My Old School
-
“You Couldn’t Write This Story; No One Would Believe You if You Did”: Editor Berny McGurk on My Old School
Brandon Lee, 16, moved from Canada to Glasgow and enrolled in Bearsden Academy after the death of his mother, where he impressed teachers with both his knowledge and his temperament: he protected bullied students and helped bullies reform. In My Old School, director Jono McLeod, a former classmate of Brandon, investigates his story. Below, editor Berny McGurk discusses his first experiences in the industry as a teenager and the importance of not overloading the audience and making sure every reveal lands when telling a true story with countless twists. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2022 -
“It Was Hard to Find Settings That Really Evoked the 1990s”: DP George Geddes on My Old School
In My Old School, director Jono McLeod returns to his past and reassembles his classmates to tell the strange story of a former classmate, an awkward but fiercely intelligent protector who harbored a secret. Below, cinematographer George Geddes talks about the film’s journey from a documentary with dramatized sequences and then to a heavily rotoscoped feature before settling into a mix of live-action and animation. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Geddes: Jono, the director, and I […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2022 -
“The Universality of the Cartoon Form” | Jono McLeod, My Old School
The last two years have prompted much contemplation and reconsideration of the reasons why we make our films as well as the ways in which we make them. What aspect of your filmmaking—whether in your creative process, the way you finance your films, your production methodology or the way you relate to your audience—did you have to reinvent in order to make and complete the film you are bringing to the festival this year? The majority of the interviews in my film were shot pre-COVID, and our aim was to shoot live-action flashback scenes in summer 2020. When the obstacles […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2022
