The Rising- development of my first feature film.

Posted by William at 12:43 am on November 13th, 2011

I envisioned doing regular updates on my writing- but every time I started to write a post it felt a bit counter intuitive- why write a blog post about writing- just keep writing! But anyhow, I would like to share something of my experience as I delve into the unknown. So here goes: I spent the last two weeks away from my directing duties at The Mill, to focus on the script for my first feature film, The Rising, I spent the first week in Wales, soaking up the atmosphere with a walk in the morning before sitting down at my lap top in a tiny little cottage in Snowdonia. The film is very much influenced by landscape and our relationship with the environment around us. So it was very important to be able to write in this explorative way. This trip was made possible due to the development funding from the BFI, so Im very grateful to them for their support.

Iv been working on an outline for about a year now, this has fluctuated in length from one page to ten, the structure and story changing many times. So when it came to start the script I already had a good idea of the story I wanted to tell, in addition to a good understanding of my protagonist and the story thematically. Of course I’m finding surprises and changes as I go, but thats all a part of the fun. I know its a cliché- but Im very much appreciating the phrase ‘Writing is re-writing‘. In a way you have to sit down to write something, which at the point of sitting down, your not capable of writing, you have to find and develop the story beyond your best. Relentlessly pushing your ideas and your self- to better your work. This is how I feel good work is made, or else your just being lazy and you will not be doing yourself or your ideas justice.

Here’s a few of the pictures I took when wondering around the mountains, as with my writing I tried to let the themes of my story influence my photography. The script and imagery developing in tandem.