Monday 20 September 2010

"... Now you realise, why it didnae work together eh?" (Marriage of Montage with Old-fashioned Storytelling)

I watched a film the other day (the name of which escapes me), where the for the first 5 minutes of the film I couldn't tell who I was rotting for in the story. I was blaming myself and thinking "I'm 25, things a re slowing down, I was never smart to begin with etc. etc." but then suddenly realised a number of things; the camera wouldn't stay still long enough for me to even focus my eyes on anything.

Apart from me resisting the urge to care for any character who I did finally focus on, the inherant boredom that proceeded completely killed it, stone dead, purely because there was no focus, the camera operator couldn't find a frame and the director couldn't peice together the story. Just an utter shambles. I'm saying this as an audience member and not a filmmaker. I know like anyone else, how hard the process is so the fact it was even in a cinema is achievement enough.

It brings up the whole cutting / time argument which I always found interesting and the advent of less structured cinematography.

The dawn of the MTV generation in the 90's, married with the forever dwindling attention spans of audiences in the last decade, has spawned a kind of overstylised kind of montage and imagery that attracts your attention by keeping your brain occupied by the speed of it as opposed to the clarity of what it is actually saying. You can conjure up notable directors like Michael Bay (although I quite like his films; The Rock, awesome) whose (5) second a cut has seen him hit billion dollar turnover's at the box office, yet very little critical  acclaim, which sometimes doesn't really matter when the money begins to roll into the pot. Music video sylings that erupt in a (2) minute video, maybe not tolerated so much in the course of a (2) hour film. I look at films like The Battle of Algiers or A Bout De Soufle or Shadows or The French Connection moving towards Traffic, when I refer to the slightly less structured sense of cinematography where the camera provides the sense of one watching events unfold as opposed to being structured for a significant dramatic effect, much how events unfold in reality. The camera holds a balettic sense of capturing the action to a tee, perfectly and within the confines of time within a single take. I look at Godard's Weekend or Altman's Short Cuts. The mark of a directors true talents unmasked and unhinged within the terrifying confines of a single take.

It's the balance between style over storytelling. When the style dictates your storytelling and gets in the way of providing the audience with the information they need in order to engage with the story, is when you fundamentally turn the medium into video art, as opposed to entertainment. Controversially, contradicting my own filmic aesthetic, I would rather strive for the balance, something lovely to look at, which only cuts when it needs to or for effect, that tells a fascinating and engaging story.

Engaging story is where it lies. It dictates everything. Dictates what you shoot, how you shoot and how decisions are made to visually advance the story so there is universal understanding from an audience. I guess, with The Job, what we have is story; just simple non-contrived story.

I am reaching the close date when I finished the orginal 100-page script end of last year, when the title was still working, there was four writers on the roster and everything got very exciting for us.

Only now, things are even more exciting, the number of people interested is increasing and you suddenly feel that what your doing is worth the years you will be spending on it.

I can only speak for myself but if people keep wanting it, I'll make sure it happens.




Ryan Jon Amey Henderson
Co-Creator/Co-writer

Tuesday 14 September 2010

"... Cannae Mind..." (Memory Over Imagery: Signatures)

I instantly think John Ford's The Searchers, Wayne framed within the door, a mere silhouette, a shadow of himself. Harry Lime sneaking out of the shadows in Carol Reed's The Third Man. Al Pacino staring down DeNiro in that cafe' scene in Heat. Chow-Yun Fat sliding a bannister in Woo's Hard Boiled. Chihiro on the train with no-face in Spirited Away. Timophy Spall letting go in Secrets and Lies. Book with Samual before he leaves the farm in Witness. Clooney with J-Lo, a snow ladden restaurant in Out Of Sight. Mifune pacing the town in Yojimbo. John Voight falling in love in Coming Home. Hackman as Doyle wanting to kick someone's ass in The French Connection. Wong-Kar Wai's Chungking Express. Patricia Arquette on a thunderbird's hood in Tony Scott's True Romance. Swatting up on your favourite sins in Fincher's Se7en. Coltraine gunning down Carlyle in a battle of minds in Cracker: To Be A Somebody....

A whole manner of cliche' book cover answers, but single frames that transcend decades of debate, analysis and influence and inspiration that I remember anyhow. Missing thousands of signature frames; a single image that epitomises a moment, from Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Seventh Seal, Drugstore Cowboy, Breakfast Club etc. etc.

Images that tell stories and marry together to produce a reaction. In imagery, it is all about providing 'information'. Through the tools we use, whether is be a super 35mm arriflex camera or a DV-50, fill it in with diffed 300w or whack a 4 bank kinoflo on a stand, the principal is the exact same. We are providing as much information as we possibly can. Only in those magical moments, do we get the marriage right. I've strived for a time in the films I have made to produce frames that epitomise a moment, certainly within the constructs of the filmic structure. These are the frames that illicit a particular response, different from the manner of closes to wide converage we're all used to. I may be plucking this from the air, without much grounding, possibly slightly patronising to the number of people already practising film but I can count a number of times having to remind filmmakers, film is a 'visual' medium, with a whole manner of freedom and exploration to define a process, however mechanical, with an emotional stamp.

In the writing stages of this project I have been detached from making decisions towards the visual aspects of the project. The scripts themselves have a strong visual sense of storytelling, although structurally strong with a meanderring quality of realism. From it's beginnings I had already mapped signature frames that define the stortytelling, tell the story through images instead of ladelled through lacking intracies. This is why I think, dedicating years of our lives to something, would we not want something that felt like it had some thought put into it? With The Job, I'm covering every base so we can illicit those responses.

More to the point...

The Job: "Auld Cloutie" (Ep.3) is currently being written, initially mapped from the 100-page feature script I had completed almost a year before, this is the story of Ian and at the halfway point in the series, where things get incredibly bleak for our characters. At a stretch I am living with these guys, 10-12 hours a day, writing their lives into further complexity or, in some case, writing them away. Although more on that when we get to Ep. 5. We're essentially halfway through with the writing and so the marathon continues.

But thanks for the support thus far and stay put, things are about to get better.



Ryan Jon Amey Henderson
Co-Creator/Co-writer