ONCE: Raise Your Hopeful Voice

"ONCE" gives us permission to do everything we want to do, and say everything we want to say. It was shot on a camera that is below the accepted industry standards. It starred people who'd never acted before. The lighting was terrible. It was about an Irish guy and a Czech girl singing acoustic singer/songwriter songs. It was only 83 minutes long. It didn't have any major drama, or twists, or explosions. It didn't have that cool-indie-film-vibe. 

"ONCE" didn't have a deceptive trailer, it didn't have an A-list cameo, it didn't have a twist ending, it didn't have a clever marketing campaign, it didn't have a dedicated social media team, the director didn't claim to be the "next" anyone or anything.

THE FILM HAD HEART. That's what it had and it's what it has. It's a film that people love and adore and need. It's a film that people watch when they're all alone at 3am. It's a film they watch with the family on a Tuesday night. It's a film they watched tucked up in bed with their lovers on a cold Sunday evening. It reaches everyone. It reached Steven Fucking Spielberg. All because it has heart. It has heart over everything. The camera shakes a bit? The heart is more important. The music isn't as catchy as a well-constructed soundtrack? It has heart. It got an Academy Award because of that heart. 

"ONCE" is proof that we can do it, we can make the movies we need to make and say what we need to say. We can make obscure movies about musicians in Ireland. Of course, we gotta know what we're doing. People with heart make bad movies all the time; but they also make good ones. This movie proves that if we make something astoundingly great, that's enough. It sounds obvious but - we get too caught up in all the junk; thinking about making things that are 'marketable' or 'original' or 'surprising' -- we get further and further from writing and making "ONCE". We become a confused mix of a director like Crowe making "ELIZABETHTOWN" when really if we follow our hearts we can be Crowe making "SAY ANYTHING."

"ONCE" is magic. It really is. The songs are so meaningful, the look in Marketa's eye is so beautiful and the tone of Glen's voice is beyond soulful. And it carries you away into its world for 83 minutes and it has nothing to do with what anyone is taught in film school, or has drilled into them by producers - it's the work of heart, and soul, and hard work, and experimentation and simple honesty. Simple honesty - what a thing. So rare. But what a wonderful thing. How can we get more of that into our work? We can watch "ONCE" a million times. Look at that moment in the film on 15mins 35seconds; the two characters share a look; I don't know whether it was improvised or directed or an accident. Whatever it was, it says everything. It says wow we sound amazing, and it says wow I'm falling in love with you and it says wow, this movie is gonna be awesome! It's the most honest look in the history of cinema and it came in a split second in a little Irish movie that almost nobody ever heard of but in the end the world heard of because it was so honest, inspiring, and unique.

If you want to write a 'hot' script, or you want to impress Hollywood; that's great! I'm excited for you and I would love to see your movie when it's done. But this is about the people who have it in their hearts to tell something simple and small. Because, actually, there aren't a lot of books or blogs or anything that support that. It hasn't been modelled for us enough. And of course, when it is; sometimes the movies are so small we hardly know about them. But "ONCE" exists. It's there. It inspired people the world over, it touched people, and yeah; it made money. It happened because a writer/director and a small crew and a dedicated producer and a wonderful cast made it happen, and they believed in it. They did the night shoots, they worked for little pay and they believed in something they couldn't quite see. It exists. For those of you who have projects in you that are like this; don't hide from them, don't bury them, don't believe there isn't a place for them. The world wants and needs these movies. 


If you haven't already; you can read my interview with "ONCE" Producer MARTINA NILAND right here. 

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Follow The Process And Win An Oscar, SIMPLE!

I really love it when I get taken away by a moment in a film. It's quite rare, but sometimes you'll watch something that really catches something human, and truthful - and it usually turns out to be something you really need, something you can relate to. If you're lucky, it'll make you feel a bit better about the world, about people, about the human condition.

'Once' was a film shot in Ireland for £100,000 - a tiny independent film that was not meant to take the world by surprise. But it did. It won the Best Original Song Academy Award 2008; and goes down as one of the more inspiring and unexpected surprises in the history of the Oscars.

But to look a little closer - here is what the script called for.

Exciting eh? Not really. In fact, you can imagine this script doing the round in Hollywood and everyone saying "Two people sitting and playing a song? boring!" or "You can't film 'like a form of courtship' - how can you direct that?"

Anyways. That's the scene as written. You might think it's good, you might think it's bad. Either way - it's very simple, it's a blueprint, an opportunity.

And then magic happened.

The film up until this scene had been very simple. A guy (Glen Hansard) is busking, a foreign girl (Markéta Irglová) is watching him. They talk. The Next day, she brings her vacuum cleaner to him (as well as busking, he repairs vacuum cleaners) -- he stops singing for lunch, they walk for a while, go to a cafe; talk about music and she takes him to a piano shop.

She sits at the piano, plays around for a bit.. and the the guy gets out his guitar to play one of his own songs. He quickly talks her through it - and then they try playing it together; in the piano place.

What transpires is not anything that could have been written. The perfect blend of the musical performance, the lyrics, the chemistry between the actors, the natural flow of the scene, the camerawork (which is handheld, and would probably be criticised if you handed it in at a film school).

The mixed emotions of the song; its sadness, its loneliness, its hopefulness, it's romance - it's in the song, it's in the performance, it's in their eyes. And this is where John Carney really proves himself as a Writer/Director - he has let the scene unravel and take on a direction that was not in the script. Often, that's the hardest thing for a Director - letting the scene develop as a natural, living process. But in this case, and throughout the movie - Carney was an expert at that, at allowing for an improvisational style and for the scenes and its characters to be more natural and honest.

Below is a video of the song - it's not the actual scene (although much of it is), but it's a montage that gives you a good feel for it. The magic is still there to see.

What's great about this film is its simplicity. It's about two people connecting, it's about music. It was filmed on two cameras, in only 17 days - for around £100,000. It's a perfect example of what can be achieved by independent writers and directors, if only we try.

The film didn't try and cater to a demographic, it wasn't shot in some fashionable 'indie-style' (whatever that is). It was what it was, a lovely little handheld, low-budget modern day musical shot in Ireland. It was truthful, honest, moving---- and cheap to make.

But it did well - REALLY well. For one reason... because people connected to it. It captured something real, something people needed. Especially that song, 'Falling Slowly' - it went on to win the academy award in 2008. When you watch the acceptance speech, make sure you watch it to the end, when Markéta Irglová comes back out and offers up some inspirational words..

Video: Falling Slowly Winning Best Original Song Oscar Benzer: best

I post this as a way of reminding us all, as we enter a new year - that whatever your creative ideas, even if you have an idea like 'Musical set in Ireland, lots of singing around pianos, shaky camera-work' then GO FOR IT. If you follow your vision, believe in it, and do it, who knows.. you might just end up with an academy award, and if you don't - at least you'll have been among the very few who had the tenacity to try.

"A little movie called Once gave me enough inspiration to last the rest of the year."

-Steven Spielberg

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