{"id":2890,"date":"2013-01-15T11:35:41","date_gmt":"2013-01-15T11:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/blog\/?p=2890"},"modified":"2025-11-07T06:02:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T06:02:05","slug":"miracle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/miracle","title":{"rendered":"making the movie: miracle"},"content":{"rendered":"

In rare winter sunlight I seize my chance to shoot pickups. Trouble is, the patron saint of Paisley, St. Mirin<\/a>, is stranded on a traffic island at the intersection of Incle Street, Gauze Street and the Glasgow Road. Standing a camera in the centre of five lanes of brisk traffic in search of a viable angle means risking my neck.<\/p>\n

The statue, unveiled in 2007, looks deceptively old, as does the sandstone plinth it stands on, inscribed with the words:<\/p>\n

At Length Full of Sanctity and Miracles, Mirin Slept in the Lord at Paisley<\/div>\n

I\u2019ll pass on the sanctity, thanks, but a Mirin miracle I could use with a looming deadline. On that score I think Paisley \u2013 a place held deep in my affections \u2013 could use a few miracles too, but at least there\u2019s a vision<\/a> involved for its destiny.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The purpose of the pickups, I reason, is because my original text, as narrated in the movie by two of the country\u2019s finest actors, Kate Dickie<\/a> and Gary Lewis<\/a> – check them out – amazing careers – demands images more literal and descriptive than those used in the website. Here the balance of show\/tell is a delicate one because often it\u2019s more effective not to do either since there\u2019s a lot to be said for a more elusive component \u2013 tone, feel, atmosphere, mood, sensation. As the great Michael Powell<\/a> once said \u2013<\/p>\n

Theatre thinks. Cinema feels<\/div>\n

It\u2019s all part of the process and a fascinating one, figuring out how movies work at a deeper psychic level. Because who\u2019s to say what a \u2018good\u2019 film is? Especially when anyone with a mobile can make movies \u2013 an idea stretching back to the Box Brownie<\/a> and the first movie cameras<\/a><\/p>\n

The Devil\u2019s Plantation is a strange hybrid. Neither a home movie or a video installation, it falls into that narrow genre \u2013 arthouse drifts, second cousin to Patrick Keiller\u2019s Robinson<\/i> films or Grant Gee\u2019s Patience After Sebald<\/i>. Where my movie parts company with these esteemed companions is simply this \u2013 there\u2019s absolutely no budget, no funding or crowdfunding involved. As such it\u2019s ascetica in the truest sense.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At the risk of sounding like a fishwife \u2013 have you seen the cost of making movies these days? Yet high production values \u2013 a stellar cast, an expensive set, an exotic location \u2013 can\u2019t guarantee success. The path to Hollywood and Hollywood itself is strewn with big budget flops that couldn\u2019t be salvaged by the marketing machine, so whither the New Poor Cinema? Budget is the least of it when you don\u2019t have one. Thankfully it\u2019s still possible to make a film with little more than a camcorder, an edit suite, an idea and the desire to do it. This I know because it\u2019s the second time in my career I\u2019ve resorted to a low tech approach to get something made for its own sake.<\/p>\n

When I began shooting in 2007, I used a Sony V1E camcorder. From the outset I knew the sound would be designed in post, so didn\u2019t rely on sync audio. I also decided not to move the camera, since my subjects \u2013 landmarks \u2013 are static \u2013 besides, I don\u2019t believe in moving the camera without solid justification. If there\u2019s no action to follow why bother? This I learned from watching Glasgow\u2019s very own superannuated cop show Taggart<\/i> \u2013 where one particular episode opened with a high falutin\u2019 \u2013 and long \u2013 tracking shot of a milkman walking up a suburban street only to hard cut to a close-up of a hand planting two pints on a doorstep. Hardly a payoff, but a valuable lesson in redundancy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I subscribe to the maxim \u2013 you can have it cheap, fast or good but not all three. One advantage of being cash poor but time rich is that I\u2019ve been able to devote years in the field, gathering footage. For the original website I shot on-and-off (weather permitting) for roughly two and a half years, resulting in over 40 hours of video. Now I\u2019m fusing the original text (with some amendments) with the pictures and found some holes that need filling. I also need to lose about 15 minutes from the original 66 clips made for the website, no easy task.<\/p>\n

At time of writing, I’ve no idea if the end result will work. My best guess is the movie will be mesmeric, if eclectic \u2013 not exactly a Friday night film but certainly one for a rainy Tuesday afternoon of the soul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In rare winter sunlight I seize my chance to shoot pickups. Trouble is, the patron saint of Paisley, St. Mirin, is stranded on a traffic island at the intersection of Incle Street, Gauze Street and the Glasgow Road. Standing a camera in the centre of five lanes of brisk traffic in search of a viable angle means risking my neck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[145,150,210],"class_list":["post-2890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-new-poor-cinema","tag-paisley","tag-st-mirin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2890"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5121,"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2890\/revisions\/5121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}