Jamie Martin is a name to look out for, along with his martial-‐art trained fists, as he
makes his directing and writing debut in the greatly anticipated action-‐thriller “Wake
Up”, a short film featuring the violent fantasies and nightmares of a man disturbed
by the mundane structure of today’s world. Jamie was nice enough to take a few
minutes out of his busy schedule to sit down and answer a few questions.
Q. What was the inspiration for “Wake Up”?
A. I think the original spark came from Murnau's Nosferatu (1922) coupled with a
recurring nightmare of my own, where I am constantly being watched be this
creature. Max Schreck plays the vampire creature and appears as a very creepy
leering character who creeps around watching his prey.
Q. “Wake Up” covers so many themes; it’s really a break away from the stereotype
of the average action genre. How do you feel about this? Is this something you
would like to see more in action films, or do you think this is already an excelling
trend?
A. I think action films have evolved from just generic action films with simple plots,
although these films can be very enjoyable because you can turn your brain off and
sit back and enjoy the film, which I'm a big fan of. Crank is great example. Film
genres are becoming hybridised now more so than ever. For example, both Fight
Club and Inception are thrillers with elements of action.
Q. You worked very closely with your cinematographer, Blaine Rennicks, who
previous directed the action film “Guerrilla”, which came out earlier this year. Can
you talk a little about the director-‐cinematographer relationship and how it felt to
deal with someone who could relate to your interest in this genre?
A. A man of strong opinions, I was very grateful to have the experience on the team
it was very valuable to us in the preproduction and during the shooting. Nine times
out of ten we'd be on the same page with thoughts and ideas on how to shoot a
certain sequence or a particular movement or visual style.
Q. One of the most noteworthy scenes in the film is the main fight scene you
choreographed to fine detail. Seeing as how you have experience in martial arts
training, can you just go over the process of how you staged this scene with the
actors, and how was this as a directing experience for you?
A. The fight was great fun to do. I had started the choreography with a good friend
and fellow Kenpoist Fergal Traynor who was greatly involved on the genesis of the
choreography. The style of the fighting would be a raw street fight style. The fight
was to include a varied number of hand strikes, kicks, trapping and grappling. My
own background would be American Kenpo Karate, various different styles of Kung
Fu with cross Training in Jiu Jitsu. Elements of these can seen through the
choreography. The style of the fighting was to be very gritty and real so had to be
simplistic in its application, the theory of the choreography is steeped in the
principles of Bruce Lee's Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do which works on the idea of simplicity
and interception. Our fight was between two highly trained Krav Maga practioners,
Tomasz and Mariusz Oplawski and Sam Dowzard who was totally untrained so what I
did was I choreographed the fight to allow Sam to do basic things and the twins to
do more impressive looking moves. When doing the choreography the reactions are
more important than the actual strikes thrown so the reaction is what makes it look
real. I lived with Sam for a few days prior shooting to teach him a lot of basics from
kicks, punches, throws and defenses for weapon attacks, which he learned quickly.
In the fight, Sam is the underdog and I'm a big fan of the underdog coming out on
top and he does this through his resourcefulness and use of his environment in the
fight while the oppressors have a size advantage.
Q. The actors you managed to bring on board of this project truly are amazing,
such as Sam Dowzard (“Voyager”, 2011) and Conor Marren (“The Attendant”,
2011). How did you manage to work with these brilliant talents on a such a
psychologically deep film as “Wake Up”?
A. I had worked with Conor before a on a short titled ‘Kieran’ which was about
domestic abuse from the point of view of a 6 year old child. Conor was the abusive
father. I knew Conor's intensity would be invaluable to Wake Up. Charlie is such an
important character and vital for the film to work. Charlie must be terrifying and
what makes him terrifying is he is unpredictable and gets pleasure from John's
suffering. There is a lot of physical violence against John. I sat both Sam and Conor
down together and did a lot of work on making the violence look real but also on the
emotional landscape of their relationship. I gave them the violence scene with the
idea of a rape scene because its about power struggle, and sadism. For John
helplessness and pain is what was needed through his performance. Sam's portrayal
of pain through the violence scenes was very impressive, his shrill wails of pain sent
shivers up the spine of one of our camera operators Patrick Clarke.
Q. The film was shot on DSLR cameras, a creative decision that is also attracting a
lot of consideration from both low budget and big budget productions. What was
the reasoning behind this decision, and what did you feel it would add to your
overall vision?
A. DSLRs open many possibilities for low budget filmmaking; the quality for the price
is unrivaled. The big plus for me, my DP would agree, is the availability of different
lenses which can open a lot of options narratively of what you can or cannot do.
Q.What do you hope to achieve with this film?
A. The one thing I want to achieve is when an audience watches the film, I want
them feel totally uncomfortable and physically affected by the pain presented on
screen; in this event the film is a success.
