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| Tobias Tobbell |
The Squeerelist - Your heroine and her nemesis compile quite a few textbook disorders from agoraphobia to psychopathy or hoarding… What inspired you to display such conditions?
Tobias Tobbell - The disorders explored in the film evolved for
different reasons. The agoraphobia developed out of the nature of the story
itself. As I worked on the character’s history – being a naturally introverted
person forced to go on show around the world as a model – it seemed Pippa would
be almost keen to say goodbye to the world the moment she had the chance
(driven further by her scarring after a career based on looks). I’ve been
curious about obsessive-complusive behavior since studying pyschology, and it
felt like a natural progression to have a person as anxious as Pippa to focus
this into something specific, her need for order in her tiny world. The
sociopathic element, Kayleigh, I suppose is a little more typical of screwed up
‘bad guys’ in film – though I was also finding ways to connect the two
characters so that fell into place fairly easily.
How much of
yourself can we find in your characters and/or stories?
That depends on the story, but I certainly and consciously
try to move away from anything to do with me or my life. I write escapism
stories for the most part. However, I’d probably describe myself as fairly shy
(particularly when I started the Confine script nearly 10 years ago), though
this is a long way from agoraphobia I can empathise pretty easily.
Movies
shamefully lack women in the lead even though the trend tends to evolve.
Your movie, Confine, features 2 female main characters. You
wrote the screenplay over 8 years. Did you have women in mind from the
start or was it a later revelation?
The two main characters were both female from the very
beginning, although I wasn’t as conscious of how unusual it was to write with 2
female leads at the time. The plays I wrote before tended to feature an equal
balance of sexes. I think I’m a little better at writing female characters so
that’s how it started off with the film scripts. It’s certainly not an
exclusive thing, but there’s such a wealth of incredible actresses out there
and they’re just not being given as many meaty leading roles as actors are.
Added to that the strange misrepresentation of female vs male leads and I’m now
making more of a point of it (if it seems appropriate for the story).
Your next
project will also focus on strong female protagonists. Can you tell us more about it?
The next project, a sci-fi thriller called The Last Planet,
has just six characters. Three girls and three guys. It’s another very isolated
world but for very different reasons. It’s set mostly on a small research
station on another planet. It essentially revolves around a heist but told from
the point of view of the characters trying to prevent it. The setting is an
icey environment, similar to The Thing, though we’re mostly inside the small,
rig-like interior. I love submarine films like Crimson Tide, Das Boot, Red
October, so I’ll be looking to create that close, tense atmosphere they’re
great for.
Why do you care
so much about strong leading women?
I come from a family with some very strong, motivated
women. Plus, through school, university and my professional life I regularly
encounter as many exciting, damaged, fascinating, inspiring and/or headstrong
girls as I do guys. It seems crazy to me that films just don’t seem to
represent woman in the world the same way I’ve experienced through-out my life.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of really interesting female characters in
film, but take anyone’s top 50 films and I’d be surprised if even 10 of those
feature female leads. Maybe I feel a bit embarrassed that my favourite medium
still isn’t as open-minded as I’d like it to be and I’ve chosen this issue to
focus on?
What kind of
director are you: do you give your actors free rein to improvisation?
Or are you more anal when it comes to what’s on the screenplay?
I’d like to say the former. The pragmatic side of my brain
tells me there probably isn’t really the time for improvisation on set. Until
I’m more confident in myself I’d worry that if we didn’t at least shoot
everything in the script (before improvisations) we may run into problems in
the edit. On the other hand dialogue is the weakest area of my writing, and
given my background in theatre, I should try to allow more time for
improvisation on set. I feel the same about the cinematography. I’m the kind of
director to go in fully storyboarded. But as I grow in experience and
confidence I’d like to experiment more on set.
Eben Bolter
(Director of Photography) and you did an impressive job with Confine’s cinematography. You said
beauty was a must in the making of your movie. From your perspective, what’s the share
of content (a good plot) and form (good cinematography) that makes a good
movie?
Bottom line it has to be the story that comes first. I’m
very driven by production design and cinematography, but if I find that I’m
having to chose to focus on performances/story or the visuals, in the end it’ll
have to be the story that take precedent. I just hope we’re working on a script
so strong it kind of takes care of itself. Theoretically the script is complete
long before I start working on production so they shouldn’t have to clash too
much.
Would you like
to share any valuable tips or advice with aspiring filmmakers?
I’m learning so much everyday (in the lead up to the
release of Confine) I kind of have loads of tips I’d love to share. Here’re a
few : experiment on zero budget shorts (find a camera, edit yourself) –
learn your craft before taking other people’s money to make your films. When
you’re ready, make sure the script is really bloody good, find as many industry
professionals to feedback and take it on, try not to be defensive about it too (I
still get defensive, but usually wake up the next morning taking the feedback
more seriously). Finally, and this is a really big one if you’re making a
feature film, think about your audience and think about how you’re going to
reach them – both on a story level, and on a marketing level. There are
hundreds of films made every year and there’s no guarantee yours will be picked
up. If you pitch your film to a distributor along with behind the scenes
videos, smart virals shot on set, pre-recorded cast interviews or ‘shout-outs’
for all sorts of TV channels etc, clever marketing ploys that don’t cost
anything extra, and you show that you understand your target audience, you’ll
really stand a much better chance of getting your film out there.
Find out more about Confine at http://www.confinemovie.com/
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