Embracing Chance and Risk: A Filmmaker’s Exploration of Collaborative Storytelling in Fiction Production

Creatives know that accidents can fuel great work, but the perpetual crisis mode society finds itself in breeds anxiety. The film and television industry tends to play it safe at the best of times lacking risk-taking and innovation. Stoneman (2012) highlights the importance of chance and risk in filmmaking for radical work and with this permacrisis threatening to become the 'new normal,' we not only stifle innovation, but diversity.

For this paper, I will explore my findings as a filmmaker/researcher through the production process of a short fiction film About the Night (2023). I wanted to craft an engaging story that conveys life's complexity and engenders empathy. My primary aim was to portray events with minimal manipulation, so the challenge was to foster empathy without dictating audience emotions. Despite the seemingly restrained approach my intention was to creatively reconstruct a moment rather than merely document it by experimenting with filmic form. Although working in fiction I was influenced by radical filmmaker, Trinh, who acknowledges that, "[t]o create is to understand, and to understand is to re-create" (1991: 194). My approach was to construct an experiential window, emulating the effectual tone of the script and to interrogate key creative choices made along the way. I was mindful of not over emphasizing sound, picture, or musical elements to underscore how the audience should feel.

Stoneman's insight, when coupled with budget constraints, is substantial and presents a significant challenge for filmmakers, funders and policymakers who value innovation and diversity of output.