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" Three Tears for Jimmy Prophet is an incredibly simple film and the whole idea was just to tell this guy's story. Straight camera work and gentle music, mixed with black and white filming can make quite a dramatic effect. I learnt this when I was making 24 07.
I wanted Three Tears for Jimmy Prophet to feel separate from the other films, especially since it is the last one. If you haven't got fantastic light conditions, black and white filming is one way of actually making your material look a lot better, almost like it was intended to be filmed low light. I have always hanged out at boxing clubs and seen them in black and white because I used to take photos down there.
I have been fascinated by the fact that these men go and stand there toe to toe and nothing else matters when they are both in the ring. Black and white photography helps the visuals of that.Boxing for me has been quite inspirational throughout my life. I have always followed boxing. So this was really the most important film for me. I shot it in the way I wanted to do.

At the same time, because I was shooting in a location which did not have fantastic light, colour would have been quite faded and jaded. Whereas when you film in black and white, it actually looks quite punchy. It really helps with the look of the film.

Keeping the camera works simple, focused on the man without any colour helps us to understand the man's plight. There is nothing else to look at , it's black and white, and there's a man sat in front of you telling you a story. It really draws you in. "

" With Three Tears for Jimmy Prophet, you've got one man who is telling his story sat in a boxing club. You learn immediately that he is an ex-boxer and somebody who could have been a contender. However, the boxing career has passed him by.
I wanted to tell his story in a very simple manner. But then, all the training shots, and the idea of him coming down to this club and working out, even though he has passed his prime, has a beauty about it. The film seems like it really has a beautiful range of shots, but in reality, the whole story comes from one locked off shot, and the rest of the rest of the film is shown through the training and the routine.
So if you are making a film, and someone is telling their story, you should probably keep the filming as simple as you possibly can. The nature of how you express what they are actually saying can be done with a range of wide shots and close shots. So, if it is somebody like a sports coach of somebody telling their story, using footage of them training whilst they are talking creates an atmosphere of reflection. "

" Use music in the right way and with the right quantity. It's o.k. to use what you like and pull music in that you think is a fantastic track, but It might not necessarily be what is right for the film. With Three Tears for Jimmy Prophet, I wanted to use music which took it above what this man was saying. When you see this man training without music, it's just a man training.
However, with music in the background, it has so much more meaning. You could use a man with an acoustic guitar. This could almost sounds like the guy who is singing the song is emulating the loneliness of the man who is sat in the shot. There's nothing clever going on in the film and the music reflects that. It's a very, very simple piece of music.
There's no point putting music on the film because it sounds like a great track. It's got to take the film from where it was, to a higher level. With
Three Tears for Jimmy Prophet, I used an acoustic sound by somebody who lives locally to make the audience feel and understand the tenderness of what this man had lost.
I used somebody who I have always kind of used for those moments and has a way of expressing human pain without saying it in words. I think music can take a good film and turn it into a great film. It is something that shouldn't be thought of lightly. You could have fun with it on certain things, but if you are trying to get a message across, music could be the biggest aid you could possibly have.
I tried a technique to strip away the character of the boxer and reveal his raw emotions. I did this through putting the camera right in the front of the character. When his face is covering up the whole view, there is nowhere else to look. So you feel that this man is looking right at you. He is looking right down the lens at you, telling his story.
Using eye contact is one of the strongest tools you have as a director. If someone actually turns and looks into the camera, and you are sat at your TV, you actually think that they are talking to you. This man is talking about something he has actually lost in his life through a horrific accident. It's going on in his eyes, and you can't just get anybody to that, it does need to be someone who has an ability to act that well. "