BLANK CANVAS
COMING SOON IN 2025
Film trigger warnings: Bloody imagery, depictions of death.
The Story
Inspired by ‘character study’ narratives such as Tár, Whiplash, and Black Swan, where creatives mentally deteriorate after sacrificing everything for their craft, Blank Canvas tells the story of a queer female artist struggling with her first major painting and its impending deadline. The Artist has made a series of sacrifices including quitting her job and leaving her girlfriend with no choice but to breakaway, as well as stepping away from her already successful brother who has been her stepping stool into the industry so far.
Determined to do it on her own, she conceals herself in her cluttered bedsit and gets to work. Initially, she struggles with a lack of inspiration, until she begins to experience a series of gruesome hallucinations that are potentially a result of a head wound she obtained prior. Ultimately, she decides to use them for her benefit and creates a piece of work she has been trying desperately to complete, using the blood from the ‘dead body’ of her ex-girlfriend that appears in her bed. The film is an exploration of how the artistic process can often be unhealthy, and a demonstration of the lengths queer women often have to go in order to make it or be heard (even negatively) in creative industries. The main question is: is it worth it, even if you have to destroy yourself in the process?
The Characters
The Artist desperately needs to complete her painting, and to do that she believes she has to completely isolate herself. However, she must also acknowledge the hallucinations she is experiencing, and ultimately use them to her benefit.
The Brother, younger than The Artist, is a current successful artist, who has been her stepping stool into the industry up until this point. His concern for her is genuine, but she has reached a point where she needs to ‘make it on her own’.
The Ex-Girlfriend has often been brutally honest with her about how unhealthy her artistic process is; this is what ultimately causes the pair to break-up, as The Artist will always put her craft before anything or anyone else.
The Making Of
Directors Note
As our first original fiction narrative, Blank Canvas allowed us to work with actors properly for the first time. As a director, this was the biggest step I would have taken so far. Blank Canvas, much like Achilles, highlighted my passion for building strong relationships with the cast (and crew) of my films, striving for a comfortable atmosphere on set, and conversations amongst creatives to develop deeply thought out characters, allowing them to authentically live in the world we create. Developing this narrative with Erin was extremely rewarding, seeing it through to being the first film we publicly screened at The Deaf Institute Manchester in 2023. My gratitude towards Maia Gibbons, an actress we have a long relationship with, grows larger as she continuously trusts and allows me to push her which has allowed our skills to grow and melt into each other, leading to our filmmaking journey blossoming into a whole work of art in its entirety. – Wren.
Full Credits
The Artist played by Maia Gibbons
The Brother played by Harry Woods
The Ex-Girlfriend played by Emily Morgan
Directed by Wren Fry
Written and Produced by Erin Clark
Cinematography by Levi Holton
Edited by Wren Fry
Sound Recorded by Mia Hughes, Harry Woods, and Dani Driver
SFX Make-Up by Emily Morgan
Composed by Carla Polistina
Script Edited and Co-Produced by Joshua Faires
Olidora Productions 