DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Monark, a story I have longed to tell about Love, Friendship, Betrayal and Revenge. As the old saying goes "The love of money is the root of all evil", and how far will some people go acquire it.
The message delivered by Monark is a message of Contentment - satisfaction
with what one has. The story begins by portraying the love between Jimmy and
his wife Barbara, and the great friendship between Jimmy and his best friend
Mark. Perfect relationships, but can it stand the greatest test of all, "the
love of money"? This is the question Monark puts across, as Mark betrays
his friend Jimmy because of treasure.
I believe that what ever you do, you will have a reward on this earth. I decided
to use an African myth that says, "When one is murdered, his or her spirit
can be summoned to avenge the murderers".
The title Monark is the same as Monarch, but the spelling was changed to create
curiosity. In Africa, Kings and Chiefs have final say in delivering Justice,
so Monark was used as the final word.
Since shooting on film was above our budget, I decided to take advantage of
new technology and use Digital Video (DV) as the medium for my message. However
feature length filming practices were still followed. As a film maker and
director, this film has stretched and enhanced my career via the new challenges
and experiences confronted, which I will treasure forever.
THE MAKING OF - MONARK
GENESIS
I did the first draft of MONARK in 1995 right after producing my first movie “Twinkle of an Eye” in Ghana. The project was abandoned due to lack of production funding.
I had realized that people are not satisfied with what they have. They would do anything to become rich, even to the extent of betraying their love ones. I decided to just find a way to encourage people to be happy with what they have, and also to draw attention that people should watch out for their relationships. The film that really influenced me to write MONARK was GHOST starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg.
One these men has a Camera...
The other... a vivid imagination.
Leading lady Ndidi turns it on for the cameras.
EXPERIENCES
I acted in a short drama at the age of 11, when I was in class 5 In Ghana, and won an award. That was when I got Interested In acting. I then started writing short drama scripts, and when I entered into the secondary school, I joined the school drama group. The school started using some of my scripts and I ended up directing them. I started writing scripts for different drama groups and after sixth form; I started writing short student films. I realized that I could pass Information to the society through films so I started seeing myself producing and directing films.
I moved to Switzerland in 2000 to join my wife, and in 2003, decided to make my second film. I picked up the MONARK script and did about four more re-writes mainly to work it into a better structure. After sending the script to two more people, to scrutinize it, the final screenplay was developed.
Will had been on the job too long, and was
beginning to lose his sense of self.
Johnathan found death played havoc with
his complexion.
FUNDRAISING
It wasn't easy for me to get the funds to produce MONARK. I'd saved some money towards this but it wasn't even enough to shoot. I had a lot of meetings with different people to present my proposals and still found it difficult to get the film off the ground. Towards the end of 2003, I met with some family friends, Mr. and Mrs. Lave in Zurich and after introducing my plan to them, they were interested in financing the film and adding my own money to what they gave, the project began.
Director Ed explains the dangers of
being a poor Boom Operator.
O! Sole Mio!....
CASTING
Most of the principal cast came from Switzerland, Leading lady Ndidi, was flown in from London. The casting was conducted by four of us: Princess Joy Addy and John Cobbina, both from the UK, Beatrice Lave and myself. It was conducted In Zurich on the 28th of February 2004. For some members of the cast this was to be their first time working on a feature length film.
Exec Producer Kelly discovers that the
film business isn't all girls and glamour.
Whilst Make-up Artist Belen
seems perfectly happy.
So.. Going anywhere nice on your
holidays then?
LOCATIONS
Relatively painless as we were shooting in Zurich. My wife and myself did this. We scouted in and around Zurich, taking pictures for almost three weeks to get the locations that we wanted.
They say 'Blondes' have more fun...
Whereas men with Zebra print bedding
...don't.
CREW
It wasn't easy to get crew because MONARK was a low budget film, and I couldn't pay employees a high rate. At the last minute, I was able to secure the Cinematographer, William Reeves through David Deans in Bedford, UK, who agreed to come on board. The shooting of MONARK started on the 4th of June, and lasted almost 4 months.
OK. The story explores the ongoing human
struggle with duality, as it functions within
a semi-domestic milieu of post nuptial
para-harmony, set against a backdrop of....
Imagine his disappointment when he arrived
for the topless dancing.
THE SHOOT
William Reeves, the Director of Photography, did fantastic work. There were days that we had to work for 16 hours continuously, and he still remained focused. He knew the angles that I wanted and he really gave me that. Because of Will's rich experience, the shooting was very smooth without much argument, for he easily understood what I needed.
Although no animals were harmed, a few
Boom Operators died during the making
of this film.
POST-PRODUCTION
The editing and temporary sound mix followed immediately after that at KEMF studio. CG effects, dialogue looping, digital colour timing and other post-production tweaks continued on until May of 2005. Will is currently being deprogrammed and is unlearning Swiss.
I got it! I got it! I got it!................. okay.. I Don't got it...
BACK TO TOP
THE SOUNDTRACK
For the soundtrack, different musicians were gathered to come up with songs that were a fusion of both African and Western sounds and rhythm. This took us about three months to work out, since we needed proper planning. I also brought on board Markus Bruess, a renowned trumpeter from Spain, who allowed us to use one of his compositions: Devocion, as the theme for the film.
As a writer, Producer and Director of MONARK, I learnt a lot from making this film. This was my first time that I was directing a large number of actors. I also did the sound engineering during the music scoring. At the same time I directed the music with Will to develop a musical structure that would suit the film.
If you're not a Surgeon could I ask you to
leave please! Yes! You drinking the Sprite.
And the pale bloke trying to ignore me!
TRIALS
It wasn't easy working with people on a low budget film, because you end up not having total command, but with time I formed a strategy to be able to let them come to set. Because I was producing and directing at the same time, it was very heavy on me not having an assistant producer to take over some of the load. Will, my DOP was the one who most of the time come in to help me by assisting the directing while I was occupied in other production activities, just to keep the shooting going. He was a pillar for me, and I cherish his great help and experience.
The cast realise too late that Zurich is
no substitute for L.A. Or Borehamwood
for that matter.
LESSONS
My weakness before shooting MONARK was that, I easily lost confidence in the midst of disappointments, but while shooting this film, I learnt that, in times of difficulties come greater Ideas. As people disappointed us by not turning up or leaving us mid-shoot, I became frustrated, but Will, always encouraged me and with a minute meeting, greater ideas came up which were far better than before. I am now confident in directing any film given to me due to the experience gained from shooting a low budget film.
Kelly had heard the industry was wild but
even he had to admit that he was shocked
by the scale of Will's coke habit..
THE FUTURE
I am now working on my next script; "You and I", as I work on the sales of MONARK, and I am putting down better planning. Monark was shot on a DV but I am planning to shoot this one on a Digi-Beta or HD. My desire is to come out with a film every other year.
The 'Tec discovering that someone has
stolen the Camera, wonders if Ed's
Plan 'B' will work.. Then discovers that
Plan 'B' is gone too.
GEEK OUT
- Hardware
MONARK was shot on a Canon XL1S Generating 46 Hours of rushes - and edited on a Apple G5 Dual 2.5 PowerPc with 2 Gig of ram
Storage was 2 x 50g 1 x 320Gig LaCie D2 FW400 Drives with a Breakout box
- Software
Editing - Final Cut Pro 4.5 HD
Sound - Logic 6.1 / Pro Tools
CG - LightWave 7
Compositing - Combustion 3 - In case of emergency - FCP Rescue
The Mac survives to this day...