Seasons Greetings Everybody

As if a gallon of mulled wine and mince pies aplenty weren't enough to make me feel warm inside, I'm now very happy to be contributing to the North East Movies website. I'm delighted to see my blogging predecessors - Fay and Charlie - have left their mark here. I've come across both of them in my career so far and they do excellent and inspiring work. 

I work as a TV script-editor and online content producer and can truly say being a geek to the core my whole life has paid off. I love my job. I currently work with a small, but amazingly innovative and gifted team who are passionate about great writing, fresh ideas and new talent. As you all know from this very website - developments in technology now mean that content which was traditionally solely the domain of TV  -made by a small band of elite producers - is now readily, easily and phenomenally successfully created for the internet by almost anyone with a big idea and dash of inventiveness. However, what has remained the same across vastly differing cultures and hundreds of years, is an audience's love of captivating stories populated with rounded, engaging characters.

One of the main criticisms I hear from the producers upon reading a new script is "not enough story."  It takes a real skill to set up a fictional world whilst simultaneously bewitching a viewer with a brilliantly conceived plot - or three. TV and film writers and producers think they have it hard with their allotted 30 mins, one hour or more. They should spare a thought for short-film creators. I love it when a comedy or drama creator is spurred on, rather than put-off, by the unique challenges proposed by short-films or series. Consequently, for my inaugural gawp round the site I specifically set out to find a couple of drama films which ingeniously filled their limited time with unlimited narrative possibilities.

Firstly, Eyeless: the first thing that'll grab you here is the striking aesthetic. However, as in the dating world - good looks accompanied by little substance get boring very quickly. What made this film stand out for me was the way the initial story, the story we think we are meant to be following, is superseded by another narrative.  The film opens on two unlikely accomplices fleeing with the spoils of shop robbery amidst the sounds of sirens. However, even more exciting is the tale of obsession and betrayal which unravels in its midst. It's stylistically languorous but dense with ideas at the same time.

And to finish what is fast becoming a mind spill of epic proportions - a word about After by If Films. Again, beautifully shot, but what I liked here was the promise of a wealth of stories and human experience packed into 60 beautifully utilised seconds. I would be intrigued to find out more about of these characters and their individual narratives.

I'll be back with more garbled thoughts and observations soon!

Davina

December 19 2008

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