CASE STUDY TOMPATON
head into a brick wall as they need huge amounts of money to get anything done, and they can’t think outside of the box when something breaks or the weather changes on them. “Then there’s the kind of director I amwhich is where everything has a solution. Whether I’m on my own shooting something or have a team of 50 people and nine actors, to me it’s the same craft. I’m a problem solver. Every day on a shoot, from the minute I wake up to when I go to bed, is a consecutive list of problems that I have to solve. It’s my own fault as I said I wanted to make a movie! I don’t get angry about it or irritated, I just get it done as quick as I can. “I act as if I’m just one of the crew. I don’t sit in a chair and have a media village. I tend to operate as my own Assistant Director to a degree. And that mentally doesn’t matter if you’re doing pop videos or a feature film– it’s the can-do attitude that gets you over the finish line. Especially this type of movie as intense as it is, with the budget it’s on. You couldn’t make it any other way.”
“I never made films that weren’t about making money. So now I’mmaking movies creatively, it makes me consider where that return will be coming from. I don’t make kitchen sink dramas but genre films that people buy into.” Pandorica did well, got a theatrical release in the UK and Tom’s career as a director took off from there. Next came a film called Redwood which won a National Film Award, and his third film, Black Sight , just closed the FrightFest film festival and should be on general release next year. And now Tom has been filming his fourth feature film, Stairs , which stars former X-Factor winner and Coronation Street actor Shayne Ward. That’s a high output in a very short time, and comes from Tom’s background as a commercial filmmaker, used to juggling everything, reacting to changing circumstances and with a great all-round knowledge of the whole process. “You have to be pragmatic about being a director,” he says. “There are two kinds of director. One doesn’t know how to do anything themselves. They need a whole unit behind them. Ultimately, they
“I’ma problemsolver. Every day on a shoot, fromtheminute I wake up towhen I go to bed”
TOP Singer and actor Shayne Ward stars in Tom Paton’s latest film, Stairs . ABOVE Rotolights proved their worth time and again when making the films.
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PRO MOVIEMAKER WINTER 2018
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