Living in Hope - The Director Speaks

The Film

The Director Speaks

The Writer Explains

The Director Speaks

January 2002
It is early afternoon and I am enjoying a beer or two at the Cafe Ritter in Vienna. Twenty minutes earlier I left a screening room after having watched the first 35mm print of Living in Hope. I feel that warm glow of excitement I experienced when I first read the script almost two years ago. In that time I have learnt a lot about film making and the ‘business’ of making film.

Guy handed me the first draft whilst we were at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival , promoting a short film and trying to drum up interest in another script. I took time out from the madness of the Croisette to sit on the beach and have a read.

I immediately felt empathy and a fondness for the central characters. The themes of friendship and loyalty and that point in your life when you are away from home for the first time struck a chord and I knew we could have real fun with this film Guy and I were very keen to use Bristol as our backdrop for the film. I have lived there for twelve years and have fallen for its laid-back feel and varied, sometimes stunning architecture. We also realised that Bristol University would be perfect as the fictional Cabot Uni and, if we timed it right we could use the thousands of freshers as our extras!

Also attending the festival and getting drunk on the free champagne was Terry Flaxton, a DOP I had worked with before and liked, both on a professional and personal level. We filled him in on our plans and he reckoned he could muster a crew who would work on a deferred basis. Full of hope, and champagne we talked figures and realised we could actually make this thing!

We put a shoot date in the diary so we had something to aim for. Time to go in search of backers. Waving the EIS scheme under their noses as an incentive, businesses, relatives, friends and their friends were hunted down. No one was safe!

The shooting schedules in place we begin the long search for our actors. We have very definite ideas and spend months finding the right mix. Looking back I can’t imagine anyone else playing the five lads, they really did bring Posh, Footsie, Liam, Harry and Animal alive. Working with the actors was a great experience. They are such a talented bunch of young people and a real joy to work with. I feel very lucky to not only have worked with them but to have them as my mates.

I spend months planning and storyboarding the shots. We have to hit the ground sprinting on day one of shooting and I want to be as prepared as possible. The seven weeks of the shoot are hard but never a chore. The production team, headed up by Ellie smooth the way as much as possible. Shooting on a low budget will always force you to work harder and more efficiently but I think it can also boost your creativity.

I am in the unusual and enviable position of having total artistic freedom on the shoot. Guy, in his dual roles as writer and producer lets me get on with things. I think this trust comes from working together on a number of short films and realising that we are heading in the same direction. He trusts my vision and he knows that I will stay true to the story he has written. This freedom is a great compliment.

November 2000
The shoot is over and we wrap and party hard! We all go our separate ways and I spend the next few weeks feeling a bit lost. We do a deal on an edit suite in London and start to put the film together with a very talented young editor, Nick Packer.

The post production is slow and frustrating, the money pot constantly running low meaning that we have to stop until new funds are found. However I am pleased with the way the film is shaping up. The frantic pace of that first term as a fresher is working well in the edit and I am pleased with the performances.

August 2001
Finally we lock the picture and begin work on the sound and picture grade at Pink House Post Production in Bristol.

I get married!

It is a joy to be back in Bristol, not least because my wife Sarah works for Pink House and I get to see her! The soundtrack written for the movie by Supertoys and the theme song by Sophie Lechner are amazing and inspired and add that extra emotional dimension to the film.

October 2001
It is done, the film is finished . Guy and I go and get drunk and pat each other on the back. I hope the cast and crew like what I have been doing with Living in Hope over the months. More than anyone I want them to enjoy watching the film. It’s hard to write this without it sounding sycophantic but the film really is theirs as much as it is Fluidity Films.

January 2002
Vienna
Just ordered another beer and am contemplating the fact that in two days time I will get on a plane to England carrying a cardboard parcel the size of a large hat box. In it will be five cans of 35mm film, the first print of Living in Hope. It has taken almost two years and the skill of countless people to reach this point. What a weird thing this filmmaking is.

Bring on the next one!!