Movies You Made: “OPUS K”
March is Movies You Made month at Go Into The Story where we feature the work of some independent filmmakers.
Today: OPUS K.
Production notes from writer-director Eamonn Gray:
I wrote/directed/edited/produced a feature film in 2011 called OPUS K. It would be amazing if you could mention it on GITS. We screened at the Galway Film Fleadh and in the Irish Film Institute but that was about it, hence making it available for free on Vimeo.
I only spent a year in film school so this was a learn by doing venture. It sure as hell made me a better screenwriter, though a poorer one. Nothing like watching your mistakes over and over again ad nauseam to hone your craft. And nothing can prepare you for rejection and disappointment like making your own feature. Wouldn’t have changed it for the world (though I’d love another crack at the script!)
Cast:
Steve Gunn, Patrick O’Donnell, John O’Donoghue, Liam Burke, Laura Way, Brian Fortune, Maeve Leonard, Rebekah Wainwright and Jason Healy.
Crew:
Writer/Director/Editor — Eamonn Gray
DoP — Basil Al-Rawi
Production Designer — Emma Lowney
Original Score — Tommy Gray
Location Sound — Niall McNamee
Camera Assistants — Daniel Flower, Ollie O’Neill
Production Assistants — Danielle Washam, Mathieu Treacy
Opus K was shot on sets and locations around Dublin, Ireland between April 2009 and May 2010. The film was financed by Eamonn and Basil via a small bank loan which covered equipment hire, set building and other expenses. Cast and crew provided their services on a deferred compensation basis ie. for free. After a year of post production which Eamonn carried out on evenings and weekends, the film had its world premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh in Ireland in June 2011.
Here is the movie OPUS K:
I asked each of the filmmakers in this month’s series to answer this question: What inspired you about this particular story to make it a movie? Here is Eamonn’s response:
This was the first feature script I’d written. As such it was inspired by every book I’d read and every film I’d seen in the previous years. As a result, it was self-indulgent and pretty disorganised. The genre was the thing that, for the most part, helped me to shape the characters and focus the narrative. The paranoia thrillers of Alan J Pakula were my touchstone in terms of tone. Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy was a book I read several times during the writing process. This wasn’t necessarily a story I “had to tell”, but it was a story that grew out of where I was personally at the time ie. on the sidelines. No-one would have made this script into a film, and I probably shouldn’t have, but it was what I had at the time and my eagerness to be a filmmaker overcame my recognition of the script’s shortcomings.
Making this film made me a better writer, though a poorer one. I am glad for it.
The movie’s Facebook page here.
Twitter: @eamonn_gray
Drop by Comments to give some feedback on OPUS K.
Tomorrow: Another Movie You Made.
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