/ director's
notes
/ interview
with Noli |
Crew
NOLI – writer/director
NOLI is the writer/director of numerous stage plays including BLUE
EYES RED which premiered in London in 1995 as a Time Out Critics’ Choice
selection, and DADDY COME HOME which has recently been adapted
for the screen. In 2003 he founded DAY4NIGHTFILMS with the sole
motive of emulating the thought-provoking and uncompromising
European and American Independent Cinema that first inspired
him. His startling debut film MARRIED/UNMARRIED receives a worldwide
theatrical release in Spring 2004. Noli was recently selected
by The Observer as one of the ‘20 most influential British
filmmakers at this year’s Cannes Film Festival’.
He has written and will direct MOI NON PLUS and WHITE IRIS as
the showcase features for DAY4NIGHTFILMS.
PAUL SADOURIAN – Cinematographer
The script attracted me primarily by its cold honesty about human
relationships. It seemed to tackle the complexities of love in
a way more akin to continental films. From the word go this was
always going to be a European film rather than a British film
and that excited me. It’s a bleak film of beautiful images.
It was all a totally collaborative effort and preparation before
shooting was the key. Obviously budget and time restrictions
were against us and maybe if we had more time we could have explored
a more kinetic use of the camera at times. However the static
use of the camera worked well in this case and the director always
had a clear vision of it being that way. On such a tight schedule
you have to trust your director and vice versa, and you have
to be very instinctive and survive chaos. Fortunately this film
had an extremely talented core crew who went that extra mile
because they rated the director and the script. Also, the cast
came to the shoot extremely well prepared which meant that time
wasn't wasted and we had a director who knew when we had the
scene in the bag and didn't need to cover himself. It was hard
work. We were shooting six-seven pages a day. My concern for
the actors made sure we were quick and would always get it in
one or two takes – pre-lighting the master was the key
to this.
RACHEL PAYNE – Production Designer
Married/Unmarried has a very strong, stylised structure, which
reveals the
truth about each of the characters through a series of duologues.
What I
found interesting was how each of the duologues impacted and coloured
each
of the other characters’ worlds. Very early on in my meetings
with Noli we established that these characters did not live in
the real practical world. We wanted to create styled almost lifestyle
images for the worlds in which the characters existed, to contrast
their crumbling, dysfunctional emotional states. I used colour
to heighten
the stylised effect and it enabled me to compliment the strong
structure
in the script. The colour choices came from the traits of each
of the four
characters and I then used these four colours as my pallet and
the rule
for my design choices, right down to the cigarettes each character
smoked,
even the colour of their drinks. It was very much a collaborative
process, particularly with Noli, as we had worked together before
and had already established shorthand. Because of the very stylised
design choices, each shot needed to be a striking freeze-frame,
so a close collaboration between the director, the DOP and myself
was essential, particularly on such a low budget.
MARTIN BRINKLER – Editor
It was so inspiring to work on a film that wanted to do what the
cream of European arthouse movies seem to do so effortlessly.
The British film industry has become very stale with it’s
over-reliance on safe formulae. Here was something very dark
and very brave. Noli has such a dangerous and unique way of telling
stories. On reading Married/Unmarried I was keen to meet him
immediately. The writing is exquisite and his direction has a
wonderful emotional sense of storytelling matched with an instinctual
talent for performance. As an editor this is a delightful combination.
The creative collaboration in the cutting room was a combative
joy. He challenged and provoked me to do my best work.
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