Paul said “why can’t production be the pre-production”, or vice-versa, and that is the approach I am taking with my project.

Too much of my time is spent trying to figure out the film; each shot, what is involved, etc, when really, taking out your camera and just shooting is the best thing to do. That’s not to say don’t come prepared, but trusting and acting upon your first instincts allows you to learn more and more crucially, have a clear understanding of what you’re trying to do.

We went to the cemetery, and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. We found a spot under a tree, surrounded by narrow rows and columns of graves, and I asked Kerry to just walk. We did a few takes, none were outstanding, but I fell in love with its potential. It looked so nice on the camcorder; looking through the viewfinder (which is black and white) made me realise that this must be just that.

The main problems with the shot were that I didn’t really think about headroom (there is far too much), and my panning ability was pretty poor. Though to be fair, camcorders are especially shaky. I knew with a few more attempts, I could get the shot how I wanted it to be. We decided we would return to cemetery in a week or so.

Over the next few days I asked myself why I wanted Kerry to just walk. It made me think of Philippe Garrel’s films, in which nearly all of them involve shots of character’s walking. I came to the realisation that Garrel had as much as an impact on me as a filmmaker than pretty much anyone else.

I could analyse one particular shot on walking from his films, but to me, the above videos all demonstrate Garrel’s ability show walking as so much more than just a simple everyday act involving movement.

I think there is a level of self clarity and inner peace that is established from walking; it’s an opportunity for the mind to wander and/or to reflect. It’s therapeutic in nature; you are alone with your thoughts and sometimes the very act of walking can help maintain a level of focus.

To me, Garrel’s use of walking is an experiment in mood and atmosphere. First and foremost, it reveals the inner conflict of the subject in a subtle way. Much can be found and understood of the character by merely taking notice of their facial expression, or the manner and shape in which their body moves. It’s pure cinema. Secondly, the black and white photography (in his more recent films), and the often narrow space in which the character wanders through enhances feeling (often isolation), which establishes this mood and atmosphere.