I started filming my daughter Lotte as a newborn in 1999, every week, usually on a Saturday morning. After 12 years of filming her, and nine years of doing the same with her brother Vince, I turned the footage into the two films you see today. While I always had the feeling that this project was special and that it deserved a wider audience, I never dreamed that it would get this kind of exposure. The attention has been overwhelming: my daughter's film has been on CNN and Jay Leno, I'm fielding numerous interview requests, and the story was on the front page of an Australian newspaper this morning. It's crazy, and a little intimidating. I'm getting four hours of sleep a night and am running off adrenaline. It's strange for the children, who are used to being behind the camera, to suddenly see themselves on television.
Why did I decide to do the project? When Lotte was born, she was changing at such a rapid pace, and I was desperate to keep the memories intact. As any parent knows, the difference between a child at two days old and two months old is startling. When Vince was born, I started filming him too. Other people might make a photo book, but I decided to film. This is the most photographed and filmed generation ever, but what are we actually doing with these pictures? They just sit in a file on the computer. I wanted to try and convey the essence of my children, of how they look to me. We don't often look at the photographs we take, not in the same way that an artist would look at his paintings.
During the period that I filmed them, they didn't know how special it would be. I've discussed the film with them, and Lotte is a little intimidated. Looking at yourself is very strange. Lotte's video has been viewed more than Vince's, probably because she is a girl, because she's older, female. There is more scrutiny of girls. Her video is very sweet. Vince's is more playful, he's pulling faces, sticking his tongue out, being this cute little boy who won't do what daddy says when he's in front of the camera. I love it. One of the reasons that the project has had such an impact, I think, is because it's very moving. People are touched by it because it conveys a feeling of the soul. They've written to me about their own children. The film makes you realise what life is about, in a direct way. There have been other time-lapse films using photographs, but this conveys much more of an idea of the individual, of their personality.
The video is a short cut of a longer film than runs to 30 minutes, in which you hear Lotte talking. It's much more personal. Putting the film together has taken discipline – my alarm is always set for Saturday morning. Sometimes the children wouldn't want to be filmed, and then I'd try to stimulate them. Each week it gave me the opportunity to talk to my kids, to get to know their likes and dislikes. I'd say: "Tell me what you did last week, what you did at school. Tell me about the nicest thing that happened, or the saddest thing." The film in which Lotte talks is too personal, too intense for the internet. It reveals too much. It would work well in a gallery setting, where you can sit on a bench watching, getting to know her.
I think the reception has been so strong because the film speaks to people. It carries a message about living your life, and enjoying every moment of having your children with you. Being the best parent you can be. Don't forget how they once were, how they once looked. I was so afraid that I'd forget how they look. Now I never will. And I'll keep filming, of course.
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