WHEN AND HOW DID YOU GET INTO FILM?

Pretty much my entire life I have known i was supposed to tell stories in some capacity. However, there were certainly some teething issues in working out what form that would take. I trained for many years to be an actor but then fortuitously when i was 1, i did two projects at school that changed my life forever. One was to create a marketing campaign for a play of our own choosing and the other was simply to create a short film. I was staggered by how much more I loved being behind the camera rather than in front. It's completely and utterly intoxicating and I've been hooked ever since.

 

DO YOU PREFER WORKING WITH FILM COMPARED TO OTHER MEDIUMS? 

I most certainly prefer working with film compared to other mediums. I think a lot of that has to do with creating an experience. All mediums of storytelling provide a form specific experience that the audience can enjoy, and in many ways the enjoyment comes from the fact that the story being told is tailor made for that specific format. With film you get to make an explicit statement with the specific experience you create, unlike print which has your interpretation driving the creation of the experience, or television where you get 10 hrs to layout an episodic exploration of something, film is a very specific and direct way of telling a story. That’s not to say that you can’t interpret a film in any way you like (that’s half the fun!) or that there’s no depth to its portrayal of the subject matter, but certainly with film I’d say that you are curating a message in a contained punch that’s aiming for maximum emotional resonance with a fully formed, finely tuned experience, in a short time frame and that’s a power no other medium has.

 

WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE GENRE TO MAKE OR WATCH?

This is a really hard one to answer honestly. I get so much joy out of so many genres it’s hard to really pin it down to one. I love a good Oscar bait film but at the same time I’m a sucker for a 80’s style slasher. I think drama truly lies at the crux of any story however. Like it doesn’t really matter if it’s a dialogue driven character study or a adrenaline fuelled blockbuster, there has to be a drama at its core that’s compelling and powerful. With this in mind I love doing a different genre every time I create something, because it stays true to my love of many different genres, but also contains drama at its pith in order to legitimatise the story and make it accessible to the audience.

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WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF THE FILM-MAKING PROCESS? 

This question is like asking me to pick my favourite child! Writing the script and actually directing actors on the day certainly spring to mind first, and there’s a lot of merits to those stages, and I do truly love undertaking them, but for me I would say editing is probably my favourite part of the whole process. At this stage in a movie’s life, you have all the pieces in your hands, and it’s about methodically piecing them together in a way that crafts the story. You have this element of control that’s much higher then the other parts in the process, and it’s just so enjoyable to sink hours into piecing together your film and fulfilling your vision finally.

 

FROM WHERE DO YOU DRAW YOUR INSPIRATION?

I truly don’t have a process for drawing inspiration from things. I know there’s a lot of artists out there that have methods of divining inspiration but for me it honestly just comes in flashes of concepts and images that sometimes comes from the weirdest places.

For my recent horror short ‘Blue Rose’ I was struggling to come up with a concept beyond scattered imagines in my mind, and I was trying desperately to work out an idea that was truly terrifying. Then one day I was third wheeling with some friends, and after spending a full day with this couple I had my answer presented to me. For my upcoming Samurai inspired short ‘Blossom’ I kept having flashes of a blossom tree and a katana in my mind, and I pulled on that thread and here we are now! I think it’s important to trust your mind and spirit and just let inspiration overtake you. It’s really such a beautiful thing.

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DO YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AFFECT WHAT YOU CREATE?

Most definitely, but I would say that it’s often in ways I don’t initially plan for. It’s an old adage in English classes all over the world to write what you know, and I think that’s really important to keep in mind when you’re creating something.

We as human beings have so many wonderful and terrible experiences with everything in between, and I think that there’s so much power within those stories. To that end a lot of my stories carry the ideologies and questions and emotions that reflect what I hold in my life personally, and those stories are therefore inherently shaped by my own experiences. My stories tend to be about young people struggling with themselves and the generation before us, in strange and exaggerated worlds. I guess in a lot of ways that’s true for a lot of us in how we feel, so I draw from the shared and personal experiences of my life to create stories.

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WHAT DO YOU THINK IS MORE IMPORTANT - STORYTELLING OR AESTHETICS?

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love good aesthetics in a film, but my personal philosophy is that everything has to serve the storytelling. If you’re going into a project with aesthetics first and foremost in your mind, then you’re not doing the story justice and in my opinion that’s not how movies should be made. Everything has to be in service of the story, that is utterly crucial and every other element should form around that.

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DO YOU PREFER WORKING ALONE OR WITH OTHERS?

Although I think there’s no harm in working on your own on certain elements of a project, I don’t think there’s any purpose in being an island during film-making so to speak. I think film-making is collaborative at its core, and you would be remiss not to seek out the opinions and advice of your contemporaries in the industry. It’s about creating the ultimate project that you can make, and to that end I really truly believe you need to share your work with others, and form a team you can be proud of that bring to life your vision in ways that you couldn’t do by yourself. Plus it’s just fun to make movies with others, plain and simple.

 

ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON ANY PROJECTS?

I am! I’ve written three scripts that are currently in direct production, and one of them I’m directing and producing personally. Blossom is an experimental mix between an indie romance drama and a Samurai blockbuster film, and I’m very excited to see where it goes over the coming months. I’m also cleaning up my recent horror short ‘Blue Rose’ in order to put it into festivals. I’m really feeling good about the projects I’ve currently got in development and I can’t wait to share them with you!

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WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR PEOPLE INTERESTED IN GETTING INTO FILM-MAKING?

 We live in the most accessible era of film-making imaginable. We all have all the tools we need in our pockets every day. Have passion for the stories you want to tell, go out and live your life the best way you possibly can and then transform all that experience into stories that carry your unique voice. There is a place for you and your stories are worthy of being told. Get out there and make some magic.