The Story

How do you solve a puzzle if you don't know what it's about?

That is essentially the question asked by Jigsaw as you enter a non-chronological crime thriller that pieces itself together in a rather unique fashion.

As you enter the world of Jigsaw, you meet a Cop with a problem, Two Gangsters about to execute a Masked and Bound Man in a forest,
a Hit Squad advancing on a targeted house, and a Lone Man moving into a dank apartment. Who are these people and what are their motivations?
Watching the puzzle piece together is the only way to find out...

Making of Jigsaw

Jigsaw was originally envisioned as a feature film. It was only well after completing it as a feature film that I realized it was better suited as a short film.

The crutch of the film is how the story is told. I never let you get to really know the characters, invest in them, allow you to cheer or jeer for the charcters.
The film is about what happens and how it is told. So it became apparent that instead of "dragging it out" over the 76 minutes I had the film cut to,
that I should deliver it as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

So, I shot a feature film, then cut it down to a short film. I shot a feature film for $1200 Cdn.* without a crew. I had some help from my girlfriend
and a film school buddy, but essentially was a one man crew all the way through from pre to post - other than making the music.

Took 2 weeks off work to shoot. Usually going to locations beforehand and planned out the lighting and shots the day or night before actors showed up.
Did a couple pick up days later on as ideas came up in post.

Post production was the hardest part. Being a movie that is pieced together I had a million and one ways it could be cut. Basically an endless amount of
possibilites that created many different cuts of the film. There comes a point where I had to stop cutting and stick with one vision.

Then I met with Colin Andrew Ford the composer/musician behind the score of Jigsaw. As I sat through composing sessions, new options for the films
direction took place and additional cuts were made. The endless cutting continued until we finally had our film!

The film became more or less a moral victory for me as a filmmaker. I completed a feature length film practically on my own, and it at least felt like a "real" movie.
Unfortunately it never really went anywhere. Maybe it wasn't(and still isn't) the film I thought it was. Maybe I targeted the wrong festivals and maybe gave up too
soon on sending it out, but regardless it didn't have the success I had hoped for.

Had some interest for distribution, but in the end I didn't really trust the companies I was approached by.

I attempted to do the self distribution route, and learned that without buzz/advertising my film was basically lost and unknown(and it most probably is still).
Luckily I never did anything stupid like pay for replication of thousands of dvds in the hopes they'd sell for profit, so it wasn't a big deal.

So then it sat...... and one day, bored I thought what if it was a short film? This led to me practising my skill as an editor by cutting down a 76 minute film into
a 22 minute film. The one thing that limited what I could and could not do was the score. There were some sequences I couldn't alter because the music was
made to match, but other than that the world was my oyster so to speak. The story remains the same, the order does not stray too far from the feature film.

The one major thing that was cut out was a love interest for the main character. But this love interest takes places sort of outside the Jigsaw world. It was a bookend
that took place in color at the beginning and ending of the film and also included one last twist. But it was the one part that could be cut out entirely and keep the jist of the film intact.

So now we have the short film version, available for anyone to see! Hopefully whoever watches it enjoys the unconventional journey and that once it's over the
twists and turns and style leave you in the very least with an experience. That it challenges and engages the mind. Thank you for checking it out!

(*The budget was $400, but jumped up $800 when I was forced to get insurance for a pivotal location.)