Mark Jenkin's BAIT on DVD? Yes Please!
Over 15 years had passed since its concept was dreamed up by Director Mark Jenkin. Bait has been a shocker to the film industry, not least because it was done on a low budget, filmed with Kodak film stock and shot on a Bolex wind up camera.
Early Day Films got on board and the hard work, the vision, the incredible team and the aligning of the stars have meant that BAIT has taken the film world by storm. And now it gets its general release on DVD!
You can read about BAIT all over the internet so I shall let you find a much more eloquent article about the film and its journey than what I could write.
I did, however, get some time to interview Kate Byers, one half of the absolute powerhouse of a team that is ‘Early Day Films’. (The other half being the lovely Linn Waite)
On the eve of the DVD release, I thought it a good time to update my Blog-O-Gramme…
Ed Rowe as ‘Martin’
Hello, who are you and what do you do?
I’m Kate Byers and one half of producing duo Early Day Films with Linn Waite. Bait is our debut feature film as producers.
So, Bait seems to be going from strength to strength, how has its journey been for you?
When raising money to make a film you spend time asking potential investors to imagine the film going from strength to strength through festivals, reviews and finding distribution and reaching an audience in the cinema. I’ve been blown away by what that actually feels and looks like when it happens!.
As we moved through the edit the craft of building the film is absorbing, intense and highly creative and I felt we had something special with no idea how the rest of the world could respond to it.
So watching it at the World Premiere in Berlin with more than 600 people was an exhilarating moment. I love watching the film with different audiences and seeing how it lands for them.
A break between takes. I loved the scenes in the pub, they are some of my favourites in the film.
It’s a visually stunning film, filmed in a rather unique way. Did you have any idea what it would look like before going into production?
Thank you. Mark’s eye is extraordinary. For Linn and I to produce, it’s at the heart of what you do to intimately know and understand what you are reaching for and what you are making. So in that respect we had a good idea of the bigger picture and the aspiration of how it might look. We’d worked closely with Mark for a number of years and so knew where we were heading.
With the specifics of the process it’s not until the film is processed that you actually see what you have. Mark sent us a screen grab of each role of film as he processed it and so day by day we saw the images begin to emerge. It was one of my favorite parts of the process. As the film shapes in edit you see all the things you didn’t know when you filmed start to work. For example we shot a garage door with No Parking scrawled across it. The shot that is in the film has a movement in it from the processing that makes the message ominous in a way that hadn’t been designed but adds and builds to some of the tensions in the story.
You asked me to take production stills during the making of this film, why did you think it was important to have a photographer in this role?
To have the process captured is more than a record of the production. Stills are the launching pad for everything that happens once the camera stops rolling. Stills form part of what you need to bring partners to the table while the film is in edit in order to build the strategy for marketing and festivals.
Kate and Callum doing the important unseen things of making a film.
Did you mind that I used a digital medium as opposed to the analogue form?
No. And yes! We wanted to work with you and that was how you are working. You spent time with us in pre-production and so had an understanding of who we are, how we work and from that we felt you would be a fit with production. Taking stills is hard because of the pace of production. You were a great fit with the team and you can see that in the stills. An analogue capture of the stills together with digital keeps the ethos of the work moving through as many visual elements of the film as possible.
How have you used the production stills since the shoot?
The stills were perfect to show our partners during production and show them a glimpse of what was to come. They have been part of our deliverable materials to our distributor for use in Marketing and it was fantastic to see a still you took of Edward Rowe as Martin blown up to fill the screen during a Q&A session at BFI Southbank. .
Mark and his Bolex, taken on the first day of the shoot.
What value have you found the images bring to what it is you do?
They help curate how you are perceived by others in terms of who you are and what you are doing. A picture is worth a 1000 words. We can show what we do and set a tone for our websites, social media and marketing.
What exciting things do you have in the pipeline? Anything juicy on the horizon?
Lots!! Watch this space.
We have some new features that we are gearing up for.
You know I will! Thank so much for your time in answering these questions, I know you’re super busy and I cannot wait to see what happens next for Early Day Films!
Mark has an incredible studio in Newlyn.
Bait is available to pre order here, as well as some incredible merchandise and the rather beautifully haunting soundtrack. It’s general release will be on Jan 20th 2020.
Linn and Kate, I love ‘em.