No, we’re not mad, just independent filmmakers.

Our friend, Kabir has just won a handful of prestigious awards for a documentary he was working on
a year or so ago. Our vicarious pleasure at his success cannot come anywhere near the depth of
personal achievement that Kabir is currently enjoying and this, for many independent filmmakers has
got to be the epitome of accomplishment.

The independent filmmaker is, of course as multifarious as are the sheer number of films being
produced. Some are multi-million dollar/pound/rupee productions with huge teams but,
nonetheless unaffiliated to the behemoth film companies; at the other end of the scale are the
thousands of driven, passionate and no-budget creators of moving image productions whose only
goal, let’s be honest is to end up with a short film of which they can be proud. To have this affirmed
by an outside and objective judging panel is the zenith!

Filmmaking is, like so many other creative pastimes 90% grind and 10% inspiration. The profusion of
online self-help groups seeking to shed light on the perplexing complications of equipment –
cameras, sound recorders, tripods, gimbals – and terrifyingly complex edit software is witness to
what often feels like an imbalance of quality time. The Indie is, after all producer, director, screenplay
writer, cameraman, sound man, editor, gaffer, focus-puller, runner…. all rolled into one. Time for
reflection can seem like an unnecessary luxury. Let’s just get those shots in the bag!

Here at Res et Artes Raph and I have spent the whole summer collecting ‘B roll’ clips for ‘The Chester
Chronicles’. This project, consisting of several episodes of around 10 minutes each will cover
Chester’s history from the Romans up until the early 20th century. Our drive? Well, we live in Chester,
which is undoubtedly a bonus for pragmatic reasons but over and above that practical consideration
is a desire to distill the essence of this most historical of British cities into a manageable tipple. And
this is, yes for our personal consumption but also because we noticed a ‘gap in the market’,
somewhere between tourist-appeal and academic. The satisfaction of putting together (often with
ruthless editing) a few minutes of images and information which ends up (we hope) telling a
coherent story is ultimately what galvanises us at 4 a.m. to get out with the gear.

The success of an indie filmmaker friend is testament to the scores of hours planning and executing a
short film. Its appeal may well remain ‘niche’ but the fact remains that it is truly the result of intense
scrutiny and subsequent crafting and as such has value that soars above any considerations of
commercial value.

Take a look at Kabir’s work here: HOME | Little Robin Films