July 25th, 2016

​A few months ago my girlfriend bought me a cup that she thought would suit me. No slogans or badges on it but the shape is pretty cool. I use it in my office at home which not only helps to sustain my coffee addiction but is also a reminder that everyday things can be inspiring and creative. So what has this cup got to do with making films? 

​Take a look at it.
This cup has some really cool twists in it. It needs to be looked at from different angles in order to really appreciate it and it reveals something new each time you look. If your films have a lot of depth and life in them then that’s how they should feel too.
 
At the end of the day it's still a cup. We know what it is and what it does. We know its purpose and its market. However much you put a twist on it and break the mould, it must still have structural integrity and it's no use if it can't hold water (or coffee). That goes both for how you tell the story and how you market the film, knowing your target audience the genre they want, but putting adding a bit of something they haven’t seen before. (As an additional marketing tactic, this cup also comes with a rather nifty saucer/plate thing add-on, which in my analogy is going to be the equivalent of cross-platform story-telling, video games etc)
I’ve tried to apply this cup analogy to my feature film script Girl & The Ghost (shortlisted for a Sundance Lab) and to my current short film ‘Waterbabies’.

​Waterbabies has a firm base (inspired by British Social realist traditions) but it is given a twist of something more imaginative and magical- and more spectacular. It is also created so that it can be enjoyed by teenagers and has positive messages for them.