Melbourne based filmmaker, artist and serial Tweeter, Joel Sabadin, is recovering from the glitz and glamour of the 2010 Tropfest short film competition, held in Sydney at the weekend. Joel attended the world’s biggest short film festival as a VIP guest, after his short film entitled ‘Frequency’, made it to the top three in the Telstra Mobile Masterpiece category.

Shot entirely on his trusty Samsung mobile phone, Joel did away with complicated scripts and large productions, instead opting to tackle one simple ‘human’ dilemma: ‘the search for someone on the same wavelength’.

In a world moving at so many different frequencies, Joel’s film follows one (slow-moving) man who goes in search of his soulmate. Set amongst the Melbourne CBD, shot without dialogue and inspired by the special-effect used to make Slipknot’s ‘Vermillion‘ film clip, Joel was able to produce a heart warming and thought provoking short film with a budget of just $5.

Despite missing out on first place and more than $5,000 in prize money, Joel’s film was admired by more than 150,000 viewers Australia wide and received loads of positive feedback from industry experts. After the results were announced, Joel Tweeted the following to friends and fans: “Phew – what a rush! Didn’t win but man I’m still a winner :D. Followed by: “So many fantastic films at Tropfest this year, really an honor to be included amongst them.”

Since a young age Joel has been inspired by our ability to capture life using different mediums. His artwork includes paintings, short animations, stop motion videos, home made movies or ‘Swedes’ and music videos. I caught up with Joel before Tropfest, to find out what makes a good short film and what’s next for the budding filmmaker…

Welcome Joel, firstly can you tell me what your last Tweet was?

Haha – it was something about how awesome it is to be seeing Tegan & Sarah again – I’m a huge fan.

So, can you tell me what factors go into making a great short film?

There’s lots of factors, but I think the most important things are sticking to one idea and one concept, not over complicating things and avoiding clichés. This helps to ensure you engage with your audience without giving too much away or picking a story-line that’s overdone.

How does your film include those factors?

Frequency was about one man’s search for someone on the same wavelength, something I feel we can all relate to and which I felt was a simple and clear enough idea. I also knew because it was shot on a mobile phone, I would need use a special effect or something to keep the audience engaged while watching. I actually chose the special effect first, then based the story idea around that, which fitted well.

How did you find shooting on a Mobile phone and what were some of the challenges.

It was interesting, I had to first discover my phones limitations and capabilities, including battery life, camera abilities and testing the special effect. But I also kept it quite lo-fi and didn’t re-shoot every scene, instead I did one take and kept it quite raw and it came together nicely.

What fascinates you most about films?

I like how films can draw you into another world and immerse you in alternate realities on so many different levels. It’s inspiring and entertaining.

What can we expect to see next?

I think I’d like to focus on next years Tropfest, but I also like to try new things and would like to get into contact with some of the people I met at this years Tropfest and work on something different. I’ve also been tossing up the idea of re-shooting Frequency, but with a bigger budget and larger production – but we’ll see what happens.

And finally, who’s your biggest hero?

My biggest hero would have to be the grass that grows between the cracks in concrete.

Check out some of Joel’s previous work below: