Doorbell, Noah Hobbins ATVA directorial debut, is an experimental film shot entirely on a ring doorbell.
Noah spoke to Brig about the inspiration for the film.
“Someone mentioned the doorbell and I went “that would be an interesting idea”, and I thought it would be a good challenge to make a film entirely on a doorbell. It was written very quickly, in like a day or so, and then we made the film the day after and edited the day after that so it was quite a tight shoot for time.”
“We used our [Noah and his flatmates] doorbell, so I had to be very cautious not to break it, and only got close one time when I dropped it down the stairs…”
The film was made with Noah’s flatmates and friends who were told to throw a fake party.
As with most experimental films, there are challenges to making things work.
“I’d sit with it [doorbell] connected to my phone and put the doorbell up somewhere and it has a feature with a live view and a day after, I’d sort through every take and download ones that I wanted to use. I just screen-recorded sometimes from that, so I knew I’d definitely have the shot.”
Tennent’s, one of Scotland’s favourite lager’s, plays a prominent part in the short, however, Noah assured Brig it is “not an ad for Tennent’s”.
“Planning is important, it becomes easier to film if everything is planned”, Noah replied when asked about lessons learned from making his first ATVA. “And the fact you don’t need good equipment to make something good. I wanted to see if it could be done and it could.”
“I wanted it to feel a bit like a horror, but then turn into a more reflective piece, about what things feel.
Respect the doorbell, respect what it wants.”
Featured Image Credit: Noah Hobbin/AirTV
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Arts Editor 24/25
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