filmmaking – jamesdixon

Wînipêk

As fall settles in, I’ve been reflecting on my film Wînipêk, which was selected to be a part of the ImagineNative film fest in the shorts program “Tied To The Land”. The screening was this past June at the Lightbox cinema in Toronto.

This film is very much transitional for me; experimental and narrative forms blending and working seamlessly together

Many thanks to my collaborator Thilo Schaller for your sound recordings and sound direction, it was so instrumental in how this film came together.

And thanks to Keara Barrett for working with me, your performance is amazing.

Wînipêk clip

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Reflecting

Natural light is a big part of how I choose to shoot, and sometimes everything lines up better than I can anticipate. I’ve been reflecting a bit on some of my previous work, and this is one of my favourite shots…the light, the reflection, and my favourite city Winnipeg

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Film Shoot

So grateful for this weekend and the team I got to work with, flexing my skills as the director. We spent a full day working together, filming and setting up throughout downtown Winnipeg, capturing some great moments and finding our groove as a film crew. We finished on schedule and we are stoked to see this project come to life.

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Bolex

It is nice to reflect and look back on my earlier work. This was shot in 2011 on Bolex, I remember it was cold, and I remember wanting the clip to look and feel like a painting. Understanding the graininess of the film stock and how flat white backgrounds can create so much texture, I was able to achieve my goal.

The most satisfying part of filmmaking is seeing all these images in my brain, a congestion of unmade compositions, and being able to organize and translate them to this medium.

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Toronto

I travelled to Toronto, where I participated in the Blood In The Snow Film Fest and Horror Film Lab, pitched my feature film idea and made some incredible connections. It’s been a busy time this month, new job and new opportunities for my film work. It’s been very amazing, slightly overwhelming, but amazing nonetheless.

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Tracking Through Downtown

I spent some time with a good friend walking through the downtown area of Winnipeg. I used the Dji Pro rsc2 stabilizer and captured some incredible tracking shots in my Canon RP. We eventually made it to the waterfront and were able capture some gorgeous riverside footage. The whole thing looks so smooth and cinematic, it’s exciting to cut and edit it all together! I will post a video clip of it soon but in the meantime here are a few screenshots from the footage.

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Cameron

I sat down with Cameron Denby, Marimba | Percussionist to document his creative process as a performer. We had a great afternoon talking about art and how we interact with people through our medium, and I was able to capture a very cool and intimate performance.

I always enjoy working with other artists and talking about why we do what we love. Cameron was genuine and so talented, I am always grateful for this kind of collaboration and the chance to document an artistic process.

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From Above

Over laying footage is so satisfying, inverting and pairing images can lead you to visual places that are familiar and obscure. This footage was shot at the end of winter, and these white snow covered spaces bring me back into the season. I looped audio of a poem about winter into the clip and I think it pairs so well.

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The Bicycle

Downtown Winnipeg on an overcast spring day, watching a friend bike home through streets of the Exchange District. The city felt alive and I was thankful I could catch this little moment from the fire escape of my studio building.

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Rural

Already into April and we are in the middle of a spring snow fall. Sidewalks and streets are now covered in a blanket of white, the chill of winter has settled back in.

I’ve been working with some footage, inverting and layering images from my last shoot in my hometown. It reminds me of all the love I have for that space, but on another level represents my complicated relationship with my rural upbringing. Hometown images that are familiar against the flat white background of winter, are now inverted and layered together to create a landscape that feels detached and disorientating.