Bristol Filmmakers Festival

BRISTOL FILMMAKERS FESTIVAL 2008

In June Cineformation joined forces with the Misfit Collective, Blue Screen, the Watershed and the Arnolfini, to organise a festival of independent films and explore what it means to be an independent filmmaker in Bristol.

A whole host of films, (animation, live action, musicals and documentaries) in turns moving, funny, experimental, poetic or gritty, were shown throughout the weekend at the Watershed and the Arnolfini.

The Misfit Collective Trade Fair

The Misfit Collective Trade Fair, on Saturday afternoon, was a friendly and bustling affair featuring a multitude of film related organisations and local talents; from costume designers, set designers, storyboard artists, make up artists, sound designers, actors, dancers, and directors, to companies such as Films@59, Visual Impact, Quadlogic, and training providers like National Film & Television School, UWE and University of Bristol. Showreels by local artists were shown during the whole event, giving a voice to anyone who wanted to share their film with the public.

Cineformation: Making it in Bristol

The Cineformation event was very informative as it featured the predicament of the rarely heard independent filmmakers, having to deal with lack of money and the inadequacy of official structures when it comes to helping and encouraging independent filmmaking.

The event was chaired by Misfit Collective creator, director and writer, Julian Holman.

The first part of the session introduced us to the vibrant and very driven, Spanish born Bristol filmmaker Borja Cantera (of Undo Productions). He gave us an insight into what was involved in shooting his 16mm feature, ‘Hand Made Love’, in Bristol. His film is a moving and heroic love story between a well adjusted young Somali boy and a girl from Ghana who has been chosen to be sacrificed in a Juju magic ceremony.

With a grand total of £7,000 pounds as a budget, there were many production challenges. The stress due to lack of money was somewhat allayed by the community of St Pauls rallying around to help. One hundred and fifty people came to the casting sessions and all the actors were locals.

St Pauls is a very idiosyncratic part of Bristol, whose identity has been shaped by a melting pot of cultural influences. People from the Caribbean, from the Middle East or Africa, all live in their respective cultures but also interact with one another.

Another (less attractive) aspect of St Pauls is that it is teeming with drug dealers. This made shooting at best tricky and at worst very dangerous. Some of the anecdotes recounted by Borja were hair raising experiences. (The police support was there during the last two weeks of shooting but in a very discreet way, so as not to alienate the locals.) Borja insisted on the importance to find an ally/spokesperson in a local man who knows the area extremely well and is familiar with its inhabitants and their rules. The fact that Borja has lived in St Pauls for years contributed greatly to his winning the community’s trust and support.

The second part of the meeting was a Q&A between Fiona Francombe, Filming and Locations Co-ordinator at South West Screen (see the Cineformation session on Locations) and independent filmmakers in the audience. Fiona was very open and friendly but, faced with many negative anecdotes from the audience, she had to agree that the existing Council funded organisations meant to help filmmakers are aimed at big productions and not at low budget indie projects. These Council-run organisations have a strong duty of care to the local residents (health and safety, etc.) and also need to make money in order to go on receiving public funds. This explains why they recommend following rules and regulations to the letter. Their way of proceeding, however, translates into heavy production costs that are out of small productions’ reach.

The conclusion was that, if you are an independent filmmaker and have already taken a public liability insurance (an absolute essential, which you can get for around £100), it may be easier not to approach these local film organisations if you need to keep your costs down. It’s very likely that not using them will make you gain time and money.

The last part of the meeting was an upbeat look at practical tips for indie filmmakers followed by a celebration of filmmaking in Bristol.

On the practical level, most people seemed to edit their films on their own computers but Films@59 was also recommended. Hire places were said to be open to making deals with indie film directors as they make most of their money from big productions.(The courteous thing to do in that case is to thank them by naming them in your acknowledgements/film titles.)

To conclude the Cineformation event, Julian asked the audience what they thought was good about filming in Bristol. Local filmmakers enthused about Bristol’s rich culture, its spirit and visual impact, about the abundance of creativity and the sense of independence and freedom that make Bristol’s indie filmmaking community a hub of activity and a place of mutual support.

Other events over the weekend included a Depict! session, a Bluescreen Special, Sweded Classics and, as well as the main programme of screenings there was also a very popular student showcase. The party on the Saturday night crowned an exciting and inspiring week-end of cooperation and celebration.

To see the winner of the most popular film & to see which films were nominated click here to read the news item.

And to see more photos from the weekend, click here.

Written by Véronique Martin- veronique.martin@gmail.com – www.myspace.com/cubicstone

Locations

This month Cinéformation took us on a stimulating exploration of what it means, on the one hand, to be a Location Manager and, on the other, to be a local resident/local authority figure dealing with a film crew.

The event was presented by Claire Hickman, who chaired the Q&A.

During the first part of the evening we listened to Fiona Francombe (Filming and Locations Co-ordinator for South West Screen) and Caroline Lowsley-Williams (daughter of the owner of Chavenage House in Gloucestershire, where the BBC series Larkrise to Candleford was partly filmed). They discussed the various facets of the Location Manager’s job and the all-important relationship between residents and film crew on location.

Fiona explained that the first role of the Locations Manager (LM) is to find locations for the film to be shot. After reading the script carefully, finding out where the production company is based and what the budget will be, the LM has meetings with the director, set designer and producer to find out what their vision of the ideal location is. The LM also has to be very aware of the architecture of the historical period depicted in the film (Georgian, Victorian, 1930s, etc.) and must make sure there is coherence and continuity in the locations.

The second stage of this search can take a while as the LM has to contact the people they know and visit promising places. As there is no such thing as a perfect location, they have to be very flexible and creative as well as always heedful of cost and logistics.

Fiona gave us a couple of examples to illustrate such creative thinking. For instance, in the ITV film Bertie and Elizabeth (2002), a sequence depicting a direct hit on Buckingham Palace during the London Blitz was filmed in three different locations. The drawing room where the sequence starts was shot in a private stately home. The following scene of the characters running down a grand staircase to find cover was shot in Longleat. Finally the scene of the characters’ sheltering in Buckingham palace’s cellar was shot in a National Trust property.

Fiona went on to explain in her friendly and mild manner that on location, the primary role of the locations manager changes, as he/she becomes the point of contact between the crew and the locals/residents. There again much flexibility and diplomacy is needed. She said that to her shooting on location is a privilege and that the film crew should always be very respectful and mindful of the residents.

As an illustration of this point, she talked about the shooting of ITV’s paranormal series Afterlife. The location for the exterior of Alison’s house (Alison is one of the two main characters) was situated in a residential area of Bristol, in Southville. It was chosen by the director for its great visual impact (on a slope, with Clifton in the background…), but it made the job of the locations manager difficult. Indeed extra care had to be taken to protect the residents from the disturbances of filming (especially at night). Lights were dimmed after 11pm; windows were blacked-out; letters of notification were sent in advance; much care was taken with parking… Fiona insisted that trying to choose an area where the locals are open to filming makes life much easier.

This led us to hear about Caroline Lowsley-Williams’s experience on the receiving end of a film crew at Chavenage House, her father’s manor house, which was chosen to be the local squire’s estate in the BBC’s Larkrise to Candleford.

Fiona explained that the house was chosen because it afforded very good possibilities for filming (great building, close to Bristol, beautiful and versatile surrounding countryside, reasonable rental cost and film friendly owners). Moreover, being in need of renovation, it matched perfectly the storyline in which the squire’s young wife wanted to redecorate the manor.

Caroline, who saw the shooting of Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon (1975) in her family home as a child, is used to dealing with film crews. She said that having her house listed in the Hudson’s Historic Houses and Gardens; Castles and Heritage site has helped the house’s exposure to filming. Being at the same time a source of income and an advert to entice more visitors, films are welcome by her family. She remarked that although it is different with each film, if the LM is a nice and accommodating person and if you are good at laying out the confines, all goes well. You may even end up being firm friends.

Caroline explained that she tries to be flexible. So much happens all the time during shooting (scripts and plans keep being changed, etc.). It is very stressful to try to juggle everything (especially when filming takes place at the same time as other pre-booked events). She said she remains on hand throughout the shooting to answer queries and to help. When dealing with bigger properties, Fiona views this presence as essential. In smaller properties (like flats or normal houses), she much prefers when the owners leave, in order to avoid their having to go through the trauma of witnessing the mess and chaos of filming. It’s much better that, when they come back, the house has been restored to its original state (sometimes even improved!).

To conclude the first part of the evening, Fiona explained that if you are a director looking for a location, your first port of call should be (according to the region you’re interested in) either the Bristol Film Office or the Bath Film Office or South West Screen. The service you will be offered is free (paid for by the local councils). You will be given suggestions of suitable places and properties to suit your budget and needs.

After a nice break, where much chatting and networking took place, we resumed the evening, this time listening to Keith Donoghue (the very enthusiastic Town Clerk of Wells) and Jamie Lengyel (another friendly, mild mannered and very experienced Location Manager) discussing the crucial relationship between local authorities and film crew.

Keith recounted with great verve and fondness his experience as the council representative dealing with the shooting of Hot Fuzz in Wells. He thoroughly enjoyed being the 24-hour problem solver and local support network for the film crew. He described how the film was well accepted by the locals thanks to the LM’s efforts to enlist the support of the residents through an open meeting in the Town Hall to let people know of the forthcoming upheaval and to answer their questions. Some locals were registered as extras, which also contributed to getting them onboard.

Keith entertained us with many anecdotes pertaining to the shooting of Hot Fuzz and also listed the numerous advantages that it brought to Wells. It worked as a great advert for the city as it promoted it on TV and in newspapers (a leaflet was subsequently produced by the council for visitors to view the various locations where the film was shot). Another advantage was that during filming local businesses (B&Bs, restaurants, cafés, etc.) experienced a boom. Although conceding there were a few difficulties (as when shooting took much longer than planned, due to torrential rains, and as a consequence tempers became frayed towards the end), he concluded that the positives far outweighed the negatives.

Jamie then underlined how paramount it is to have a great relationship with the local authorities during shooting. He gave, as an example, the logistical headache brought about by the film The Duchess starring Keira Knightley.

The film takes place in the late 18th century (in an upper class environment) where candles are central. As LM, he needed the support of the council, fire services, etc. to shoot the scenes effectively and safely.

Jamie addressed a few technical questions such as the LM having to take into account (on top of what had already been mentioned by Fiona) pre-set deadlines –much stricter for TV films than for movies. He also explained that when the locations are agreed on, the locations manager and designer work together to make the appropriate amendments to the sets (like removing or disguising anything that is not of the period when the film is supposed to happen).

Via the power of the internet, we also got a behind the scenes interview with Michael Carlin, Production Designer on The Duchess, who talked us through the process of transforming the Bristol Old Vic into an 18th century assembly rooms.

Jamie said that the difficulty in his job was less in finding the right locations (especially since the recent progress in post-production techniques meaning that such problems as TV aerials can be erased after shooting) as in the logistics of co-ordinating everything and everyone as smoothly as possible (e.g. having to organise and house hundreds of extras, with costumes, etc.).

Answering the question “what should one do to become a LM?”, Jamie said that one should try to gain experience (for instance as a runner) in all the departments involved in filming. Indeed the LM’s job demands a thorough understanding of everyone’s duties and requirements on set, in order to “make all the pieces of the puzzle fit together”. He underlined that it is only through experience that one can learn what works and what does not.

He summarised his job as fascinating and extremely varied. To succeed at it, he stressed that one needs to invest oneself totally, put in very long hours, work hard, and be respectful and diplomatic when dealing with people. “The LM’s job,” he concluded, is about “problem solving and making things happen”.

Written by Véronique Martin- veronique.martin@gmail.com – www.myspace.com/cubicstone

Music For Film

For this month, Cinéformation became part of the annual South West Sound event at the Watershed on April 24th and, as such, the theme, “Music for Film”, was a very appropriate choice.

SOUTH WEST SOUND – THE DAY

The South West Sound day ran under the moniker “Beyond DIY” and kicked off with a keynote address “Lighting the Touchpaper” hosted by Bristol Music Foundation’s Matt Booth. Fellow panellists Feargal Sharkey (of Undertones fame and currently heading BMR – British Music Rights), John Webster (ex Virgin Exec and Chief Exec of the Music Manager’s Forum), Tim Smith (a secondary school music teacher of 31 years’ experience) and Jack Kingslake (Music Leader at High Road Studios in St Werburghs, Bristol) provided an enlightening and enjoyable insight into issues affecting the Music Industry in Britain, and especially the South West, today.

In a period where Britain is earning more money from the Music Industry than several other major industries including, perhaps surprisingly, Financial Services and Chemical Industries, the following subjects were of particular significance: The progress of Music Education; the importance, in the future, of Collecting Societies (PPL, MCPS, PRS, etc); Music Management training courses; a recommendation for Artists to keep their copyrights and to use licensing instead; a nationwide government-led scheme to open well-equipped rehearsal rooms following the model of a pilot scheme in Wrexham; The use of new (music) technologies in schools; extending links between music students and the industry in order to provide sustainability within both education and industry; and how music students can “monetize” their work.

With the near future promising “light-speed downloads” of music (120 albums worth of material in less than a second!), it is timely that results of BMR research into P2P (peer to peer) file sharing and music and film downloads, etc., is soon to be released – it will make very interesting reading.

Feargal Sharkey called this “one of the most exciting periods in the music industry” where there is “more demand for music than ever”, and everyone agreed that, although it would be hard work, it is nevertheless a great time for Musicians and Students of Music to “get out there and do it!”

After the keynote address, there were three midday panels, the most relevant to Cinéformation being “Scoring for Film”, which was hosted by film, television and theatre composer, Miguel Mera. Other panellists were Martin Kiszko, who was later to be guest speaker at the evening’s Cinéformation event (see below), Alex Heffes whose recent work includes helping to arrange the “Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street” soundtrack and the score for the oscar winning “The Last King of Scotland”, Ex theatre director turned composer, Dan Jones and Film and TV Music Publisher Sarah Liversedge.

Useful advice from the panel to less experienced composers included trying to find their own original voice; the use of drama to aid compositions; phoning production companies to find out at which stage in the production they are before sending unsolicited demos/showreels; creating their own temp tracks early in the music development process rather than allowing directors to get too used to someone else’s music; and approaching people such as Film Editors or Sound Designers when trying to secure work, rather than always approaching Directors/Producers head on.

Sarah provided a very interesting angle on the discussions, as it is not often that we hear things from a publisher’s perspective. I’m sure that all composers would find it invaluable to talk to someone like her reasonably early in their careers.

Following a networking lunch, the afternoon session commenced with Jaqui Hague who announced the start of MusicLeader South West – an initiative offering information, advice, guidance and training to Music Leaders (people who are experienced in the Music world and who can pass their knowledge on to the next generations of music makers) in the region.

Next came an open forum where delegates had a chance to ask questions of a panel comprising Sean Divine (of ASCAP – the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), Matthew Tyrell (Ex of Music Week, now running an organisation called London Calling), Cindy Dalgleish (interfacing Higher Education and industry), Rick Rogers (of Dartington Plus and head of South West Recordings) and Jim Maudsley (Newcastle based and offering regional music advice through the organisation Generator).

There followed the inaugural meeting of the South West Music Forum, which has been established by Bristol Music Foundation over the past two years on a county level, but was the first time that forums from each county in the South West had all met under the one roof.

And a successful afternoon was rounded off by a Demo Panel where delegates had the opportunity to hear their tracks reviewed by a panel of judges comprising speakers from the afternoon’s events and others including Richard Pitt and Gary Smith of BBC Bristol’s “Bristol Uncovered” show. A highlight for me here was a young MC calling himself “Gecko” who brightened the airwaves with some amusing observations and quirky lyrics – keep your ears peeled!

CINEFORMATION – THE NIGHT

The evening brought the event we had all been waiting for! Cinéformation presented their “Music for Film”. The ever lovely Beth introduced composer and educator Jean Hasse who led us into the first part of the evening, a period of “Networking and Drinks” with a twist in that, during that time, students from The University of Bristol MAFTV composition course, on which Jean lectures, had the chance to play us their compositions on laptops located at strategic locations in the room.

I think that the students (Michael Fergusson, Blair Mowat, TyLean Paisley-Hixson, Jane Qu Yi, Aaron Whitfield, Chris Willis and Alex Wise) were a little hard done by in that the atmosphere of a networking room was so buzzing, it was not the best possible showcase for their work. But what I was able to make out seemed very impressive. It was, also, a very welcome treat to get a free glass of wine courtesy of Cinéformation and was good to have time specifically allocated to networking. It also made a change from the usual guest speaker and Q&A format that resumed during the second half:

Martin Kiszko, a film composer with over 200 soundtrack and concert credits under his belt, spearheaded this part of the evening as he took us enthusiastically through “The Psychology of Sound”. His first question to the audience was why do we need Film Music: “Why egg emotions?” As composer Schoenberg once asked of the director Thalberg, who was in the throws of explaining all the complexities of the soundscape of one of his films, “with all that going on, why would you need music?” Martin started to answer his question with another quote, this time from Cinema Great, Bernard Herman, who said that the correct placement of music “lifts dialogue into the realms of poetry” and then went on to describe the great power that music has to manipulate the audience.

To be able to do this most effectively, however, he argued, that first the Film Composer “must be bilingual”, i.e. able to converse in not only the language of music, but also must be versed in the vocabulary of the film world. In his/her applied craft the composer needs to be aware of the structure of story narrative including the three-act structure of classical story telling, or the three act with displaced narrative version, such as that told by Quentin Tarantino in “Pulp Fiction”.

The composer should be able to understand the physical and emotional arc of the characters and then use the music to highlight this drama. Martin listed nineteen different ways in which music can be used for this purpose: As well as the more obvious uses, such as source (diegetic) music, character themes, dramatic and emotional impact, etc., this list also included things such as “meaning and signification”, e.g. political stance of a character/situation, “subliminal”, for example to emphasise the shape of something on the screen, “humour”, “illusion of continuity” and to provide a “neutral background” such as in a documentary when there is not enough interest inherent in the existing sounds. He then showed us an excerpt from the Kiszco scored Dreamworks SKG/BBC Natural history Promotion showing us a range of ten or so of those methods.

Martin was joined by the evening’s first speaker, Jean Hasse, and by Jonathan Scott, Manager of the Composition and Recording Studios in the Department of Music at the University of Bristol. This pair had aided Martin in realising the score for the recent feature film The Killing of John Lennon (dir. Andrew Piddington), a feat that they achieved, from nothing to recorded and mixed, in “24 consecutive 18 hour days”! In helping to examine the process of film scoring, Jean talked about the Director’s Brief, and how it is difficult for the Director to communicate exactly what they require. It is therefore useful for the composer to ask questions and even to be able to improvise proposed parts, maybe on a piano, during meetings. Martin added that it is the main job of the film composer to figure out what the director wants: to extemporise, to agree; after all, the reason they are there is “to help realise the film”. Following on from this, Martin discussed the Key and Palette of the score, which, in terms of numbers of musicians available, etc., is intimately tied to budget and timescale. He said that few directors have “educated their ear” and so they either trust the composer in this respect, or they learn as they mature: the worst thing a Director can say is “I’ll like it when I hear it”! It is far better for them to have some sort of idea what they want. Martin then read us a horrendous brief he had received from a Director who obviously thought that he knew what he wanted, but was so dictatorial that he made it seem impossible, and also gave an anecdote about how Directors can often test themes out on a straw poll of people: their daughter, their daughter’s cat, their daughter’s cat’s brother, etc! We heard how the score for “The Killing of John Lennon” was particularly awkward as the director had already provided an extensive “Temp Track” and that the Sound Designer had been made to do the Sound design in the same key (pitch) as that music. The implication was that this was also very limiting for Martin.

Next up was the Mechanics of “spotting” the film, as “it is critical to be able to know when to stop and start the music”. Should a theme or effect anticipate, be synchronous with, or comment on an action? Martin showed his DVD, “The Art of the Film Score” (available from his website), which covered this point and also the following: Music Cue Sheets; M Numbers; Timecode; Scenes, Sequences, Cues; Entries and Exits; Binary, Tertiary and Rondo forms; Stings; Action; the use of no sound; and Iconic Reference.

Returning to the creation of the “The Killing of John Lennon” soundtrack, we learned how Jean had taken the “digitised” string parts from Digital Performer software and had transferred them to Sibellius Software in order to generate the score parts needed for nineteen cues where ten live string players added a touch of life to the more static electronically created “samples” (from the East-West Quantum Leap Sound Library), which had nevertheless been skilfully programmed with the help of David Hamill who regularly works at Martin’s studio and is also an accomplished composer in his own right. David had also added some more electronic textures using the Native Instruments Absynth Plug-In. “Imagine,” said Martin (I’m not sure if the reference was intentional, but I appreciated it); “Imagine recording and mixing a film score in eight days”: Apparently Jean was still printing parts out for the second half of the film whilst the first half was being recorded!

The string players, members of Bristol’s own Emerald Ensemble, were recorded in the University’s Victoria Rooms by Jonathan, and he explained how it was necessary to use specific mic techniques in order to blend the real strings with the electronically generated ones. He was also responsible for the final Music Mix and further Remix and Remastering stages to prepare the music for use on a Soundtrack Album.

We learned that even at the later stages in the production the Music was having to undergo constant change due to a “Paring” by the Director, negotiations with a Music Supervisor whose very existence was not made common knowledge until the last minute, and at one stage, as if the pressure wasn’t enough, the score actually got stolen from the studio!! There is a lesson to be learned here too, because, fortunately everyone had been very professional and proficient and had backed up the files.

The evening was rounded of with more pointers towards what it takes to be a Film Composer: MK: “You have to be able to cope with disappointment and rejection”; “Writer’s block is not an option – you just have to do it!” JH: “Take a break”; “Push Through”; “See it in a different way”, MK: “Make something beautiful from your first mark” (i.e. you don’t have time to keep changing your mind). And then an opportunity to look at some real life examples of Story Boards, Scores and Sketches from Martin’s portfolio.

Both composing for film events during the day were well attended by aspiring composers and I’m sure that they were able to glean much useful information from them especially with Martin Kiszco’s knowledgeable, informative and generous approach. However, it is my personal opinion, also reflected by the panel members of the midday session, that it is a shame that more Film Directors and Producers do not attend these events in order for them to gain a better understanding of what is involved in the creation of a film soundtrack. Any composers reading this, should be informed that, apparently, it is your task to educate them!

Alan Deacon

Mike Leigh Masterclass

Cineformation’s Mike Leigh Masterclass on Wednesday 9 April 2008.

This fascinating evening with Mike Leigh, organised by Cineformation, started with a masterclass (aimed at local filmmakers) and went on with a preview of his marvellous last film Happy-Go-Lucky at Bristol’s Watershed Media Centre.

The film critic Nigel Floyd introduced Mike Leigh. The masterclass, in true Mike Leigh improvisational fashion, was given in the shape of a Q&A where the audience was the interviewer.

The questions were varied and interesting, but, since his seamless productions are notoriously script-less, a fair amount of questions related (in some way or another) to improvisation. As a result, perhaps what transpired most from the evening is that our perception of Mike Leigh’s improvisational style was somewhat flawed.

Indeed what we learnt is that, despite being very fluid, his method is anything but random. He told us that, to him, “all art is a synthesis of improvisation and order” (inspiration and structure).

He starts with an idea, a feeling, “a sense of possibilities”, and a wish to work with a certain actor or group of actors. For instance, he knew he wanted to make a film about an abortionist before the 1967 abortion act (Vera Drake). He also knew he wanted to make a film about Gilbert and Sullivan (Topsy-Turvy), etc.

When he has cast his actors, the creative journey of improvisation can begin. Despite giving a lot of freedom to his cast, he still plays god, in that they are told only what their character would know and nothing else. This long stage of improvisation (generally six months) and this information deprivation (which let them not be overloaded by information that could warp their characters’ truth) allow the actors to become deeply their characters and to react to whatever is thrown at them in a true and organic psychological manner. This sense of truth is very important to Mike Leigh. And thus, gradually, the story around the characters takes shape more and more (he said that he makes the film up as he goes along).

Scenes such as Vera Drake’s arrest were worked on during this improvisation period. After the actors had reached a stage where they knew in depth who their characters were, Mike Leigh subjected them to the shock of Vera’s arrest and the discovery (by her family) of her abortionist activities. The result of this improvisational work was explored and the best material was kept for the final “script”.

After months of work, he then writes what he called a “sort of shooting script” with no dialogue, just for him to fix on paper his vision of the film’s unfolding. The structure of all his films is very carefully considered. He added that to him a film was made in the cutting room and that shooting was only raw material.

The rehearsals with his actors make sure the final dialogues are finely tuned. He explained that he is not at all interested in actors’ improvising on camera (although he may very occasionally allow for it to happen). He insisted that the result of all these months of intense improvisation lead to a very scripted, rehearsed and classically shot film (at least it is the case for the great majority of his films).

He does not storyboard. Before shooting, he rehearses on the set with no one else but his actors. He runs all the scenes from top to bottom on location and there he can see all the narrative and filmic possibilities to be explored while filming. He makes decisions on most scenes’ structure, except in the case of longer, more complex ones. For these, on the day of shooting, he runs the scene with his cinematographer (for whom, as there is no script, it is the first time he knows anything about it), and they both make decisions about how to shoot it.

Despite Mike Leigh’s intense need for privacy to nurture and explore his ideas (no script, etc.), it can be said that, from beginning to end, his work method is highly collaborative.

Asked on the importance of sound in his films, he said that it was paramount for him and that he was very concerned with sound during shooting. As to him everything matters on set, he always wants to stay very aware of the sound recording.

Asked on financing his films, he acknowledged that it added to the difficulty of finding investors not to have any script and to refuse to discuss casting (for instance, to refuse to cast a Hollywood star in order to boost viewing figures). He said that a director should not compromise on what they want to do, but that on the other hand they should be very clear about their vision and motivations. He advised young directors not to do a film they do not believe in for financial reasons but instead to stick out for what they believe in.

Asked on actors’ egos, he explained that he only casts people that he likes working with and who have no inflated egos. He does not cast characters but actors. He always chooses “character actors”, people who display intelligence, creativity and kindness. As he relies very much on co-operation, egotistical actors are out of the question. It is actually quite apparent that he would not suffer fools or pretentious people gladly.

Since actors he approaches know nothing about the script or the character they will play, they need to trust him and also to be brave and totally open. He finds actors he wants to work with through “the usual ways”: plays, films, TV and tapes. He first meets them for a chat and then auditions them in relation to what he is doing.

Asked on his realistic technique, he objected to the term “technique” (saying that it means “to drill a hole in a wall”). On realism and naturalism, he said that his realism is not in his technique (nuts and bolts) but in his motivations. He wants to get to the essence of things. He added that his realism is a heightened and distilled one (as he deals with film and fiction). He does not see what he does as naturalism and described himself as a “tragicomic storyteller”.

On the digital revolution, Mike Leigh said that he still shoots on celluloid but also uses digital cameras for more flexibility (such as in the driving lessons scenes in Happy-Go-Lucky). The advent of digital grading makes the transition between celluloid and digital scenes look seamless.

Digital technology has also made it much easier to deal with potential sound problems at the post-production stage (he mentioned, for instance, how the scene of Vera Drake’s interrogation at the police station was spoilt by the noise of rain but was digitally rescued by his sound designer in post-production).

Asked on the similarities between Ken Loach and himself, he laughed and said that despite mutual esteem they were very different in their methods and themes. What they have in common is that they are British, that they both worked for the BBC in its heyday and that they deal with reality in their films.

He finished the session by talking about his youth, as the child of a dedicated NHS doctor, growing up in a working class area of Salford. He described how his love for films (any films of any genres) led him to study at RADA, work in the theatre and then for the BBC (which he described as very enlightened and liberal at the time). He worked there freelance, making eight or nine projects (Play for today), which helped to launch his career and his reputation as an important and deeply individual theatre and film director.

V. MARTIN veronique.martin@gmail.com www.myspace.com/cubicstone

Film & New Media

Another interesting Cineformation meeting hosted this time by Dr Vicky Brophy, founding partner and head of Digital at Wönky (www.wonkyfilms.com).

The guests in the first part of the evening were Dr Tom Abba (a specialist in narrative theory and practice from the UWE) and director / producer Rik Lander (one half of the 80s video art pioneers “The Duvet Brothers”).

Dr Tom Abba brought an academic perspective to the evening. He talked about interactive narrative and the influence of new media (new technologies such as the internet and the mobile phone) on the form and content of fiction and story telling. He explained how the slightest change made to the general media landscape can have a major ripple effect and called this phenomenon media ecology. He stressed how the form of a book (with its pages and chapters, etc.) dictates our reading experience and how all this could be changed by new technology – the classical book structure being broken. For instance, a story on the net has no page numbers and no real need for chapters. He concluded by saying that new media is about play, about our ability to enter a game, suspend our disbelief and change our regular expectations about story reading.

(Check the interactive stories released online by Penguin at www.wetellstories.co.uk)

Rik Lander moved on to talk about interactive storytelling in video form. He made a difference between traditional TV that you can watch on your iPlayer or online (like 4oD) and videos made for the net – between the products that established media try to force onto the net and what he called “webby content”.

He illustrated his point by showing several examples of webby content:

First, an episode of the web comedy, “Chad Vader – dayshift manager”, the adventures of a supermarket supervisor who is a Darth Vader look and sound-alike.

This comedy is the work of two young men who created it for Channel 101 (a Channel regulated by viewers’ voting that gives a voice to non-mainstream creative people). It is a DIY production made at a low cost.

In that vein R. L. also mentioned “Church of Blow” (www.youtube.com/user/ChurchOfBlow) and “Happy Slip” (http://happyslip.com).

Secondly, he showcased “Human Pet”, an interactive “horror” story (http://thehumanpet.blogspot.com) involving fake kidnapping and torture (regulated again by viewers’ voting) – a low cost, “out there”, underground venture.

Thirdly, he mentioned “Quarterlife” a web-only conventional drama devised by the production company that created the successful late 80s TV drama “Thirtysomething” (http://quarterlife.com).

He then proceeded to show us a few projects he has been involved in:

First, the BBC financed teenage drama “Wannabes”, an online interactive series in which the viewer is treated as a friend by the protagonists and is asked for advice. The given advice does not change the overall outcome of the plot but it gives each viewer/player a different experience and a personalised game card.

He also described a course he ran in November 2007 at Bristol University, entitled “Make a web drama in twelve weeks”. It involved eighteen students making an interactive web drama called “Bells Angels” (www.savetheworkers.co.uk), which mixed pre-written and filmed scenes with last minute ones reflecting the results of public voting.

Finally he talked about an exciting new project his company is going to launch, a global web soap entitled “Together Alone”, where the control of the writing and directing is left to professionals, but where internet users are the actors (they send audition videos to be cast). The result is entertaining, intriguing and surprisingly seamless.

He concluded his talk by saying that while web dramas are rife in America, they have not taken off so much here yet.

The second part of the evening was conducted by Ben Templeton and Dan Course of Thought Den (a creative digital agency), two very enthusiastic new media freelancers.

They first introduced a “pervasive media” product they are working on called “Happy Packages” (produced by “Thought Den” and mobile specialists “Mobile Pie”), which is directed to mobile phones and mixes in various imaginative ways real and virtual worlds (allowing you to download / send short films, personalised messages and even free vouchers to your friends), all centred on what makes you and others happy in Bristol (http://happypackages.com).

They looked into the pros and cons of video over mobile devices (size of screen, sound quality, convenience…). Showed us various examples of viral diffusion (such as the very successful Sony adverts that wowed viewers both on TV and online). They talked about revenue models and also addressed potential issues (such as pervasive fatigue, i.e. fatigue at being constantly bombarded with content).

They finished their lively and interactive session by showing us “Happy Packages” in practice (sending to the audience’s mobile devices via bluetooth three short comedy videos part of a series entitled “”Dude Corp”: www.dudecorp.com).

Check out Though Den’s blog – with graphs & everything!

V. Martin veronique.martin@gmail.com www.myspace.com/cubicstone

Student Filmmaking

Cineformation: Student Filmmaking

7pm Thurs 28 February 2008, Watershed Media Centre, Bristol BS1 5TX

Teaming up with Screentest, The National Student Film Festival at the University of Bristol, February’s Cineformation event brought new filmmaking talent to Bristol’s Watershed Media Centre. As well as getting to see highlights from last year’s festival in anticipation of the screenings and events of the festival that weekend, those who attended got to meet some of the filmmakers involved & pick up top tips.

In conversation with Lizz Hoskins & Izzy Kongsgaard, guest filmmakers included: Jill Rainstrick, local script editor, consultant & lecturer; Dave Brookfield, sound designer & recordist whose work includes MTV and Skins; and local filmmaker Alex Kirkland, part of the Rong Collective, whose portfolio includes the DepicT! winning short, Le Cheval & the acclaimed Oedipus. As well as quizzing the local filmmaking experts, the audience will be picked the brains of Paul Green, Talent Scout for Skillset’s Screen Academy Network.

Screentest takes place at the University of Bristol from Fri 29 Feb to Sun 2 March 2008. For more info visit the festival website