Please tell us about the projects you worked on before making ‘FIRST ON THE HEEL’.
How did you start, and how did you learn to make films?
I always watched and re-watched a lot of films before I studied at film school, then worked for a film production company for 5 years (Warp Films) on various projects. I’ve directed music videos and short form stuff at this point.
Tell us about ‘FIRST ON THE HEEL’. How do you describe it?
It’s a sort of documentary I guess, of what Liverpool Improvisation Collective do, and the Bridewell (very old police station) space itself. The film was all improvised and shot on a sunny afternoon in Liverpool, England. In each room/space I would set an alarm on my phone. The performers decided how long - e.g. 5 mins. We would then film until the alarm sounded. The music score is all made from this same phone alarm ringtone sound, just very processed and unrecognisable. We used a quiet room and i recorded their thoughts and used it for voiceover. The three folk songs in the film are from the 1920’s, performed by local people in the Northwest of England and recorded by a travelling U.S music collector on his barrel dictaphone (you can hear the grinding/spinning sound of it in the songs). The energies matched.
Please tell us about your favorite filmmakers.
My favourite filmmakers were all able to do a lot with a low budget. Godard, Alan Clarke i always go back to. Tonally both real and interesting.
If you were given a good budget, what would be your ideal project?
I’ve got fiction projects i’ve written that I really want to make. Short films and a whole bunch of features. I have rarely worked with much of a budget, so I would love to be able to work on a larger scale and to collaborate with actors and others more.
Describe how you would ensure that production is on schedule. What steps would you take?
I’m pretty vertically integrated, in that i do most of the creative process myself. (write, direct, film, edit, colour grade, sound mix, score, etc) This keeps the crew minimal and makes it easy to avoid/reduce any delays/issues/costs that can occur.
What was the hardest part of making ‘FIRST ON THE HEEL’.
It was great. All very spontaneous and effortless to be honest. The most difficult part was deciding collectively on the title afterwards.
If possible, tell us about your next work. What plans do you have for your future work?
I make a lot of stuff for free at this point, just because nobody has money or will fund it, and the work wouldn’t exist otherwise. Funding/support has been hard to come by, and a lot of the time i think it’d be simpler to rob a bank instead. I would love to make more music videos and partner with a producer to get some funding and support to make a short film. May have to rob that bank though.
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