The Trainee

The-Trainee-short-film

Quick stats about the movie

A gritty anti-hero’s interrogation of a criminal mastermind is derailed when her naïve sidekick arrives on the scene.

Creative team

Starring: Marcella Young, Kira Hall, Brian Quintero

Writers: Kira Hall, Rob Walker

Director/DOP/Editor: Ryan Couldrey

Producers: Kira Hall, Ryan Couldrey

First Assistant Camera: Vy Nguyen

Sound Recordist: Graham Robinson

Hair/Makeup: Margo Paige

Script Supervisor: Rob Walker

Production Assistants: Sean Galbraith, Mariam Bastani

Special thanks to Andrea Subissati, Dustin Pepper and Dante

Filmmaker’s statement

The Trainee was made for the 2018 Toronto 48 Hour Film Challenge – out of 30 possible genres, we drew ‘superhero.’ After we drew our genre and a few other requirements (notably, a door-to-door salesperson character named Riley Ludwig) writers Kira Hall (who also plays the titular trainee) and Rob Walker got to work gathering story pitches for me to choose from. Once they hit on what would become The Trainee, I set off with crew members to gather costumes and props (bless the Spirit of Halloween stores) while confirming our interrogation location – we filmed the short in the dusty-as-heck murder-basement of the legendary Rue Morgue Magazine‘s headquarters.

The short went on from its initial 48 Hour bracket screening to the best-of event where it took home an audience choice award as well as best FX.

For a little extra fun, check out the extremely silly 48-second trailer we cut for the initial screening set to the music of Blue Monday.

By the time The Trainee screens in the NSI Online Short Film Festival we’ll already have done our next 48 Hour Film Challenge. I heartily recommend other filmmakers take part in this whirlwind event just so they can see what kind of magic happens when they draw ‘silent film,’ ‘musical’ or ‘time travel’ as a genre and have 48 hours to deliver their final render on a USB stick in person.

About Ryan Couldrey

Ryan Couldrey

Ryan is a Toronto-based filmmaker who has directed a feature and a bunch of shorts, but sadly missed out on the Vine craze.

He’s got a couple of genre features he’s looking to make and will no doubt be doing more 48-hour film fests in between. The Trainee is Ryan’s fifth short film to be featured by the National Screen Institute.

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