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Ruby's Film x Halcyon
Ruby x Halcyon
This film is an indelible video-tribute to a very close friend who was tragically killed.
Her death shocked the world around her.
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I am 33 now ; but when I was 16 a very close friend was killed tragically : my first kiss, the first person to share a joint with, the first person to show me rave music, a big influence in my young maturing world, and in many ways, one of the influences on me to become the alternative filmmaker I am today.
Ruby.
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In 2005 ; capturing moving images was still a hobbyist’s domain - a deliberate act of documentation by very few individuals un-wise enough to waste their lives on it. The following story happened way before smartphones, before social media, before video-phones, before camera-phones ; and before I understood the gravity of what I was really doing.....
The footage I captured back then wasn't grand or cinematic ; it was just us, hanging around the village, getting into typical teenage troubles. We spent our childish days sitting on the pier smoking, writing stories & pictures on stone, hustling locals to sell us more smokes, and sitting on the jagged sea rocks in the worst rainy windy conditions ; at 14 years old, the end of the longer pier was the only place adults wouldn’t find us smoking.
'Ruby x Halcyon'
For years, the clips of us remained stuck on the same miniDV tape i had shot it on, and the weight of the responsibility (holding real unseen footage of Ruby) began to haunt me.
I had a responsibility, as a filmmaker, to make a film, and show this gorgeous footage to her wonderful friends & family.
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As 10 years without Ruby approached, i decided i had to turn the raw footage into a final film ; to create something new & beautiful out of the old.
To finally confront the past and turn this raw feeling into art, I knew I had to return to the source.
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I tracked down and rebought the exact model of the camcorder I used at thirteen. I went back to shoot evocative B-roll, capturing the textures of the world we used to inhabit. I teamed up with close friends to craft a bespoke soundtrack that honoured the musical awakening Ruby gave me. I scanned in her letter, and another pal animated her beautiful scripture into a gif. This wasn't just about editing my old footage; it was about building a bridge between the 33-year-old filmmaker I am now and the teenage kid who lost his friend.
TIP TOP SECRET & CONFIDENTIAL
The coastal village we stayed in was a mythical place of escapism - where we lived secondary lives separated from respective cities. Cultures clashed and ideas rubbed off - as words, games, rituals, gossip and stories were swapped and cross-polinated between cities of developing humans.
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She was such a bright spark,
and everyone around her loved her dearly.
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I sat in her old room, alone, looking at her walls plastered with memories.
Posters, gig tickets, nick-nacks, record player. I saw the word ‘halcyon’ on a poster,
- and it wasn't until many years later that i finally understood what it means.
We spent the night dancing in her room.
I played all of her vinyl. i flipped them all.
We danced and laughed and cried and memorialised her ; belting out all her favourite tunes.
Her dad handed me the vinyl for the last record she listened to, to keep.
I cherished this gesture greatly, which started my record collection that night, and the rest is history.
I still struggle to grasp her not being here now.
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I couldn’t really relate to my schoolfriends as much after all that.
And I was kicked out of school 3 months later for low grades.
It was hard to fit in with my old pals.
I could never explain why.
"Tip top secret & confidential" was what she had written on the top of a letter she sent me.
The scripture was so inspired.
We all miss her madly.
She often features in my dreams.
Every now and then i pretend were all sitting on the rocks.
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Halcyon x Ruby
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