William the Conqueror is an historical character with great cinematic potential. His life is a succession of dramatic twists and turns – the loss of his father when he is 8 years old, and the conquest of England. Out of this full life, I choose a key period, his youth, for which the ideal representation is through short film.
The script recounts the progression of young William, living a life similar to other youth his age, far from political intrigues, to becoming William duke of Normandy who will take his conquering destiny into his own hands.
History books leave space to the imagination, providing of course we do not betray the historical figure. When William is young, the notion of of bastard is frequent ; legitimacy is in a way the antonym of "bastard". The first sense of this word is pejorative. In the movie however, it also means, through his father's benevolent words, he who comes from mixed cultures: one culture taking him back to the past, the other taking him forward. The word becomes here meliorative. William is mixed race, coming from two cultures : his ancestors' native country : scandinavian Denmark, and latin christian culture in which he grew up. Then, conquering his legitimty then also means for him going past the cultural divides and choosing self-determination rather than the one forced on him by the community. William takes his destiny into his own hands but does not forget the richness and assets of both his cutlures.
The characters are plentiful in the script but the film's point of view must mainly follow that of William. However, I will not hesitate to break away and distance myself from the character. Some shots should be more aerial and set in human reality to allow the audience to breath more easily and apply a global approach to the film and to better feel the character's environment. The acting must be consistent with the global aim of the film, that is to create a credible historical background and bring back to life figures from History who have become characters of an epic and dramaticfictional story. I had the opportunity to direct actors, among them children, in the diffferent productions I have previously carried out. This exercise does not scare me, on the contrary it motivates me for being thorough this time.
The 11th Century that comes and goes through the seasons should be felt within theiscenes. The settings and costumes will be carefully chosen to make the times and characters as believable as possible. The light that enhances andarranges them inside the frame must become an "actress" of the film itself, this acting must have a true ring to it. In this case, I will refer to my experience as head operator in more than fifty short films in the last 8 years.
The work on the sound is also paramount. The editing and sound mixing will link the moret natural sound recording with sober sound effects. The sword-fighting scenes will then be much more fascinating. The music should play its part as it greatly affects the rhythm of the scenes and more generally of the film. It should convey the character's state of mind and accompany his evolution throughout the film.
This project is ambitious but how could it be different considering the historical figure the Conqueror represents.