Twenty years ago I submitted Heaven Sent, my final film at university, for assessment. Twenty years later and I am back at the same university, now marking other students’ films. I felt it was a good opportunity to reflect.
I didn’t really want to direct in university. I had specialised in location and post sound, and preferred working on as many other projects as I possibly could. However, our assessment was based upon our ability to direct a short piece. I chose to make a short film in the style of Dogma 95 because I was a big fan of Festen and Mifune. This was not a good idea when it came to assessment, because it seemed as if I hadn’t learnt anything as opposed to making a conscious decision to reject most of it.
In retrospect, I am mortified by some of the storytelling elements, such as the representation issues within Ruth’s character. I encourage students to either research thoroughly or avoid portrayals of any illnesses in their films, especially if they’re perpetuating stereotypical characteristics. Sadly I was not so smart. In my defence, the intention was meant to be more of a critique of religious hypocrisy rather than a specific portrayal of an affliction, but using one narrative device to get at another is weak.
Aesthetically, I am delighted with the film. We were all encouraged to use DVCPro cameras for our final projects, regardless of whether it was suitable for the job or not (a basic equation: picture quality = quality of project). The result was the film looking like a crap soap opera, so Gareth Spensley (colourist) and I spent ages in the machine room dumping the film down onto a VHS and then dumping again from the VHS onto another VHS for three generations. Again, it probably did not help the assessment grade, but I was making the film for myself rather than the assessors, and 20 years later, the aesthetic is still something I am proudest of.
The production itself was relaxed and straightforward. I had convinced the Sacred Heart Church in Albert Road of my Catholic credentials (eight years in Catholic school) and had been given three four-hour slots over three days, in between services and choir practices. It was a nice schedule, because we had no lighting or grip to worry about, and we worked through the film sequentially. The only issue were the ‘baby’s feet’, because they were pigs trotters, and by the third day they started to stink, hence everyone looking a bit uncomfortable in the photo of the box in my lap!
Making the film was a positive experience, albeit I had no intention of wanting to direct or produce at that point in my life. It was not until a year or so later, when I was hating my job as a sound recordist on a Channel Four series, that I felt that I wanted to lead a project. My subsequent experiences of directing and producing have all related to this student film in some ways. First, I am keen to shoot quickly and with little fuss. Second, I want to have fun while I am making things. Third, I am not excited by storylines with guns and explosions, preferring comedies or dramas around miscommunication between human beings.
