Fabrizio Quagliuso has been a photographer since 2005 and finds photography to be a wonderful way to express himself and a brilliant form of story telling.
In his latest photography project, he wanted to tell a story about friendship.
He decided to experiment with a different medium and, with the help of some friends from the film industry, he developed his project into a short film, with a story of its own.
When I recently interviewed him, Quagliuso described film making as a natural progression from photography, but also highlighted a number of key differences.
For example, he described photography as “very much a lone thing”.
However, creating this short film was much more of a “group effort”, in which 40 people helped him with various aspects of production.
Although, the progression to this different medium was “extremely complicated”, Quagliuso found it easier to link back to his previous experience as a photographer, and decided to picture each scene of the movie as a photograph.
This was a language that he knew and then the storyline developed from there.
It was also a substantially longer process.
As a photographer, he would be able to take all his photos in around an hour, however, when producing the film, he required a lot more equipment and people, and would have to film for much longer periods of time.
Despite all these more difficult aspects, Quagliuso also found some new, fascinating ways in which he could convey emotions such as music, sound design and the rhythm of the film itself.
After this long journey, his finished film: ‘Would you rather?’ explores the themes of friendship and of not conforming to societal norms.
He also describes his film as ambiguous which allows watchers to “make their own connections, their own ideas”.
Quagliuso wanted his film to be seen by others.
The screening process started in a small cinema in Acton, and he was quickly overtaken by emotion when seeing this film that he had worked on for so many months finally on the big screen.
He was surprised and excited by the many different reactions he received from people watching his film.
Most recently, his short film was chosen to be screened as part of the Ealing Film Festival.
This is a great local festival which portrays his talent and that of many other filmmakers.
His experience of making a film was so special and fulfilling that, when asked what’s coming next, Fabrizio Quagliuso instantly answered that he “really wants to make another film” and already has started making notes and playing with ideas for the themes and emotions that he wants to express next.
He is also keen to use his newfound knowledge to improve his craft as a filmmaker.
Overall, Quagliuso found making the leap from photography to film very fulfilling, and an incredible way to express himself, his emotions and his ideas.
