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Past
Productions
The
Far Side.
This was one of the first long form films I ever made. It was also
one of the first where I made an effort to make a film that might
reward more than one viewing. The editor of Horizon at the time,
Jana Bennett, asked if I’d do the thirtieth anniversary compilation
show. Jana gave me a wonderfully free reign and supported me. Something
for which I have always been grateful.
The
idea I came up with, rather than simply play clips, was to use the
films as rushes to tell the over arching story of our attitude towards
science. So we cut different films in to each other, mixed the sound
from one film over the pictures from another often looping and repeating
phrases. I think clips from 40 films were used. Some were just a
single word or repeated phrase.
The
archive was then projected on to a huge screen in front of which
we shot the interviewees. It’s the only time I have ever done
interviews with a 30 foot crane. David South lit and shot it. David
was one of those fantastic BBC cameramen who taught countless young
directors their trade. I count myself lucky to have been one of
them.
Icon
Earth
Icon Earth was as far as I am aware one of the first films anywhere
to talk about globalization. After TX a letter of complaint from
an economic think tank was sent to the Director General saying the
film was a “dangerous piece of anti capitalist propaganda”.
I had to defend my job over it. Needless to say I am quite proud
of that.
Brainspotting
Brainspotting was my first freelance work. I made it for Windfall
films who were great. The main experiment of the series was to see
if the audience would accept a presenter who did the normal presenter
things of going places and interviewing professors BUT was a fictional
character who kept his brain in a fish tank at home. The cameraman
was David South who also shot The Far side. David South shot the
entire series.
Darwin
– The Legacy
Darwin
was the first film I made with Ian Liggett. We shot the whole thing
on Kodak 500 colour which we pushed 2 stops to 2000ASA. It meant
we had a beautiful grainy look and could shoot available light only,
even at night. We shot the whole film with a blue cast.
We
also experimented with using massive amounts of ND to keep a very
shallow depth of focus even at wide angle. Our shooting ratio was
eye-wateringly low. We shot everything mute. James sound designed
every sound you hear.
Darwin
was also the first film I edited with Ed Harris. I handed him a
very small amount of footage, many scenes no more than 5 or 6 shots,
and said he had to make a story out of every scene. Ed had to make
each scene work as a story in its own right, suggesting the life
of the people in it, but also work with the abstract things being
said around it. Judge for yourself. I think Ed’s editing is
fantastic. Oh by the way, it was his first long-form film.
Testing
God
Testing God was made for George Carey at Mentorn. George is one
of the most brilliant Execs I have ever worked for.
I
managed to get Ed Harris to edit, but I couldn’t get Ian Liggett
to shoot, as he was in such demand that he was never free. So I
had to find another cameraman. I found Gary Clarke.
Testing
God set out to be epic. That meant the pictures had to have something
about then that said, ‘I’m important’ and the editing
had to make you look at them and see that importance. Gary’s
pictures and Ed’s editing delivered.
James
did the effects and the music was by Saul Freeman and Piers Faccini.
For me, Testing God was the first part of a much longer project.
TG ended with two themes, the mind and uncertainty. Soul Searching
continued to explore the mind theme looking at the self and ‘soul’.
Voices took it on from Soul. And most recently Dangerous Knowledge
went back to the theme of uncertainty. Basically I am making a 13
part series by stealth.
You
can see clips from Testing God or purchase at - www.becauseyouthink.tv
Soul
Searching
Soul Searching was the sequel to Testing God. It picked up where
TG had left off - with the mind. Ed edited again. It was shot by
Ian Liggett and Nalla Muthu. Nalla did all the Indian stuff. How
amazing is it to have two brilliant cameramen on the same film?
Soul asked what is this feeling we have of being an inner entity?
What causes it? Is it important or true? The undeclared influence
behind the series is, of course, Julian Jaynes.
You
can see clips from Soul Searching or purchase at - www.becauseyouthink.tv
Are
We Alone?
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