What Japanese Gardens Taught Me About Composition

28 days in Japan.
666,717 steps taken.
310 miles walked.

That’s the equivalent of walking from London to Luxembourg. I had swollen ankles by the end of it all. Needless to say, my itinerary in Japan was merciless. Most of it for Kyoto consisted of visiting local gardens. Despite the packed schedule (made worse from the crowds of tourists everywhere), I was shooting over an hour’s worth of footage per day. But while I was finding ‘aesthetically pleasing’ things to shoot, it got to the point where I was shooting things for the sake of having enough footage. After all, I wasn’t there just as a tourist. I wanted to make at least one short film on Japan. How could I not? It has given me so much in my life. I wanted to give something back. But I was falling back on familiar ways and retreading old ground. It was only until I walked through one of the gardens that something clicked amongst the chaos. I can’t remember what garden it happened in but I’d been blessed with a “touch of zen” so to speak. The lesson is: Be present and go by feeling. Follow that instinct. Animals are the masters of this. But we often get caught in the red tape.

“Old habits die hard,” they say. I’d fallen into the same trap. I’d become overly reliant on compositional patterns in my work - namely the rule of thirds, leading lines, frame within a frame, and negative space. If you’re not careful, you can end up in a creative quagmire forever, relying on technique and what you know works aesthetically rather than going on feeling and being present in the moment. My trip to Japan changed that for me.

Destined for a Different Path

You sensed that you should be following a different path, a more ambitious one, you felt that you were destined for other things but you had no idea how to achieve them and in your misery you began to hate everything around you. But you didn't waste those six years; you studied, you thought, you became aware of yourself and your strengths. Now you're able to understand art and your vocation in art. You need patience and courage, my friend...

- Fyodor Dostoevsky

Begin and Commit

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.”

- William Hutchison Murray

That's a Wrap!

17th May 2024. Last day of filming for Contour.

Every project you embark on you learn something new. Or at least that should be the case. In the nearly 3 years of making this short film, I certainly picked up a fair share of things I will no doubt take with me on future films. Some are technical but the most valuable are those that can’t be verbalised. This is how it is with directing. It cannot be taught, it can only be learned through throwing yourself into the deep end. Constantly.

Making this film was a real slog having been shot mostly on location in Kent, London, Port Talbot, and Bath. This is one of the reasons it took so long to film. That said, I’d been incredibly lucky with the weather overall, not to mention guerrilla filmmaking in areas that otherwise needed permission (and a bank load of money to boot). All worth it though, not least because it brought me closer to my ancestral homeland and enabled me to share that journey with others.

A big thanks to everyone who helped.

The Task of Art

“A writer — and, I believe, generally all persons — must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.”

“The task of art is to transform what is continuously happening to us, to transform all these things into symbols, into music, into something which can last in man’s memory. That is our duty…

A poet never rests. He’s always working, even when he dreams. Besides, the life of a writer, is a lonely one. You think you are alone, and as the years go by, if the stars are on your side, you may discover that you are at the centre of a vast circle of invisible friends whom you will never get to know but who love you. And that is an immense reward.”

- Jorge Luis Borges

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