A Playful Toolbox
I have struggled this week with feeling excited about making this new film. I think perhaps that is partly because I haven’t got a really good handle on what the film is yet. Is it a documentary? Is it a making of? Is it a film that solely demonstrates the content or ideas in my research? I’m not sure. And I’m not sure because I haven’t given myself the chance to sit down and figure it out.
This ‘research and development’ phase has proven, certainly with Finding Play, to be the most important phase of my film-making process. Processes like character design happen very quickly, instinctively. I know the kind of thing I like to make and the kinds of aesthetics that bring me pleasure, and so I can work quickly efficiently in that space. But ‘figuring out what the film is’ always takes significantly longer. With Finding Play, even though the story was very simple, early iterations didn’t get across the specific point I was trying to make - that playfulness comes from within, that you need to ‘play’ in order to feel playful, and ultimately if you feel playful, activities become a kind of ‘play’. Early drafts of the film told this somewhat, but it took an almost full draft of the film to fully realise that the point I was making wasn’t hitting home in a way that was satisfying to me. In the final version, Tim doesn’t come to a conclusion based on King Susan’s involvement, but comes to a realisation entirely on his own. On top of that, the whole film is narrated, with the text on screen, which was an addition very late in the game. If I had played with this idea earlier, would I have saved time? Really, that doesn’t really matter at this stage; the film’s made and I’m happy with it. But for future projects, it’s worth considering: what parts of which processes am I taking with me into each project? I wonder if it’s limiting to work towards having a specific process, but really to develop a personal ‘toolbox’ that you can draw from on any given project.
So where does play fit into that? Perhaps playfulness is the toolbox. Bringing playfulness to any project then might let you ‘feel’ your way through it and decide what works/doesn’t work for you, and what works for the project. If that all sounds very wishy-washy…well, then you know where my head is at this week.
Knowing my preferred way of working is ‘quick-and-dirty’ - rough work imagined fast, riding a wave of my own enthusiasm before an idea outstays its welcome, I wonder if part of the problem with the new film is that I don’t have very much material to work with yet. I’m expecting to edit something together, but I haven’t created much footage yet. As such, the project is very much still in its conceptual phase. So, perhaps I need to open that toolbox and find a way into the project that makes me laugh, helps me generate some stuff to be playing with, even if it all ends up on the proverbial cutting room floor by the end of the film.