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| Leonie Reynolds |
Leonie Reynolds is a scriptwriter and documentary filmmaker. Her
documentaries and a short comedy have played on New Zealand television and in
festivals both in New Zealand and overseas and her first documentary, Hard Words, won the Rangatahi Award at
the New Zealand Media Peace Awards.
Leonie’s worked as a storyliner and
dialogue scriptwriter for South Pacific Pictures’ Shortland Street and as a journalist, Leonie has written on theatre
and film for many publications.
Leonie’s Disappear in Light has just had its
premiere at New Zealand’s Documentary Edge Festival.
It’s an observational documentary about writer, performer and producer Jo Randerson and her largest scale theatre work
to date: Good
Night - The End, a black
comedy about death, and about what it means to engage with life. A woman
filmmaker’s film about a woman writer is a rare event and I’ve been
celebrating.
Why did you want to make a film about Jo?
I’ve been an admirer of Jo’s writing ever since I read
her short fiction collection The Spit Children. I felt like I was in the
presence of a really unique and compelling voice, a wonderful strangeness. And
she’s just as compelling onstage, as a performer. I hoped other people would be
just as intrigued as I was to go on the journey of getting to know Jo and her
creative process a bit better.
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| Jo turns |
How did you decide that the film would focus
on the making of Good Night - The End? Where did the title come from?
I knew Jo had a major project in the works and I thought that following
the evolution of a show would give a great natural structure to a film. The
title came from one of the clips I named during the edit process, actually – a
shot (that I used for the poster) of Jo disappearing from the stage wreathed in
luminous smoke. Disappear in Light is also a kind of metaphor for death
itself – which is largely what the play (and that moment in the play) is about.
Creating a new work is a huge challenge. Making a film about
the creative process is also a huge challenge. What was particularly difficult
about doing the two things at the same time? What were the rewards?
I can only imagine how much more difficult my presence made the task of
rehearsing and constructing the play. Being creative is a challenge at the best
of times, and doing it with a camera on you would be a bit like going on a date
with a camera on you, I’d imagine. I’m afraid I think the difficulty was taken
on by Jo and her team and the rewards were for me – in terms of getting a
documentary out the other end. Though it was difficult for me too – there are times
when you know the people you’re filming would really rather you weren’t there, that
they’re very much over being filmed even though they may not be saying
anything, and it can be a challenge to just keep turning up and shooting under
those circumstances. But Jo and her team, I think, took the filming on as
another creative challenge – to hold focus and work under that increased level
of difficulty. I salute them all for that – especially director Andrew Foster.
To direct under the gaze of a camera – I can’t imagine anything tougher.
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| Table |
What did you learn about Jo and her process that intrigued,
surprised, delighted you? What did you learn about the creative process, your
own and Jo’s, from working with her? Has observing and recording Jo changed the
way you yourself work?
My feeling about observational documentary making is that the creativity
happens in the edit – during the shoot you’re just a recording machine. The
shoot part of things is all about stamina. I have spent quite a lot of time
around the theatre so nothing about the construction of the show was really a
revelation – except that I was reminded how hard theatre artists work for that
ephemeral opening night.
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| Thomas at mirror |
As a scriptwriter, what differences and similarities have you identified
between writing a fictional script and structuring a doco?
I’ve spent a lot of time studying three act structure, to the point that
it’s instinctive. That was really useful in the edit – I knew how to shape a
story. Editing really is writing when it comes to documentary.
What documentary makers have influenced you?
Well, Grizzly Man by Werner Herzog is probably my favourite – but I’d never imitate his process –
he lies! He’s admitted it! He thinks up poetic things for the camera and gets
people to act them out or repeat them as though they’re the truth. Grizzly Man
is probably the only film he didn’t lie on – because it was constructed through
found footage. I still haven’t figured out how I can manage to be a fan of his
while massively disapproving of the way he goes about his work.
What’s your next project?
I don’t think I’ll be
making another observational documentary – the size of the commitment is like
scaling Everest. One ascent per lifetime is more than enough. I suspect my next
project could be in new media, but I haven’t decided yet – time to take a
break!
more JO RANDERSON LINKS
Barbarian Productions
Playmarket
New Zealand Book Council
The Arts Foundation
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