
Hearing the pitch for this film, I knew that it was a personal story from my director and needed to be told with delicacy that strives for a strong dive by the audience into religious beliefs and the morals and ethics of these teachings. It was fascinating to work on this, learning more about religion and my director as we went along, it was amazing to work on and the crew I had allowed for a great experience on this journey
On this film I got the chance to work with the Blackmagic Ursa and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6k which was a nice change from the Canon C100, although the Ursa is a bit heavier and bigger to transport, it does offer a better image quality which is why we only used it for static interview shots while we used the pocket camera for when we were doing our exterior shoots and we had to go into a busy town centre so we had to be able to keep on the go without sacrificing quality.
Working on this film allowed me to have some creative ideas with colour work and framing, using big open spaces with small lights to highlights different areas of focus. Finally seeing the final film while I was colour grading it was a pleasure, seeing everything we learnt from the priest and imam and allowing the colours, architecture and history of these religion to shine in their own light.
The Final Goodbye
Dir. Shaun Tayles
Directing my first film. I always thought that I would direct one but I never had the courage to go and pitch, but I thought that this story is one I needed to tell. I first wrote the initial concept as a short novel while I while I was doing m A-Levels, but I never finished it. Then when I came to do Film Production and started their scriptwriting module in 2022, I wanted to turn it into a script that I could possibly turn into a film.
Making this film taught me a lot about directing, from scriptwriting to blocking scenes. That problem-solving is a great skill to have and keeping good morale when tiredness starts to hit. I know this from my time working with great directors who have done this and it makes a difference to the whole production! I also found that strong and clear communication is key when conveying ideas, a lot of things that are said when discussing ideas with people can be misheard and misunderstood.
By going to plenty of workshops that the university provided me allowing me to work with actors while developing the script, it showed be different techniques and exercises I can do with actor in preparation for emotional scenes, that sometimes just leaving the actor alone to do allow them to get into the headspace of the character is the best thing to do.
Elite
Dir. Elly Taylor
Edited by
Shaun Tayles
Elite Roller Skating club contacted Elly after seeing Impenetrable, our previous roller skating documentary, and wanted us to make one about them. After finding out that the reason they wanted this made is to get awareness of the sport because they want to compete in the Olympics but they can't due to lack of funding, we felt that it was important for not only them but for everyone in the artistic roller skating community, supporters and players alike.
Working on another documentary as an editor meant that I could learn from the issues that I ran into last time so they don't happen again. The director and I would sit in the edit room together piecing the story together, as we understood that they wanted to get the awareness out there but we thought that showing the dynamic of the club and their players will help that mission.
I believe from working on this film, the biggest thing I learnt was that teamwork is so important in a production, everyone has to keep to the schedule and plan throughout as it could affect everyone else down the production pipeline. Overall, this was a great film to work on with a powerful message behind it and a supportive team.