I have a passion as a filmmaker for creating period film. Part of the magic of cinema for me is in creating a world we cannot experience in our day- to-day lives. I developed a particular appreciation for the power of soviet imagery while studying in St Petersburg in the late 90s, but this is the first time it features so strongly in my fictional work. I learnt to edit, also in the late 90s, on an old Steenbeck, and my memory of the smell of celluloid and the sensation of physically cutting the film has stayed with me since. The film carries with it the patina of the work that went into shooting it. I remain persuaded that this physical contact fills you with a respect for the work and the medium.
Cinema has been revolutionised in the last couple of decades, digital filmmaking has unquestionably democratised the process, opened it up to many new talents and sped up production, advances which we have all benefitted from. But in times of rapid change, I believe it’s essential to take a little look and see what is being lost in the name of progress. It’s important to carry a little of what was learnt, or sometimes taken for granted in the past, into the future...This is a film about throw-away culture, about tribalism, about the shock doctrine, voluntary slavery, about the manufacture of fear and shame in the public to sell goods and maintain the status quo.
A central theme of the story is how easily we discard the old in favour of the new. The boy’s beaten old toy, the workers’ beaten old clothes are thrown out; re-sewing and re-stitching them to prolong their life is frowned upon in a world where industry needs people to buy new things to keep the machine turning.
Like the celluloid on a spool, the costumes we will use carry with them a texture and a history. Some, stored in boxes in warehouses for decades, are unused. Others, worn by factory workers for their whole careers, have been lovingly stitched, patched and restitched... When I saw these used garments, the way they had been cared for, brought back to life so many times, darned and darned over and over again, I felt a tremendous respect for them, and the work that went into making and maintaining them. Every object carries its patina, its history with it. I feel that a respect for such objects, the work that went into making them, and the work that goes into maintaining them has almost died out in the last two or three decades.
Our work is digital, it is disposable, and by extension, so are we. This is the heart of the project. It is about textures, about the tangible. It’s about thought processes. Shooting on super 16mm film, we’ll be using a format that forces greater reflection and planning ahead of the shoot, ahead of yelling the word “action”.
Likewise in the edit, the work and the thought process is different. Each decision to cut a piece of film, carries a finality with it, and forces greater forethought. There is no “undo” button, there is no returning to an old sequence to look at a previous edit. I am convinced that the digital age has changed our way of making films, and I am convinced that it is not always for the better.
Over the 18 years I have been making films, I have always been amazed at the sweat, the passion, the skill and the many hours of hard work of the cast and crew that goes into making even the shortest music video. It’s a process that I like to see as a distillation of many talents into one (hopefully wonderful) final piece. The amount of time and work that will go into this film is exceptional for such a short story, and I believe the finished film will reflect that. In documenting the entire process I believe we have the opportunity to create an important discussion about the filmmaking process, and I believe the film itself will give the audience pause for thought about similar themes in our broader society.