Written & Directed by David Yorke
A tour of the development and unravelling of a relationship. A beautiful and hypnotic visual representation and journey of the make up and break up of a relationship.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH THE FILMMAKER
WELCOME BACK! WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO IN THE PAST YEAR SINCE WE FEATURED YOUR FILM "CLOUDS"?:
Thanks for having me, I think like many of us I have just been trying to survive and keep myself busy the best way I can. A lot of films have been watched, many computer games have been played and a lot of my scripts have been re-written.
CONGRATS ON MAKING BAFTA CREW! HOW HAS IT HELPED PROPEL YOUR FILMMAKING FORWARD?
Thank you so much, it was a real pick me up that’s for sure, I had applied multiple times in the past and to finally get accepted really means a lot to me.
So far it’s been great, I’m meeting so many people and seeing their great work, which is inspiring. The network sessions and guest talks have been keeping me sane also, I just hope we can all meet in person.
It’s early stages at the moment because most things are on hold but many of us are already talking about collaborating on projects so it’s just really great being around so much creative energy.
BEAUTIFUL WORK ON "WE". WHAT'S THE INSPIRATION BEHIND YOUR FILM?:
Thank you so much, the film came about in a very unconventional way. Me and my dop David Cawley were at the time creatively frustrated and were hungry to make something.
I came up with a concept where we could be experimental but also create something visually interesting. With the constraints of budget and time, I knew we could only really have a skeleton crew and a few cast members, so I started developing ideas.
But it wasn’t until I was on the tube one day where I heard the song ‘Losing Light by Explosions in the Sky’ that the idea evolved, the track just had this rhythm that I really connected to, not to mention the track is just really emotive. I thought about how interesting it would be to show a relationship deteriorating over a long period of time but without dialogue to a similar beat as the track. Then the idea just grew from there.
YOU'VE PACKED AN ENTIRE RELATIONSHIP, TOLD FROM THREE DIFFERENT VANTAGE POINTS, IN UNDER 5 MINUTES. HOW DID YOU DO THAT? WAS THERE A LOT LEFT ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR OR DID YOU SHOOT THESE INTIMATE MOMENTS TACTICALLY?
Well the great thing about making this film was I had scenes that were needed but location wise we could be very flexible. I had certain locations in mind but most of the time we would drive around, jump out the car and shoot these short moments. We got many alternate takes and my first cut of the film was about 2 minutes longer, so I do have a lot of unused footage. But when I showed people the longer cut it was obvious it was just too much and that in this case less was more.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BRING THIS FILM TO LIFE AND WHAT OBSTACLES DID YOU OVERCOME ALONG THE WAY?:
I find every film I make a challenge and when you’re working with literally no budget it becomes very difficult. Some scenes were more straight forward and the actors could improvise and then there were the more delicate scenes especially the ones shot in the dark space. We only had a few hours to film in that location but the actors did a really amazing job and because of that we got some really powerful and emotive shots.
Every film has it’s problems, securing locations and working against the clock but I found this experience to be very collaborative and it’s a film I’m still very proud of.
ANY FILM RECOMMENDATIONS THAT WE CAN WATCH TO KEEP US BUSY WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING:
I do a list of my favourites films of the year, so here’s 40 from last and this year that I recommend
Parasite
Queen and Slim
Uncut Gems
JoJo Rabbit
Saint Maud
Sound of Metal
1917
Mogul Mowgli
Baby Teeth
Relic
Soul
On the Rocks
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
WolfWalkers
Vivarium
His House
The Invisible Man
Onward
Make Up
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Rocks
The Platform
Perfect 10
Tenet
Spontaneous
Happiest Season
The Lighthouse
Uncle Frank
The Rental
Save Yourselves!
Alone
Big Time Adolescence
Palm Springs
The Dark and the Wicked
Possessor Uncut
Greenland
Freaky
The Mortuary Collection
Straight Up
Host
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