Time Out: Interrupt

An Audiovisual Travel Film Experience to Slow Time Down and Celebrate Small Moments

‘I just wanted to transport the viewer into this world, just break out of his world and calm down for 6 minutes,’ said music producer turned filmmaker, Paul Wex, about his short travel video, Interrupt.

Earning its name through the reason by which Paul began working on it, the film is a result of his decision to interrupt his daily routine, to go on a trip around Southeast Asia.

‘Before the departure my head was full of other things and I had been quite stressed,’ he told us. ‘I wasn’t prepared at all and it was like being beamed into this other world, so it was a real break from myself.’

The video is made more intense by Paul’s slowing down of the moments, allowing the viewers to see all of the little details, and to feel present. Paul also created the epic score for the video, which he insists must be played at maximum volume in order to get the full affects of the film.

We asked him more about his process:

The Plus: Coming from a music background, how important is music in film to you?
Paul Wex: For me it’s absolutely important for the audio in a clip to be perfectly harmonious with the pictures. I often see clips where the imagery is really stunning but not the score and I think that is a real pity for the producers and viewers. I think the reason for this is that the different people working on one project are often feeling differently about the project.

TP: What was the process behind shooting and selecting these images?
PW: I just tried to keep an interesting and balanced sequence of footages, for it not to get too boring by the 6-minute mark, whilst still preserving the life in it. I had to spend a lot of time to achieve this as best as possible.

TP: What equipment did you use?
PW: It was shot entirely with an old analogue Olympus Zuiko OM 35/2.8 lens on a hand-helded Canon 5DMk3 at H264/1080p/30fps by using a Zacuto Z-Finder.

TP: What do you feel was the most challenging part of making the film?
PW：The minimalistic score. It was very hard to make decisions for it.

TP: Where was your favourite place you visited in Southeast Asia and why?
PW: Bagan/Myanmar and Angkor Wat/Cambodia, because the feeling and atmosphere of spontaneous spiritually that comes over you is amazing, even if you are not interested in those things.