Son of Rambow: Why the Silence?

Type "Son of Rambow" into Google and what do you get? Just two pages. And one of them is this one. In some weird amalgam of Googlewhacking and Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, I think I may have just won a gold medal.

The other search result is the official site for Hammer and Tongs, Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith's commercial, music promo and feature film production company. They have made one feature film so far (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) with another one in the works (the aforementioned Son of Rambow) as well as countless dearly beloved, triple-A music videos. You know their clip for Blur's Coffee and TV, and you love it, I promise. The one with the milk carton that does the funny walk? Yeah? Told you.

The Quicktime cinema of their work is definitely the best thing on the site, and if you are even a little bit interested in moving images, you owe it to yourself to give it a through going over.

With must-own DVD collections of Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Chris Cunningham and Mark Romanek's work, Palm Pictures' Directors Label series is incredibly strong, established instantly as a kind of Criterion Collection for short-form and promotional works. The third wave is deep in development and I hope it addresses all of the obvious omissions: Tim Pope, Shynola and Hammer and Tongs.

The fact that I'm the only blogger out here shouting off about Son of Rambow is a little bit disappointing to me. First of all, I'd like to think that there's somebody out there who knows more about what's going on with the film than I do, so they can spill the beans. Secondly, I remember all of the online fuss this time last year, and even the year before, over Guide to the Galaxy. Where's the brouhaha this time?

I'm reminded me of when Fellowship of the Ring was nearing release. Seems that the whole world was waiting to see if the film lived up to the books. I wanted to see if the film lived up to Heavenly Creatures. I was there because of Peter Jackson, not Tolkien. Again, I was interested in Guide because of Jennings and Hammer and Tongs, not really Adams.

(Having said that, Adams was obviously a smart man with lots of very strong ideas, some killer gags and, basically, just a lovely public demeanour.)

When Guide was released, and I rushed off to see it as soon as I could, the preview-screening fuelled two-thirds backlash had already begun. Some very, very critical pieces had been published, one infamous supporter of Adams had caused all manner of fuss, and expectations were being chopped off at the neck. Then the film began, and, frankly, I had no idea what any of them were talking about.

It's not a perfect film. It's not nearly a perfect a film. But it is a great film, and the skill and care with which it was made, not to mention the wild creativity and wit, cannot be underestimated. Remember the airlock scene, where Mos Def and Martin Freeman are ejected from the Vogon ship? A brilliant piece of cinema with set design, sound, composition, performance all putting in a piece of the puzzle. Isn't that how it's meant to be? And just the shape of Marvin, his posture, and his movement - even in silhouette - there's his character, right there. I've got a list of things I love about this film longer than you could ever stand to listen to them.

Jennings is a visionary. That is to say, he has visions that he shares with us and they communicate his ideas very powerfully. The man is a born filmmaker. Son of Rambow, on that evidence alone, is going to be a film genuinely worth looking forward to.

I've made a handful of music videos myself, though certainly not enough, and the budgets I've had have been varied (all the way from none to not much at all). One thing I have always told the bands or their management, though, is that whatever their budget, there will be a treatment that works within it. There always is. Having more money will broaden your options, no doubt about it, but no matter how limited the cash reserves are, a clever, creative director will find a treatment that works within that budget. Every time I've pitched for a video, as long as I knew the restrictions before hand, I was able to offer a treatment that satisfied me, the band and the bursar.

Sometimes, though, coming up with the great idea that works without money can be tricky, and it does often feel dispiritingly impossible to me while I'm sitting there, staring at a blank screen. I have been trapped before, staring at the white nothingness, listening to the track over and over, not knowing what to do.

And then, I remember and watch Hammer and Tongs' video for Big Fan by The Wannadies. It's all the inspiration I need.

Reportedly, the video cost only thirty pounds, spent primarily on ice-cream. My short film Dirty Rotten Double Crosser had even less of a budget - spent on a second hand typewriter and a round of drinks. John vs Laura and Aphrodisiac Casserole were not only made for essentially nothing but also to incredibly short deadlines that can be measured in hours, not days. I'm particularly proud of my promo for How High is Your Waistband by Dan Cairns, which was not only budgeted in the very low double figures and shot on an extremely tight schedule but is also a genuine one-of-a-kind, stop-people-in-their-tracks trick that took a lot of planning to pull off.

All I try to do, you see, is to live up to the spirit of ingenuity and invention, crafstmanship and egoless hard work that I think Hammer and Tongs exemplify.

If only they were hiring...

(There's more on Son of Rambow across film ick)