Southport MovieMakers is pleased to announce that this year’s
winner of the Electron Trophy is Andy Harrison. The ELECTRON TROPHY is awarded each year by Southport MovieMakers for
the best movie produced from its members during the course of the year.
The
title of this year’s winning film is Goldfish.
The idea for the film came quite simply from an original poem by the Greek poet
Jim Ver, with whom Andy collaborated in making the film; Ver also wrote the music
for the film.
The poem
told of how goldfish lived their lives, i.e. in short bouts of time, having a
very short memory, repeating experiences over and over. Andy concluded that the same applied to people suffering from illnesses such as dementia, in care
homes, and there was a parallel between the two, “There is the parallel that
whilst a goldfish is trapped in a bowl to swim in circles, a nursing home may
work the same way for an old person, sort of like a never-ending loop. It
seemed quite necessary that I mix the two together.”
Andy
described this particular film as being “a departure from the things I have
learnt and usually hone within my films. The poem required a film to be very
restrained and subtle, which is far from my usual work. It is representative
most of what I have learnt in directing actors on screen to create a character
that is believable and emotive.”
Andy is
one of the substantial group of young film-makers at Southport MovieMakers.
However, for this production, the key character, played by Alan Beddows, is an
elderly resident of care home. Andy acknowledged that he chose Alan for the
role because they were on “very similar wavelengths”, adding that, “..it is
always a good experience regardless of age.”
Although
relatively prolific, Andy is very much learning with each successive project. What
did he learn in making Goldfish? He confirmed his preference for “active
filmmaking” rather than the somewhat subdued style of this project.
Nevertheless, “....it is interesting to test out other genres and forms of
filmmaking.” In terms of skills, his film-making has developed with regard to editing,
“I have learnt that editing is very important to the pacing of a film, and is
something I need to work on tightening up, putting the film’s pace before my
own indulgence.”
Andy Harrison
Alan Beddows
Key character in Goldfish
Andy's next project is a short film called “Black Out”,
focusing on a man who suffers from an illness causing him to black-out and kill
people, rendering his memory completely wiped when he wakes.
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