Rob Ayling is an award-winning freelance filmmaker. With a background in Art and Film Philosophy, Rob graduated with a BA Hons from UWE Bristol during which time he started the first film based radio show for Hub Radio. This led to him being commissioned to write film reviews and articles for Intuition Magazine. In 2014, he graduated from the Met Film School with a Masters in Film Directing. Rob has worked on television, corporate videos and feature film productions in different roles – camera operating; sound recording; editing; and storyboarding. He has directed short films (live action/animation) some of which have won awards and been selected at prestigious film festivals such as the BAFTA Recognized London Short Film Festival, Aesthetica Short Film Festival, Bath Film Festival and the East End Film Festival. Rob’s favorite and influential filmmakers are Christopher Nolan, Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock. On a personal note, Rob is a former Starbucks Barista champion.
We interviewed Rob in March 2017 and thought it would be great to follow up with him. Check out the interview below.
Hi, Rob! Thank you for granting the interview. We see you’re working on a new project. We’re excited to speak with you about Dreaming Whilst Black. It’s a 9-part comedy mini-series. What inspired it?
You’re very welcome! Dreaming Whilst Black tells the story of a young filmmaker called Kwabena, a passionate, yet naive individual who struggles to navigate between achieving his dreams and reality. Adjani Salmon, who portrays Kwabena & co-writes the series with Ali Hughes, was very much inspired by HBO’s Insecure & Netflix’s Masters Of None. Diversity and equality in the film industry is very much a concern at the moment and Adjani wanted to make a show that challenges stereotypes and archetypes of creatives either working or trying to get their break in the industry. I feel the web series achieves this, in both a darkly comedic and realistic manner.
There’s an amazing team behind this series, with various directors. You directed the fourth episode. How do you carve your own niche when there is a project with multiple directors?
When I was brought in to direct Episode Four of Dreaming Whilst Black. One of the episodes for the web series had already been filmed, therefore a certain colour palette and tone had already been established. However, despite this, I was given creative freedom to interpret the material as I saw fit. I was very fortunate to direct a screenplay which had a story I could very much relate to. The script has a great balance of comedy and drama already but also offers plenty of opportunities to show the comedic beats rather than have characters tell them. Personally, this is essential in any screenplay I read, as I feel visual storytelling is so key to an audience’s engagement, and from my portfolio of work, its where I work best as a director.
Tell us about the episode you directed. We know you can’t give anything away. Share what you can.
Episode Four, titled ‘Family Dinners’, sees Kwabena attend a typical Sunday dinner with his family, which quickly turns into a heated discussion with members of the older generation, who are not too pleased about his decision to be a filmmaker. Anything else I say would, unfortunately, spoil the episode. ‘Family Dinners’ is very much a standalone episode which I feel anyone can watch and immediately engage with, as I feel it’s very relatable to a lot of young creatives today
Why is this mini-series so important?
Dreaming Whilst Black is an accessible mini-series which is relatable, fun and (at times) a hard-hitting window into one of the biggest problems we face in the industry today – equality. As a half-Indian filmmaker, I have had my fair share of discrimination and ignorance both within and outside of the film industry. Dreaming Whilst Black gives us the opportunity to tackle these issues head-on in a creatively inventive manner and allows the audience be included in a conversation that needs to be shared and discussed.
Many people find it a challenge to navigate between dreams and reality. They often end a project early because reality doesn’t fit the narrative of the story they are trying to tell. What are your thoughts on this?
There is a quote from Alfred Hitchcock that has always stuck with me; ’Drama is life, with the dull bits cut out’. Not only is this certainly prominent in his films but with modern cinema also. With any project you have, you want to bring a believable reality to the audience. However we must also remember that films are a form of dreams and escapism, so there is always going to be an air of implausibility. Every single one of us has a different, unique perception of the world. It’s up to us as storytellers to finding the balance between stories and reality, which is difficult, and decide through our own perception and instincts alone what kind of truth do we want to express to the audience. Despite going through an extensive writing period of creating a narrative, ultimately it is the audience that will tell you if you have created a believable reality. There are some filmmakers who use the medium of film as a way of exploring dreams and individual experiences, which can be very useful in therapeutic terms. Filmmakers have to be mindful of who they want the film to effect, themselves, or the audience. Creating a film to do justice to their truth and experiences (their reality), may give the filmmaker a sense of catharsis. However, by going through the creative process without being mindful of how the story will affect the audience, could potentially lessen the effect it has on them, and the reaction they have to the film. Ultimately, if the film is intended for an audience, not for a personal project, I think it’s important to have a balance of sharing a reality, but making it as accessible and as relatable to the audience as possible, so they are able to understand the emotional impact of the story, and this, in some cases may incur a need for certain aspects of the narrative to change. Personally, I always try and finish something I’ve started to do justice to the project because you never know if by doing so, you’ll learn something or have something tangible that might be useful for the future.
You are a graduate of the Met Film School with a Masters in Film Directing. You have worked on some very powerful projects, such as Listen to Me. How important is it for a director to challenge society and give messages a platform?
I feel as a director I have a certain responsibility to challenge and raise questions within society, especially since I, myself, have so many questions to ask. Audiences ultimately want to be entertained and taken away from their own lives to experience another’s. But in any project I make, I always ask myself; ‘How do I want the audience to feel?’ and ‘What can they learn/take away from the story?’ Having an audience engage with your film for any period of time is an immensely powerful thing. Without overly driving the point or issue, why not challenge the audience with questions they may not have considered, or come to a conclusion to?
What are three “Good to Know” facts about you that no one knows?
Three fun facts which a lot of people don’t know about me: I was the first Starbucks Bristol (UK) Barista Champion (2013), I’m a trained Cartoonist, and I have a collection of 56 Batman new era caps…believe me, I’m not exaggerating.
Do you have any upcoming projects that we haven’t mentioned?
Alongside the release of Dreaming Whilst Black on the18th March, a short film I made in 60 hours (1st – 4th September 2017) as part of the Colchester Film Challenge has been selected to screen at film festivals and independent screening events. The short film, called Being Wild, is about a young woman who awakes in the middle of a woodland after a heavy night of partying with no memory of what happened and how she got there. Also, late last year, I wrote a Batman short film screenplay which won an award and was performed at the Fan Fiction Festival in New York City. I have been approached by several production companies in the possibility of adapting the screenplay into a fan fiction short film. In addition to this, I am also in the middle of developing a new thriller short film and several feature film screenplays.
Complete this sentence, if I had an opportunity to do anything in 2018 I want to do ___________.
If I had an opportunity to do anything in 2018, I want to firstly finally get married to my partner of 8 years. In terms of career goals and dreams, I would want to get my first feature film finally off the ground and into production. I am at a point in my career where I have so much more to say as a storyteller, and while I do love short film productions, my future is in directing feature films. Whether that be my own material or another writer’s, I want to be able to tell stories to a wide range of audiences that can be both meaningful and entertaining.
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Connect with Rob:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/robaylingfilm
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robayling/
Website: http://rob-ayling.wixsite.com/robaylingfilm
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5915312
Connect with Dreaming Whilst Black :
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DreamingWhilstBlack
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dreamingwhilstblack/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwbseries
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt7983304
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