Riverboat Film Spotlight

Today’s film spotlight focuses on the short film Riverboat directed by Jack Burney.

What is the title of your film and what inspired said title?

Riverboat. I’m not sure there was much that inspired the title. With some of my titles I put a lot of research and effort into what it will be. For this film though, it became clear very quickly. The riverboat is central to the characters, and it is the only location, and it’s the thing that (hopefully) makes the film different to others like it. I played around with a few different title ideas, but ultimately they didn’t feel right.

Tell us a little bit about the story and origins of your film.

It was Christmas 2020 and I had just a phone call with some friends talking about a recent project that unfortunately didn’t go ahead. On that phone call we decided we weren’t going to continue with the project. That day I was travelling North to spend Christmas with my family. There are lots of canals where I live and, on the drive back, I kept looking out and seeing all the riverboats on the canal. I thought to myself I’d never seen a film set on board a riverboat and that could be something interesting. From there I did some ideas development and as lockdowns were still happening, I thought what would happen if someone was isolated on something like a Riverboat. So, it was on the same day that one project fell through that I came up with the idea for a new one.

Any films or filmmakers that inspired this film?

The film was primarily inspired by lots of short films such as “My Friend Kills Time” on Nowness as well as some others on sites like MUBI. However, two films really helped me cement some ideas about the film itself. These were ‘A Beautiful Mind’ (2001, Ron Howard) and ‘Adrift’ (2018, Baltasar Kormákur). I was also inspired, reference to the argument at the end, by the then-newly released Malcolm and Marie (2021, Sam Levinson). The film is essentially one long argument, and this gave me plenty of inspiration and jumping off points for the argument at the end of Riverboat.

What is the goal of the film for you?

The goal for this film was to make an audience active in the viewing of a film. Almost everyone I’ve spoken to about the film has had a different takeaway, a different theory, what might as well be a different viewing of the film. Different people react differently to the characters and different people pick up on different aspects of the film that they connect with. It certainly is interesting to watch people discuss, almost debate, the film. I always try to layer in lots of different elements in a film so that when people watch it again, they pick up on new things with each viewing. This was the intent with this film, as well as seeing if I could make a one-location, (mostly) one-character film be interesting and engaging.

What has the journey been like getting the film into production?

The first thing we got sorted was the location. As it was key to the whole film, we wanted to make sure we had a location ASAP. We settled on Oxford quite quickly, and this informed our casting. Sophie Fisher and Emily Marven were fairly local to Oxford, and this helped keep our production costs lower as travel and accommodation expenses were significantly reduced. Our crew was quite experienced, especially working together, so once I had written a first draft of the script in January 2021, we were able to shoot late March 2021, only having 2 months of pre-production. I planned the shoot to be able to take place entirely in one weekend and giving all the crew enough notice allowed them to book time of work and make room in their schedules. There are difficulties in any production but as it was a one-location film, we had the privilege of, once arriving on set, having the place to ourselves for the weekend and this relieved some of the normal pressures of a set.

One thing you learned from this project?

Listen to your actors. Jack Sutherland, Sophie Fisher, and Emily Marven all contributed to ideas development of some crucial sequences in the film. This was a film that was all about character so as the actors started to inhabit their characters, they began making suggestions and throwing out ideas, many of which ended up in the final film. These ideas were something that I, as the writer/director, hadn’t thought of as I was taking too much of a holistic approach. They told me of places where they felt the actions were inconsistent with the character, or the actions betrayed the emotion of the scene. The one thing from this film that I learned was to treat the actors very much like co-writers and not just as mouthpieces for the writer’s dialogue. They will have their own life experiences they are going to draw on so it’s important to listen to them as a contributor to the creative process.

How can folks find you and your film online?

So, I’m @thejackbc on all social media (Facebook Page, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok). I am currently speaking to some people about getting the film a bigger release (on a streaming service, etc.) but the trailer and some bonus material is available on my company’s YouTube Channel: The Movie Picture Box.

Any last pieces of advice for fellow filmmakers?

Don’t forget about your setting. Due to time, money, or a million other restraints, most young filmmakers forget that the setting can be a key component to your storytelling. The three pillars of a story are Plot, Character, and Setting; most people only look to Plot and Character for their story. It is the connections and contrast between these three things that create an idea so don’t forget that you can use your setting to inform and add to your story. It can be a great way to bring a unique feel and freshness to your idea. Alien is a monster/slasher movie set on a spaceship, Star Wars is the archetypical hero’s journey set in space, Blade Runner is a noir-mystery set in a dystopian future. These iconic films take a plot element or plot archetype and give it a new setting, then the filmmakers allow the setting and plot to mix together and create something unique. You don’t have to set your film in space, but sometimes just asking, ‘what location haven’t I seen this story take place in?’, or ‘how can I use the location to enhance or contrast what is happening?’ is enough to get you thinking. Always remember to be on the look out in your own life for interesting locations and settings. Not all of them are going to materialize in a film but they get you looking at elements in your life through the filmmaker’s prism. Asking things like ‘who would live in a place like this?’ or ‘what would bring someone to come here?’ or ‘who’s the last person you’d expect to find in this place?’ can sometimes lead you to unique concepts that if you let develop, can form into some very interesting ideas.

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