Fidus Achates (2024)
After his closest friend becomes a victim of drug crime, Alex sets out to hunt down his killer and avenge his death.
Fidus Achates explores the price of vengeance through a variety of characters, all living in imperfect worlds but with different attitudes and values towards their lives and how to live them.
Fidus Achates is a 13 minute thriller directed by Kyle Sobey. In the film, I played the role of Cameron, the protagonist’s friend who’s death serves as the catalyst for the story. It was a refreshing shift for me as I’m used to playing antagonistic characters (I’ve spent almost 4 years now voicing the villain of Forbidden Mountain) and provided a notable challenge to convey the complexities of the character, his unfortunate situation as well as individual flaws leading to his tragic fate. While working on the film, I lent my experience to the director with advice on the plot, characters and cinematography, and aided him in turning the initial vision into a screenplay. Naturally I don’t agree with all the decisions made for the film, but while I offered my advice at every turn it was ultimately up to the director to construct the film in a way that met his creative vision.
Characters
Alex - Protagonist
Alex is Cameron’s closest friend, and his death sets him on a path of revenge, hunting down the men responsible.
Tyler Hughes - Antagonist
Tyler is a successful drug dealer with a great deal of influence over the town, who’s actions put him on a collision path with Alex.
Brian Mathens - Main Cast
Brian is a drug dealer who works for Tyler, and believes he is doing what he has to in order to build himself a better life. But the events of the film soon make him question this.
Michael Allen - Main Cast
Michael Allen is a drug dealer who works for Tyler and a close friend of Brian. Unlike Brian, he is growing unsure if they are on the right path, torn between his duty to provide for his family and his desire to keep them out of the world of drugs.
Cameron - Main Cast
Cameron is a struggling addict and Alex’s closest friend. Cameron consistently fails to deliver Tyler payment and grows to owe him a large amount of money. This leads to his unfortunate but inevitable death at Tyler’s hands.
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My Contributions
In a few of the film’s scenes, I composed the lighting. For the flashback segment of the bar scene, I created a distinct split lighting style, framing Alex in melancholic blue and Cameron in envious green.
The present day bar scene used warm orange lighting, but as Alex sets down his drink and exits the bar, I added a subtle tint at red to indicate the dangerous path he is headed down. This shot itself was also composed by me.
In the garage scene, I took the red tint from the end of the bar scene and made it overtake the entire scene, showcasing Alex’s complete descent into obsession with seeking revenge on Tyler for Cameron’s death.
As well as advising the director during the film’s production and helping to compose shots, I aided him in creating a more compelling narrative for his original story, suggesting the prologue scene would make the plot much more clear since we get to witness the inciting incident, and helping him to create a more compelling final scene than he’d initially envisioned.