Six Questions with Jason Stringer

19 August 2009

Film Festivals, Screenings - External

FTI graduate Jason Stringer’s short film Living with Benjamin has been selected to screen at A Night of Horror Film Festival, which runs 8 – 12 October at Luna Leederville.

Written and directed by Jason, Living With Benjamin is a chilling haunted-house story that explores the crippling effects agoraphobia can have on a lonely soul.

Although Jason is webmaster of an Exorcist fansite, and some of his films happen to contain horror themes and blood, he assures that his work is more about human relationships and emotions than gore.

How would you describe Living with Benjamin?
Living with Benjamin is an experimental short film which I shot guerrilla-style a few years ago. It remains one of the most memorable and testing shoots I have ever been involved with. The story is about an agoraphobe named Benjamin who, tormented by glimpses of a past he is not aware of, lives out his days in the confines of his run-down home, obsessed with collecting the mail, showering and keeping his favourite coffee mug spotless clean. He is forced to finally face the past he has tried to ignore when he wakes from a nightmare to find his precious mug broken.

Who else was involved in the making of the film?
I produced the film with Dan ‘Drum’ Bradley, a fellow filmmaker who lives in Adelaide. It was self-funded so we knew the production had to be miniscule in scale but elaborate in execution. We called on two other crew members we trusted in such a situation – Dark White, who took care of the production design and assisted with photography, and Clint West, who played Benjamin and would be a helping hand when the camera wasn’t rolling.

We had to keep it this small because we were shooting a long way from home and money would dry up very quickly. We slept in the same house we shot in and ate toast for breakfast and dinner. Once the film was in the can I spent a long time digitising and completing the assembly cut before finally bringing in to Perth, where Warren Money assisted with the final cut. He also provided fantastic sound design.

What was the production process like?
The film was shot over four gruelling days and three painful nights. It was very rough and rugged. Being on such an undermanned set called for lots of patience and understanding, and caused friction at times. The ‘quality’ kind of friction that only exists because everyone wants to create a great film – that kind of friction is tolerable.

I learned more about filmmaking on that set than all of the sets I’ve been on since. It helped me understand the values of specialised roles very quickly, and how to listen to ideas and interpret. (Keeping in mind, at the time I directed Living with Benjamin I had not attended any kind of film school whatsoever.) I was working off the cuff and taking much advice from Dan who had been on set before.

Which filmmakers are you inspired by?
I love listening to directors talking about their craft and how they go about telling their stories. I mop up as much as I can online, from books, DVDs, everywhere. One person who is making fantastic films and providing particularly interesting interviews, commentaries and juicy insight into his directing process is Paul Thomas Anderson. He’s a great inspiration at the moment.

What advice would you give someone about to make their next short film?
Surround yourself with enthusiastic, like-minded people who will offer suggestions and appreciate the film’s objective. Give it reason and substance first, and you’ll inevitably find your ‘style’.

What’s next on the cards for you and your independent film group Quarter to Four?
We’re about to shoot a new short film called That Year They Were Bridesmaids, which I wrote last year. I’ll be directing, Sara Horvat is producing and Danny Clark is the cinematographer – we all graduated FTI’s advanced diploma course in the past 12 months, and we have a bunch of fellow graduates crewing, so it’s very exciting to come together on a project like this and carve our own path.