Million Youth Media Introduces The ‘Mandem’ In New Short Film
Across music, film TV and factual entertainment YouTube has grown to be our one stop shop, the Amazon of entertainment and information, YouTube is the first place we turn for that new movie trailer, web series, or quick tutorial about how to deliver your own baby.
The Million Youth Media channel on YouTube is one of the UK’s fastest growing independent youth platforms, each new short that airs highlights the variety and depth in programming that is missing from British TV networks. The latest, ‘Mandem’ created by all-in-one filmmaker Remi Moses, takes place on an East London estate. A group of friends are preparing for a music video shoot, spoofing common stereotypes made with the “roadman” description, we see a glimpse of what the lifestyle entails. After the shoot, a situation arises that causes one of the guys to go through a life-changing moment.
‘Mandem’ shows off the kind of real life Sci-Fi humour not seen on TV screens since channel 4 cancelled Misfits, “This project was inspired by the rode short film competition where filmmakers have to make a three minute film.” Remi explains, “The plan was simple, just to grab some talented actors and create something spontaneously. There’s not much you can do in 3 minutes and having a big cast doesn’t help but everyone was just excited to work together. I made a tweet looking for actors who wanted to jump on the project and I received over 200 messages on twitter and Instagram. After sorting through actors, I had a real talented group of actors and I emailed them my concept. It’s a bit daunting when there isn’t a script and you just have to trust the director and I knew some of them were a bit sceptical about working on it. But as soon as we met, everyone got along and we started crafting scenes. It was all improvised except for the last scene where we had multiple takes and about 10-15 minutes of rehearsals. I finished editing it the next day and realised I couldn’t condense it to 3 minutes so I just left it at its most natural form of 8 minutes.
Already well over 150,000 views on YouTube Remi is turning his attention to creating a complete web series, “I work as an all-in-one filmmaker, meaning I only really create (produce/direct/shoot) projects that I write. At the moment, I’m focusing on creating a web series which should be out in early 2019 and also a few feature films. There isn’t much of an industry over here unless you want to work for Eastenders and other soaps, so my focus is just on improving my skills as much as possible.” But things are changing, as we continue to explore the wave of new voices in our #ScreenNation series, Nation of Billions is looking to spotlight those voices of the future. “It’s beautiful seeing incredible representations of every kind of human on TV and film.” Remi adds finally, “From disabled, to black and Asian people, we are starting to see all forms of people being seen on screen. More importantly we are getting more BAME to work behind the camera. In America there is a real big buzz in the air for diversity and new voices. I think the evolution of film and TV can only happen when we explore new stories and talents.”