{"id":11646,"date":"2012-10-05T12:03:03","date_gmt":"2012-10-05T12:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/?p=11646"},"modified":"2013-04-17T20:19:09","modified_gmt":"2013-04-17T20:19:09","slug":"the-actress-director-ben-charles-edwards-acts-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/2012\/10\/05\/the-actress-director-ben-charles-edwards-acts-up\/","title":{"rendered":"THE ACTRESS: Director Ben Charles Edwards acts up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben Charles Edwards is a British film director, screenwriter and photographer, whose love of vivid colours and enhanced postproduction have been likened to that of David LaChapelle. Wonderland<\/em> caught up with the man himself to chat find about more about The Actress, his new short film, and his place as a judge on the Guardian's Short Film Festival Awards.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

You previously worked in photography, specialising in incredibly vivid colour and enhanced post-production. Do you still take photos?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not so much, I think I only bothered with photography because I couldn't afford a film camera. My photos had stories and characters, People mistook them as film stills, but this was before I was making film. Now my films look a little like my photography.<\/p>\n

Why the change of direction into motion picture?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it was always going to happen, I studied the principles of photography before being asked to leave my college – but you know, the same principles apply across stills and film\u2026 Film just allowed me to play around with movement and light a little more and then later on stories also. After my first film The Town That Boars Me in 2008 – photography just seemed too restricting.<\/p>\n

How did you begin to make your first short films?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I bought a pig nose for \u00a38, stole 3 mini DV cassette tapes and begged a bunch of friends to help make a 15 minute long musical about a rape-y 'pig boy'. The pig attacks Kelly Osbourne, Zandra Rhodes and others for their high heel shoes. I was shocked by the response and coverage from a cheap ridiculous film. Though I love it, I guess I'm glad others do too. <\/p>\n