When Bermudian actor, writer and director Rory Wilson set out to create Keep Me, Run, he underestimated the “absolute importance and magnitude of post-production”.

The 17-minute short film required more than passion, with Mr Wilson, of Paget, having to teach himself many of the steps involved in editing it to a professional standard.

Having entered the completed project into the film festival circuit, the 22-year-old now plans to put his new skills to good use in his next project, which he hopes to fund through another crowdfunding campaign that has already raised £745.

“It’s a brilliant feeling to have finished Keep Me, Run,” Mr Wilson told The Royal Gazette, “and I’ve been keen to move swiftly on to my next project, working with new people and learning from any mistakes or drawbacks of the last project.”

Mr Wilson, who is based in London, and his team started filming Keep Me, Run, which follows a family’s struggle to stay unified, around this time last year.

“I’m really happy with it and that can be seen in my excitement for people to see it. I think there are some great visuals and especially the mother character came to life amazingly.”

The project was funded partly by crowdfunding and through a grant from the Bermuda Arts Council.

“We had a really strong starting point and I was really grateful for all the generosity of the people who donated to the campaign page and to the Arts Council,” Mr Wilson said.

“Once filming was wrapped, the truly overlooked and underestimated obstacle of post-production began. This is a crucial stage of making any film.

“You can have incredible individual scenes or moments, but if they don’t fit together, then the film will be weak and ineffective.

“Having used up our budget primarily to shoot the film, it was up to me to make sure everything came together, and I began teaching myself how to use editing software, styles of editing, using a colour palette and grading.

“I learnt some valuable skills and my understanding and respect for filmmaking and filmmakers doubled and tripled.”

But he said the most important lesson he learnt was not to give up, adding “it has taken more patience, dedication, passion and self-assurance than anything else, and its only 17 minutes long”.

As the creator and most critical viewer, Mr Wilson said he can see where the weaknesses lie. But he has decided to embrace them and learn from any mistakes.

“I have a catalogue of things that didn’t work out and that I now know how to avoid or fix,” he said. “I have a new hunger to continue telling stories and making films, and this is because I have chosen to look at my experience of making Keep Me, Run objectively.”

Mr Wilson has entered Keep Me, Run into the Bermuda International Film Festival, along with other short film festivals in London, and is now hoping to drum up support for his next project.

Prince Jodie is set in southern America and “looks at the struggle of a young couple who have a child but don’t know how to deal with the responsibility of it”.

“We are crowdfunding at the moment, and there is a cool little video that you can watch to see more about the film (www.indiegogo.com/projects/prince-jodie-short-film-london).”

While Mr Wilson was heavily involved in the editing and technical aspect of the Keep Me, Run production, he hopes to focus more on his acting in Prince Jodie, “as that’s really what I’m wanting to do”.