In my last filmmaking post, titled Make Your Own Damn Movie, I talked about what inspired and motivated me, back in 2010, to start making films again after a 5 year hiatus. Today, I will continue where I left off last time. I had just met Fuji – what's in a name – who would take up the role of camera and editing and now it was time to work on a story...
Finding The 'Right' Story
Besides multiple other things (you need to be an octopus to make movies), it was up to me to go through the many ideas, notes and stories that I had come up with over the years. Surely one of those would make for an interesting short film? One of the things that I had been struggling with for years, was this feeling of wanting to make something that was 'unique' and 'original', not just okay but great. This stopped me from making films for many years. I later learnt the obvious: you have to start somewhere. You don't just start out with something great. Few people do. It takes time, making mistakes and learning from them, over and over again. It's (hard) work. Even more important than what you start on, is the actual starting itself.
Just make something. Start somewhere. Stop talking and start doing it. Everything can be made into a movie.
Writing the Screenplay
I don't know how long this process of finding and writing a screenplay took me. Probably a couple of months. But, after some digging, I finally found - and started working on - a story that took place at the sea. If I remember it well, the story was actually called 'The Sea' and told about an old man, a drunk, who visited the sea every day. One day, a bottle washes ashore - in front of him - and he picks it up. It's empty. Another day, there appears to be a message inside. This goes on and on and he eventually starts sending messages in bottles back to another man on an island. In the end, you start to wonder if it's all in his head, he's a drunk after all. Or, if this other guy - perhaps - actually exists.
and then, when I started working on that story...
I found out about Boardwalk Empire. One of the most successful TV series in a long time, directed by filmmaker Martin Scorsese. Around the time that I was working on the screenplay, I saw this series intro and it confused me.
Check out this video and you'll understand why:
We see a guy, standing at the sea shore and loads of bottles washing ashore, at his feet. This similarity alone, was enough of a reason for me to change the story. I didn't want people telling me that I stole this idea from Boardwalk Empire. I later learnt to not care about these things. That it's impossible to be truly original. You can pour your unique sauce over any idea though...
I made some changes. The old man became a young man. He wasn't a drunk. He didn't send letters to another (non-existant?) guy. Now I think of it, one of the few things that remained, was the sea as a location, haha!
Changing the Screenplay
A tale about a man, around my age – how surprising – struggling with a lot of things. I picked the sea, as it's one of my favorite places – I always feel inspired and re-energized when I go there – and as it's free production value. It's an outdoor location, where everybody can film – without permission – that automatically makes your work look more beautiful.
[Fast Forward To]
Casting
Fuji and I made a selection of the 15 to 20 actors that had replied to our online ad. We then invited four of them – totally different types - to come to our extremely informal casting session in Amsterdam. We met up with them at a place where Fuji was working at the time. A cafe/ restaurant belonging to a pop podium. It probably saved us some money but the main thing was that we wanted to keep it informal. It was all about having a good talk with them, to get to know them. Not necessarily about their acting skills.
We asked all four of them the following question:
“Would you mind walking into the sea with your clothes on in Winter time?”
One of them replied with:
“Sure, no problem.”
Now that's an actor!
Those kind of challenges were exactly what attracted him - Miro - to acting. He had hardly any acting experience at the time – if I remember it well – but he was friendly and eager to be part of this project. So much that he had come all the way from Belgium ( a two hour drive but another country nevertheless) – by car – and, at the end of the meeting, even offered to pay for his drink and a grilled cheese sandwich. What a guy! We refused that offer. Hitchock might have called his cast and crew cattle, but at least he paid them. We weren't able to pay this guy, so the least we could do was paying for his food and drinks.
We weren't looking for a Star
We didn't want somebody with 'Mariah Carey kind of behavior', complaining about lukewarm coffee on set, or wanting a fan next to her face all the time so her hair would look great in every single shot. We were looking for somebody willing to be part of a microbudget production. No luxury permitted. Someone who was in it for the experience, the challenge, the adventure and so on.
Casting – Part 2
After having singled this guy out from the four (aspiring) actors we met, we felt we had to run one more test to see if he could act(ually) act.
As we only had one actor in our movie and we decided to not use any dialogue, we wanted to make sure that this guy – Miro Brooks – had the screen presence and energy to perform this dramatic part. That he was up for some physical acting and could go through a range of emotions when needed.
It was early winter, 2010 and pretty cold. I believe it had snowed. Fuji, Miro (the actor) and I met up at the train station of the city of Utrecht, where I was living at the time. (I wasn't living at the train station, my brother was kind enough to let me crash at his place – in Utrecht - for a while). Utrecht Centraal is the largest railway station of The Netherlands, due to its central location.
We found us an empty platform, there's about 20 of them, walked as far back as possible. Fuji put on the camera, we gave our actor some pieces of paper (it might actually have been the screenplay but I can't say that for sure) and I gave him some directions, to find out what kind of emotions he was capable of. We had fun! We then sent Miro back to Belgium and told him he would hear from us soon.
Shortly afterwards, looking back at the footage with Fuji, it was an easy decision. Miro had the part and it would be the start of a beautiful friendship (to quote Casablanca) and a prolific collaboration.
He drove from Belgium to The Netherlands twice for an unpaid job.
He offered to pay for his coffee and grilled cheese sandwich
and was willing to walk into an ice cold sea, in Winter time.
That's a dedicated person to me. That's the actor that we were looking for.
He wouldn't disappoint us...
Preproduction
I don't remember much of the remainder of the preproduction process, but it took about a month and a half. We eventually started filming early February 2011. I remember that more and more people were added to the team – most of them were friends and/ or colleagues of Fuji – as he had many friends and connections, being an extremely social guy with a job. I had lost my only remaining job around Christmas so I was kind of thankful to him. On the other hand, I remember being stressed out about the fact that he knew all these people and I didn't. I was supposed to be the director but they were his friends. I remember getting worked up about that and even sharing my thoughts, worries with him in some kind of email. I was taking things very serious. This project was extremely important to me, at the time.
I guess he found that I was overreacting, he has always been a laid back kind of guy, but hey, I'm a sensitive person. It was supposed to be a short film - my future depended on it, it was my baby. And I was already stressed out, before the filming had started (something that would happen to me again and again over the years).
TO BE CONTINUED
Once again, this ended up as a way longer post than intended so I will continue this story in the near future. Thank you for your patience and please stay tuned...