By
Martainn Russell
Hi and welcome to the directors notes for Pickles. This was one
of many scripts sent to us by Yair Packer all the way from
Israel. This was basically two guys in a room talking. I
don't like these kinds of movies but I thought why not give this one a
try. You have to remember that I'm learning on every film I
make, I'm also experimenting and that usually means making
mistakes. And you know what they say about mistakes. So I
went into this one with experimentation top of my list of things to do.
THE STORY
Like I said this was a script that was sent to us from Israel, Yair had
sent loads of plot synopsis for loads of films. Most were out of
our league but this was doable. Basically it's two guys arguing
over a mutual girl friend (as opposed to a girlfriend which would be an
entirely different movie) they both fancy. That's my way of
putting it. This was the first time I had worked with a script
that had an underlying message to it. All my previous efforts did
exactly what they said on the tin. Also, I was working with
someone else's material. I wasn't in a position to change any of
it or cut bits out etc. This was a challenge and a
half. That wasn't the half of it.
ACTORS THAT CAN AND A DIRECTOR WHO CAN'T
It only really hit me that I was way over my head on the first day of
filming, all the films that I had made thus far were just me starring
and my compadré being the cameraman. Here I was about to
deal with four actors at the same time. Shiiiiit!
These guys can act; they are more professional than I am. Well, I
could be a lazy director and let them do all the work; I'll just point
the camera in their general direction and hope for the best. It
took me a while to warm up it has to be said. I was very
eager to get the first shot in the bag. Guess what? It just
wouldn't happen. I was a nervous wreck. What added to my
rising anxiety was that the scriptwriter had travelled all the way from
Israel to see us in action. How disappointed was he going to
be? All my movies were made on a wing and a prayer.
I'd like to think I knew what I was doing, but in the cold light of day
I didn't.
Anyway back to this first shot in the bag dilemma. I just
couldn't get the framing right or the sound right or anything
right. I wanted to curl up into a ball and cry my eyes out.
Then I just went fuck it. Start acting like you know what your
doing and everybody will think you know what you're doing.
I hoped. I got the first shot in the bag and it felt great, I
felt great and the rest of the shoot went ok. My confidence grew
and I started to enjoy myself. This is what I want to do for a
living. So the lesson to be learnt is just act confident and then
you become confident. Easy.
LOCATION WORK
Usually I've shot all my movies in my bedroom or rooms next to
it. This time I was filming in Sainsburys, an actual
location. There was plenty of light so I didn't have to worry
about that (I didn't before so why start now eh). Sound seemed ok
(how wrong could I be?). There was only one problem we only
had two hours to get it all done before the shop opened and the
customers come swarming in. On a real film we wouldn't have this
kinda shit to deal with. We also had staff members making noise
in the background that ruined really good takes.
CAMERA WORK
I don't like the camera being rooted to the ground, I like it
moving. A lot. There may come a time where I will find it
necessary to keep it locked down, but for the time being I'm going hand
held all the way. In hindsight I also broke all the rules for
framing e.g. the rule of thirds, crossing the line etc.
Well all I can say to that is; so what. There shouldn't be rules
for making movies, guidelines maybe, but definitely not hard and fast
rules that should never be broken. All films would be the same if
that were true. Anyway experimentation was the name of the game
at this point. If it was wrong or looked shit then I would
learn from it and not do it again. Simple. Also I need to
get all this stuff out of my system so that when the time comes for
making an actual proper real film I'll be a goddamned genius (heck I
already am, I'll just be a better one)
SOUND
You know how I said that if I made mistakes in this one I would learn
from them and not make them on the next? Well the sound was shit
and always will be. Remember folks use a damn microphone and not
just the shitty one on the camera. It will always let you
down. That's enough of this, it makes me want to cry just
typing this.
EDITING
The other huge mistake that I made reared its ugly head when we were
getting down to edit and we were reviewing the footage. I never
filmed a long enough point of view shot for near the end of the
film. What I have ended up with is the quickest pov/reaction shot
ever. It hurts like a paper cut every time I see it, but
there is fuck all I can do about it. It works by the skin of its
teeth, but I'm not happy with it. The rest of the editing went
well. But to cover up some minor cock-ups we had to add sound
effects. This resulted in a less than satisfactory
shot/scene being improved ten fold by simply adding stupid
sounds. So the lesson here is if your shot/scene is lacking
somewhat add a swish.
BUDGET
Zip, nada nothing. Yup you read it right. The location was
free; the equipment was all ours. Yair got the caffeine-based
beverages after the first days shooting. So there you have it a
good-looking movie that cost not a jot. Why ain't Hollywood
knocking on my door?
FINAL THOUGHTS
I really wasn't happy when it was edited together, but the sound
effects and music and additional editing improved it considerably and
I'm actually very proud of it. At the time of writing this, it
hasn't been shown in front of many people but I can't wait for that to
happen.