Driving north-west from Galway city some three weeks ago watching my mobile phone signal drop bar by bar till it sadly informed me “no network found”, I passed through Tully and out onto the Renvyle peninsula arriving to the Moonstone Filmmakers Lab. The Lab, a three-week intensive development workshop had entirely taken over the beautiful Renvyle House Hotel. Seven European film directors (six from the UK, one from Holland and me from sunny Tallaght) had been selected to shoot test scenes from a feature project under the supervision of more experienced seasoned directors.
I came with a feature script by Robert Bourke called “Breaking Rocks” a darkly comedic coming of age story about two best friends Conor & Fergal, set in the west of Ireland, the boys have to decide whether to leave the town that is slowly suffocating them.
Week One was made up of Masterclasses on diverse areas with an eclectic collection of Masters!
- Oliver Stapleton (DOP Shipping News, Cider House Rules, Hi-Lo Country).
- Liz MacLennan actor and partner of the late John McGrath who founded Moonstone gave an acting workshop (an interesting site in Renvyle, a group of directors prancing about attempting musical drama!).
- Composer Dario Marianelli (I Went Down, The Warrior, In This World) spoke about the process of composing music for film and the relationship between director and composer.
- Hervé de Luze an editor with a ridiculously impressive filmography (Tess, Jean de Florette Death and the Maiden, The Ninth Gate, the Pianist) spoke of the aesthetics of editing and of editing being a redrafting process.
- Robert Jones, head of the UK Film Councils’ Premiere Fund and a successful producer in his own right (The Usual Suspects, Hard Eight) discussed the type of relationship a director might want with a producer.
- Ros and John Hubbard spoke about the realities of casting and finance in the industry today - incredibly interesting if a little depressing. Hubbard Casting were the casting director for all seven projects and earned undying gratitude from me for one!!
- Liz Gill (1st AD and Director) spoke in detail about ways of getting the most out of your AD, made all the more interesting in the fact the Liz attended the Lab a few years ago with her feature “Goldfish Memory” which is nearing completion.
Last up from the Master classes was a talk from Jim Sheridan who was as usual simultaneously entertaining, informative, irreverent, thought provoking and inflammatory.
Weeks Two and Three were taken up mostly with prepping, shooting and editing the test scenes. I was lucky in terms of location as my project “Breaking Rocks” is set on the west coast so I had ready-made dream locations. The three scenes I picked to try out were all exterior so weather was going to play a big part in how the lab went for me. Again I got lucky. The idea of having an advisor on set is comforting but the reality is slightly different. I guess when you arrive on set with the hat of director on you do so in the knowledge that in the end you must make final decisions on most matters. This means that you are the boss and you have to act like it. Having a more experienced “boss” on the scene can be a little strange at first. My initial advisor was Marleen Gorris (Antonia’s Line, Mrs Dalloway) and knowing that this boss had an Academy Award sitting on her mantelpiece was more than a enough to make me feel a tad insecure. This anxiety quickly dissipated as soon as I remembered that Marleen was there for me and nobody else. That I could ask her to help or not as I saw fit meant that any natural defensiveness to the situation would be a waste of time and self-defeating I had three advisors over the two week shooing period, Marleen was followed by Gerry Stembridge and then Pip Broughton. All three had different approaches and different takes on the script and my approach to it. Herein I think lies the secret of getting as much out of Moonstone as possible. There is no one right way to shoot a scene and no one right piece of advice, just possibilities and choices and in the end you have to make the final decisions, in the end you have to be the director, you are just armed with many more possibilities and many more options.
Other advisors included, John Irvin, Stephen Frears, Michael Hoffman and Pat O’Connor.
At this point I really feel the need to thank some people, my crew Ronan Fox (DOP), Conor Dennison (Art Director), Noel Quinn (Sound), Raymond Kirk (1st AD), Enda Doherty (3rd AD), Andrew O’Reilly (Camera Asst), Angela Feeney (Avid Asst) and the amazing Niamh Fagan (Editor). These guys helped me out so much and it can’t have been too easy either, having more than on director around at any one time. Also the best production crew around (who had to look after all 7 directors) and who never once said “no”, Catherine Dore (PM), Jenny Kelly (Prod Co-ord), Christian Marti (Production Designer), Mary Moggan (Lab asst), Eamonn Murphy (Unit Driver), Mary Maguire for the local casting. The Moonstone Team, Tara Halloran (the real boss! who has to make sure the whole show gets funded), Tamara Van Strujthem (Programme Administrator) and Jim O’Brien (Lab Director) and all the advisors and visitors. My cast who donated their time and talent for no recompense, Frank Coughlan, Michael Judd & Daragh O’Malley. Screen Training Ireland and the Irish Film Board for helping me with my fees.
I would like to single out three people for more than just thanks, my deepest gratitude goes out to Jean-Luc Ormieres the Artistic Director of Moonstone, for selecting the project in the first place and for guiding me through the process with care and pushing me when I needed to be pushed a seriously top bloke. Also to Colin O’Donoghue and Ciarán McGlynn who played the two lead roles. Two amazing young actors who were born for the screen. They gave 24 hours a day and helped me learn so much more about the characters. I owe them big time!
As I headed back three weeks later to Galway and my mobile beeped into life again I asked my self the question: So what did I learn from the Moonstone experience? Honestly, I tell you in a few weeks. The amount of information I absorbed is going to take some time to filter through. I know it will have a major effect on the next draft of the screenplay, it will effect the casting, crewing and general approach I take as director. One of the biggest things I will take away however is a passionate desire to make this film!
Barry Dignam
Breaking Rocks
Conor and Fergal are best friends who live their life for the next laugh. The future will sort itself out somehow, sometime, tomorrow.
Their school days are ending fast and after the death of his father, Fergal wants out. He has had enough of small-town life and dreams of adventures in Australia with Conor. Getting out, escaping, grows from dream to near obsession.
Conor cannot even fathom those dreams. Conor is a farmer’s son. To leave the land would be the biggest act of betrayal he could ever imagine committing against his father.
What results is a tug of war for Conor’s emotions between his love and devotion for the land and Fergal’s unstoppable dreams.
‘Breaking Rocks’ is a dark, coming-of-age story that pays tribute to that cruel moment in life, when the blanket of childhood is abruptly robbed from under us. Suddenly we’re at the crossroads. Where now?
Barry Dignam Biography
Barry Dignam began his career studying drama in Trinity College, Dublin. He then directed a number of stage plays before returning to university to study for a degree in film at the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology. In 1998 he wrote and directed “Stages” for which he won the Royal Television Society all-Ireland award for Best Student Film (Fiction).
In 1999 Barry directed and produced the comedy "Dream Kitchen" which won Best Irish Short Film at the Galway Film Fleadh and Best Short Film at the Rose Film Festival, Tralee. "Dream Kitchen" was Nominated for a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival 2000 and won the Audience Award for Best Short and Best Supporting Actor Award (Frank Coughlan) at the New York Independent Film Festival 2001. "Dream Kitchen" has gone on to play at over one hundred and fifty of the worlds top film festivals and has been acquired by a large number of television networks including Canal +, Film 4, PBS and RTE and has been theatrically released in a number of territories.
Barry produced "In Loving Memory" by Audrey O'Reilly an RTE / Irish Film Board "Shortcut" which won the Prix du Public at the prestigious Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival the Best Foreign Film at the New York Independent Film Festival. "In Loving Memory" also won the UIP Award for Best Shortcut / Oscailt and was Nominated for an Irish Film and Television Academy Award.
Barry produced and directed a 35mm short "Chicken" written by Audrey O'Reilly and commissioned by the Irish Film Board under it's "Short Shorts" scheme which premiered in the Official Selection - in Competition at Cannes Film Festival 2001. The film won the Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the Newport International Film Festival, Rhode Island, Best Short at the Dublin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and a Special Jury Commendation at the Barcelona Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and the BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2002. The film continues to play at premier film festivals throughout the world and has been acquired by numerous TV stations including RTE, Film Four, PBS and Canal+. “Chicken” has been released on DVD and Video in France (Antiprod) and the US (Picture This!).
Barry is currently in development on two feature projects as director, “Breaking Rocks”, written by Robert Bourke with which he was selected for the Moonstone International Filmmaker’s Lab in January 2003. The other, “Try Tony” written by Pom Boyd and to be produced by Siobhan Bourke of Rough Magic Films. Both feature projects have received development support from the Irish Film Board.
In May 2003 Barry will shoot “A Ferret Called Johnny” written by Loughlin Deegan and produced by Siobhan Bourke which has been commissioned by the Irish Film Board and RTE under their “Shortcuts” strand.
Barry also lectures in film directing at the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology.
IFTN Who's Who Guide: Barry Dignam
