FNB Innovator: Vincent Moon « Film News Briefs

March 18, 2010

FNB Innovator: Vincent Moon

FilmNewsBriefs had the pleasure of conducting an interview via Skype with extraordinary French Director Vincent Moon. Vincent might just be the Jack Kerouac of filmmaking. He’s on a journey, using technology to film the world as he sees it. The interview is brief but his videos have the power to change the way you see the world.

FilmNewsBriefs: When did you start making films?
Vincent Moon: I started with photos actually. Using my Lab, in the old fashioned way of making photos. I started on that side of the image relationship, but then about seven years ago I wanted to share my work on the Internet, on Les Nuits de Fiume Blog. Soon after I started to use digital cameras. At the time, I was spending days and days in my dark room. I loved it, but due to my life in Paris, I realized it wouldn’t work for me.

FNB: When did you move from still images to moving images?
VM:I was doing still images for a quite a long time, until about five or six years ago and I was really lost. I didn’t know how to evolve or where to go after that. And I saw this one movie that really changed my life. After I saw it I knew I wanted to make films.

FNB: Wow, which film?
VM: It is called “Outer Space.” It’s an experimental black and white about 10 minutes long by this Austrian filmmaker called Peter Tscherkassky. [You can view the film HERE] It really changed my life a lot because visually it was really close to what I was trying to do in my still images. Very strong contrasting images, black and white, and it really moved me a lot. The relationship between image and sound in that movie was so strong and I ended up going back home and watching all of Peter Tscherkassky’s works and then at this moment I really wanted to experiment with what I could do with images. Especially at the time I knew that band, “The Nationals.” I created an image that ended up being the cover of the album and I said, “Okay guys, wow, that’s amazing but why don’t we shoot a music video next time.” I didn’t know anything about that but I was straight with them, and so that’s when I switched from still images .

FNB: What kind of camera did you pick up at first?
VM: I was using friend’s cameras for years and years and I just bought my first camera about a year ago. I have a P2 Panasonic Camera.

FNB: How did you get involved with the film “Take Away Shows” for La Blogotheque?
VM: A friend of mine was the founder and he asked me to work with him on this video project he had in mind.

FNB: In the “Take Away Shows,” what’s your process of filmmaking?
VM: It’s just me filming and improvising along with the music. It’s just my approach to the camera and to the world. I don’t prepare any of those things, it’s always improvised.

FNB: Do you mostly work in Music and Documentary?
VM: Mostly, yes. Definitely. Almost all I do is things to music. I’m going to Cambodia next for a project that’s not to music for the first time. I’m a little scared, C’est Voila.

FNB: What’s the project?
VM: It’s a documentary project but I can’t really say much

FNB: Is this what you want to keep on doing? What’s your dream project?
VM: I guess my dream project is what I’m doing. It’s really funny to me that people in the last few months have been asking me when I’ll be doing my big film. My main concern is that I really want to keep it small. Basically, my life has been really interesting these days. I have been experimenting a lot on different sized projects the last two years. I’ve been involved in making a movie with R.E.M., with Arcade Fire and also stuff with a few grants. Working around a balance of producing to make images, and little film creations. In the past three months I was invited to Chile to screen some stuff and I stayed for a few months, walking around exploring. I found some bands and did videos with them and then I went to Buenos Aires and did some of the same. Being on the road and investigating, exploring the sounds of the world on an every day basis and sharing it with people. That is really what I love. It’s amazing. I use technology in every step of the process, to contact the people, to organize my shooting. I just carry one backpack with a computer, a camera and some mics in it. I’m able to make these films on the road and I’m so happy to be able to do that.

FNB: I know you’re an artist, but everyone needs to eat. How do you make a living?
VM: I reduced my life into the most basic things. I never pay to sleep anywhere. I don’t have any house, or place. I don’t pay any rent. I just have to pay for food and alcohol. I find a good balance like that. One project has some money and that money covers the other projects. It’s great. I try to make as little money as possible because that keeps me free. Just very simple way of life and I’m very lucky to be invited around the world to screen some movies. And then I stay.

FNB: What’s been your relationship with technology?
VM: My relationship to technology is trying to escape the information. Reduce the information as much as possible and find where the mystery is in the image. I’m really interested in the next ten years how people are going to integrate new technologies in a much more adventurous way, in their own way. In their approach to the world and I really think there’s a new generation of nomadic people that are going to grow from that. The cost is reduced to such a small amount that you can live on the road and work on the road. That’s the working artist, the observateur.

Vincent Moon’s Links:
Website
Vimeo
Flickr
Twitter