My dream commission would be to follow a painter around for a year or so. I'd give context to their life and how their work exists within that. I've always loved seemingly unfinished things - there are so many drawings I made which lost something they had before they were completed. I’d want to capture that aspect of the process from the artist and then apply it to myself, presenting the films as an ongoing series of loose vignettes of varying lengths for which I’d also compose the music. They could be seen in any order and would give an overall impression, each vignette giving more and more colour to the person and their work.

timlaingfilm.co.uk

Tim’s filmmaking stands out for its focus on detail, use of natural light, and fluid integration of audio. Earlier in the year we collaborated on a set of films for land&water social reels. We had a quick chat about his process and the influences that continue to shape his journey. 

My creative journey began with drawing. I was lucky to have an art teacher who encouraged me and gave me the confidence to experiment and find my way with it. I loved printmaking and painting but always returned to drawing and the feeling it gave me - there's something so immediate and uncomplicated about it. I found the immersion that it allows so addictive. My love of drawing eventually led me to study illustration at university and work on and off as a freelance illustrator for about 12 years. I began working with video and film about 5 years ago when I was looking for a different way to work and to get out into the world. I also love making music and wanted to work in a way that allowed me to do that.

There’s a film by the Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev called The Return which was a big inspiration on how I wanted to make images when I was drawing. I’m sure that’s carried over into how I work now with film, especially with composition and use of light. The score in that film is incredible as well, the way it guides the atmosphere and feeling. Another inspirational moment was seeing Flypaper by Kahlil Joseph, again it was the combination of music with incredible visuals that created something so immersive and somehow more than the sum of its parts. 

The things I find the most inspiring share a certain quality. There’s something about the music of Steve Reich for example, which has the same feeling as a scene in a Terrence Malick film or a section of a Benjamin Myers book. It’s paying attention to and trying to replicate the feeling of those things which inspires what I want to make.