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Reflections on Creativity at the 2003 Melbourne International
Film Festival Aaron Catling
The second film at the Melbourne International Film Festival to
reshape my preconceptions of digital narrative was Woodenhead from
New Zealand. Funded by the New Zealand Film Commission, director
Florian Habicht was given $25,000 to make a short. He came back
with a feature that defies conventional logic on how to make a film.
Shot on a Sony PD150, the approach he took to the production of
the film was nothing short of genius a little crazy, as most genius
is, but extraordinarily effective nonetheless.
Woodenhead is a drama/musical in which a local rubbish tip worker
must escort the local 'princess' to her soon to be husband who is
a long hike from their village. What follows is part fairytale,
part fantasy; but the end result is a very entertaining film that
leaves the entranced audience wondering how on earth Habicht managed
to pull it off.
Unhappy with the quality of actors he could find for this low budget
film, he decided to break each role in the film into its core components
vision and sound. As such, he cast voice actors to record the
dialogue and got musicians to sing the score. Once he had recorded
and sound-mixed the entire film, he set about casting the visual
actors and getting the shots to match the ninety minute score.
The final master stroke, and what sets this film apart, is that
he did not try to 'sync' the visual performance with the score.
The film seems somewhat disjointed until the audience gets used
to the style (at first you think it is a mistake. Then you begin
to realise that the lack of lip-syncing (and, indeed, the lack of
the visual characters even opening their mouths sometimes) allows
you to focus on both aspects of the performance. They combine to
form a symbiotic relationship that creates some of the most vivid
characters I have ever seen on screen.
Once I put aside the unusual method of production, I found myself
reflecting that what Habicht had captured was a simple story, told
beautifully. Although it was made on digital, it really was the
kind of narrative usually seen on film. The only difference was
that no one would have had the guts and foresight to finance such
a shoot-on-negative film. The content was driven by itself; the
form was merely the only way possible to tell that content within
the budget.
This may be a subtle shift, one that most may not consider important.
However, one of my hopes for film is for the medium to become a
free flowing source of stories and ideas where any story could
be told, and where anyone with the courage to make a film could.
This type of ideology exists around the world with the recent success
of the short film as a genre in, and of, itself, but not in features.
Not until now.
The boundaries of form and content still exist. They are important
when we consider film as an artistic medium. However, they can be
limiting, from the documentary filmmaker who is told to shoot digital
rather than 16mm, to the young filmmaker told that digital is a
medium for unprofessional genre films.
Such dated production imperatives limit a filmmaker's potential
and, as such, limit the boundaries of film as a creative medium.
These two festival films may never be seen by the masses, but I
saw them. And as I become a filmmaker I will remember the lessons
they taught me. To be creative, to be bold, and to tell a story
the best way that it can be told.
2003
ARTICLES AND REVIEWS
Peter
Odonoghue, Gritsalute.com
Onfilm Magazine May 2003
Bravo
Digital Magazine May 2003
NZ
Listener Magazine July 2003
Craccum Magazine Film Review
July 2003
Melbourne
International Film Festival
New
Zealand International Film Festival
The Age, Melbourne August,
2003
NZOOM.COM. August 2003
Wairarapa
News 19 July 2003 By SEAN HOSKINS
Larry Jenkins Film Review
- Northern News July 2003
Interview with Nicholas
Butler
Sitges
Film Festival, Spain.
Little
Nina Magazine, Portugal
Melbourne International
Film Festival review by Aaron Catling
Feisty Noodle Melbourne
Review
Soundtrack
Reviews
2004 ARTICLES
AND REVIEWS
Real
Groove Magazine Scanner JAN/FEB 2004
New Zealand Herald, Federico
Monsalve 11.02.2004
Rip it up Magazine + two
more film Reviews, Feb/March 2004
Pulp Magazine Feb 2004 Coming soon.
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