Jonathan Musset Cinema Blog: From computing to my first feature film

I have to recognize that I became a director in a non-conventional way. Computer engineer by day, DIY filmmaker by night, involved sometimes to make images, most of the time to edit videos and occasionally to write stories. After many years in computing, I was involved in one of the most innovative open source software community. The digital revolution was the opportunity for me to return to my first passion, cinema. I started my career as a filmmaker in 2011 but I’m still involved in several innovation initiatives. I recently introduced innovative digital methods of traceability to help to synchronize the different production phases of the filmmaking process : from pre-production to post-production.

Believe me or not, I sometimes talk about computing methods during my filmmaking seminars because I think that the two worlds are not so different. In my opinion, the modeling tools of the computing world could help screenwriters to write better stories, or a screenplay can sometimes be seen as an algorithm and a character sheet as a database (end of the debate / I will start to say that computer scientists are artists too).

Entretien pour Magazine Fragil avec Jérôme Romain & Hugo Philippon

In 2011, I decided to make Russian Sandglass, my first short film as a director with the Canon 5D. In 2011, I also wrote the screenplay for GLOBE to talk about hasty judgments on other people's lives and to pay special tribute to an american personality of the 20th century who was relatively unknown in Europe : Helen Keller. This became Midnight Globe, my first feature film. I couldn't have done it without internet. I launched a crowd-funding campaign in 2012 to finance Midnight Globe and it was released in french theaters in December 4th of 2013.

I like to make films in english, with french and english speaking actors. Unfortunately, finding a producer in France for an english speaking feature film is more or less impossible, especially for unknown filmmakers. So, I also became a producer and I created Wayna Pitch, to bring my projects to life and to change the way people looked at it.

Wayna Pitch wishes to make independent Equitable Cinema, in full transparency and in respecting the viewer by revealing that the film was produced with limited resources. To associate viewers with our position, Wayna Pitch has committed to reimburse 50% of its profits (only the Wayna Pitch part of the film profits), mainly to associations connected with the subject matter of the film, but equally to initiatives that support this position. This agreement is above all ethical, but it supports the simple fact that Wayna Pitch is a company that wants to continue to innovate within the audio-visual field.

Here is the trailer of Midnight Globe, my first feature film, released in 2013.

Midnight GLOBE - Trailer from Jonathan Musset on Vimeo.

Nattie is finally old enough to learn how to master the Voyage, a new communication technique used in a popular game of deception known as Wiphala. After beginning her training under the penetrating eye of the mysterious Master Dallé, Nattie soon realises that she is being watched and that a web of lies and deceit surround her. The only way out : jouer au Wiphala!

Here is Page 166, my latest short film, released in 2014.