Making Movie Magic: An Interview With Ella Fields
Written by Jamilla Philson
All Images Provided by Ella Fields
Ella Fields (@ellabeefields) is an LA and Boston based multi-hyphenate director, writer, photographer, and puppeteer. Inspired by their queer identity and fascination with the occult, many of her films have magical realist elements. They span a plethora of genres and themes such as moving away from your childhood, experiencing your first queer relationship, and healing from sexual assault. By the age of 19, Ella had created over 30 short films. Her work has gained recognition from international film festivals as well as winning “Best Single Camera Director” at the EVVYs awards at Emerson College. She has gained millions of views across various platforms for her films, notably Bubble Gum and Stereo. Today, she is wrapping up her BFA film Cauldrons and Kickflips. We got to chat with Ella about her filmmaking styles, inspirations, as well the many facets to her artistry.
Q1: How did you get into filmmaking?
A: Filmmaking was something that I have always been called towards, [ever] since I was a kid. Back then, it looked like being a bossy little girl and directing my cousins to perform plays at family events, or filming skits starring my younger sister and stuffed animals. Working on projects like these felt like the closest thing to magic, the thing that would excite me most [during the day] and week! My dad moved to this tiny studio home we called“ The Treehouse” because it was completely immersed in nature. My memories of this home feel like the planting of a seed, each day abundant with time to create and explore. My dad’s DVD collection consisted of Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Edward Scissorhands, the live action Cat in the Hat, Back to the Future, and Coraline with 3D glasses. I can confidently say all of these movies & the repetition we viewed them in has influenced my storytelling today. I was 11 when this passion really started to take shape. I started 6th grade at a performing arts middle school with a film class that taught me all of the basics: camera angles, story structure, editing. I felt like this entire world opened up, and I just simply haven’t stopped creating and learning since. I feel like so much of my filmmaking roots however, stem from my family and both their collaboration and support.
Q2: What is your main source of inspiration for your films?
A: Simply put, I feel that my main source of inspiration for my films is love! I say this because I have so many inspirations that are continuously breathing and growing with every project, but at its core, I have so much love for creating, for sharing stories with others, and for the connections that grow from every set experience and project worked on (and beyond). Once I have the seed of an idea, everything becomes inspiration, like an ongoing exploration to carve out exactly what it is the story needs to be. For example, my most recent thesis film Cauldrons & Kickflips came after I began learning more about Wiccan practices & the history of witchcraft, especially its portrayals in the media. I took a walk one day and noticed so many signs glowing and lighting up with so much energy, I was like“ Oh my goodness, I need to make something about witches, I need to make something about community and nature.” From then on I just began collecting: every conversation I had, everything I learned in a class, everything I read, watched, and reflected on fed into this ongoing conversation of what story was asking to be told, and I also felt so much inspiration from the incredible creative people around me. I felt driven to create something people would be excited to nurture alongside me, and to explore and try something new. It inspires me to create an opportunity like this for others.
Q3: What is your favorite film you’ve made and why?
A: I would say my favorite film I’ve made is called Bubble Gum, which I made in 2018 when I was 14 years old. It is about a girl who begins to fall in love with another girl named Blossom, navigating the emotions of a first love as well as a questioning how identity plays into it. I mostly just feel so nostalgic for little baby gay Ella and what she was able to create for herself and others. The feedback from Bubble Gum has been the most meaningful out of any film I have created, with people sharing that this film helped them accept elements of their queer identity or they have shared this film with others in their life to help them better understand. With sweet tunes from Beabadoobee and my first time experimenting with 8mm, I still weep to this day to see queerness being both celebrated and pushed back against. Art is such a crucial space to dream and imagine, and I want to always continue highlighting and documenting the sweet intricacies of sapphic love that I feel so lucky to experience and be open about. If my art can create any sliver of openness for others, that is a win.
“Art is such a crucial space to dream and imagine, and I want to always continue highlighting and documenting the sweet intricacies of sapphic love that I feel so lucky to experience and be open about.”
Q4: I noticed that some of your films involve animation, can you talk more about how you got into that and how you started incorporating that into your short films?
A: I was just looking back to pinpoint the first time I ever used animation in any of my films, and it was in 2016 when I was 12 years old - I made a music video to Ruth B’s Lost Boy (such a classic of the times), in which I created a stop motion world to counteract the dreamlike trance that I shot in live action, starring the characters of Wendy, Peter Pan, and Tinker Bell. I have always been drawn towards retellings of classic fairytales or children’s stories with a spin, and this first experimentation with claymation allowed for a fantastical and surreal build of multiple worlds. Using animation for me today feels like a chance to push the boundaries of reality, to paint visuals that feel like a storybook, as well as a chance to slow down a process and practice patience. From claymation, to 2d animation, to watercolor and collage animation, you can truly bring life and movement to any art medium, and the possibilities excite me! In Cauldrons & Kickflips, I am trying something a little new with shadow puppet animation. I just got my roll of film with the footage back today!
Q5: One of my favorites that I watched was Wonderland, can you talk more about that and how it came to be?
A: I made Wonderland in 2018 when I was just beginning to explore the surrealist side of my filmmaking. After experimenting with Super 8 footage for the first time on Bubble Gum, I absolutely fell in love with the medium and process, and wanted to create a film entirely on 8mm. Not only was the soundtrack of Ghost World on repeat for me at the time, but I was also avidly watching a Youtuber named Madelynn De La Rosa who had released a 16mm short film called Bisou Bisou. It inspired me so much in its feeling of mystique; it was truly like it took place in wonderland (there was one particular shot of the protagonist laying out a blanket on the beach that was the spark for my idea)! However, what drew me to the story of Alice in Wonderland as a kid was its magical yet slightly off-putting nature. This was a feeling I wanted to explore in Wonderland. A friend let me borrow their animal heads and another let me borrow her mother’s quinceañera gown! While the story itself focuses on feelings of peer pressure and not fitting in, the visuals in Wonderland were really a focus for me. I was beginning to sculpt a style that felt exciting and authentic.
Q6: I peeped your IG and saw that you just developed your BFA film Cauldrons and Kickflips last fall, tell me more about this and what can we expect from the film?
A: Cauldrons & Kickflips is a modern fairytale about three lesbian witches who take a skater boy into their coven to cast a spell on his group of skater friends, banishing them from causing trouble in the neighborhood park. However, once perfect love and perfect trust are broken, abuse of power must be confronted, and use of power must be questioned. One can expect 18 minutes of dazzling 90s inspired outfits, fantastical production design reenacting tarot cards, epic skate montages, sapphic kisses spanning generations, and dick jokes. Imagine The Craft but way more gay and they don’t all turn against each other at the end, or imagine Mid 90s but directed by a lesbian filmmaker who compulsively dated skater boys in high school. As silly as it can be at times, I ultimately hope for Cauldrons & Kickflips to feel like a spell cast for being in community with one another, and for its message to emphasize the importance of standing up and serving justice, allowing all humans and beings to grow in harmony.
Q7: What is your dream story/adaptation to direct and/or write?
A: One Halloween a few years back I dressed up as the rainbow striped lima bean girl from the storybook A Bad Case of Stripes, and I received the best reactions ever: people were reminded of a childhood memory they couldn’t quite pinpoint. I thought about how stunning & creepy a claymation rendition of that story could be, and have been dreaming of it ever since. Additionally, one of my favorite authors Carmen Maria Machado has a book of short stories called Her Body and Other Parties that inspires me, and she is genuinely someone who would be a dream to collaborate with someday, to adapt one of her stories. All in all, as a lady who loves Buffy the Vampire Slayer and just watched D.E.B.S for the first time a few days ago... I would love to make something with a good ol’ stunt sequence someday!
Q8: I think your body of work is so beautiful and expansive and you can really see how much you grow into yourself and your storytelling the older you get; what are some future things you’re looking to tap into or interested in incorporating in your filmmaking journey?
A: Thank you so much, that is really lovely to hear! I was really drawn to the genre of horror when I first started filmmaking, and am craving to explore the darker sides of my art and expression. I am often drawn towards creating a space for my audience to feel a sense of comfort, of hope and optimism within a world and system that may be working against them, or may not accept them for who they are. This tendency feels innate, and I wonder how it could appear elsewhere. I wanna make something creepy!
Q9: What advice do you have for people looking to make their own films?
A: For anyone looking to get started with making their own films, I would first begin by identifying what resources you have available to you! You really can create a lot from a little, especially if your story is authentic and resonant. Explore a concept that pushes you to answer a question or dynamic you are curious about. What people in your life might want to help bring this to life? What techniques from other filmmakers you admire would you want to experiment with? Are there any film communities around you you can connect with? Film can be so many different things. It can be meticulously planned, or it can be a product of a singular creative burst! It can be actors in front of a camera or mounds of clay growing and morphing into each other. Be messy with it, and never lose your sense of play. Bringing any story into the world is pure magic- utilize what is around you, and identify what you want to work towards next! Apply for grants to get funding for your story. Cold email your idols and ask if they’re looking for help on their next project. Push yourself and strive towards what lights you up.
“Bringing any story into the world is pure magic- utilize what is around you, and identify what you want to work towards next!”
Q10: What are your letterboxd top 4?
A: As of this moment, we’ve got Coraline, I Saw the TV Glow, Blood Tea & Red String, and Edward Scissorhands ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ My letterboxd is @ellafields and I’ve watched so many new movies being out sick this week that I think my top 4 are soon to change :-)
