Thoughtography.

I've been editing films this week. Five of them, each between three and five minutes long. I wrote them, I directed them, and I co-edited them. I do a cameo in one, and I may even do the theme tune. The buck really does stop with me - the films were made in my image.

In the early 20th Century a French chap named Louis Darget tried to photograph dreams by placing photographic plates on his wife's forehead while she slept. It was nonsense of course, but the science of "thoughtography" refused to die, and I feel like the latest idiotic exponent, because the films we've made are exactly as I saw them in my head, if more finessed and cleverly performed than they would have been had my brain just blarted them straight to tape. That's the joy of collaboration. 

They're films about theatre, and about the absence of theatre over the last couple of years. The characters in them have opinions on theatre, from loving it, to relying on it, to not understanding what it is, to being the actual, no foolin' Greek God of Theatre.  They're also films about magic. What Louis Darget failed to grasp, is that we don't need photographic plates to take X-rays of our subconscious. You can formulate a thought from nowhere. It'll bubble up from the sump of your imagination, and then you scratch it on a piece of paper, smear it on some canvas, or right-click it into your computer as a rash of pixels across the screen. Spontaneous creation, something from nothing - abracadabra - a shiny new thing born into the world. To me, that's indistinguishable from magic. 

It doesn't happen every time - its a rare occurrence - but I have seen theatre that was utterly transforming: nights I spent pinned to the back of my seat, teeth and tongue drying, as I couldn't close my mouth. I've flopped back into the foyer with the bends, gasping for air, gasping for a drink, gasping for conversation. Those nights. 

Like I say, it doesn't happen very often. But when it does there's nothing like it in the world. 

Ours was a small crew, but every member was fantastic. The films are more than the sum of their parts: they're funny, sad, rich, detailed, arch and witty. I'm allowed to say that, as no one is more surprised than I am. If you'd seen me on set - like a lost puppy at a funfair - you would not have thought anything good could have come from my directorial debut. It took me a day to come to terms the fact the director really does have to say action and cut. It's their only job, even if it seems silly to have to do it. 

But the crew was tiny, agile and brimming with ideas. We had a detailed shots-list, so we knew we'd have coverage, and the script was written for the location, which is a very good idea if you don't have much money. A lot of it is set indoors too, which meant we didn't have to contend with the Norn summer weather. And we had a great actor - Which is always money in the bank. 

I'd like to do another film. This was a very positive experience and I'm keen on repeating those. For these ones I had ideas for set pieces, one or two strong visual ideas for each scene. For the next one I'd like to story-board it properly. I'd like to do a longer, self-contained story. I have ideas. I think that would be an adventure.