Young Lyttelton director nation's best

Isaac Strati Isaac Strati cuts a stylish figure as he sits in the Lyttelton Coffee Shop. Relaxed and smiling, he looks decidedly happy - and well he should be. The 17-year-old filmmaker has, with schoolmates David Buzas and Jerome Reil, won the national secondary schools’ film competition Cut.

Judges said the film Elliot showed a strong understanding of form, using sophisticated cinematic language. The Year 12 student was also stoked to be named the country's best young director.

“I’m so happy. The three of us were talking about it and we realised it hadn’t even hit us properly. We could say we were more excited when we won the local one - because we were there.”

The news took a while to reach the South Island though – none of the students were able to attend the ceremony in Hamilton.

“We couldn’t make it, and two days later our drama teacher got a call from them and came into our lesson at school and says ‘these guys have won the national festival’.

“More people knew about the local award - we won the Canterbury best short film and the most memorable shot. What did surprise us was that we had assembly and it was all about our win. Some people did some songs and inserted our names into them and crazy things like that. It was humbling – everyone knew. And the principal called up The Press.”

“Dad was over the moon. Apparently he was jumping around at work when mum told him. So I let everyone else have my happiness. Everyone else can experience that – there’s enough to go around.”

Team effort created success

Team effort was at the core of the win, and Isaac is quick to turn the spotlight on the rest of the successful team.

“I can’t help but feel that the whole thing was a collaborative effort entirely, and I’m not just saying that. Everyone had a big part in it. In fact for simplicity’s sake we put my name as director, but we did decide that Jerome was co-director and the three of us made a lot of the calls together.”

The film, Elliot, is a drama centred around the experiences of a teenager with a mental illness. “Elliot has severe agoraphobia – a fear of people, interaction, outside – everything. It has developed into a mental illness – he has to control it by taking pills every day.

“He goes out on a normal day and he begins to basically lose control over this illness. When he’s in his state he can’t see people; he can’t see things – like the TV or things that are (around him). In the movie it’s portrayed as melancholic blue (colours), kind of a humming. Occasionally there’s a blur of a person.”

The technique was used to show how Elliot moved in and out of the world around him and was at the centre of the planning for the film.

“We actually came up with what it would look like before we came up with the illness. It’s teenage alienation – just this teenage idea that we’re always in a state of separation from the world.”

When Elliott slips into his state he crashes his car and hits a child. Not knowing what to do, he runs.

“You are confronted with the world – you are confronted with people. There’s these few shots where he’s come to the city and there’s people everywhere. While trying to escape the trouble he’s caused earlier he’s confronted by more people. That’s why he goes to the alleys.

“You’re confronted with things that are uncomfortable, unfamiliar – and this guy is an escapist – he wanted to get away from it all. In the end he’s running through the alleys, and slips back into his state and he comes to Cathedral Square – and there’s no-one there. He sees this empty Cathedral Square and thinks he’s found salvation or sanctuary but then it clicks back and people appear everywhere. He tries to run up the spiral of the Cathedral – quite close shots – and we see the final shot of him standing there behind bars – he can’t escape. There’s a lot you want to escape, but you just can’t.”

Major piece of year's work

Camera The project was “the best part” of a term’s work, Isaac says, but things never got too hectic, despite the team throwing lots of ideas around.

“It was quite well under control. At the start we were balancing ideas that were much different. We were considering doing a fun action movie just to get the production values out there. Lots of blood caps and zooming scopes. We wanted a car chase ... But when we decided on this idea (of Elliot) that changed. One thing I really enjoyed about the process was that we knew what we wanted. We could focus more on doing it instead.”

Acting experience helped when Isaac came to be behind the camera.

“I had theatre acting, and I done two plays with the Young Canterbury Shakespeare Company and been in school plays since I’ve been in high school. I love the Rudolf Steiner school plays – basically everyone at the school is involved. Everyone has some kind of contribution.

“Film acting and theatre acting are very different. Film acting is more intimate, watching every little facial muscle. Elliot wasn’t too much of a difficult character. Because he was in his own world a lot of things could pass as his own thoughts bumping into each other. It was more about what he was doing than what he was thinking.”

Christchurch's great locations

Cathedral spire Locations around Christchurch made for an enjoyable shoot.
“One thing we take for granted in all the movies that we watch is that there are heaps of locations. Going around finding all these sets that had been made for us already was really funny.

“Jerome was producer so he organised hotels. We went to the top of the Millennium Hotel and got a roof shot over the whole Square. We got empty shots and full shots, and we merged those two together to get this moment where the cathedral door opens and boom – every one is there. We kept the camera in the same place and came up with that effect.

The film was shot in four locations: two private houses, near Rudolf Steiner School and The Square and Colombo Street and parts of High Street. The nooks and crannies of the central city were particulaurly good locations, Isaac says.

“You go to the alleys in Christchurch and there’s the combination of grafitti, wear and tear, an old something abandoned – you get some shots that you don’t need to do any art direction on – it’s there.”

Favourites films by writer / directors.

Writer / director films are Isaac’s favourites, such as Punch drunk love by Paul Thomas Anderson, starring Adam Sandler and Emily Watson. Anderson also directed Magnolia.
“It was surreal, but it was real. That film really hit me because it wasn’t really a normal rom-com (romantic comedy) at all. It was funny and it was a romance film but it was definitely above the norm.”

Isaac hedges his bets when asked about favourite films or genres. “I generally like films that are either ultra-real or surreal. But not entirely.

“I also like a director called Jim Jarmusch – he’s done Coffee and cigarettes. This is low budget; nothing about special effects. It’s character profiles, dead-pan, off-beat stuff. I loved Eagle vs Shark – those moments that you see that are unpretentious. They can’t be made up – you know people who do that. So usually I like quite down-to-earth films … more lo-fi, well written, crafted and small…

“You see characters that are ultra real, completely normal. You get humour without the stylised stuff. You get dramas like Shortland Street, Coronation Street – they’re meant to be realistic but they’re not. The dialogue is completely fabricated. They don’t have the awkward pauses, the getting cut off…

“We’ve just studied playwright David Mamet – he did that. The conversation was so broken – you don’t even know if they got out what they meant to say at the start.

“A film with guys breaking out the guns, the James Bond in his Aqua car – its great, a good story, and there’s an adrenaline to it, but what I know and can relate to are these ones that are more human.”

A future in film

Success and a scholarship to Wintec have spurred Isaac to chose filmmaking as a career.

“Personally I’ve decided to be a filmmaker. I wanted to be an actor, but it wasn’t entirely what I was focusing on. It’s a creative career; it’s a challenging career. But I also like that it comes with a result – there’s a movie or a music video to show at the end of it. Even if its broadcasting it’s the same idea. I wanted to go into media, but know I know where I want to get to.

“I couldn’t help but find some satisfaction in it.”

Isaac returns to school for Year 13 next year. “We talked to one of the judges and he expected us to take the scholarship next year, but we said ‘we’ve got another year of school’.”

So keep an eye out for Isaac's film in 2008 - it's bound to be worth watching.

Tags:

Watch topics

Watch articles