Filmmaker Focus - John Smith
Allow me to give a little background before I begin. I saw one of John Smith's most iconic films at film college many years ago. His work was presented as an excellent example of experimental filmmaking. His piece "Girl Chewing Gum" was shown to me, suddenly opening my mind to the notion of being meta-film. The film in particular shows a candid street scene which is allowed to unfold, where the "director" calls actions via voice over, seemingly controlling the random events.
This year, unbeknownst to me, John has two films in the viewing library "The Unusual Red Cardigan" and the "The Man Phoning Mum". The former, taken out of context, looks entirely divorced from the mainstream films at the festival. It is a single take, with a low quality camera and seems to feature a man vaguely narrating his journey as he watched others selling his films on Ebay. The latter film, bares more nostalgia than anything else, a love-letter to the film that made him. John reshoots "The Girl Chewing Gum" in the same location, layering it atop the original footage and allowing the two films to interact and create pleasant meetings through time.
Suddenly college came flooding back to me. I was blind and now I remembered who this man was and how important his work is to short film today. I managed to catch up with John via a phone interview before he disappeared to Russia for the "Message to Man" film festival who are showcasing a selection of his work.
John assured me that his work was not fiction in any way, telling me that his style comes from chance encounters and reality, perfectly demonstrated by the seller on Ebay or the layering of candid street film. I couldn't decide whether the work would have been more impressive if it was entirely fictitious but I think that banality is what creates a mysterious tension in Smith's work. He explained that "the less drama, the better" and that by working slowy and playing with time, it is easy to create a cinematic hook and create drama from the everyday events in our lives.
In fact, the parcel featured in "The Unusual Red Cardigan" was actually sat in John's office for 18 months, slowly encouraging him to hang around and mull over his ideas. With only one chance for the shoot, his excitement and interested mirrors our own and we embark on the journey together. His film may not deliver on the conclusion to some, but both films were actually made for a larger retrospective, an exhibition combining found objects, prints and film.
John is always thinking of the way his viewers recieve film and mentioned mixing up video headphones at the exhibition to wake people up a little. It seems my initial confusion with the films was certainly warranted. At the exhibition, "The Unusual Red Cardigan" did not even screen, instead the featured objects (bought from ebay) were printed to create a synergy with his other film work. John is fascinated with imaginary identity, as he rightly should be after spending so many years with "Girl Chewing Gum". The exhibition sought to add to her imaginary persona, confusing identities and time.
Smith told me that he is suspicious about being nostalgic although his candid characters from long ago now feel like old friends to him. He aims to make his work stand alone but appreciates that it is no longer made in a vacuum. Although his early work was made without much knowledge of experimental film, his latter work has embraced it, utilising work that homages his own and approaching old concepts from new angles. "Nothing is original" he tells me, "and that can often make it hard to muster energy creatively". Instead John preaches researching film and finding your own voice as well as trusting your own judgement because without pushing through with unoriginal ideas, he never would have found his own way.
John Smith has made over 40 films and is an inspiring filmmaker. I urge you to find out more at his site...
http://www.johnsmithfilms.com/
Benji Corless