I have to say I really enjoyed Mark Romanek’s chat yesterday in The Guinness Storehouse, as part of the Darklight Film Festival.
The event was facilitated by Eoghan Kidney, who himself is a great video director.
They looked at some of Mr Romanek’s work, firstly, Johnny Cash’s ‘Hurt’ which is a classic. The frailty of Cash and the story behind the video footage being edited in is amazing.
The Johnny Cash museum was a couple of miles from Johnny Cash’s house where the video was recorded and had been closed for 15 years. The crew visited the museum and saw a library full of film footage of Mr Cash’s career, which were promptly sent to the editing suite.
I love the Nine Inch Nails video ‘Closer’, Mark explained about the film stock that was used and the story of the little monkey seemingly tied to a crucifix. The little beggar was quite happy eating bananas while shooting was taking place. The grimmace on his face is on ethat all his breed have.
Two people got their work critiqued by the master and a couple of things stood out. Mr Romanek was so honest. He didn’t tell anyone they were crap or their work was bad but he offered advice on how he thought the pieces could be improved to engage the viewer more, to show more narrative, get more warmth into a piece.
It was an enjoyable day and a delight to hear someone in Mr Romanek’s position be so honest.
I also met and old buddy of mine, James Cadden, of Voicebox Productions. We always seem to meet at these types of events. It was great to see James.
The Guinnes Storehouse where the event was held is an amazing building. Its interweaving escalators remind me of Charles de Gaule airport.
It 530 am, I’ve just done my usual wake up, check what game is on ESPN and have a look at twitter.
