Interview: Barnaby Blackburn on his new short 'Pylon'

In Barnaby Blackburn's Bafta qualified short film, Pylon, what feels like a familiar and hazy summer’s day quickly shifts when two children are confronted by an older gang. The day quickly slips into the clothes of a tense and unforgettable afternoon. Made with Ken Loach’s production company Sixteen Films, the film has echoes of Loach’s own themes; those that always seem show us the power of family, whilst reminding us of just how quickly the darkness can creep in…

So what would you say was the inspiration behind the film?

I have a slightly peculiar fascination with pylons! I grew up near Halifax in West Yorkshire and I used to play football on the top of the moors where pylons would surround the pitch. I very clearly remember my mum saying ‘never go near the pylons’ which I had no intention of doing! My mum had obviously read something or heard something at the school gate and constantly warned me not to climb them. Since then, I’ve always been quite fascinated with them, they dominate the skyline in the English countryside. I also remember those baking hot summer days when I was growing up and how we would play in fields and would likely find ourselves in precarious situations with the local lads. Me and my brother would get picked on and those memories fuelled the idea of what would happen if one of these confrontations from my own childhood were to happen in a field with a pylon?  

Would you say the film is autobiographical?

Not exactly, no one ever forced me to climb a pylon but there are moments which are directly taken from my childhood. The character of Benny (played by Louis Thresher) plays a prank where he slaps Thomas’s (Tommy Finnegan) face and that really happened to me; I can remember the sound of the slap and the heat of the day very clearly. I think there are moments in your childhood that force you to grow up a little bit because you’re not wrapped in cotton wool anymore, you’re out in the big bad world. Those sorts of incidents went into the making of the film. Being a red head myself and seeing Thomas be teased and called ‘Carrot’ because of his red hair was slightly based on myself I suppose. I wanted to put a bit of myself into it, but also wanted it to be universally understood. We all remember those moments from childhood where we were picked on or forced to do something in a group that we didn’t want to, they feel very sensory because they’re so formative and foundational to our development. 

Given the film’s tense subject matter, did you enjoy the process of shooting? 

Any time I get to make a film it’s a total joy despite the suspenseful nature of this project. Pylon is the most ambitious film, technically speaking, that I’ve made because we did long sequence takes which required a lot of planning and choreography. The blocking of the actors and the camera movement was a big challenge which I really enjoyed figuring out with my team. It’s like a combination of mathematics and dance; you’re trying to combine something very mechanical and methodical with something that involves artistic flair. I spent a lot of time in the field where most scenes were shot with a stopwatch working out the correct timings then when it came to the shooting we had a tracking vehicle for some of the shots so there was a lot to consider. 

The cast are terrific - how did you find the actors you wanted and how did you know when you had found the right actors to suit your vision? 

Our casting directors, Sally McCleery and Ross Barratt, are both terrific at finding and working with younger actors so we had an enjoyable casting experience. Children are susceptible to picking up habits from school productions or drama groups and we were looking for more naturalistic performances so authenticity was my North Star when it came to casting. Tommy has a subtlety and ability to convey his feelings through micro gestures and facial expressions which we were very impressed by. Louis was able to bring a looming and quietly threatening energy to his role which I really liked. I had to bear in mind the characters of Thomas and Benny needed some degree of connective tissue as it’s revealed later in the story that they’re brothers. It just so happened that the two actors we liked best bore a resemblance to one another. The physical and emotional stamina of Sara (played by Olivia Lynes) was very impressive – she has a scene where she runs from the field back to her house and was running 200m per take of which there were several. I don’t think an adult would do that!

Sara carries a toy bunny everywhere and we see a lot of hares throughout and at the end of the film – what is the relevance of the rabbits?

It started as a story-led idea; I wanted there to be a reason why the gang of boys are in the field in the first place. One of them carries an air rifle so I thought they may be there to shoot at hares and birds as I witnessed older kids doing when I was out playing as a child. The inclusion of the hares gradually became more of a symbolic thing to represent vulnerability and innocence and the idea of something being preyed upon as the children are being. It was written in the script that Sara would carry a teddy bear but then the production designer, Ishbel Mull, came up with the idea of the toy rabbit instead and I liked the slightly perverse concept so it sort of snowballed from a physical idea to a more metaphorical one. 

The film was made with Ken Loach’s production company, Sixteen Films. What was it like working with that team? 

I’m a huge fan of Ken’s films; his style of film making has been integral to the fabric of my work. Through my cinematographer, Robbie Bryant, I managed to meet up with a member of the team at Sixteen Films towards the end of the pandemic. I showed them the script for Pylon and fortunately they took to it and we got to work pretty quickly. It’s been an organic way to start working with a company whose work I’ve long admired; it’s been such a pleasure and a joy.

How does it feel to know the film has qualified for a BAFTA?

We showed the film at numerous film festivals, which is how you qualify, then the consideration for nomination will happen in the next couple of months. It’s very exciting for us but when you set out to make a film it isn’t with that end game in mind, it’s nice to imagine the film might be so well received that it’s part of that conversation but first and foremost you just want to make the best film possible. It’s great to know that Pylon has struck such an emotional chord with people, and it would be a huge feather in the cap to receive such an accolade. 

Are there any future projects in the works?

Yes, I’m working on my first feature film which follows a middle-class English family who take in a family of Ukrainian refugees and the cracks in family dynamics which come to light as a result of this. We’re in the process of finding our cast and getting the finance in place and if all goes to plan, we look to start shooting in summer next year.