Fish Tank: Andrea Arnold Article
https://nofilmschool.com/2016/04/andrea-arnold-tribeca -> Link to article
Andrea's character are like herself, restless spirits
Trapped in lives that are too small for them, they push boundaries to break open their worlds
Arnold has a compassion for women with a devil-may-care attitude & the desire to live an untethered life
"I never imagined my life like this," Arnold, who grew up with a single mother in a large working-class family 'every once in a while I just think, Wow this is weird'
- 'One thing I learned from film school was to trust myself, Being at AFI allowed me to listen to everyone and then work out my own way'
- 'I made my first short & didn't quite get the camera right. But I look at that now & I think there were lots of things I did that were really me, like the images & the way I filmed'
Life can be an important inspiration:
- Arnold said 'a lot of my filmmaking hasn't come from other films, its come from life. The things that inspire me are things that I see every day. Sitting on the bus listening to a conversation, I start to invent stories about people's lives'
A movie begins with an image & a mind map:
- Arnold's films were all born from an image that lodged itself into her mind's eye
- 'What starts driving me is an image that won't go away' 'I keep these images close to my heart' ' They keep me going when it gets rough making the movie'
- Fish Tank began with 'an image of a girl pissing on the floor in someone's else house' 'I thought, what is this girl doing?' 'I start thinking about what that means, who she is & where she comes from'
- Arnold creates a mind map to organise the trains of thought that evolve from a single image: 'you write down all the different possibilities under each decision or element', 'the one that's the longest, with all the good & bad things, is the one you should choose'
- 'My scriptwriting always begins with the mind map', 'I'll start with images & piece it together. Only when I've got a rough idea of the story do I start writing'
Use non-actors to help write the script:
- 'I do adapt to try to fit who these people are, but that's not always possible far down the road in the script'
- Fish Tank's Katie Jarvis was perfectly in sync with the character Arnold envisioned, 'we looked for a girl who came from that area & who felt quite authentic'. 'I didn't change the script very much. I was going to cast a real person for the Michael Fassbender role; I actually had my eye on a bin collector from the park. But then I decided that the combination of actor & non-actor would be better'
Chaos yields great surprises:
- In keeping with her fiery energy & characters to match, Arnold's sets are frenetic places, 'i love danger & risk', 'I love chaos because it brings life. I don't like being in control of the set, I like going to shoot not knowing what's going to happen. I like to be surprised. That's why I like dogs in films. You can't make them go anywhere; they go where they want' (multiple dogs in Fish Tank)
- Working with non-actors brings its own breed of unpredictability: "Sometimes I fantasize about hiding my cinematographer in a cupboard and telling the actors and the cast to just do the scene, and then bringing him out of the cupboard and just shooting and seeing what happens," she said. "I want him to follow the characters as if it were a documentary.
- Arnold doesn't shot list & the lens choice + scene blocking are also left to choice. 'We take more lenses than we need & we'll follow the characters & then adjust for what works' 'I don't really block the scenes. I want it to be organic' 'I try to keep it alive without squashing it'
- On actors: 'I like them to be in collaboration with me. The Alien stomach explosion was a surprise to the actors. They did that for a more horrified reaction. I don't like that'
On film:
"I like film a lot. Someone said the other day that if you shoot an empty room digitally, you think someone's just left the room; when you shoot an empty room on film, you think someone's about to come in. There's nothing quite like film."
Don't try to please anyone:
- Irreverence suits Arnold well 'When I'm writing, I'm aware of what you reveal & when you reveal it, & I'm trying to always make the audience work. But I'm not trying to please anyone. I'm trying to show things' -> this sense of liberation guides her process, 'If it feels right for the character & it feels right for the story, I don't worry about what anyone's going to think. People worry about people not being likeable. I don't''
Have a badass cinematographer:
- Arnold' greatest collaborater is her long-time cinematographer (Robbie Ryan) who's worked with her on every film since her first short Wasp 'he's fantastic. I love him. We're good friends' 'He's like a goat. We shot Fish Tank on 35mm & I remember him just hopping on these rocks next to a cliff with the camera'
Write what you care about:
'Every time I make a film, I feel like I'm beginning again'
'Write what you care about. Trust that
Andrea's character are like herself, restless spirits
Trapped in lives that are too small for them, they push boundaries to break open their worlds
Arnold has a compassion for women with a devil-may-care attitude & the desire to live an untethered life
"I never imagined my life like this," Arnold, who grew up with a single mother in a large working-class family 'every once in a while I just think, Wow this is weird'
- 'One thing I learned from film school was to trust myself, Being at AFI allowed me to listen to everyone and then work out my own way'
- 'I made my first short & didn't quite get the camera right. But I look at that now & I think there were lots of things I did that were really me, like the images & the way I filmed'
Life can be an important inspiration:
- Arnold said 'a lot of my filmmaking hasn't come from other films, its come from life. The things that inspire me are things that I see every day. Sitting on the bus listening to a conversation, I start to invent stories about people's lives'
A movie begins with an image & a mind map:
- Arnold's films were all born from an image that lodged itself into her mind's eye
- 'What starts driving me is an image that won't go away' 'I keep these images close to my heart' ' They keep me going when it gets rough making the movie'
- Fish Tank began with 'an image of a girl pissing on the floor in someone's else house' 'I thought, what is this girl doing?' 'I start thinking about what that means, who she is & where she comes from'
- Arnold creates a mind map to organise the trains of thought that evolve from a single image: 'you write down all the different possibilities under each decision or element', 'the one that's the longest, with all the good & bad things, is the one you should choose'
- 'My scriptwriting always begins with the mind map', 'I'll start with images & piece it together. Only when I've got a rough idea of the story do I start writing'
Use non-actors to help write the script:
- 'I do adapt to try to fit who these people are, but that's not always possible far down the road in the script'
- Fish Tank's Katie Jarvis was perfectly in sync with the character Arnold envisioned, 'we looked for a girl who came from that area & who felt quite authentic'. 'I didn't change the script very much. I was going to cast a real person for the Michael Fassbender role; I actually had my eye on a bin collector from the park. But then I decided that the combination of actor & non-actor would be better'
Chaos yields great surprises:
- In keeping with her fiery energy & characters to match, Arnold's sets are frenetic places, 'i love danger & risk', 'I love chaos because it brings life. I don't like being in control of the set, I like going to shoot not knowing what's going to happen. I like to be surprised. That's why I like dogs in films. You can't make them go anywhere; they go where they want' (multiple dogs in Fish Tank)
- Working with non-actors brings its own breed of unpredictability: "Sometimes I fantasize about hiding my cinematographer in a cupboard and telling the actors and the cast to just do the scene, and then bringing him out of the cupboard and just shooting and seeing what happens," she said. "I want him to follow the characters as if it were a documentary.
- Arnold doesn't shot list & the lens choice + scene blocking are also left to choice. 'We take more lenses than we need & we'll follow the characters & then adjust for what works' 'I don't really block the scenes. I want it to be organic' 'I try to keep it alive without squashing it'
- On actors: 'I like them to be in collaboration with me. The Alien stomach explosion was a surprise to the actors. They did that for a more horrified reaction. I don't like that'
On film:
"I like film a lot. Someone said the other day that if you shoot an empty room digitally, you think someone's just left the room; when you shoot an empty room on film, you think someone's about to come in. There's nothing quite like film."
Don't try to please anyone:
- Irreverence suits Arnold well 'When I'm writing, I'm aware of what you reveal & when you reveal it, & I'm trying to always make the audience work. But I'm not trying to please anyone. I'm trying to show things' -> this sense of liberation guides her process, 'If it feels right for the character & it feels right for the story, I don't worry about what anyone's going to think. People worry about people not being likeable. I don't''
Have a badass cinematographer:
- Arnold' greatest collaborater is her long-time cinematographer (Robbie Ryan) who's worked with her on every film since her first short Wasp 'he's fantastic. I love him. We're good friends' 'He's like a goat. We shot Fish Tank on 35mm & I remember him just hopping on these rocks next to a cliff with the camera'
Write what you care about:
'Every time I make a film, I feel like I'm beginning again'
'Write what you care about. Trust that
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