Bilge Arslan
Yale-NUS College
Singapore (1.3° N, 103.8° E)

featuring Nigel Levy, Series Editor, Producer/Director, Writer/Story Consultant, Leviathan Films Ltd, London (51.5° N, 0.1° W)

Nigel Levy is a series editor, director/producer, and story consultant. He has been involved in the creation of many productions including a drama movie titled “Mothers and Daughters” and numerous documentaries on a wide range of topics around nature, history, arts, and science such as “The Da Vinci Detective,” “Titanic: Case Closed,” “Natural World,” and “Fatal Attractions.”

Nigel majored in physics in college and then received a post-graduate degree in philosophy and history. “I had to devise my own path into the media” he says, through the specific course he chose strategically because liberal arts education was not possible then in the British system. “Luckily, it seems I discovered how useful [this post-graduate path] would be before everyone else,” he adds. In fact, this post-graduate degree he pursued later transformed into a subject that prepares graduates to work in the media sector. According to Nigel, being the first is a big part of being successful.

Even though what I learned from my truly interesting and rich conversation with Nigel goes beyond filmmaking, in this reflection essay, I will focus on some of the essential aspects of filmmaking, and particularly storytelling, which I grouped under five categories.

I enjoy writing in my free time. I write articles for my school’s website as a Public Affairs Student Associate at Yale-NUS College and about my travels and life in Singapore for my online blog. Writing has taught me the importance as well as the difficulty of storytelling, which I ponder about a lot. Furthermore, I always look for opportunities to explore storytelling through other means such as podcasts, filmmaking, music, and dance. Talking to Nigel allowed me to realize that storytelling is relevant to the lives of most of us in a broader sense and is much more than a “tool” for certain professions. Similarly, filmmaking has certain components that provide valuable insight for other fields as well as our everyday lives where we always tell, hear, and share stories. Therefore, the ideas Nigel conveyed to me are worth reflecting on to better understand even if you are not interested in filmmaking or don’t consider a career in this field.

1. Having an Argument

When I first learned that Nigel is a story consultant, I was very excited to explore more about this area. In my head, the role is like being a surgeon with a doctor gown on, a surgical instrument in hand, and working with utmost prudence. But instead of operating on humans, Nigel “treats” or even “saves the lives” of stories. In other words, film producers and directors consult him for stories that don’t “work.” The analogy might sound like a little exaggerated but forming and “fixing” stories is no easy task. Nigel says that people get intrigued or fascinated by something and this makes them very excited to tell a story. Nevertheless, the fact that something interesting has happened is not alone helpful enough to write a compelling story, he further remarks. The key element that is missing is the argument. Argument has the power to give life to an idea or a topic and transform it into a meaningful and logical story.

The argument is about the way you choose to tell the story to others. How do you strategize about bringing different pieces of information together? Which parts of the story you put more emphasis on? How do you arrange these distinct parts? These questions help with the construction of the argument, and disparate arguments can show the same story in completely different ways by “changing the nature of what you are saying about it.”

2. Being Flexible

The vast ocean of possibilities of how to tell a story brings us to another crucial element of storytelling: flexibility. Nigel points out the wrong mindset of having “a restricted vision about what the correct version of the film should be.” This limits the flexibility of seeing “all the stories that you could tell from the material,” he believes. If you don’t get out of your comfort zone and think outside the box, i.e., if you are fixated on telling the version of the story you are most comfortable with, this significantly restricts the endless pathways you can take and thus creativity. Being flexible is vital to keep the options open, which provides more room for creativity. The next step is then to understand the narrative technique that allows you to focus down those elements to strong, singular point of view. “If you have a broader understanding of how the story works, you don’t necessarily have to make any changes to the nature of what you have chosen to film. You are just saying something different about it,” he elaborates.

3. Problem-Solving (Under Time Constraints)

One of my favorite ideas that Nigel mentioned in the interview is that “filmmaking is about solving problems constantly.” This point also ties back to the importance of flexibility. The reality is that things might not go as planned in filmmaking just like in any other project. Thus, working on the story and thinking through various versions thoroughly contribute to quick adaptability in case unexpected situations arise. For instance, the booking of a venue might get cancelled, one of the actors or actresses may fall sick, or weather conditions can prevent the shooting of a scene on time. One ought to be open to different plans and switch between various options rapidly. Nonetheless, constraints also become opportunities to generate creative solutions by making us push our boundaries. Nigel echoes this point as that problem-solving turns into the creative process of filmmaking itself.

4. Communication and Teamwork

According to Nigel, teamwork is the most important aspect of filmmaking. Most of the effort goes into obtaining the final product through not only individual work but also  collaboration and cooperation. From the perspective of the storyteller, Nigel thinks that communication with the rest of the team is key. He says that effective communication of the steps to achieve the best possible story under a time constraint is very important. Therefore, the leader of the production–whether as a director on location or story consultant–should not only have a clear road map in mind but also be able to explain its logical steps to channel the available resources as well as the energy and focus of the group to follow this strategy. “People you are [working with need to] know exactly why you have made the choices that you have,” says Nigel. Otherwise, it is very hard to focus everyone’s attention to agree on a plan and get the work done. Nigel further posits that “worry and panic reduces…creativity.” That is why, through their confidence and good communication skills, the role of a filmmaker is also to make the team feel calm to work comfortably under time constraints.

5. Combination of Instinct and Technique

I think one of the misconceptions I had about filmmaking before talking to Nigel was that the storytelling part is mostly about calling on the inner muse and a more instinctual process. Nigel indicates that he has been working on a story for years to explore what makes a documentary meaningful and powerful. “I realized how technical and complex storytelling is,” he says. That is why his extensive knowledge of the story allows Nigel to help others structure stories, which has become “almost second-nature” to him. I have understood that merely putting faith in inspiration and instinct might not be enough to overcome the obstacles in the way of engrossing storytelling. As Nigel puts it, there might not be enough time to re-dream the story if the version that one imagines is not working. “…Whereas if you have an analytical side to you, you can be as creative and imaginative as you like and stand back from it objectively,” he elaborates.

Being equipped with analytical and technical tools also contributes to flexibility in terms of having a broad palette of stories. For Nigel, the technical side of storytelling is more about figuring out the fundamentals through which the mind approaches problems, which goes back to the parallel between problem-solving and filmmaking.

Even though Nigel had always been passionate about filmmaking since he was a child, he had not had a background in the field when he started working as an assistant producer at the science department of BBC. He started by writing letters to people in the sector whose names appeared at the very end of good documentaries he watched. He justified his capabilities by talking about his interest in and broad knowledge of a wide range of topics. In that sense, being passionate about diverse and sometimes uncommon areas and having an idea about different subjects is what makes everyone unique. For me, being an interesting person with a strong intellectual curiosity is not only a crucial asset for an individual but also an enriching, impactful, and empowering way of life.

Highlights from the interview:

What led you to story consulting, and what does that entail?

I always try to make my documentaries meaningful but it was not always obvious how to bring that to a film. It’s not necessarily the subject matter, but the meaning also comes from how the story is told, it’s the underlying argument. The methods behind this became clearer to me as I was constantly making documentaries in different formats about various people in history, arts, and science. In the past two or three years, all the work I’ve been doing on storytelling has become a stronger element of what I do. Because I spent a long time studying the stories, it became almost second-nature to me to be able to structure stories. I realized how technical and complex it is, and how many people in the business, even though they can make very good programs, don’t have that kind of knowledge of the story. They can do it instinctively, but it’s very scattered. My knowledge was clearly laid out and very thorough. So, I started being asked to help programs that weren’t working. Very good filmmakers who were trying to make a film got to the point where it wasn’t working. Because of the training I’ve given myself, I could spot and fix things for them. So, that’s how I became a story consultant. I’m also a producer, writer, director and a series editor. A series editor looks after the editorial and the storytelling of the series, what goes on in post-production, and some of pre-production as well. It’s very similar to being a series producer; the lines are very blurry [among these positions].

Did you envision yourself being in one of these roles when you were young?

It’s the first thing I imagined. I think you come back to what you like when you’re really young. I really think that you know what you want to do when you’re 8 or 9. And then, part of you thinks it’s impossible and sometimes you think maybe you can do it. Then you end up working your way back to the [career] you really like in some form.

What kind of skills are helpful in directing and creating films? Did your college years actually prepare for you for this?

Directing, writing, and producing in the media are completely about the individual. A director should be able to clearly communicate [with others]. If you can’t tell people what you want, you’ll never be able to do anything. If you can express your ideas in a way that considers other people’s current knowledge and their emotional state and desires, then you’ll become a good director. Writing is more of a solo skill; it is more technical. You practice until you develop your own skills, methods, and techniques. Directing itself has technical aspects to it. But since you collaborate with others, even if you have no technical ability, you can pass the [technical work] off to your collaborators.  The director’s job is to make things happen. You can decide what areas you want to become technically proficient in. I like learning technical skills. So, when I learned to direct, I taught myself highly technical processes because I enjoyed [learning] and it gives you something to fall back on. It’s the same with storytelling; it’s highly technical for me, but I find that reassuring.

You are more analytical the way you direct or create stories. There are some things, I don’t want to say rules because it’s obviously a creative process, more rational maybe?

They’re not, there’s two sides of it. One side is completely instinctive, but there is a problem when the instinct doesn’t work. I love being instinctive, but then you have to look at what you create and realize that it’s not working. In that case, instinct won’t get you out of the problem; it helps you create something, but it isn’t that useful to fix what you’ve created because you felt it so deeply and you imagined it and dreamt about it. If it doesn’t work, what do you do, do you re-dream it or re-imagine it? That can be a very long-winded process. You have to keep reconstructing it. Whereas, if you have an analytical side, you can be as creative and imaginative as you like and then be able to stand back from it objectively and understand the fundamentals. So, they’re not rules; they’re fundamentals by the nature of how the mind understands problems.

How do you start contacting people who can provide information or planning huge projects where sometimes you need to uncover things from the past like the Titanic?

It’s complicated. You have to have a very clear sense of the message that you want to convey whatever the subject matter is. That really helps you organize the material. It’s about the argument you’re making. It has to be slightly broader because there are pluses and minuses to that statement; so, it allows you to tell a better story. Everything that you say and every piece of information you get is built around that concept. As you refine the concept, the elements that you need are [automatically] decided for you.

It’s the same in drama and documentaries. You have to have an argument. In real life, people forget there is an argument because they get intrigued by something and they list all the things they’re interested in. But you’d never get away with that when writing a paper or making a compelling story if it’s meaningless. It’s not enough that it’s intriguing, or it [has actually] happened. You have to have a controlling idea behind what you’re trying to say. 

How it is different to tell the stories of animals than of humans?

When I tell animal stories, my interest is always in the relationship between the human and the animal. The problem is to find a meaningful story, a meaningful argument. You have to have a way of making an argument about the nature of things, which you can then apply to the animal. Technically, natural history programming relies on how they film things; so, people see them in ways they haven’t seen before. They also rely on the relevance imparted by the commentary or the charisma of the presenter. You want it to actually tell a story but not anthropomorphize the animals and give them characteristics they don’t possess. A lot of the natural history people and producers I’ve worked with realize that storytelling is probably the weakest part. They can shoot stunning footage in amazing locations, but often when they put it together, it doesn’t really tell a story. “Fatal Attractions” was all about why people choose to live with animals that could kill them. You know you need to show the animal behavior but it should be in the context that what the animal gives to humans.

Do you think we can come close to shooting their lives from their own perspective? Through film?

You have to look at the animal behavior and understand it for what it is and show it accurately, without implying there is anything beyond the animal’s motivation but you can make it inherently dramatic.

I saw a couple of episodes of Netflix docuseries on Formula One [Drive to Survive]. It was so fascinating to see the stories of the teams and individual drivers but also the organization as a whole. What was your role in that series, how did you get involved?

People were editing the stories but some of the stories weren’t really working. I worked with some people to find the best story to tell. It was very hard to film because we didn’t know what the stories would be. They had access to places that you wouldn’t normally have, but they weren’t necessarily given all the access to the characters. So, they filmed what they could, and then they attempted to back it in the edit, and other people attempted to make stories out of that material. What I brought to that [project] was to determine the stories that didn’t work, good stories to tell out of the material we had, and different techniques that can be used. I also added strong storytelling and made sure that it was done in the limited time we had.

How do the time constraints affect your creativity?

If you start a project with good technical knowledge, it helps. If you rely only on your instincts, the only solution to making it work is to spend longer time on it. When I have a short period of time, what I can bring to that process is the technical knowledge to say that I can help make the best story by this time. I will explain to people why this is the best we can do; this solution is the best possible one considering the material, facilities, and the money we have. The more clearly you explain how you come to your conclusion, the much more pleasant the experience will be. You don’t want people to get worried because worry and panic reduce creativity. By making people relax, you allow them to be more creative.

Do you think there are any misconceptions about filming in general or documentary filming?

The biggest misconception is that people say “I’ve got this great idea for this documentary.” The [idea] may be interesting but it may not be a story, or if anyone would be interested. There is a huge leap between something that’s fairly interesting and a story. Most people don’t realize that.

Do you have any specific comments about teamwork in filmmaking?

It’s the most important thing. When you’re making a film, teamwork is absolutely everything and you should never complain because filmmaking is about solving problems constantly. You have to try and find a solution that works. So, there’s absolutely no value to point out the problem that is frustrating. Everyone should be trying to find a way of either using it to their advantage or solving it.

It sounds like a general advice for life, not only filmmaking. 

In real life, you have more time to analyze [the situation]. In filmmaking, when you’re filming, you have a day in which you have to get stuff done. So, you can’t really take a huge amount of time to pause and think. You have to find a different way of doing it to make it work. 

Do you have any advice for students who want to work in the film industry or documentary making?

There are two things they can do. What I did was to see all the really good documentaries and note the names of the people who made them listed at the end of the program and found out who they were and wrote to them. That’s how I got into the BBC. Another [advice] is to remember that being good will not necessarily make you successful. It’s important to understand that a successful career involves more than being good in what you do. The relationships you build up with people, how you present yourself and of course luck, are equally important.

It’s important to be interested in many different areas to have something interesting to say. If you show people that you have an opinion and a really broad and unusual range of interests, that could make you an interesting person to make programs if someone’s looking for someone interesting. Because it shows that you’re intellectually curious. However, remember that people who aren’t intellectually curious can also be successful. They focus on a narrow area of interest, but explore it deeply and perhaps, with luck, it is successful with a wide audience.

Interview excerpts have been lightly edited for clarity and readability and approved by the interviewee. This article only aims to share personal opinions and learnings and does not constitute the interviewee’s current or former employer(s)’ position on any of the topics discussed.