Andi McGarry
Irish videomaker
Interview: 10 questions
Interview:10 questions
1. Tell me something about your life and the educational background
I did a foundation in Art at Gateshead Technical college in UK and the a degree in fin Art at Brighton University. In 1995 or there abouts I moved to Ireland and have been here since. The village I live in is very rural and has fishing boats and stormy seas in the winter and hot sun and lots of sandy beaches in the summer. It is an Ideal cinematic location for the making of all kinds of movies.
2. When, how and why started you filming
Good question. Always lens based work has been important,more so for documentary purposes up till recently. I took it up seriously after winning a Visual Arts Ireland
Folkatronica bursary. This allowed me a chance to really explore filmmaking and dedicated time to that pursuit. I had been maing films with my kids, and always wished for the right interfaces so that my video camera, and my computer and my music could talk to one another. About four years ago all three things occurred so technically from that moment on I was in the movie buisness.
also bear in mind I spent 10 years promoting Artists books – which are very like Artists films – bit of an aquired taste – the best of them are very movie like in content production and delivery. Movies have an edge on books in that they are just so much more accessible.
3. What kind of subjects have your films?
My subjects are usually organic Ideas- Making boats takng them down rivers or following a sequence of a couple as they get ready for bed and sleep, or figures and how they relate to the landscape. Also I have used music quite a lot as the narrative for my film. I often make up my own songs -record them and follow through with Ideas for a film. I have made films about blues songs, and I have made films about local history and personal narratives , journals, log books , and rough scetches of the life around me in the fishing village I live in.
4. How do you develop your films, do you follow certain principles, styles etc?
Films are usually stoyboarded with picture arrows flow marks and Ideas in a very rough formula. I love the planning of a project. I should probably spend more time on the creating and filming but usually Im juggling a very tricky time pie.
The princilpe of Organic Ideas that was part of my bookmaking continues through into the films- in fact several of my books are now songs and films.
5. Tell me something about the technical equipment you use.
Computer is an Acer I got form tesco a couple of years ago. Its gone through 4 chargers so far and is missing the letter k.(Its ok I have it maskning Taped in now}
I use Microsoft word Movie Maker. the vista flavor
I had an Aldi /Medion hard drive that crashed so I store everything on DVDs now as data.
I have a fiji fine pix F31 fd 6.3 mega pix. which has sereved me well – but soon who knows. An old tripod couple of lights.
Grizzly Adams of the movie world….
6. The field of “art and moving images†(one may call it videoart or also differently) is representing an important counter position in contemporary art. Tell me more about your personal position and how you see the future of this field ( your personal future and the future of “art and moving imagesâ€)
Yes I believe this is where Artists are going to come into their own. It is a good opportunity for all makers as they can make edit and produce a film in their own front room on themes of their own choosing, about issues which interest or effect them and then go right ahead and publish them. These films may then go on to be completely ignored by everyone or taken up and watched by 1000s. Its like there is a whole new scene like a brand new game with new rules and lots of scope for really great creativity.
Artists are able with the user friendly technology to create new works that are art or have art in them or are part of art. These works are stand alone things/ entities. They are made by all kinds of artists and non artists and the thing is no committee is required to validate these works. The artist decided already. It reminds me of punk music in the 70s. Especially with the advent of you tube etc. There are many places to send your works and there is a huge network of makers out there… its just fertility in the making.
7. How do you finance your films?
self financed
.
8.Do you work individually as a video artist/film maker or do you work in a team?
I make works individually at the moment/ although I do use my partner as Cinematographer
if you have experience in both, what is the difference, what do you prefer?
My partner has a great eye for landscape and figures and a real steady hand, most stuff we do is hand held camera work. We like a lot of the same things and have a shared passion for the landscape in which we live. I think I like working more as a pair. There is added satifaction when a thing turns out.
9 Who or whathas a lasting influence on your film/video making?
Good question… Werner Herzhog….Modern Art….Music
Punk, 60.s, Blues ,Soul,….Contemporary Dance….Laughter and Fun…. Beer…Pretty Girls….Boats…Sea..
10. What are your plans or dreams as a film/video maker?
I would like to continue making these films, at last count I had produced since 2008 about 90 films. In that same 3 year period Iproduced the least amount of artist books I
So the films have it- I would like to make better quality films, incrementally introduce other collaborations when it was right, love seeing project though from start to finish- done a lot of community based films- I run a Documentary Film Fest in Kilmore Quay – 3rd year in Sept 2011 like to see that grow. Just keep on truckin really…