Make a film in 3 hours at Home Movie Factory
Director Gondry brings his film ‘factory’ to Montreal — but keep your mind empty
It could have gone terribly wrong.
I set out Wednesday morning on an unusual assignment: to make a movie with a group of complete strangers — nine fellow journalists, in fact — from start to finish, in just three hours.
We were the first guinea pigs in the Montreal incarnation of Michel Gondry’s Home Movie Factory, which opens Friday and runs until Oct. 15, allowing six groups of 15 people per day to make movies of their own.
The location: a converted industrial space in the Sud-Ouest wherein, as per Gondry’s instructions, 15 generic sets have been created, costumes hung, and instructions laid out to steer each group through the process.
“What’s the worst that could happen?” I wondered. That kept me busy for a while.
Then I asked myself what the heck I was doing, why I had agreed to such a ridiculous plan and what genius ideas I was going to contribute to a one-off group project with a bunch of people I don’t know.
Luckily for me, and for everyone else involved, Gondry had it all figured out.
“Each time, people have anxiety before,” he said in a sit-down chat with the Montreal Gazette once the process had been completed, the film shot and watched, and everyone had emerged unscathed.
“Everyone wonders, ‘What will I say?’ But unlike at school or on a real film shoot, with my system you have to keep your mind empty,” said the director of
films including Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Be Kind Rewind and The Green Hornet, and videos by Radiohead, Björk, Beck, the Chemical Brothers and the White Stripes.
“The ideas come from the group and the mix of the people in the group; they come on their own. Once somebody says one sentence, that gives you an idea, you riff off them and it keeps going. So it’s best to go in without the faintest idea of what you’re going to do.”
Apparently Gondry can see the future, and/or the past to which he wasn’t privy. He was not around when our group sat down for our introductory pep talk and brainstorming seminar, but it went pretty much exactly as the man said.
Once we all hunkered down, with the help of a couple of tireless facilitators, and followed Gondry’s written instructions, everything worked out.
Step 1: pick a genre. Step 2: a film title. Step 3: some possible plot lines — OK, I won’t give everything away, but with these and other simple suggestions, with one volunteer diligently monitoring the clock, and using a show of hands to make decisions and move things forward, we etched out a plan.
After about an hour, we had the makings of a makeshift script — later for you, writer’s block!
“The process seems absurd, but it allows people to let go from the start,” Gondry said. “If you try to think of what story you want to tell off the bat, people would be intimidated and get shy — the parameters are too vast. Or there would be one or two people who would be less timid and would take over the direction of the film. So we start with genre and then the title, to keep things open.
“Once you’ve decided you’re making a police thriller, people can let their imaginations wander and their creativity kicks in. Creativity is a strong word — it means to express or make personal things — but this process allows people to jump in.”
This early creative stage is Gondry’s favourite part. He has taken his film factory around the world in recent years — with stops in Tokyo, Paris, São Paulo, New York, Moscow, Cannes, Casablanca and Johannesburg — and the early stages of the process always yield the same excitement.
“It’s at that moment, precisely, that we hear laughter,” he said. “From that point, the game has been won. People lose their inhibitions and can take part without being shy. You realize you can say something ridiculous and nobody’s going to make fun of you.”
Long story short: we made our movie. It’s 10 minutes long. It’s an existential/satirical erotic thriller called Fantasme Fatal? It’s terrible. But we had a blast making it, and watching it. You can watch it, too, if you pop by Gondry’s factory any time in the next six weeks.
One of the sets on site is a video store, and DVD copies of every movie made will be added to the shelves each day for people to view on the premises.
I received the one other DVD of our film, and have been tasked with emailing digital copies to each member of our group. To my surprise, everyone eagerly wrote down their email in order to receive their own version.
Go figure. It’s no Casablanca, but perhaps that’s not the point.
“You can’t imagine that this will teach you how to make movies,” Gondry said. “It’s a distraction that shows that you can have fun while being creative, and without consuming products by big corporations. It’s not like going to Disneyland.
“We take satisfaction in it because we have contributed to our own entertainment.”