recap: the film festival tour - part one
This is first of probably many recaps over the coming weeks… events I’ve promised to blog about that I haven’t had the time to before. Seeing as though I’m sat waiting to rushes to capture, it seems like the perfect opportunity.
On tour with THE BUTTERFLY TATTOO
Part One - Film By The Sea
I’m sure you’ve heard of filmmakers describing the filmmaking process like “nurturing a child” and - to a certain extent (minus the potty training) - it’s probably true. When you’ve finished a feature, it takes on it’s own life. It finds its audience. Usually at the
start you’re sat in every audience showing it to cast/crew, colleagues, friends, test screenings etc. It’s a odd feeling (but also great!) when suddenly people have seen it you don’t even know. The little protective world you’ve created the film in is suddenly exposed. Your baby is now a rebellious teenager popping up in festivals and screening rooms without your supervision and screening to everyone. And everyone has an opinion.
Don’t get me wrong. The point of making a film is for people to see it. If you’re a filmmaker reading this, how many films (shorts or otherwise) have you made that only friends and family have seen? Trust me, I’ve got a few in my early years - and they’ll probably stay that way unless I drunkenly sign some DVD extras distribution deal to include one on an upcoming feature. I digress, strangers watching your film will be
honest. They don’t know or care about you from adam. The great thing about film festivals (which I’m taking rather a long time to get to the point of in this blog!) is that you can still in an audience of strangers - right next to one - and they won’t know you’re the guy who sweated blood to bring it to the screen. They’ll play with their phone, look at their watch, smooch their girl/boy friends, gaze up at the dim cinema lighting or even leave if they’re disengaged from the film. And, as much as you’d like to hit the phone-watch-smooch-bulb guy in the face, that moment is solid and ugly truth. It hurts if you have to go through it but it’ll make you a better filmmaker.
Luckily we had no such experiences while hitting the festivals with THE BUTTERFLY TATTOO.
Our first stop for the glitzy world premiere for the film started at the Film By The Sea festival, Vlissingen, The Netherlands on 13th September, 2008. Typically, our plans to get the the festival were foiled by the Channel Tunnel fire which halted all rail services from the UK to continental Europe. After an all night edit to complete a music video for it’s deadline, I jumped in the car - picked Jessica Blake (lead actress) up on the way in London - and 457 miles later we arrived in the beautiful sea-side town of Vlissingen.
We made it just in time to throw on our frocks and get to the festival premiere of the Coen Brother’s BURN AFTER READING. I was so tired from driving, I fell asleep. Sorry guys - I was really enjoying the film, honest!
Our apartment was beautiful with a balcony looked out over the sea. It was a shame that we were only there for a few days! The town was buzzing - everyone who was there was there for the festival. It was exciting to see the film in the programmes, newspapers and on posters around the main cinemas. The buzz was encouraging.
A drunken launch party later and a magazine interview later, it was the night of the screening. I’ll be honest - I was a little nervous. I wondered how a group of strangers would respond to the film. I was curious about how the film would look in HD on the big screen. I wondered whether anyone would actually come and see it!
The foyer of the cinema was very busy. People dressed up, clutching tickets and chatting about the screening of BURN AFTER READING the night before. (A pretty hard act to follow). Jessica, Duncan Stuart (right), Christopher Dane and Dan Morgan from the cast, the producers and I milled around the foyer shaking hands and and welcoming people. I was still convinced that everyone wasn’t there for my film. Were they?
They were. Finishing my - excuse the pun - bottle of dutch courage, I was one of the last people to enter the cinema. I remember firstly seeing how big the screen was (the biggest screen of the festival)… it was bigger than any screen I had seen the film on so far. It was huge! (I remember Jessica and Duncan looking to me when I joked about them seeing their faces in extreme close on that size screen!) Turning to the left to find my seat was when I saw the audience. It was packed. Full house. There was easily 350+ people there to watch my film (sneaky pic below). It was a nerve wracking but amazing feeling.
As the lights went down and the opening titles began I remember having one of those moments you’ll never forget - umm, moments… I said to myself, this is the moment where I’ll discover whether I’m a television director or a film director. When the film finished, I realised… I’m most definitely a film director!
The audience loved it. They laughed and they cried at all of the right moments. There was an emotional silence when the film’s end credits started to roll. People didn’t want to let go off the characters. I know that feeling when I’ve watched other films and I was so relieved when it happened to my film. It was the exact response I’d always hoped for.
At the after party, the great response continued. Now, I’m not one for people just giving me glowing feedback to my films - I encourage people to tell me what they didn’t like about it. It makes me a better filmmaker and the responses are always interesting. You’ll find - depending mainly on the age group - people won’t like things that other people love. Thats what is great about showing a film to a real audience because you really get to know your audience. After all, isn’t that what it’s all about?
Even though the film is a “teen tragic love story”, the main surprise for me was how older generations - outside of the “target” age group - enjoyed the film. It was more than I could hope for. One lovely woman put it perfectly - “It works because love is universal” - the older generations reflect on their first love whereas the younger audience aspires to it.
We achieved a 4/5 audience rating for the screening which we were all very happy with.
The next day the film was screened again. Hungover from our after party and pub crawl of Vlissengen, Jessica and I sneaked into back of the cinema to do some ‘audience watching’. Again, the screen was almost sold out. Thinking we’d been undetected we tried to leave during the start of the end credits only to have the lights come up and everyone recognise Jess from the film. They congratulated her on her performance and on the film - I thanked them for watching it only to think later that they probably wondered who I was!
Being in the middle of shooting Fifth Gear for UK television, I had to leave the festival before it was finished. I heard later that the festival had to put on another screening of the film because of the amount of people who wanted to see it.
I drove home thinking THE BUTTERFLY TATTOO was now truly that rebellious teenager appearing for audiences without me being there. My baby has grown up, its out there finding an audience. I just hope I’ll get a postcard now and then letting me know how it’s getting on… ;)
