Brian: I began making films in Melbourne, Australia my hometown in 1954. I started at a small film laboratory that had an equally small production company. Basically, I learned everything I could, from mixing chemicals for film development, to film projection and assisting the cameraman. I quickly discovered that film editing was the key to making a successful film. The film industry in Australia didn’t exist as it does today, so it was pretty much grab what experience you could. No film schools then.
Serena: Can you tell us a few highlights about your career as an editor and can you also explain how editing works in the film industry.
Brian: I suppose the three main feature films I edited are the first two films directed by Fred Schepisi, "The Devil's Playground" and "The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith." The third is "The Odd Angry Shot," which dealt with the Australian involvement in the Vietnam War.
Both "Jimmie" and "Odd Angry Shot" were based on novels - "Jimmie" written by Thomas Keneally. But there are many other films of which I am proud to have edited. In recent years I have worked with a young director on his low budget films. I enjoy them and prefer them to big budget features: there is less interference and the editor and the director are much more in control without the pressures of studio heads who are more interested in the dollar return than the story they tell.
The relationship between the director and the editor is crucial to the success of the film - there has to be a total trust between the two. The film editor works much the same way as a literary editor in taking the work supplied and looking at it with a fresh eye. A director can become too close to the subject at the end of the shoot, and having someone as committed as he or she, but being one step removed, can liberate new thought and overcome problems that arise.
In recent time, with digital innovations, there is a tendency to view the film editor very much as a technician, and while it is true that the editor has to have a wider technical knowledge than before, the task of editing is more than ever a creative one. Telling a story is the prime task and the editor needs to have an appreciation of rhythm, drama, comedy, performance, music and the use of sound.
The editor shapes the final film that you, the audience, see on the screen. And frankly, if you are aware of the editing, then it is not well done.
Serena: How did you go from editing to writing screenplays?
Brian: I suppose I've always been writing in some form or another. As a child after the Saturday film matinee I would write the plot out as a short play. I was always interested in film and books. Being an editor, and needing to have an appreciation of a wide range of artistic subjects, I continued to read, watch plays, listen to music, always seeking out the emotional content within.
So being familiar with visual storytelling I attempted the written form. I made the mistake of thinking in words - by that I mean I tried to be clever with words, until I discovered that writing is a visual form. Whatever is written will form a visual image for the reader.
Some time ago, I gave a lecture to film students who were seeking to be scriptwriters. It didn't please them when I told them that they would be the only person to see "their" film - the film they visualized when writing. Film is a collaborate art and the story goes through many hands and interpretations on its journey to the screen. Once there, of course, it will still be viewed individually by each member of the audience, who will invariably form their own concept of the film/story.
With books it is a more direct link from author to reader, but there is always the editor (or there should be) to ease the path, but as I said the images formed will always be a personal observation.
Serena: You’ve directed two of your screenplays: "A City's Child" and "Double Deal." You've also directed, "Departure," which was written by Michael Gurr. Was it easier to direct someone else's screenplay or to direct your own?
Brian: I'm not sure that a director writing his own scripts is a wise thing. Departure was a stage play (A pair of Claws) and I worked with Michael Gurr in transforming it into a film script. Largely it was a matter of opening the settings out to allow a more visual setting. The original setting was the garden of a house. The plot has the father involved in a scandal from his past at the same time that his son is making a run at a political future. I moved the setting to a hotel where the father and his wife are staying for the weekend prior to leaving to live in Italy. It not only gave us the opportunity to film in various locations but it put the protagonists in a limbo situation that offered no real security and added to the tension. The essential plot and dialogue remained the same with some minor editing to suit the new locations and time frame.
Double Deal I wrote and directed - it didn't work that well and I have to admit the problem started with a script that needed more work prior to filming. Nonetheless, nothing is ever wasted and I learned some good lessons from the experience. The task of writer/director can be a blessing or a curse. It really depends on the subject matter and the skill of the individual.
Serena: Your film: A City's Child, tells the story of a woman who escapes the trials of her life in a fantasy world. What inspired this story?
Brian: At the time I was living in what had been a small town on the outskirts of the city of Melbourne (now it's a suburb!). The Australian Film industry was non-existent but there had been lobbying for a revival. I looked for a subject that could be made cheaply - and that meant a small cast in a simple location. I had been reading author Patrick White’s The Aunt's Story and the lone woman in that provided the inspiration.
My setting was urban city life and the alienation of an individual - also the confines of women at that time and society’s expectation of women’s behaviour and demeanour.
Serena: A City's Child won the bronze award for feature film from the Australian Film Institute and Hoyts Prize for Best Performance for actress Monica Maughan. Granted it was 35 years ago, but how did that feel? How did you celebrate these accolades?
Brian: I was pleased, naturally, as it had taken over six years to bring the film to the screen, seeking finance, scripting, etc. Awards, while pleasant, are a vexed question for me. There are always other people or films or books that are equally as good - and sometimes more deserving of kudos. A City's Child was invited to screen at the London Film Festival and I believe was the first Australian film to be invited. That was a pleasing experience, particularly as our industry in Australia was just beginning to revive, a revival that has led to recent successes and provided Russell Crowe & Nicole Kidman and others with a springboard to international fame.
Serena: You mention in your blog that you had an interruption of your writing schedule; two screenplays, can you tell us a bit about them.
Brian: Both were initially written as Movies-for-TV. One was a reworking of an existing script, the other based on an outline by the producer. Production was to go ahead in 2005, but as usual with film production, there were delays. The second script I always felt had legs and could be a successful feature film for the movies and so that avenue is now being explored.
Serena: Can you tell us the differences in writing a screenplay vs. a novel? Do you think it’s easier to go from writing screenplays to novels or vice versa?
Brian: I suspect it may be a little easier to go from writing screenplays to novels - but I could be wrong. Screenplays teach you economy in writing and I think it is easier to expand a work into a novel. Either way you are dealing with images that tell a story.
Many writers writing for the screen first time make the mistake of telling the director and cameraman what to do. They include camera angles, where cuts are to be made, and load the script with so many technical details that the script becomes unreadable.
A script should concentrate on dialogue, mood and character details - much the same way as a book. It is the task of the director and his crew to interpret the script.
I gave a lecture once to budding screenwriters who were shocked when I told them that they would be the only person that saw their film - that is, they would see it in their mind. Film is a collaborative process and goes through many hands before it reaches the screen and the audience, and while one hopes that the director is on the same wave length as the writer, his version will be different to what the writer imagined at his/her computer desk.
Serena: Can you please tell us a bit about the inspiration behind your novels? Belinda Lawrence seems a very intelligent woman with a knack for getting in the middle of sticky situations. How did you decide to write a female protagonist? Could you walk us through your creative process? Does she tell you her stories or are you the one in charge, so to speak?
Brian: If I think about it, Belinda Lawrence is probably an amalgamation of several women friends of mine - who have strong personalities and a "get up and go" attitude and are blessed with an enquiring mind and a sense of humour. Women characters are more pleasing to write, having emotions closer to the surface.
Usually an idea comes and may lie dormant for some time, but bubbles there until the urge to put it down on paper becomes too strong. The plot line is something that I determine, that is, a beginning, a middle and an end - but I don't always arrive at the end by the original route. The characters intervene and that often leads off in other directions. The character of Hazel Whitby in the first book, Capable of Murder, was originally just a minor player but her strength of personality demanded that she play a much greater role, so much so that she became a partner to Belinda in the adventures.
Serena: These novels all take place in England, with you living in Melbourne, Australia, does it make it hard to get the "feel" of the English countryside?
Brian: I've been fortunate enough to have been able to travel many times to England - in particular Somerset where the original books are set. In fact, the idea of Belinda inheriting the cottage was inspired by a friend who did inherit such a cottage and it forms the basis for the house and the village in the books. I also have a strong interest in English history so that serves as a useful tool.
Serena: The first book, Capable of Murder, introduces us to Belinda and puts her in the middle of a murder investigation which she finds revolves around her heritage. Did you use an outline to keep all of the plot twists in order? Do you find it’s easier to begin with an outline and then flesh it out, or do you write as you go?
Brian: I tend to have a basic structure but am prepared to ditch that if the characters or events lead me in other and better directions as the plot develops. I often find new ideas as I write.
Serena: In the second book, the Embroidered Corpse, there are a number of historical facts mentioned, how much research did you have to do? How did you decide on a tapestry being the pivotal object?
Brian: Ive always had an interest in the history of the Bayeux Tapestry, and the fact that the end of the tapestry is missing has always been a tantalizing mystery. What images did it contain? Where is it? What happened to it? But I still had to do a lot of research into its history. The Internet was a great help in pulling all the details together.
Serena: I read that you are currently writing the third Belinda Lawrence novel, Bloody Ham, what is in store for Belinda this time?
Brian: In Bloody Ham, Belinda and Hazel get involved with a film company that is shooting a film in Ham House, the Jacobean house on the Thames at Richmond in Surrey. The house and its history provide the background to the mystery.
Serena: Do you have anything else in the works at this time?
Brian: I have some documentary video projects in development as well as an idea for a new mystery series set in Australia. Also an idea for a novel has come to mind recently, an idea that looks at how we perceive the world when young as opposed to the same views later in life. That will be an interesting challenge.
Serena: Is there anything you’d like to add?
Brian: A good friend of mine, a film producer, once said that the films we make are like our children. And I think she was right, because we produce them and for better or for worse we have to live with them and acknowledge their successes and their failures.
Books are much the same, I believe. The writer is always the most severe critic of his/her work - or should be. And very seldom are we ever totally happy with the end result.
Another dear friend, a very talented actress, claims that we are never intended to get things perfect in this world. Again, I believe she is right and it is that constant seeking for the impossible perfection that drives us forward.
Serena: Thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions. I do appreciate it.
March 20, 2006
copyright Serena Polheber and GWN
