New Talent: Alethea Jones

Alethea Jones studied for a BA in acting but ended up spending most of her time stalking the directors at work. She soon realised she wanted to be behind the camera, rather than in front of it. Turns out it wasn't such a bad decision. A string of short films and awards later, the Australian director has just signed to Jungleboys and signed off the script for what will hopefully be her first feature film. Addison Capper spoke with her about knife fighting, choreography and the cutest of lemonade stands. 

 

LBB> How would you define your style of directing?

 

AJ> Meticulous but fluid. I prepare and plan every detail of my productions and I find, ironically, that it frees me up to recognize better ideas that present themselves on the shoot. I also make sure my sets are enjoyable - otherwise, what's the point?

 

LBB> You've recently joined Sydney-based Jungleboys and have turned your focus to long-form projects - how has the move been so far and what can we look forward to seeing from you soon?

 

AJ> Joining Jungleboys has been like a port in the storm. I love their creative ethos. In the near future you can see a number of sketches I was lucky to direct for Jungleboys' new show The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting. I've also been pitching on commercials, which has been a hoot - I'm pretty excited to get into that short form of creativity.  Finally, I've just locked off the script for what I hope will be my first feature film in Australia and there's a project in the States that we're hoping to shoot in June. All comedies. 

 

 

LBB> When did you first realise that you wanted to be a director?

 

AJ> I realised I wanted to direct when I was doing a bachelor degree in acting. I just wanted to hang around the rehearsals and watch the directors at work.

 

LBB> Talk to me about Lemonade Stand - I've watched it countless times and still laugh out loud at it. It's so funny and light-hearted, but also quite dark! What was the inspiration behind the storyline and characters? 

 

 

AJ> Thanks! Tim Potter, who plays the grandson, actually wrote that film – I couldn't tell you where his impulse came from. I'm a straight up director and I love collaborating with writers. The film was made for Tropfest but it's been travelling around other festivals since then.

 

LBB> Choreography plays a big part in some of your work - 'Tissue' is the first and (possibly) only project that uses choreography to demonstrate cell biology. From where did the love of that technique stem? 

 

AJ> It all actually stems from Rock Eisteddfods (dance and drama events staged by school pupils). I wrote and choreographed two of them for my little country school and we had surprising success, considering we had no dance or drama in our curriculum. We would rehearse at 7am, before school started. We ended up beating the largest school in the region… I eventually moved over to that larger school and started choreographing theirs! It was there that I learnt about true structure and choreography under a wonderful teacher. 

 

 

Choreography has stayed with me right through acting school (where I choreographed all of the school’s plays) and film school (where I choreographed my peer's film clips and musicals). This most recently culminated in my bridal waltz that had a flash mob of 30 people with giant love hearts. Expect that online in the coming months…

 

LBB> Some of your work incorporates animation into real-life film - why do you enjoy bringing the two techniques together?

 

AJ> Unlike theatre, film and TV don’t place limits on the imagination. So why not use animation and really explore an idea? 

 

Also, given that my shorts have been low budget, I've found that with animation I can execute a moment quite impeccably rather than compromise with live action. For example if I want to create like a jar of dirty lemonade with creatures in it or show a kid jumping around a house with a knife (as I did in  Lemonade Stand) or explain biotechnology (as my documentary Tissue did) – or create a massive balloon factory (from the Tropfest 2013 trailer), I can.

 

 

LBB> You've won your fair share of awards, including Audience Choice and Best Comedy at the 2011 St Kilda Film Festival. How do you feel winning these awards has impacted on your career as a director?

 

AJ> Those awards were massively encouraging. They were indicators that I should stay the course. And at the start of a career like film directing, it's really hard to keep generating work without a little encouragement from somewhere.

 

LBB> Which piece of work are you proudest of and why?

 

 

AJ> I'm most proud of a short I directed and edited called ‘When the Wind Changes’. I made it with my buddy Richard Davies. He’s an actor and writer, but we couldn't get a break in our respective industries. Rick came to me with the first draft of When the Wind Changes – it was rough but undeniably funny, so we spent about 10 months honing it. 

 

Nobody wanted to work on it with us – producers said it wouldn't work, editors wouldn't touch it and we didn't know any production designers. We actually ended up winning the IF award for best short film and the People's Choice at Flickerfest. At St Kilda, it also won best comedy. That film was instrumental in me landing a feature deal in America. We are currently turning ‘When the Wind Changes’ into a feature as well. 

 

To see more of Alethea’s unique and hilarious work, please visit her website.