Exposing the ‘tissue of making’ in fiction filmmaking

Following the screening and paper on my short fiction film About the Night (2023) at last year’s festival, this paper offers a discussion of my ongoing analysis of notes and footage gathered during development and pre-production (including clips from research). Drawing on Barbra Bolt’s (2006) concept of “material thinking,” which emphasises the evolving, relational nature of creative practice, I explore how meaning emerges through engagement with materials, tools, and methods.

Bolt argues that an overemphasis on finished works can obscure the dynamic processes at the heart of filmmaking. In this context, I examine how barriers to experimentation—both structural and interpersonal—shape the creative process. My filmmaking approach embraces creative friction and compromise, favouring collaboration over confrontation.

Reflecting on the complexities of production, I highlight the intuitive, intellectual, and emotional interplay involved in fiction filmmaking. While figures like Eisenstein acknowledged this fusion, its deeper implications remain under-explored in modern filmmaking practice-led research. By sharing insights from my own process, I hope to inspire more filmmakers to critically engage with their methods and contribute to a growing body of knowledge that goes beyond surface-level accounts of production—revealing the nuanced, intellectual, often invisible work of making fiction.