NICK FALLOWFIELD-COOPER

What inspires your work?

It’s people and their lives, those who live outside of the mainstream, individuals that have lived their lives on their own terms.

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What films did you watch as a child?

From an early age I would catch Hammer House of Horror films late on a Friday night on BBC 2, this led me onto the folk horror genre.  With the cold war being very much overshadowing my teenage years, I loved the Harry Palmer spy thrillers, based on the Len Deighton novels and films such as Day of the Jackal, written by Frederick Forsyth. The Deerhunter also made a big impression.

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What directors have influenced your work?

Sergio Leoni is one who comes to mind, I love the extreme close ups, juxtaposed with the wide-open slow shots, I think in general I like slow edits with space to breath, within that space Leoni creates tension. The Straight Story directed by David Lynch is another film that comes to mind, again, slowed paced. I first saw this film in a night club with the sound turned down it was mesmeric. I’m not a fan of fast editing or action movies.

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

Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky - from the very beginning the film holds an extraordinary atmosphere, there is a foreboding sense, a darkness, as the three main protagonists travel into the forbidden Zone to seek out the ‘room,’ a place where your deepest desires can be fulfilled. The film is unnerving, it’s unworldly, yet understated and ultimately beautiful to watch, Tarkovsky is as much a painter, as filmmaker. The making of Stalker and the aftermath holds an epic and tragic story which adds to the gravity of this film.

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

I’m always inspired by people who live close to nature, Copsford by Walter J.C Murray is an autobiographical book which tells the simple story of leaving the city and returning to his birthplace in Sussex where he rents a derelict house that he then renovates over time while surviving cheek by joual. Over time, the empty house haunts him and loneliness settle in until his childhood sweetheart starts to visit. From a filmmaking point of view the house would make for a rich and atmospheric piece of work and again would delve into the solitary life that fascinates me.

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

I’m lucky, I have worked with a few writers that I admire, Dexter Petley who is the subject of my film Living with the Cuckoo People. He is a very important voice today, he challenges how we should live alongside nature and uses the minimum amount of words. I would also like to add George Orwell and Carl Sagan, both visionaries who have kicked human existence into perspective yet in two very different ways, one being science fiction, the other in science fact, although you could argue Goerge Orwell is now becoming science fact.

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Name a film score that makes you feel something.

Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence directed by Nagisa Oshima and film score by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

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

I have witnessed on set before while shooting stills some interesting moments between director and actor, it’s a fascinating relationship. For me, I like to work with ‘real’ people, working with actors is a challenge I have yet to approach but I would certainly like to take on that challenge when the right project comes my way.

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

Recently I watched at the cinema Burden of Dreams by Les Blank who documents the making of Werner Herzog’s, Fitzcaraldo. If you are a struggling director, then watch this for an insight into how tough filmmaking on location (in this case the Peruvian and Brazilian rainforest) can be. The trials and tribulations of a film director laid bare, his battles with lead actor Klaus Kinski, it’s an epic tale, scary at times and quite funny, so yes, go and see it.   

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What is next for you?

I’m always looking for the next person, a new story to shoot, someone who once again challenges the mainstream of society.

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​Tell us about your film Living with the Cuckoo People?  What`s it all about?

The film focuses on the English writer Dexter Petley, who left the UK and eventually settled in a Normandy Forest. For the past 25 years, he has been living in a yurt with no running water or mains electricity.  I follow his life over four seasons where he shares his proximity with nature and his outlook on his life and death.

 

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

From the beginning, the process involved emailing Dexter questions about his daily activities, undertaken over the four seasons, then I started to piece together his daily routines. Then I started to sketch out scenes, this was done based on stills that Dexter sent me. I got Dexter to record some words about his life so I could begin to hear his ‘voice’ and get a sense of how he was going to deliver the final narration. Dexters words are layered, and I thought a direct response visually would not have worked, it would have been too pedestrian, I had to create a slight disconnection. In the final edit there is only one scene that directly responds to the narration where Dexter is going through old letters as he speaks of writing to his old friend Bob. Dexter undertook many daily chores which I filmed for example, he grew his own vegetables, and I filmed him tending to them but in the edit it had lost some magic so most of these scenes where either taken out or narration was added as an indirect response to the scene.

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On arrival in France, I spent the first day just getting to know him, I didn’t get the camera out as I wanted Dexter to get use to me.  We talked and I started to formulate scenes that would tell his story. Quite early on I made the mistake of getting Dexter to carry out tasks that he would not have naturally done, this was done in the name of trying to create something more arthouse, in hindsight I wasn’t being truthful to Dexter’s story, these scenes were soon rejected. After my first visit I got Dexter to write the narration for my following visit, throughout the film it was the words that led the films narrative. I shot more scenes than I needed and Dexter wrote many words so that I had a lot to play with for the final edit. It was Dexter’s life that drew me to the project, initially I was aware of his writing. It also was a daunting process. Although I had directed a short film before, this one was different and on a bigger scale with a bigger crew. I realised that there really only are big decisions when making a film, and that with every decision comes so much responsibility.

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How long does a film like Living with the Cuckoo People take to make? 

One year plus a couple of months editing.

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What challenges did you encounter?

I had to treat the location like a crime scene, I didn’t want to contaminant it with my equipment, my camping gear, or any trace of me! I set up camp out of sight of Dexter so that he could continue his life without feeling my presence aside from when I was filming. The whole film was shot off grid, this meant taking a very large power supply, topped up through my car and solar panels. This allowed me to re-charge all the camera batteries and additional interior lighting without taping into Dexter own meagre power supply which was dependant on solar.

I was always at the mercy of the weather.

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Do you have a favourite moment when filming/creating Living with the Cuckoo People?

While shooting the autumnal scenes, Dexter took me into the forest, we were in the middle of nowhere, leaves falling all around and then he showed me an abandoned caravan where a family must have once lived in. Discarded items were strewn across the floor including a copy of Paris Match from 1981 and other newspapers from the 1970’s, from a filmmaker’s perspective it was beautiful yet quite haunting, it was quite a thing to experience.

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

As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to make my presence as low key as possible, so it was just myself and Dexter. I wanted to use a sound recordist, but bringing another person into the mix could have upset the silence that he so embraced, I couldn’t risk upsetting that space. Dexter had seen early rushes through the year of filming, so he was happy before seeing the final edit, so when we finally sat down after recording the last scene, there was a sense of relief and sadness that the year was over

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

I had to do the sound on my own, which was fine but having an audio person could have brought more depth to the film. The soundtrack was put together by Adam Chetwood. Adam is a professional guitarist; I wanted a soundtrack that was more haunting and was drawn to the harmonium. Adam, a true professional, borrowed a harmonium, recorded all the notes and chords and then through some electronic wizardry composed the music through his guitar. He also created these wonderful guitar interludes. Dexter wore the same clothes throughout the year, donning a jumper in winter, it made continuity so much easier apart from when he occasionally removed his woolly hat!

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Where did you get the inspiration when creating Living with the Cuckoo People? 

My films are always documentary led and there is always a central character, so I have to say it was Dexter’s life that inspired the whole film.

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Where there any films that inspired you when creating Living with the Cuckoo People?

The Moon and the Sledgehammer by Philip Trevelyan is a film about an eccentric family living in a Sussex farmhouse in the 1970’s surrounded by remnants from an industrial past including a steam engine. This film was at the back of my mind before I started filming more for the quirky editing, yet soon as I started to shoot Dexter, the film started to take on its own personality, there after I was fully emersed in its own story and I became influenced mainly by Dexter’s words.

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What have you learnt from making Living With the Cuckoo People? Would you do anything differently next time?

I think looking back I was too obsessed with planning at the pre-shoot stage, perhaps I feared losing control of the story, or perhaps not showing Dexter in the right light, the thing is you don’t really know what the story is until you start filming. I found this process healthy, cutting pre-emptive scenes out as they simply didn’t work, and retaining the unplanned scene that do, the random moments caught on camera make for a more natural and honest representation of the story. So moving forward I want to take a more relaxed approach to the filming process, get to know my subject, sketch out some ideas and then shoot.  A sound person would be good. Finally, I’d shoot smaller and lighter than before. I recently switched to a Canon 70, the quality and functionality is quite amazing for its small size, the camera is unobtrusive and light to handle on location, my next film will be looser, more organic.