On the Fringe: Do you realize?
I think that the absolute main reason why we “fringe filmmakers” should be making the most personal works is that we have the freedom. It’s as simple as that. We are free from financial expectations and also free from critical expectations of what our films should be. It is our right, hell our responsibility, to be as honest as possible, to really follow our hearts and instincts. This may not always lead us to the best results, but they certainly lead us to the most interesting outcomes.
So much of directing is simply making choices; Does the scene need 10 shots or 2? Is this location better than that one? Should he be wearing red or blue? But so much of what makes film personal has to do with the choices we don’t even realize we have made.
My initial reason for shooting a low budget feature was merely as a learning tool, and i haven’t forgotten that. (Every film is a learning process, and the person who thinks they know everything is bullshitting.) As it happens, I’m quite proud of the films I’ve done, and I’ve found there is so much more to me than simply creating “learning tools”. I have also found how much of a personal process it can be.
I’m working on a number of different projects at the moment, and it’s only when you step back from them, that you realize there are a lot of common images, themes and ideas. Hand on my heart I didn’t realize I had such an obsession with digging, until I stepped back and took a look at my two latest projects…both have crucial scenes that involve a solitary figure literally digging in the earth.
I was talking to a friend about script ideas, out of the blue he asked,
“Do you hate Dublin city?”
“no why do you ask?”
“Well its just that all of your films seem to be about escaping from the city to the countryside”
It was absolutely another revelation to me,
BUT as I think of it, as much as I love the city where I live, deep in my heart I yearn for some sort of escape. I think filmmakers (or at least the ones I respond to) will always have some sort of personal through lines in their work, no matter how big the canvas they are working on. To me, figuring out what/who they are, can be half the fun of watching a movie. So often when others are bored by plot, I’m riveted because I’m actually watching a mystery; piecing together the clues to figure out who was the strange creature that made this film.
Donnacha Coffey
Tags: art, Donnacha Coffey, film, film production, independent film, independent film production, indie
