Bay moviemaker sets off the Spark of Madness
Filmmaker Clayton McErlane. Photo: Supplied.
The seven-minute movie, Spark of Madness, is a true, 100 per cent product of the Bay apart from its music, says its filmmaker and producer Clayton McErlane. The short film features local actors, local scenery and perhaps a touch of the Bay’s best artistic madness.
During three intensive weeks, the budding moviemaker fulfilled all the roles associated with filmmaking—writing the manuscript, camera work and editing, budgeting, sound and music, though the acting was left to the story’s two female protagonists, played by Martine Bouillir and Helen Mead.
The story is straightforward. A woman writer, possibly suffering from writer’s block, sits in her sparsely furnished house and gets into a muddle with her dark side. “What was once her source of inspiration has now become twisted and unpredictable,” reads the cover. She is forced to confront her demons, with devastating results for the dark spirit.
“I had the desire to tell of the struggle of the creative psyche—that is where the story was born from,” says Clayton. “Some people who saw it laughed a lot and that’s great. It’s fantastic that people interpret it in different ways, but it is not a comedy.”
Clayton put together the mini-movie as a project for the Southern Institute of Technology and towards his Diploma in Digital Film.
“I enrolled in the course because I wanted to expand my horizon and I like the digital medium. I was hungry to learn new skills and gain some knowledge in the hope of bringing these skills into my PR work.”
His filming experience has already led to another film project, an advertising piece for a Golden Bay business, and Clayton plans to make another short film for the Allshorts Film Festival in October.
“I also hope to see Spark of Madness as a piece at the NZ Film Festival. It is such a buzz if they accept it at something like that.”
After getting positive feedback from his “tough tutor” at the institute, Clayton is embarking on his next adventure, a Diploma in Art and Creativity, which inevitably leads to further explorations of the artistic psyche.
You can buy the DVD from Monza for $15 or rent it from Channel X for $2, but beware. The cover warns: “Madness has its toll. Please have exact change.”
Ina Holst
