HARD, CRACKED THE WIND
Having taken four months paternity leave over the Summer ,and frustrated by the postponement of Biyi Bandeleâs Nigerian feature, Area Boy, I was delighted to be contacted by Kate Byers & Linn Waite of Early Day Films, who offered me the perfect project to get me back to work - a ghost story shooting in Penzance on black & white negative film. I had previously worked with Kate & Linn on Esther May Campbellâs BAFTA-winning short, September, back in 2008 (I shot all the 16mm inserts for main unit DP Zac Nicholson). Now they were offering me a script written by Adrian Bailey, to be directed by âCornish New Waveâ auteur Mark Jenkin, based in Newlyn. In recent years Mark has made many films in Cornwall - some experimental, some narrative (of sorts), both short and feature-length - but always with a wind-up 16mm Bolex and hand-developed in his trademark style, using a developer partly based on instant coffee. He has picked up awards and accolades, not least a champion in the form of Mark Kermode who noted, of Broncoâs House, his film about the housing crisis (sort of), âShades of Roeg, Maddin and Loach...â
I had a long chat with Mark on the phone and then spent a couple of days in Penzance in prep and tests before the week long shoot in October last year.Â
It was a total joy to dust off the old light meter and spend time shooting on film again. It reminded me where I started, and all the reasons why I fell in love with the medium in the first place. Mark had never worked with a writer or DP before but yet we instantly hit it off and enjoyed a great rapport, with a myriad of synchronous references. The whole team and crew were lovely and despite a horrendous head cold, I found the whole experience deeply rewarding. The film is currently in the edit.
We shot on Kodak Eastman Double-X, 1.33 with an ARRI SR3, ARRI Distagon primes and a Canon zoom.
