Niche Editors Write: “Writing With Film – Baby You’re Gone”

By Elizabeth Cohon

Writers, you have it easy.

All you need is a pen and a piece of paper. Variations (feather quill and ink, spray paint and blank wall, etc.) are also available for the adventurous souls. Filmmaking, unfortunately, requires quite a bit more equipment. When I took on the task of writing, directing, and editing a short film in six days, it was not because I love the thrill of functioning off of a cumulative ten hours of sleep in one week, but because I couldn’t turn down this amazing offer by Campus MovieFest: one Macbook with Finalcut Pro, one Sony HD video camera, and exactly six days to make a five-minute film to then be showcased in their student film festival.

I signed up immediately, and only managed to convince one classmate out of the twenty in our master’s course (of film studies students, I might add) to join me. So my partner and I–two naively optimistic souls– sat down in our student union after just having received our beautiful new equipment, and tried to write a script. It may have been the fact that all I could think about was that it might have been nice to have a script, say, yesterday–but the creative juices were pretty stagnant. So after a few hopelessly silent minutes with our notebook page titled “Script Ideas” still blank, I decided it was time to pull out ol’ faithful: my all-time favorite creative writing exercises. It involves going outside and following the first person you see, and after twenty minutes of observing him or her, writing down who he or she is, where he/she is going, and what he/she wants in life. True, this is an exercise which only works if you live where there are crowds of people wandering around outside close to you, the first person you see isn’t a police officer or young child, and you have no reservations about being a total creep. But when managed, it is pretty fun. And you get to feel like a private-eyes in a noir film staring Humphrey Bogart.

When I suggested this exercise to my partner, she was not as keen to wander around outside in the cold (though we would end up spending six hours filming outside at night only three days later). But she did say she loved the idea of inventing someone completely without ever knowing who they really are. After all, we both live in London and are passed/pass by thousands of strangers on a daily basis. It can be alienating, but with a writer’s mind, it can also be a goldmine for creativity. And so, we made a film about making up stories for strangers, about connecting intimately in this way, and the potential implications of creating these fictions.

The point I want to make is that, for me, writing and filmmaking come hand in hand. Both involve the creation of characters, stories, a really solid sense of tone and mood, and a lot of time spent editing. However, I get such a different satisfaction from creating a visual story, that I also urge all writers to hone their creativity in new ways such as this. After all, if you’re reading this on Niche, then you’re in a place that encourages all types of artistry and stories in all forms–be they a photograph, a song, a short film, or of course any type of written work. So share and submit! And if you have any filmmaking questions (i.e. about Final Cut Pro, what the heck the “180 degree rule” is, how to coerce your attractive non-acting friends into starring in your film, or even what my favorite film is at the moment) feel free to email me at elizabeth.cohon@nichelitmag.com.

This article originally appeared on Niche’s website on November 21, 2011.