Jéronimo Acero is a French filmmaker, who has been making films for over a decade. He has screened at a number of festivals, but I had first seen one of his shorts, “P.O.V.,” on the nobudge.com site. Initially, I had only watched a few minutes of the movie, and was disoriented by the first person shooting style. I had turned it off while watching a scene of a guy eating sushi on the far end of a short table.

Jéronimo Acero in his natural state, camera in hand.

But, a few hours later, that small section of the movie was still in my head, so I went back and watched it again from the beginning. I think that my lack of familiarity with his story telling device had initially turned me away.

After watching it again, however, I found Jéronimo’s use of a first person shooting style very effective, allowing for both heightened, yet intimate moments, even with characters just eating sushi at a table. Through the style (and performances,) we develop a relationship with these characters, one that I don’t think would be possible with a classical style of shooting, (although re-shooting the movie classically would be an interesting experiment.) *How he shot these are discussed in the body of the interview.

“P.O.V.” A film by Jeronimo Acero with Florence Fauquet & Loïc Renard . D.O.P : Yohan Aziza

As a traveler, Jéronimo circumambulated the globe, and used the opportunity to shoot his "Glimpse of" series, (where the one on Louisiana won The Audience Awards festival in 2017.) Through these, he examined “the striking contrast that places like Cuba or Sinai can produce.” His photographic series "The failure of seaside capitalism," produced by Vice, is an example.

You can check out Jéronimo’s website here: http://www.etcestmonvraiprenom.com

And here is his instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/jjeronimoo/

Our conversation...

Miceal:

Jéronimo, I saw your movie, P.O.V., on NoBudge.com and loved the film. Thanks for agreeing to be interviewed. I wanted to start by asking you about movies you saw when you were younger, before you started making movies. Before you picked up a camera, what were some of the early movies that contributed to your mythology, and how did your taste evolve as you were developing as a filmmaker?

Jéronimo:

The first movie that popped in my mind when reading your question was The Truman Show.

I still don’t know really why, this movie is a big part of my personal mythology. Perhaps because it was so visionary (Big Brother, scripted TV..., perhaps because it brings the notion of reality VS screen and the social bubble effect (# and instagram).

Or maybe just because it was a truly good movie led by one of the best actors there is. After that, I’m thinking of Gattaca, and Fight Club. The link between those 3 movies seems to be the theme of illusion. The battle between reality and appearances.

And what best definition can we find of cinema?

Since then, the more important thing for me as filmmaker but also viewer is the trio: credibility- sensibility- subtlety.

You can tell me the story you want as long as it’s credible. And that’s my goal as filmmaker; tell fake stories that sound so true that it could have happened.

M:

“Tell fake stories that sound so true that it could have happened.” In film (in the U.S.) we use the phrase, “Suspension of Disbelief.” According to Wikipedia, Coleridge first coined the phrase in 1817, but for our purposes, and its use in film, J.R.R. Tolkien made the phrase popular again in his essay, “On Fairy Stories.” He also added, “The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed.”

It is funny, this all pretty much sums up The Truman Show, with the producers of The Truman Show looking to maintain the illusion of reality for Truman.

The three movies you mentioned, Gattaca, Fight Club, and The Truman Show, as you already pointed out, all share some overarching themes. In one way or another the characters have all had an idea forced on them. In The Truman Show, we actually see the producers and art directors building the world, the illusion, in front of Truman. Whereas in the others, Gattaca and Fight Club, culture reenforces the illusions for the characters. The character in Fight Club actually had to “suspend his disbelief” in order to become Tyler Durden.

This all ties in to even the title of your short film, “P.O.V.” And it very much ties in to your shooting style, with the shifting first person shooting.

In regards to the consistency thematically, how much of this was a conscious decision from The Truman Show to “P.O.V.?” Did you have this theme in mind when you first decided to make the short? What came first, the shooting style, the characters, or the theme? Or did something else kick start the project?

Jéronimo:

You definitely made a good point here! I think I haven’t joined the dots before your comment, thank you for that.

Now about what came first.

I think it was the duality between what we can publicly say (objectivity) and what we can think and receive (subjectivity).

I even at first imagined a sort of interactive film when you as a spectator can create your own story (and your own subjectivity) by switching angle/camera whenever you wanted. (And also the script had voice over of the characters speaking their feelings.)

So I guess the theme came out first, but real close came the characters, a girl and a boy, and after the shooting style, as a challenge to embed YouTube visual grammar in a movie.

In the end I dropped the idea of fake interactivity because I think that after 2 min you get bored of it (#Bandersnatch) and the voice over didn’t make it through the edit because they didn’t bring something else that we couldn’t get.

M:

And as a side, are there books, paintings, music, etcetera, that contribute to your overall approach to filmmaking, or that have inspired your filmmaking?

Jéronimo:

Funny or obviously, the first book that pop in mind is 1984 ;) Always this thing with appearances.

Speaking of it, The Rocky Horror Picture Show can also be mentioned. That lead us to music which is very important to me. As an editor I know that sound is more important than music and i am definitely sure that Drive wouldn’t have been so successful without is gorgeous soundtrack.

Therefore it’s usually the music that give me ideas of storytelling.

You can see them here : https://vimeo.com/album/3420385

M:

Haha! Yes. 1984 fits right in there with the theme.

Sadly, I have yet to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I have seen so many scenes from it, however, that I have probably seen most of it; just not from beginning to end.

Jéronimo:

Another movie I like close to RHPS is Hedwig and the angry inch. Also a rock musical.

M:

As a kid, my favorite movie was the Laurel and Hardy’s, Babes in Toyland, also known as March of the Wooden Soldiers, and it was not just the musical numbers, but even the score, i.e. Barnaby’s theme song, is iconic. Especially for a 5 year old.

Thanks for sending over the “A Glimpse of” clips. I lived in New Orleans for 10 years, so I particularly like that one for nostalgic reasons.

Jéronimo:

Now that’s an interesting coincidence! I hope my vision of NOLA wasn’t too cliché.

It’s one of my best travels. Almost made me consider living there. But I guess that’s like everywhere else, it’s not the same magic on a day-to-day basis.

M:

New Orleans was able to sustain the magic longer than most places.

Going back to “P.O.V.,” I am always interested in how other writers jump in. I also start with theme, and let the characters grow out of that, with story and style coming last.

We’ve talked about theme, so let’s jump into character and the actors.

So, the performances in this piece were very strong. I had several questions regarding your process with the actors, from casting, to rehearsals, to the final performances in front of the camera on the day of the shoot.

Was the narration still in the script when you were auditioning actors? Was the script finished when you brought the actors on board? How much of the script did the actors get during the audition? Did you allow the actors to improvise during the scenes, or do you prefer actors sticking tightly to the script? Did you have rehearsals, and how do you run rehearsals? How much do you talk about backstory with the actors, or do you let them develop that on their own? Your actors had a lot of chemistry. Did they know each other ahead of time? If not, is that something they brought to the table, or is there something you do in rehearsals to get them there?

I know there are a lot of questions there, so you can pick and choose what is relevant to your process and this project. But what I am interested in is how you approach taking an early script, and the process of taking that script from words on a page to real people populating the world on camera.

Jéronimo:

I’m not a very academic writer, I usually start with the dialogue although I probably should begin with the structure of the story… So, yes the script was written with every coma and the actors first auditioned with small portions of it.

But then came the moment where my jokes or my manner of speaking wasn’t understood or sounded fake in others’ mouths. So I changed my perspective and tried to explain what the situation was in general terms. For example, if my script contained a lot of interjections like ‘yeah, sure, dude,’ but my actor felt forced saying these words, I would tell him, what are your own words when you feel stressed, how do you express yourself when you want to seduce a girl in your real life ?

I was shooting all my rehearsals, so after I was able to re-write the script to fit my actors’ needs and nature. Not sure if this is all clear but it’s the global scheme I went for reaching ‘reality’.

After that part we stuck to the script.

The cast was very important for me, the most important thing, so I auditioned a few men and women. Somehow I needed a real kind of chemistry. I wanted the man to be more shy and the woman more the leader.

Finding an actress who want to lead was not difficult ;) Finding a good actor, more reserved, wasn’t that easy but I did it. For me the movie works especially due to the performance of Loïc, he has this natural shyness/kindness.

Florence Fauquet in the helmet cam on P.O.V.

So I needed to find him a match! After a few auditions Florence came and when I put them in the same room for the first time, the chemistry began to appear. The fact that we began the shooting by the love scene probably helped the natural chemistry!

Also we did a lot of rehearsals to test and try the POV helmet I built to shoot the movie. It was a challenge for them to act and at the same time be the cameraman!

M:

That makes sense. So there was lot of work done in preproduction to get you to that point, where the performances were so natural. Haha! And you saved on having to get camera operators. I had just assumed that you just got camera operators, and the actors had to speak to cameras. Do you have any behind the scene photos with the actors wearing helmets?

Jéronimo:

In the end I could have done that, maybe it would have been easier. But I thought that for the special chemistry the actor had to have the actress in front of her, to sound more natural.

Unfortunately not (in reference to actors wearing helmets,) I can only show you 2 screenshot selfies.

M:

P.O.V. screened at a lot of good festivals, and on NoBudge. Are there any other events coming up for P.O.V.? Also, you do a lot of travel shooting, and other types of shooting. Do you have any more narrative projects in the works? Any more of your scripts you are looking to shoot? Or that you have shot since?

Jéronimo:

Strangely it screened more abroad than in France, maybe because it’s too Parisian, I don’t know.

Lately I’ve been busy directing or shooting or editing more commercial stuff but I’ve just finished writing my next short film! It’s called In-Between and ask the one million dollar question: what does it mean “to be with someone?”

M:

So my last questions for you. I am sure the European festivals, audiences, and film markets are different that the United States, but that aside, do you have any advice for a beginning filmmaker getting their films out there?

Jéronimo:

Probably I would recommend the thing I discover myself : go abroad.

My movie was not selected in French festival but was screened in Russia, Spain, UnitedKingdom and US.

I think that just as the Daft Punk began their career abroad, our generation can be more successful outside our homeland. It’s never been easier with streaming and social medias, and perhaps audience have more curiosity for foreign production.

So for US filmmakers wanted to be screened in france : don’t be « hollywoodian » . The french festival mostly relied on gouvernement subsides and they try to « fight the american cultural hegemony » . That’s why we have a lot of boring Serbian movies for instance.

I don’t know how it goes in other European countries but in France, you have to be an « auteur ».

Hope this can help!