An Interview with Basile Vuillemin and Simone Marangi
On this episode of our recent series “Écu Alumni: where are they now?” we are going back to 2020 to enter two very personal dimensions of directing; at their gravitational center we find two different authors: Basile Vuillemin, Swiss-French film director and producer, and Simone Marangi, a Milan-based editor and director.
VUILLEMIN, Basile
Soon after introducing himself, it was clear that Basile Vuillemin was bound to enter the world of show business, be it theatre or cinema. Surrounded by cinephiles since birth and raised by two comedians, as a teenager he had already gained some acting experience and was set to dive into it for his career – that is until the tables suddenly turned. In making a 20-minute short film, getting in touch with directing and writing, he discovers a familiarity with being behind the camera that he never felt before whilst standing in front of it. He then proceeded to enroll in film school and ever since he has only directed.
Mr. Vuillemin participated to the European Independent Film Festival back in 2020 with his short Dispersion, selected in the European Comedy Film category. His project — a no budget film — comes from a personal experience he lived whilst travelling in southern France: during a stroll he visited a church in which Holy Mass was supposed to be held, and it was indeed, however, no priest was there to officiate it, only a recording.
“To direct you need to know your subject very well”, he said while explaining that most of his projects tend to originate from his individual discoveries in life. This is also why certain themes usually pop up in his films: loss, grief, the threat that technology and machines pose us as a society are all issues he found himself confronted with. In particular, when asked why he chose death as the main theme of his comedy, he revelaed that he’s always had a little bit of trouble coping with it, and portraying that on film helped him navigate through the emotional shock it can cause.
Les Silencieux, The Silent Ones, is his most recent work, it premiered two years ago, on the 20th of September 2022. It took him 4–5 years to complete this project, given the fact that it’s a longer production than the previous ones and also it took him a long time to master the topic at hand. “I didn’t know I was seasick until I stepped on a boat”, he shares this fun fact while stating how making film can be a way to both tell something about your past self and learn something new about you.
The red thread which tied together both projects during our conversation is the focus on a particular aspect of the narrative process: sound. “Film is audiovisual, but audio comes first”, he says, “Let’s take The Alien, you don’t see the monster until the very end, but you always know it’s close because of sound […] and I feel like sound made this entire film (Dispersion)”. He then told us how he crafted the sound in the film and how crucial it was to make his film funny. At first he made a very cheap sound, but later contacted a sound engineer to have a fancier one made for him; believe it or not, it was the cheap one that made the final cut in the film. He also added that working with sound operators actually helped him realise how to successfully reach his goal sound wise. “Sound can change completely the perception of the story telling and it’s a really powerful tool”.
On a further note, he didn’t leave before sharing some advice: “the sooner you start working, the better”. In this regard, he praised the role that festivals such as ours play in this, from reaching a broader audience to meeting new people in the industry, not to mention the joy of being noticed. Referring to what we just learned about sound he asserts “less is more, don’t do too much”.
In conclusion, for those who are undecided between acting and directing he suggested one doesn’t really need to choose (even though he did — rumour has it he’s not too proud of his acting).
MARANGI, Simone
A narrative approach with a strong visual aesthetic sums up pretty much what Simone Marangi’s essence is as an editor and director. Made in Apulia and then exported to Milan to pursue his studies in Media Design at NABA, he started his career as a video editor, specialising in advertising and fashion. During the following years he moved to music videos as well as TV series, until his experiences led him to co-found Le Palette in Milan, an art collective which promotes collaboration between art and business. As of now he’s a kaleidoscope of all that is above — hope you enjoy the view!
It was the year 2020 when Mr. Marangi took part in the European Independent Film Festival with his music video Alpha for the DJ Thomas Constantin. Conceptualised as “A trip through vice and desire”, the film is a non-stop embodiment of glamourous fashion and visually evocative shots in a dark, captivating atmosphere. This collaboration wasn’t in the cards for him, however, as he stated afterwards, when given carte blanche, he definitely won’t pass the chance. Once he was pitched the idea, he chose a track and developed the whole idea. Coincidentally, at the time he was reading The picture of Dorian Gray, which is why landing this job really felt like everything was falling right into place.
His directing style, as previously discussed, is a mosaic of different influences from his past projects. Working on advertisements both helped and modified his approach when it comes to build the story telling of a production: what kind of imagery to foster and how to bend a narrative structure towards a certain purpose.
When asked if he finds difficult to bring to reality other people’s or a brand’s vision, and if he has any preferences, he was adamantly clear about being enthusiastic about the work itself. Being an editor in the first place “giving shape to a well-defined task comes pretty easy to me”, he shared, it gets tougher when the idea comes directly from you. At the moment he’s working on a script for his first feature film, a thriller, and that’s been somewhat complicated, especially when it comes to paving the way for the different characters in the story, he confessed.
During our conversation, he spontaneously dispensed some of his wisdom regarding this issue. According to him, to communicate efficiently through film, or in general, means to be able to give the viewer the perception of the idea that one had. The rest will come along on its own as long as one knows their style, how to employ it in regard to the main concept. This is the reason why, often times, he doesn’t feel pressured by an audience: he’s already made up his mind.
His message is very simple, simply effective: know yourself and your subject. He reckons he’s content when it’s passion what is moving his hands — isn’t that everyone’s dream?
English
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