Streams in Blue

Streams in Blue has undergone many transformations from the genesis of the project but throughout, has remained faithful to its desire to be about the act of wandering: physically, but also emotionally. Loosely based on my first feature film script, Inner City Blues, the film was nonetheless re-written on a daily basis and left a lot of space to chance and spontaneity.
Working from those brief sketches, I didn’t want to impose a set of ideas on the actors and the locations but rather, I wanted to let each of these elements express themselves organically. Working in this way was challenging, but meant that we brought-out what was unique in each of the spaces that we filmed. It also meant that we approached the filming in the way Gabriel M. (the main protagonist) approaches his writing in the narrative of the film. This correlation between what is being film and the way it’s being filmed is something that I have always been passionate about and feel is essential to creating the appropriate space in which the actors are to evolve and develop. I was very fortunate insofar as both my actors and my cinematographer let themselves be led astray; be adrift in dreams – similarly to the way Gabriel is adrift in the narrative of the film.
Set in three places: London, Paris and Oiron but also three different times, the film is also about the act of creation and the way ideas flow in and out of one’s consciousness. Working with these three locations and times, it was very important for me that each of them be not clearly divided but rather, that each of them merge and mesh with each other in the same way they coalesce in dreams.
A lot of effort went into crafting the sound design. The most noticeable aspect being that there is no diegetic dialogue in the film but rather, that it is communicated via sub-titles. This was done to stick as closely as possible to the main protagonist and his stream of consciousness. It was also done to blur the line between what he writes, remembers, dreams, fantasises about but also lives on a daily basis. Very much like the camera that is placed outside and looks-in through a window, the dialogue is also veiled and blocked by windows making it unclear as to what is actually being said.
The music was also carefully chosen so that it doesn’t simply support the images, but actually engages with the narrative of the film and informs the viewer as to what is going on. Part of the music was sourced from existing material, whilst friends of mine – Carly Blackmann and Lloyd Allison-Young – recorded the theme song, Blue Moon. I could have used one of the many existing versions of Blue Moon, but it was important for me that the song stuck as closely as possible to the images and becomes inseparable from the film.
I am happy that the film comes close to resembling the process I underwent whilst writing the script but also, that we underwent during production. Hopefully the audience will sway and let itself be adrift in the poetical musings of Gabriel M.