ADRIAN VIVIANI

Q&A PART 2

What inspires your work?

As a child, I rather relied on films and media as a safe haven so to speak. Certain films were put on repeat. So films have always been this place of imagination and escapism and writing and filmmaking has been a way to be more active within that frame.

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What films did you watch as a child?

Admittedly films that were far too mature for my age (action and martial arts films were particular favourites- Jackie Chan Et al) but I did have a particular fondness for animation, especially early 2000s DreamWorks and Disney- Atlantis being a particular highlight.

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What directors have influenced your work?

The works of Satoshi Kon and his use of perspective and editing has been a particular inspiration to achieve. And Steven Moffat for Horror recontextualization of benign and non dangerous elements.

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What is one film that you think everyone should watch? And why?

A Silent Voice, mainly because its my favourite film but also its use of colour, sound and stylistic choices that enhance the perspective of the characters and themes is something to be admired.

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If you could adapt any book/play/piece of literature, which would it be?

Honestly I haven't thought about that too much.

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Who are your favourite writers? (this could be from any format - script, books, poetry etc.)

I also do not have any favourite writers

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Name a film score that makes you feel something.

Kind of cheating but the "Score" to Interstellar 5555 is my favourite, mainly as it is Daft Punks Discovery album that was animated into a film. But that being said I can no longer separate the music and the emotions I feel when I watched the story unfold. Love, anger, grief, joy.

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Who is an actor that you would love to work with?

Andy Serkis or Alan Tudyk- both actors are chameleons in their own right, shining in every role they play, from larger than life characters to the most nuanced and in depth people you'd think you could speak to.

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What was the last film you watched? (and would you recommend it?)

Thunderbolts- pleasantly surprised by the film and how well written and sincere the characters and plot were.

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What is next for you?

Take each day it comes and see what pops up.

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​Tell us about your film The:Night:Watcher?  What`s it all about?

Set in a dark and dilapidated CCTV suite, a security monitor observes an old warehouse facility, unaware there is something lurking in the shadows, observing her.

Can you tell us about the creative process in making your film? What drew you to this project?

 Originally written as a minute short around mobile phones and obsession with attention, I took the concept of technology being "hacked" by an unseen entity and expanded the story around surveillance and reversal of power.

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How long does a film like The:Night:Watcher take to make? 

A couple of months of preproduction (excluding delays for location availability) 1 day shoot, 3 months editing (my software crashed every 10 minutes so took vastly longer than needed) and a couple of months for SFX and sound and music integration (done in spare time by producer) then release date was almost a year from shoot date.

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What challenges did you encounter?

As this was Zero Budget we had to essentially borrow and use what was available. Location was generously permitted in a friends family farm. Monitors were all old ones from various crew. Certain props were already own or were made with recycled materials.

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Do you have a favourite moment when filming/creating The:Night:Watcher?

The moment the CCTV suite was finished i could tell this was going to look very much like i had imagined.

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How was working with your cast and crew? Do you have any stand out moments?

Everybody on set knew their roles and we were all able to keep ourselves on track, especially when I had to quickly purchase a keyboard as it was the one thing we all forgot and disappeared for 30 minutes, everyone continued with their jobs.

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Can you tell us more about the sound/production/costume design of your film? 

The score was done by a lovely friend of mine, John Hutchins who was able to capture the feeling I wanted for the film. Costume was left very simple as the characters are all in security uniform which made things easier. The idea was to make the location look hostile even if the characters are chatting in a casual or safe manner, the audience knows different.

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Where did you get the inspiration when creating The:Night:Watcher? 

The inspiration for the short to which the film was expanded from was the idea of unseen horror. Knowing I do not have the resources nor budget for anything visible that would be anywhere convincing, I looked into scenarios in which something could make itself present visibly without being seen itself. The idea eventually led to the entity's POV being presented through technology, first through a smartphone camera taking pictures independently, then to a live CCTV broadcast.

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Where there any films that inspired you when creating The:Night:Watcher?

Honestly I know there are plenty but I can't find any in particular off the top of my head unfortunately.

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What have you learnt from making The:Night:Watcher? Would you do anything differently next time?

Write a list to make sure you are 100% sure everything is how it should be.