Budding filmmaker Theo Gee may be hard at work with exams and dissertation for his psychology degree at the University of Nottingham, but it has not stopped the 21-year-old from directing his first short film. Amber, co-written by fellow Lenton-based student Ian Bousher and featuring a Nottingham cast, is a 24-minute psychological thriller about a routine robbery that drastically falls apart. Theo speaks to Dan Robinson about his aspirations to make it in the industry, filming on a £500 budget and how how he is trying to break the negative assumptions linked to student films.

How did this film come about?

When I leave university, I am going to be a director (I can't remember who said it, but a successful director once said that you don't say you're going to be a director, he said if you are one then you are one) so i knew I needed to come out with a professional portfolio and as much experience as possible, as I have not studied anything related to film or media (although, again, another famous director urged young filmmakers not to go and study film at college, but to instead study something which would give them a good and unique perspective on life, such as English, history, philosophy). So, as well as the short, I am releasing the official music video for the local band As December Falls in a few weeks, another music video for a London-based producer and then over the next few months before I graduate I aim to film and release another two or three shorts and two or three official music videos – while doing exams and dissertation.

What is the film about?

On the surface, the film is a simple crime drama about a routine burglary that goes wrong. But as the audience continues to watch the film, it turns into more of a psychological thriller about hidden motives and a forbidden love triangle.

How does this film demonstrate the ideas or messages you are trying to convey?

I love films that make the audience really concentrate and think hard, and we wanted to make something where someone would watch it once and have to go back and watch it again to see if they can spot all the little details and clues hinting at the end. We made the whole film so that it hooked people from the start and kept them guessing and thinking throughout by having the script say one thing, but visually they are being hinted at or shown contradictory evidence for what they believe is the case. Is there a message behind the film? Not that we set out to give, but having finished the project and looking at it retrospectively, I suppose a message that the audience can take away from it is not to make assumptions. I think we demonstrated this both in the film itself, but also people hear the words "student film" and make immediate (mostly negative) assumptions too, so I hope this film proves otherwise.

How did your studying of psychology help with the script?

My co-writer pitched me the concept for the short based around a psychological condition called Stockholm syndrome (where a hostage falls in love with the captor), and the reciprocal condition called Lima Syndrome (captor falls in love with the hostage). This is a very challenging topic to write a script for without it coming across as something unbelievable, so we read journals about the conditions to get a better understanding for just how they developed in these situations, and we were then able to use those real life ideas and psychological theories behind why the conditions develop to influence the writing. I think we also now have an acute perception for the implications of a word or phrase for a viewer or reader, due to studying modules on cognition and perception which look in details at word priming studies, semantic relations etc.

Amber from Theo Gelernter on Vimeo.

Where did your budget come from and how did you manage to stay within it?

The film was initially self-funded by Ian and myself. Once we knew we had a good enough script to pitch, my co-producer and I started looking for small independent film companies interested in helping young filmmakers start their careers to sponsor the film. We worked out the total costs first, then paid for it ourselves and ended up supplementing almost all the costs through the sponsorship and some very generous donations.

How did you manage to create the film without any prior experience?

I have a background in videography, and very minimal experience in shooting and directing small promo videos for events. My co-writer has written and published poems, short stories and is currently working on a full-length novel to publish. We spoke about creating something together using both sets of skills, and learned quickly along the way about the technical aspects of making a professional short film. There are so many resources online to learn from; I just sat for weeks and watched and read all the information I could about the process and what makes a good short film. When we got my director of photography on board, he was able to handle all the technical aspects of the cinematography and brought the entire film up to a professional-looking standard. To be honest, i was privileged and lucky to have some very talented actors and such a hard working crew to help achieve my vision, and I could not have made such a good end product without them.

What do you intend to do with the film? Where will it be distributed?

We're trying to generate as much publicity and attention in the local area and beyond as possible for the short as the more feedback I get, the more we can improve for next time. As pretty much all of the cast and crew did this in their own time, I am also working my hardest to make sure the product of their efforts are seen by as many people as possible to give them all maximum exposure and make sure their efforts don't go to waste. We have also submitted the film to a large number of festivals but we know due to some of the topics brought up in the film and it's long run-time (for a short film), it is unlikely to do well in these. The length is especially an issue, and I had not realised this when we finished the script, otherwise I would have made it shorter – but we know for next time now. The film is now online for everyone to see.

What has the reaction been like to it?

The reaction has honestly been fantastic. We've had some brilliant reviews but I am very self-critical and know that this has not reached my potential. I think that our next short will get a much larger and an even better reaction than this.