London Short Film (LSF) is one of the fastest-growing short-film-making communities with 8000+ members from all around the world. The group promotes the medium of short film which is especially challenging as it requires to squeeze a compelling narrative into a very limited time frame. One of the events organised by LSF was this year’s 90 Second Sci-Fi Challenge, where the contestants attempted to tell an intriguing science fiction story in mere one-and-a-half minute.

The widely dissimilar, often very original, entries from 16 contestants-finalists were judged by a three-prong panel of judges consisting of Chris Cook (Lead Modeller at Framestore), Carl MacKenzie (filmmaker and founder of Chelmsford Film Festival (CFF) and humble ourselves, SCIFI4EVER online magazine.

It was a widely disparate line-up and a difficult choice to make, but, after some deliberation, 'The Perfect Cure' by Team Chanche (Blanche Anderson & Christopher Brooks), came out as the winning short film.

SCIFI4EVER took this opportunity to ask the triumphant team a few questions about the process involved in creating the winning entry:

A witty use of the multiple-role acting, a cinematic technique where a single actor portrays multiple characters, secured Team Chanche the winning position.

Can you tell our readers something about yourselves and how did you get to know each other?

Blanche: I trained in Acting (BA Hons) at the Paul McCartney founded university – The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. I am now an actor and voiceover artist, and I love both. Acting-wise, I have starred in two feature films, the long running Santander commercial and recently I have performed the new-writing play, 'Understudies' at The Cockpit Theatre and Brockley Jack Theatre, London. Voice work includes commercials for clients such as Virgin Atlantic, Sky, The BBC, Royal Bank of Scotland. I also work in corporate, animated and video game voiceover.

Chris: I am a TV producer and director. I've enjoyed making short films for more than ten years now and was recently producer and director of photography on my first feature film project, Crooked Frames, which is currently in post-production – and which Blanche had a major role in too.

Blanche: We met at a film club two years ago. The film club made a film every month with every role up for grabs so it was a great way to try out new skills. Chris and I made two films together there and got on so well that we decided to venture into future projects together. We made jointly three, or four films, including one which went on to be screened at Leicester Square Empire Cinema at the British Independent Film Festival. First I wrote the screenplay, then Chris took his turn. After that we started co-writing and entered two previous ones of these 90 sec competitions, as well as a couple of documentary competitions and worked together on the feature film which Chris already mentioned.

Chris: And it's been great. We have a similar interest in making films, but complementary skills and different roles, plus we're good friends – so it's always great fun too.

What made you participating in London Short Film's 90 Second Sci-Fi Challenge?

Chris: We had already participated in two previous 90 second film competitions, and we've been runners-up twice before, with our films ‘The Perfect Present’ and ‘The Perfect Date’. So we were very keen to compete again and try to outdo ourselves!

Blanche: We like the challenge of telling a fully formed story in such a limited time frame.

What inspired you to make this particular short film?

Blanche: I am a lover of 'what if' and dystopian future genres so was keen to play with the idea 'What if everyone was the same?' Firstly we toyed with the idea of people being identical as a way of eradicating racism, hatred and to strive towards equality, but then we settled on the concept that it would be for the more selfish, life-prevailing need 'to survive'. We also liked the idea that people would acquire the cloning procedure from a corporate company.

Chris: I had a strong image in my mind of the final shot in the film, and the sense of dread that goes along with it. As Blanche says, we discussed lots of sci-fi concepts that might build to this conclusion in an effective and satisfying way, and I'm proud of what we came up with and how we made it work in the end, it was a true team effort where we critiqued and improved each others' ideas.

Are either of you a fan of the genre?

Blanche: Ever since studying the teenage novel 'Daz 4 Zoe' at school, I've been a fan of stories set in alternative realities. Fiction set in a world almost true to ours, but somewhat different. I love ‘Children of Men’ and I'm also an avid ‘Black Mirror’ viewer.

Chris: I am very opinionated about sci-fi, as Blanche knows. Sorry, Blanche! Anyway, I love science fiction, especially from the 1950s to 70s, writers like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, John Wyndham and others. I opine that quite often the so-called 'original' concepts in movies or TV were done better 50 years ago in books, which I'm sure can be hugely annoying for everyone within my conversational radius. But I also love to think of science fiction through yesteryear’s point of view, with that contagious, original sense of futuristic optimism, where things like going to the Moon were still fresh and exciting, and where the opportunities of the future seemed boundless. But of course, just like in real life, things go quite often wrong in sci-fi and that's how you get a lot of the modern relevance, so I like a bit of dystopia too.

Can you tell us something about the process of making the winning short film?

Blanche: I wrote the draft after discussing it with Chris and then we bounced back and forth our ideas. It was an iterative process to get the final script. We then organised film dates, re-organised film dates (hahaha!) then POW filmed.

Chris: Pow! And filming was all done efficiently over one Friday evening and Saturday morning a week before the deadline. We also worked hard on the edit, with a new cut every evening of the next week, with both of us thinking of tweaks throughout the day, while doing our day jobs, how to make things work better, how to make sure the twist in the story would have the biggest impact. For example, the text on screen in the first five seconds of the film was added quite late in the process, as we thought it would add clarity.

Blanche: Then of course we added Alex Liberatore's tailor-made music score which really brought the whole piece to life. A piece we're both proud and excited about!

You can watch the winning short film by following this link: 'The Perfect Cure'