On My Radar: Nora Kirkpatrick
Furlined director Nora Kirkpatrick reveals her love for movie nights, explains why Dick Tracy is a "work of art", and says there's no discussion about which TV show is the best ever.
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What’s the most creative advertising idea you’ve seen recently?
I saw a video of people dancing on the side of the road. I believe it was for jeans. It was just mesmerising. The colour palette, the hair, the dirt. Was a reminder that it doesn’t have to be the wildest VFX or biggest set build to pack a punch.
What website(s) do you use most regularly?
Pinterest, shotdeck, The Atlantic. Inspo, inspo, education.
What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought?
An outdoor projector. For neighbourhood movies nights. It’s a nice way to get the community together for a chat – but also just to watch Toys, Strictly Ballroom or Hook on repeat.
What product could you not live without?
Artemis. It’s the best way to explain to the team the shape of the piece. Also helps me figure out how I’d like the transitions to be. I use it at home to create a pre-prep-practice-piece. Where I try to film the entire commercial at home using miniatures or friends. Also, good practice for the speed and timing of the spot.
What’s the best film you’ve seen over the last year?
Worst Person In The World. Anything by Joachim Trier. His understanding of the intricacies of the human experience and the perpetual grey zones of relationships is deeply comforting to watch.
What film do you think everyone should have seen?
Dick Tracy. The most amazing production design, costuming, lighting and colours, start to finish. A work of art.
What’s your preferred social media platform?
I only use Instagram. I have a very love/hate relationship with anything to do with phones. In the feature I just made, there’s not a single cell phone. Not one. But now for the love part – I do love Instagram for inspiration.
I find it to be a beautiful way to see things I would have never seen otherwise. I miss that part of life when we had to memorise phone numbers, but I feel like I’m seeing twelve museums worth of art every day on Instagram at the same time.
What’s your favourite TV show?
The Larry Sanders Show. Nothing better. Not up for discussion.
What’s your favourite podcast?
What have you been most inspired by recently?
I recently went to Cassis and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, both small towns in France. I was deeply inspired by the colours of the shutters. The most amazing mint greens and pale blues. Most of my photo roll was just of the colours I saw while there.
If you could only listen to one music artist from now on, who would it be?
Paul Simon. This was my first concert. My parents took me to Graceland. I wore shoes with gems on them. The first three CD’s I owned were Graceland, Barbara Streisand's Back to Broadway, and Sam Cooke’s Greatest Hits.
Who or what has most influenced your career?
The movies my parents showed me as a child have fully formed my comedic outlook on life and my aesthetic outlook on filmmaking. It’s those colours, those feelings, those rhythms that, to do this day, make me feel my most comfortable, and excite me. I love bringing those worlds into the current world and making it a mash up of nostalgia and newness.
What makes you happiest?
Other than being with my son, it’s working with friends. And making things that end up close to what you had in your mind, or that exceed the dreams you had of them. There’s no greater feeling than that.
Tell us one thing about yourself that most people wouldn’t know.
I cannot whistle. No matter what I do, it’s out of my reach.
