“Ariella” By The Jobling Brothers

A seemingly innocent waitress is told to keep an eye on two low-life thieves hiding out in her cafe, but her own motives get in the way of her professionalism.

Jack sent Michael a short story he’d written for a school assignment about two thugs meeting up in a cafe after committing a crime. It was a concept that was so simple, that striked up so many questions despite the whole thing fitting on one side of A4; what were they hiding from, how did they know each other, who was the waitress on their table, what was her history. It had such a strong style and tone, and felt like it belonged to a much bigger universe, that we started working on expanding it in script form. It was when our soon-to-be producer Ryan Harvey saw Michael’s previous film ‘Anoesis’, and wanted to work with us on whatever we had next, it was the jumpstart we needed to get the production off the ground.

What was interesting, that despite pulling inspiration from different sources, we had an almost subconscious understanding of where each other was coming from. We soon realised that we were referencing how we felt when watching the films and listening to the music that inspired us most. We often only took moments (or vignettes as we later started calling them) from these places, and edited a forty five minute sizzle reel together to show the crew what we couldn’t necessarily explain. Included were scenes from the films of Paul Thomas Anderson, Bong Joon-ho, and music from Abner Jay and Mica Levi. For this reason, there are moments in the film that when compared to their original influence, may be unrecognisable, but the tone and feeling is what has remained the same.

With the expansion of the Ariella universe, came a better understanding of the characters and a willingness and need to delve deeper and deeper into the idiosyncrasies of their behaviour and back stories, and the relationships between everyone. This was infectious, and the cast and crew started to feel part of it, and suddenly it became important to get it right, and do the characters and the story justice. Our production designer Amy Thompson created an entire playlist of songs that she felt represented the world, we had long in-depth discussions with lead actor Hannaj about Ariella’s childhood, and we theorised the history behind each character’s costume with Head of Wardrobe Saffron Bramley-Astle. We were having discussions about these characters as if they were real. The film had no comments on society, no true stories, but it began to feel like a lot of people cared. This became even more evident during the successful Kickstarter campaign, when we had a flooding of support and interest, and so we felt a strong need to make it, and do it right.

Feeling such a deep connection to this film, it’s hard to imagine it being made by anyone else. Creative decisions weren’t made; they were moulded and sculpted through a long, rich development period. The forming of the non-linear plot was almost accidental, but it threw up so many advantages and allowed us to withhold information from the audience, much like how the characters do with each other. A more ‘muscular’ style of editing was then implemented, where we could boldly cut from one scene to another, moving forward (or backwards) when we saw fit, so that you could always expect to learn something new. It gave the film more of a sweeping motion, where the camera peered in on different moments, revealing more, and connecting the dots. This in turn dictated a change in the overarching tone, the most drastic difference being in the music used in the film. A dark, aching score replaced our original intention for a sleazy Blues soundtrack, which reflected the underlying, yet brimming anxiety in all of Johann Myer’s scenes as Bob, who has to conceal a dark secret, and the more delicate, complicated feelings of anger and revenge in Ariella, played by Hannaj Bang Bendz.

Despite feeling like we knew everything about the film, it was an incredible lesson when we put on a test screening, to a select number of friends and Kickstarter backers, and discovered how subtle some changes need to be in order for a film’s meaning to change. Feedback was so detailed, that a look between two of the characters completely changed the audience’s perception of their relationship. Trimming off just a few frames is what made everything made sense, and we realised that there were some things that we just couldn't have predicted.

One of our biggest lessons while making this film, is that you grow with your film. Ariella was made over the course of essentially five years; from Jack’s original short story to the exported film we have today. We were young, and very inexperienced when we first started on this journey, and now our outlook, our taste and influences, our skill set, and our network has grown exponentially because of it. We’d be lying if we said this wasn’t a life changing experience. Looking ahead, we want the film to be seen by as many people as possible and for audiences to enjoy the incredible performances from the diverse ensemble cast, to have the moments in the film unravel in front of them, and for them to wonder what happens to the character’s outside of the film’s events, like we did. But most importantly, we want people to enjoy it, and remember it.

Michael and Jack Jobling - Writers, Directors

Credits

Written and Directed by Michael Jobling and Jack Jobling
Produced by Ryan J Harvey
A Them Pesky Kids Production
in Association with Felix Mater Society

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