Jasper De Maeseneer is focussed on film

Tell us about Shutterspeed and what the inspiration behind it was?

Shutterspeed is a film about 15-year-old Cas, who becomes completely fascinated by the intern who joins his school trip to the seaside. The intern is also a photographer, and he makes Cas feel incredibly seen. But Cas is not aware of the power dynamic that exists between them.

During the research for the film, we came across stories of vulnerable young boys who were approached by artistic photographers. They were photographed, sometimes suddenly finding themselves lying in a bed in their underwear. They never got to see those photographs, but they went along with it because, for the first time, they felt seen. They felt heard. They felt like they belonged. They finally felt like they had a real connection with someone. And that connection was taken advantage of.

It has been incredibly healing, but at the same time quite confronting, to realise how many people recognise themselves in the film. 

I myself have never been in that exact kind of relationship, but I have been in a relationship where there was a huge power imbalance. It was my first relationship and also my first real experience of falling in love. When I realised that I was actually under this person's power, and that this power had been abused, my first instinct was revenge. But revenge is chaotic. It never turns into what you hope it will give you. You don't feel better afterwards, and it keeps affecting you. It also feels strange when that power relationship suddenly gets reversed, and that is something that happens in our story as well.

Above: The trailer for Shutterspeed, which is currently on the festival circuit.  

In the film, the intern is eventually completely cancelled and destroyed. And Cas is partly responsible for that. This creates a kind of grey zone between victim and perpetrator. I think that is a grey zone that deserves more space in the conversation around consent. The debate can sometimes feel very black and white. As if someone is only a victim when they can clearly prove it with scars or something tangible. But there is also such a thing as psychological abuse. What I really wanted to explore is how certain dynamics from the past can continue to affect the relationships we have today. Things I learned unconsciously in the past are still things I sometimes apply in my relationships now. It has been incredibly healing, but at the same time quite confronting, to realise how many people recognise themselves in the film.

You won in the Film School category; where are you studying, when do you graduate, and why did you want to attend film school?

I graduated this year from the Royal Institute of Theatre, Cinema and Sound in Brussels, where I studied Fiction Directing. I have known since I was very young that I wanted to become a filmmaker. I think very much in film. I always have. What has always fascinated me most is the relationship between performance and image, and the synergy that can happen between the two. That kind of magic is something I am always looking for.

What has always fascinated me most is the relationship between performance and image.

Before film school, I actually spent four years at drama school, where I studied acting. I wanted to experience what it feels like to be on the other side. To understand how intimate that process is, and what you need from a director when you are an actor. I think that experience still influences the way I work with actors today. And RITCS made me get to know the people who also made this film Arthur Moelants[DoP and co-screenwriter], Victor Longin [producer], Chelsea Vennekens[first AD] and Lotte Bosmans [art director].

Above: Shutterspeed director, Jasper De Maeseneer.

The film is dark in its tone, but also quite ambiguous; was that always the intention before starting filming?

Yes. From the beginning, I wanted to make something that felt bigger than a student film, both in terms of the story and the world we were creating. We had entire classes of children, moving buses, boats, horses in the sea, children filming in the water at night, all these ambitious elements. I wanted the film to have a very specific visual and emotional world, but at the same time I didn't want to tell the audience exactly what to think.

There isn't always a simple answer about who is right or wrong.

The ambiguity was very important to me. I wanted the audience to experience the story emotionally first, and only then start questioning what they had actually seen. I think that is also what makes the power dynamic in the film interesting. There isn't always a simple answer about who is right or wrong.

People often say that productions like this, especially with a small budget, automatically create stress and chaos on set. But I actually experienced the opposite. The bigger the production became, the more focused I became on my role as a director. No matter how many moving parts there were, I always knew what I needed to concentrate on. 

Above: Behind the scenes on the shoot on Shutterspeed. 

The performances are great - especially by the main character, Cas - where did you find the cast and how hard was the casting process?

I had already worked with Lou [Goossens] on my previous short film, Alleen Ik, and I felt that our collaboration really worked. For this role, we needed someone who understood the character and could feel what he was going through, but who wouldn't have to dig into his own trauma in order to play him. I saw that happening sometimes during the auditions. Lou didn't have that. He could completely surrender himself to the role, while still being able to step out of it when needed. That was very important. I also had a very good mentor in [Co-Founder of and producer at The Reunion production company] Michiel Dhont, who also challenged me in a very nice way in this process.

We organised the set and the schedule in such a way that the children actually felt like they were on a school trip.

The casting process for the rest of the cast was more challenging. We were looking for a class that genuinely felt like a real class on screen. So, I organised workshops and tried to find the right types of people. The kinds of characters you find in almost every classroom. That allowed us to play with a certain recognisability. 

Then we organised the set and the schedule in such a way that the children actually felt like they were on a school trip, and that they were occasionally being asked to film a scene. We wanted to create the feeling that they were really there, rather than constantly reminding them that they were on a film set. That was challenging, but incredibly rewarding. We had to find a balance between directing them and protecting the authenticity of what they were doing.

Above [right, and top of page]: Lou Goossens, who plays Cas in Shutterspeed.

The full film is not available online at the moment; where and when can people see it in full?

The film is still travelling extensively through the festival circuit. We have screenings and festivals coming up in places like Los Angeles, Greece, Hong Kong, the UK and France. At the moment, we are also having some very exciting conversations with potential streaming partners. So, I hope that we will be able to communicate something about that in the near future.

What was the most challenging aspect in making Shutterspeed?

You would probably think that the biggest challenge was making such a large-scale film on a relatively small budget. And yes, that definitely was a challenge. We had boats, moving buses full of children, entire classes, children in the sea at night, and all these different elements that you wouldn't necessarily expect in a student film. But I actually noticed that I thrive on that. The bigger and more complex the production became, the more focused I felt in my role as a director.

The bigger and more complex the production became, the more focused I felt in my role as a director.

The hardest thing for me was actually making all the nuances of the story clear and, more importantly, emotionally tangible within a relatively short amount of time. I wanted the audience to be completely with Cas, to be moved by what is quite an intense and sometimes difficult story, while at the same time entertaining them and allowing them to enjoy watching the film. I think that balance was probably the biggest challenge. And I think we managed to get quite close to it.

Above: On location for the Shutterspeed shoot.

What did you learn from making the film?

I learned that the scale of a production doesn't necessarily determine how focussed you are as a director. Shutterspeed became much bigger than I initially imagined, but I actually found that the ambition helped me become more focused. No matter how many children, buses, boats or other elements were moving around me, I always had to come back to the same thing: what is the story telling us, and what does the audience need to feel? That is something I want to keep developing in my work. Whether I am making a fiction film, a commercial or something else, I always want the form to serve the feeling and the story.

What do you hope people take away from seeing Shutterspeed?

I hope it creates a kind of awareness around power dynamics, and the fact that power exists in every kind of relationship. It can make you stop and think: wow, in some way I have power over this person. Or maybe I am doing something for this person because they have power over me. And those dynamics can develop incredibly quickly. That doesn't necessarily mean that they are always problematic, as long as you are aware of them.

It is very easy to recognise the power of actions, because you can see them. But words have power too, and that power is much more invisible.

It is very easy to recognise the power of actions, because you can see them. But words have power too, and that power is much more invisible. I think that is something worth being more conscious of.