Reach for the Stars, 22min., Australia
Directed by Dylan Randall
After her mother’s passing, young Madeline is struggling with coming to terms with her grief. One night, when a small spacecraft crashes in her backyard, she meets B3R1, a stranded visitor from the stars.

https://www.instagram.com/outatimepictures

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

Reach For the Stars is a project that I hold very close to my heart, as the idea came after the passing of my Grandad, and how my family and I dealt with the grief that followed. This moment in my life motivated me to create something that could be a light-hearted, wonder-filled adventure but with emotional undertones that helps us explore the idea of how different people deal with loss, and how that can be overcome. He was always a supporter with my films, much like my entire family, and the way that a writer can use their own personal experiences to carve a story was something that drew me to finally creating a story that carried this weight. I was also motivated and inspired by the wonderful work of the ‘Industrial Light and Magic’ studio and the puppets created for the original Star Wars, and I began to wonder how I could incorporate these techniques into my story. As soon as I knew I wanted to incorporate a robot, learning everything about how they used to do it became my everyday reading. Because I believe that stories are the windows to a world far beyond our reach, I wanted bring a shared experience of so many people to life with something that could not be tangible in our day to day life. This bridged the gap between reality and the wonderful make-believe and B3R1 acts as the emotional bridge for our audience to connect them to this story and to act as a sense of hope that people may need.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

The original idea formed in April of 2024, but I had other projects in production around then and I hadn’t fully finished the script yet. I then pushed back the completion of the script until Feb 2025 and from the moment I finished the script, I already had a cast picked out without even asking them. Pre-Production on the robot started in March as he was quite particular to build and needed all the time to make adjustments, do visual tests etc. Then we started Principle Photography in July and it took 5 shoot days in total. PostProduction took around 2 months, as it was mostly VFX work on the robot until our completion in September. In this time we also live recorded a majority of our score with the help of our composer, Lizzie, and some amazing musicians.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?

Wonder and Wholesome

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

B3R1, The Robot. He was a little tricky to get right. From the beginning of the filming process, I knew he was going to be a physical robot which was then digitally enhanced in post. It wasn’t until his creation began that I realised, due to his scale, and my lack of robotics knowledge, he was going to be a very basic shell, which would then be brought to life. I completed a VFX test which included using eye tracking on After Effects which was parented to his cartoon eyes so that the actor could do a physical performance which I could translate to digital movement. It looked good but it was not great. We jumped straight into production and I was still figuring him out, so we shot the actress first, and then moved onto B. Initially it was stopmotion, which we tried, and ultimately failed for the shots I was trying to create. He didn’t feel alive and it felt so disconnected. We scrapped the stop-motion 3 days into shooting, and we pulled out the fishing wire and off we went, B3R1 finally felt alive. It was a combination of our amazing puppeteer Daniel, and the help of the crew for more complex shots, which brought him to life, and in the end made B3R1 the easiest part of the shoot. The haze and fog machine was our real enemy.

5. There are 5 stages of the filmmaking process: Development. Pre-Production. Production. PostProduction. Distribution.

What is your favorite stage of the filmmaking process?

My favourite stage is a big tie between the Production stage and Post-Production stage. For my films, I include a lot of visual trickery that sometimes you cannot picture or see on set during production. For production, I love watching my stories come to life through peoples interpretations, watching scenes blend together and see the images I’ve had in my mind for months, finally fall in-front of my eyes. It is an honour to be able to be trusted by your closest friends to tell some of the most heartwarming to most crazy stories you’ve written. Post-Production is so much fun, as I have been a wiz at VFX for a long time, and every film I try something new, and even sometimes try a new form of art to include in my film. Reach for the Stars included many hand drawn animations, which was a first for me, and then my skills in AE come into affect when I had to bring these drawings to life in the film. Every creative process of the filmmaking journey is an incredibly fun one, and these are only two highlights of what makes film so special to me.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?

For as long as I can remember. I can’t actually put my finger on the exact moment, but my father brought me up on all the old 80s films and I can just remember always wanting to try recreate every moment I saw. The Delorean disappearing in BTTF, the TARDIS in Dr Who, Gremlins, ET, Jaws, Indiana Jones. I could name every film that I have watched and wanted to try and recreate. Ever since then, every school project I tried to make it a film, every film I have made has been fun, trying something new each different time and learning something from the last. It’s been a blast and will continue to be a blast!

7. What film have you seen the most times in your life?

Definitely Back to the Future!

8. In a perfect world: Who would you like to work with/collaborate with on a film?

Honestly it would be to work under/work with Steven Spielberg or Christopher Nolan. Those two directors have shaped my filmmaking and just every film they have made is amazing. I am a Sci-Fi buff, so its to be said that these two had something to do with that!

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?

I haven’t submitted a film since my feature I made in 2022, and it has been alright this time. I have had a few mixups with the larger more country hoping festivals where my film hasn’t uploaded so I missed the festival etc, but all round, this time has been great, and I have been able to be apart of so many amazing festivals around the world and the opportunity to show the team and I’s craftsmanship in filmmaking.

10. What is your favorite meal?

Can’t go wrong with Steak and Chips!

11. What is next for you? A new film?

Yes! A brand new film is currently in Principle Photography. After the adventures of using puppetry in Reach for the Stars, I thought I would extend my play and try building and creating my own set of puppets, to braces the high seas! It is coming along great and it is currently extremely fun to be shooting, the edit of this film is going to be very intense however super rewarding. There is nothing like trying your hand at something new and learning something along the way. I can’t spoil too much, but the adventures across the high seas are just getting started.