WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:07.960 Oh it's showtime. 2 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:10.560 People say good money to see this movie. 3 00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:13.560 When they go out to a theater, they want cold sodas, 4 00:00:13.880 --> 00:00:15.960 pop popcorn, and no monsters. 5 00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:19.519 In the protection booth, everyone pretend podcasting isn't boring. 6 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:20.920 Cut it off. 7 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:49.920 Would you describe yourself as someone with an open mind 8 00:00:51.399 --> 00:00:54.920 to a point? I want you to look at that wall. 9 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:59.880 Tell me what you see. I believe there is a 10 00:01:01.320 --> 00:01:05.480 small hole in the wall. This anomaly is your research subject. 11 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:12.799 I need you to observe this hole, scrutinize it. If 12 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:17.959 something abnormal occurs, it's you who will define and report it. 13 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:25.719 None of you know what you're doing here. 14 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:28.719 Hey, this is insane and dangerous. 15 00:01:29.239 --> 00:01:34.359 Nobody is going to abandon you here. It be a 16 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:36.560 mental explore. 17 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:43.519 Chart the neglected waters of your subconscious and then maybe, 18 00:01:44.239 --> 00:01:51.560 just maybe you'll figure it all out. 19 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:06.879 You're absolutely perfect, Google Change together. 20 00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:12.759 Up. 21 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:19.240 Welcome to the Projection Booth. I'm your host, Mike White. 22 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:23.039 On this special episode, I'm talking with Stephen McDonald LaBelle 23 00:02:23.319 --> 00:02:26.719 all about his twenty twenty four film Head Like a Hole, 24 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:32.039 recently played at the Boston Underground Film Festival. Had a 25 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:35.439 great time seeing it, and I imagine you will too 26 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:39.000 kind of a slow burned black and white horror film 27 00:02:40.199 --> 00:02:42.199 has a lot of heart and a lot of entertainment. 28 00:02:43.479 --> 00:02:45.240 Thank you so much for listening, and I hope you 29 00:02:45.319 --> 00:02:47.560 enjoyed the interview. Can you tell me how did you 30 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:48.680 get involved in filmmaking? 31 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:52.479 So it's a very long path. Both my parents are 32 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:55.520 One of their best friends is Tibor Tacis, who directed 33 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:59.639 The Gate, a Seminole Canadian satanic panic horror movie, and 34 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:03.240 being quite proud out of their friend, they showed it 35 00:03:03.240 --> 00:03:05.120 to me at a very young age, and from that 36 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:08.280 moment onward, I was a huge genre fan. I'd go 37 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:11.360 to my local video store, the Club Internasty Nowlex at 38 00:03:11.400 --> 00:03:13.199 that point I lived in Quebec. I mean I would 39 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:16.960 look at all the incredibly well designed covers for all 40 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:20.719 these genre films of the era, and I just, like, 41 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:23.919 you know, voraciously, just run through these. I was speed 42 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:26.400 running as many horror movies as I could possibly get 43 00:03:26.439 --> 00:03:30.439 my hands on. And so I always loved genre film. 44 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:34.159 But I always felt that filmmaking was something that was 45 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:36.560 inaccessible to a certain degree. So I actually I went 46 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:38.120 to school for health scientists. I have like a pre 47 00:03:38.199 --> 00:03:42.319 med degree and then had been in a corporate environment, 48 00:03:42.919 --> 00:03:44.719 which is kind of the basis for this movie a 49 00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:48.319 little bit, and being largely unhappy with that experience. But 50 00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:52.439 I was sat next to a wonderful coworker named Lisa 51 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:55.800 Choi and her husband is a commercial director, and she 52 00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:58.280 was like, you love movies, Like, why don't you just 53 00:03:58.360 --> 00:04:01.719 like try this out? This is clearly not environment for you. You're 54 00:04:01.639 --> 00:04:04.919 incredibly unhappy right now, and I know it. So I 55 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:08.879 went to I paid on this commercial and I was 56 00:04:09.159 --> 00:04:12.960 basically putting VFX track markers on a green screen that 57 00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:14.800 it was for like a wine commercial, and it was 58 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:17.439 the most fun I ever had, and I at that 59 00:04:17.480 --> 00:04:19.959 point knew that this is the path that I wanted 60 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:22.199 to go on. So it's been a very very long 61 00:04:22.279 --> 00:04:25.160 path from kind of like that point A to where 62 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:27.680 I am now point B, and hopefully I have multiple 63 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:30.560 points to go from here. But you know type of 64 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:32.040 tala accidens. 65 00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:33.639 Well, tell me about some of those earlier films that 66 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:35.240 you were making, some of the shorts that you did. 67 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:38.360 I grew up pretty poor, so I've always been interested 68 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:43.519 in exploring socioeconomics with what I'm working on. So I 69 00:04:43.639 --> 00:04:46.879 made an erotic thriller short called a Ruby, which is 70 00:04:46.920 --> 00:04:50.120 about an agrophobic woman who is kind of like in 71 00:04:50.519 --> 00:04:53.199 financial dire straits, much like the main character of this feature, 72 00:04:53.680 --> 00:04:56.959 I decides to become like a phone sex operator to 73 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:00.240 both like explore herself but also just to be kind 74 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:03.040 of like gainfully employed, and she quickly realizes that she 75 00:05:03.720 --> 00:05:07.879 likes this as like a vocation, but unfortunately her downstairs neighbor, 76 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:13.519 who's completely enamored with her, kind of insinuates himself into 77 00:05:13.959 --> 00:05:16.879 that situation. I'd actually love to do a feature about it, 78 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:19.720 but that again down the road. And I made another 79 00:05:19.800 --> 00:05:21.959 short called you Don't Want Me Here, which I've dubbed 80 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:25.319 kind of like a gentrification horror movie, which is like 81 00:05:25.399 --> 00:05:28.360 Burnt Offerings in a sense that it's about a home 82 00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:33.000 that almost has like a biological haunting and it decays 83 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:38.360 almost it's fed people to rejuvenate itself. So the owner 84 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:42.959 kind of like lures in unhoused folks with the premise 85 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:47.480 of like housing and then dispatches them to rejuvenate his home. 86 00:05:48.040 --> 00:05:49.680 I do have a feature script for that, and I'd 87 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:52.639 love to do that as well, and I have like 88 00:05:52.680 --> 00:05:54.879 a few other projects as well, but I think that 89 00:05:54.920 --> 00:05:56.720 would go on forever if I just kind of like 90 00:05:56.920 --> 00:05:59.680 kept rambling about you mean, tell. 91 00:05:59.560 --> 00:06:01.879 Me about you're a writer. I'm head like a whole. 92 00:06:02.680 --> 00:06:06.040 My corrider is Mitchell Burrell, who is a longtime friend, 93 00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:09.759 and we discovered that we work creatively quite well together. 94 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:12.639 There's like a level of like I don't want to 95 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:14.399 see like brutal honesty because it we're never like mean 96 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:18.120 to one another, but there's work quite sensitive towards what 97 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.240 works and doesn't work. It doesn't work, and we will 98 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:23.720 be very clear with one another but what that is. 99 00:06:24.279 --> 00:06:26.319 So we've been wanting to do something for a while. 100 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:29.519 He produced the short that I had just mentioned, you 101 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:33.639 don't want Me here, and we worked incredibly well together. 102 00:06:34.120 --> 00:06:37.319 We have almost different sides of the brain. He has 103 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:40.920 like kind of like the assistant director structure, you know, 104 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:44.480 keeping the train on the tracks kind of personality, and 105 00:06:44.519 --> 00:06:50.079 I have the weird ideas that he reigns in a 106 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:55.439 touch to you know, make them palatable hopefully. So we 107 00:06:55.560 --> 00:06:58.040 kind of approached writing this in a similar way. 108 00:06:57.959 --> 00:07:02.519 Where he was kind of the the structure of the 109 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:06.560 house and I was filling it with as much as possible, 110 00:07:06.600 --> 00:07:09.639 and then together we worked on ensuring that there was 111 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:13.680 like a cohesive vibe to each room within the house 112 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:15.079 that we're building for the script. 113 00:07:15.079 --> 00:07:16.519 I guess if that makes sense. 114 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:18.639 Well, tell me a little bit more about had like 115 00:07:18.680 --> 00:07:21.000 a whole as far as like, I mean, I think 116 00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:23.639 I know where the idea where it came from. You know, 117 00:07:23.720 --> 00:07:27.800 that corporate drudgery that you're talking about felt very very familiar. 118 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:31.000 I think the black and white athetic works very well 119 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:33.279 for that as well. But I mean, this is your 120 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:36.360 first feature. That's got to be a major hurdle for 121 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:37.000 you to jump. 122 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:39.920 So I grew up listening to like punk and hardcore, 123 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:43.920 and there is so much of what I appreciate about 124 00:07:43.959 --> 00:07:45.639 that was that people would just kind of like pick 125 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:48.000 up their instruments and play. And it wasn't necessarily about 126 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:53.079 the technical precision. It's more of just like an attitude 127 00:07:53.079 --> 00:07:55.279 and trying to like communicate like a message and make 128 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:58.639 something that's like fun and engaging. The sad thing is 129 00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:02.240 it took me too long to kind of like extrapolate 130 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:06.639 my love of that to filmmaking and to just say 131 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:09.680 let's go and do this, Like I made this movie 132 00:08:10.360 --> 00:08:14.079 by myself, Like there was a location so hour course 133 00:08:14.120 --> 00:08:16.759 in myself and Mitch was therefore as many days as 134 00:08:16.759 --> 00:08:20.199 he could take off work to join for Otherwise, we 135 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:23.240 had like one day with the prosthetics team. So I 136 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:26.120 knew it was going to be a lot going into it, 137 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:28.600 but also knew that I had to do it because 138 00:08:29.319 --> 00:08:32.159 it'll just be like another year until I say, why 139 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:35.639 don't we try this again, or try to find funding, 140 00:08:36.200 --> 00:08:39.039 or you know, years turn into decades and I then 141 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:42.840 I just have never made anything. So I took the 142 00:08:42.840 --> 00:08:44.639 plunge knowing that it was going to be a tremendous 143 00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:47.279 amount of work, in an incredible amount of stress. My 144 00:08:47.320 --> 00:08:50.559 beard used to be black, it is now mostly gray. 145 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:55.759 My hair has faded and now shaped my head, So 146 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:58.039 there's a tremendous amount of stress that has like kind 147 00:08:58.039 --> 00:09:01.279 of gone along with it. But I knew I had 148 00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:03.679 to do it. I love that you brought up the 149 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:05.440 black and white because that wasn't an idea that we 150 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:07.759 had going into the movie at all. I found that 151 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:10.759 in post production there's something about it being in color 152 00:09:10.840 --> 00:09:13.519 that wasn't working for me, And sometimes you just just 153 00:09:13.559 --> 00:09:17.320 have to trust your intuition and augment what you're working with. 154 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:20.559 I posited, like, why don't we do black and white 155 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:23.080 as a look for this movie. My partner Mitche is like, 156 00:09:23.639 --> 00:09:25.360 I don't think that's a great idea because it'll like 157 00:09:25.399 --> 00:09:29.200 eliminate a parcel of your audience. Potentially. There's people that 158 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:31.919 just like won't watch black and white movies, and I 159 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:34.879 was completely empathetic towards that, and I do think that 160 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:37.639 some people won't check it out because of that, but 161 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:40.120 also it makes so much more sense. So we kind 162 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:42.039 of went back and forth talking about it for a 163 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:44.799 little while, and then when he saw it as a 164 00:09:44.840 --> 00:09:46.600 black and white movie, when I gave him like a 165 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:50.000 rough I know there's no color, but a color grade 166 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:53.120 for the movie, He's like, Okay, no, this is perfect, 167 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:55.919 and I can't see it as being not black and white. 168 00:09:56.440 --> 00:09:58.120 That be said, I was kind of afraid people would 169 00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:00.559 think it was like a pretentious decision a little bit, 170 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:03.360 and it's absolutely not, because I'm the least pretentious person 171 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:06.039 in the world. If anybody has known me, they wouldn't 172 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:10.240 while at that criticism against me. It just made it 173 00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:14.679 feel otherworldly, like there's a certain kind of like junk 174 00:10:14.759 --> 00:10:18.759 fifties sci fi aspect to this that I think junk. 175 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:21.240 I mean, like in the most nice way possible. I 176 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:25.240 don't mean that derisively at all. That I think allows 177 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:28.000 it to be understood in a similar context to a 178 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.840 certain degree while still being its complete own thing. I 179 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:33.519 don't know how you feel about that. Did I miss 180 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:35.799 anything in my long winded response. 181 00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:38.200 No, I don't think so. I mean, it's just every 182 00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:40.799 movie gets made a different way, and I'm always curious 183 00:10:40.799 --> 00:10:43.600 as far as how that way gets done. And yeah, 184 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:46.320 I love this whole DIY aesthetic where it's like, yeah, 185 00:10:46.440 --> 00:10:49.240 I got the camera, let's go. That also presents its 186 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:52.519 own challenges as far as all right, scheduling, like when 187 00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:54.279 it comes to your actors, like how do you find 188 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:56.000 your actors and how do you deal with them? As 189 00:10:56.039 --> 00:10:58.159 far as is it one of these like Okay, we're 190 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:00.840 shooting this weekend, make sure you you know, come by, 191 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:02.120 but get your white shirt on. 192 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:06.639 That's not too far away from what happened, to be 193 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:09.600 completely honest. The major difference is a sweet shot in 194 00:11:09.639 --> 00:11:12.480 a week straight, like seven days in a row, and 195 00:11:13.080 --> 00:11:15.120 kind of a mistake because I think the second day, 196 00:11:15.159 --> 00:11:17.440 I haven't told anybody that, You're the first person I've 197 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:19.960 told that. At the end of the second day, I 198 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:21.919 was like, oh my god, I made a mistake. I'm 199 00:11:21.960 --> 00:11:24.799 wasting everybody's time. This is off the rails and it's 200 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:27.919 not going to work. I didn't tell Mitch this. I 201 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:30.720 kept it to myself. I didn't want to burden anybody 202 00:11:30.759 --> 00:11:33.759 with my fear that this was going to be an 203 00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:38.480 absolute dumpster fire. But to get back to the actors, 204 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:42.480 like Mitch, who is the producer, who plays a very 205 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:45.360 like small role of a mostly silent, kind of like 206 00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:49.080 auditor of the situation that the characters have found themselves in. 207 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:52.360 I knew he would be available, would be able to 208 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:55.000 take off x amount of like vacation days to fulfill 209 00:11:55.240 --> 00:11:59.559 his role. James only needed who's the our cold open character. 210 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:03.000 He plays the first researcher, even though it's not necessarily 211 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:05.039 the first, but in the context of the movies, the 212 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:08.840 first researcher heed. I did that in like an hour 213 00:12:09.159 --> 00:12:13.159 in my spare time. And then we have Jeff McDonald 214 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:16.960 took place Emerson, who's the kind of overlord, main boss 215 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:20.159 of the job that the main character Asher has found 216 00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:23.279 himself in. He's from la So we did a casting 217 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:27.279 call for that role, and we've gotten some traction from 218 00:12:27.320 --> 00:12:30.120 some good people in like Ontario, which would have been great. 219 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:32.360 I would have stayed just having to pay for a 220 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:35.480 plane ticket for somebody when we're have no money whatsoever 221 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:40.759 to do this. But most of the individuals who responded 222 00:12:40.840 --> 00:12:43.279 could only do like I can only shore on the weekends, 223 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:45.600 like basically what you had said, like, oh did you 224 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:48.759 shoot some of the weekends, They couldn't do kind of 225 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:51.080 like the format that we had wanted to shoot it in. 226 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:54.840 And then Jeff was just the most As soon as 227 00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:57.799 he did a line read when we did our our 228 00:12:57.960 --> 00:13:02.000 interview with him, it was just hurt like it felt perfect. 229 00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:06.120 There wasn't anything that I wanted to change. He came 230 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:09.360 from stage acting, so I knew that there's this movie's 231 00:13:09.399 --> 00:13:12.679 like wal to wall dialogue, which you know, is a 232 00:13:12.759 --> 00:13:17.000 testament to his ability to be able to contain or 233 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:19.799 his ability to memorize so much dialogue and just be 234 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:23.080 able to deliver in the short, truncated shooting period that 235 00:13:23.159 --> 00:13:25.799 we had with him. And then we of course have 236 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:29.320 Eric Hansen, who plays Sam, who's the kind of the 237 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:32.360 facilities manager, which is a funny title for somebody who 238 00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:36.360 was taking care of a bungalow with an ominous a 239 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:39.000 hole in the basement that needs to be measured he 240 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:41.559 was able to kind of like take as much time 241 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:43.840 off as as were required for shooting. So it was 242 00:13:43.879 --> 00:13:46.799 just basically a lot of friends getting together to make 243 00:13:46.919 --> 00:13:50.360 this thing who had the flexibility to do so. And 244 00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:53.399 then Jeff MacDonald who flew out for and just stayed 245 00:13:53.399 --> 00:13:56.360 with me while we're shooting. This is a situation where 246 00:13:56.639 --> 00:13:59.440 we didn't have pas, so everybody was like it was 247 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:02.720 just so people at the self drift to set normally, 248 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:06.279 say like in Jeff's case, a huge in a normal movie, 249 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:08.960 they would shoot their scenes, then go go off and 250 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:11.600 go back, but like nobody could drive him, so we 251 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:13.240 would just have to like hang out at the house 252 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:16.120 while we're shooting the rest of the material that we've 253 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:19.399 scheduled for the day, which, you know, hats off. Thank 254 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:21.679 you for not being super frustrated, Jeff mccald, if you 255 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:23.960 listen to this, its very very kind of you two 256 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:28.559 not make us feel like we were stupid. And I 257 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:31.399 work professionally as like an editor, so I know pretty 258 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:35.720 well what can cut together. So it just allowed us 259 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:38.720 to move at such a quick clip that you don't 260 00:14:38.759 --> 00:14:42.360 really get to do with more traditional types of productions. 261 00:14:42.360 --> 00:14:43.600 I guess you. 262 00:14:43.639 --> 00:14:45.840 Talked about that moment on the second day where you 263 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:48.080 just thought, you know, this is going to be a disaster. 264 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:49.480 How do you get past that. 265 00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:53.720 We had so much invested in it? Like, this movie 266 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:57.320 is made for thirteen thousand Canadian ten thousand American, with 267 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:00.519 a big portion of that being our post production audio, 268 00:15:00.840 --> 00:15:03.720 which is a very expensive endeavor. So the actual making 269 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:06.399 of this movie was way less than that it would 270 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:09.440 have been, like say, we made the movie itself for 271 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:14.159 like seven thousand a US. But like, I'm not a 272 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:19.000 well off person, like to Mitch, I don't want to 273 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:21.480 see to his financial situation, but like it's a lot 274 00:15:21.480 --> 00:15:25.080 of money for us, and I couldn't let and I 275 00:15:25.159 --> 00:15:27.840 still suffer from imposter syndrome, as you can imagine. I 276 00:15:27.879 --> 00:15:30.600 think most creative people think that they don't deserve any 277 00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:33.039 attention that they get, and taking compliments is like quite 278 00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:36.399 a difficult thing for a lot of folks. So you 279 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:39.600 kind of just have to like swallow that feeling a 280 00:15:39.639 --> 00:15:44.759 little bit and keep going forward and understand and try 281 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:47.600 to take like all the negative moments that can occur 282 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:51.639 on set in Stride, for example, Thankfully nobody's come out 283 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:55.120 saying they've noticed this yet, but our final sequence in 284 00:15:55.159 --> 00:15:58.480 our movie, keeping it spoiler free, but it relies on 285 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:01.759 a prosthetics team coming in to do work on our 286 00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:03.559 It was our last day of shooting, knowing that it 287 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:05.720 was going to be a tremendous mess, so we don't 288 00:16:05.720 --> 00:16:08.200 want to have to clean it up and then be 289 00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:10.840 shooting in there the next day. It would just have 290 00:16:10.919 --> 00:16:13.600 been too much work. They canceled on us the night 291 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:16.799 before we're supposed to shoot, and we have Jeff McDonald 292 00:16:16.840 --> 00:16:18.919 who's going to be flying back after this that we 293 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:21.200 can't fly back for his scene, and he's a crucial 294 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:24.840 component of this final scene. At that moment, I basically 295 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:26.919 just took I asked everybody, I'm like, I'm gonna take 296 00:16:26.919 --> 00:16:29.240 fifty minutes to myself. I'm just going to go and 297 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:33.039 think about what's just happened and decide what to do. 298 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:37.000 And it dramatically changed what our final sequence is going 299 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:42.240 to be because the prosthetics could now have no overlap 300 00:16:42.279 --> 00:16:47.720 with Jeff McDonald's character in this sequence. So all of 301 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:50.960 my ideas were essentially gone, and I just had to 302 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:56.799 reinterpret the final scene in a different way, and we 303 00:16:56.879 --> 00:16:59.600 ended up shooting that's the other portion of that sequence 304 00:16:59.639 --> 00:17:02.600 A year heart so that the final sequence has a 305 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:06.960 year's shooting gap in between it. Because they at first 306 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:10.000 the company had offered a very like like it was 307 00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:12.480 a very like I don't understand why anybody would lie 308 00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:15.279 about these kind of circumstances. But they're like, oh, my 309 00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:17.920 father had passed away and I I can't come to set. 310 00:17:17.960 --> 00:17:19.880 I was like, I completely understand, don't worry about it, 311 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:23.359 we'll figure it out. We then a reschedule with the 312 00:17:23.400 --> 00:17:26.680 same provider. And this is a paid roll, by the way, Like, 313 00:17:26.680 --> 00:17:28.480 this isn't somebody who's coming out and doing it for free. 314 00:17:28.519 --> 00:17:32.279 This is a Our budget was dedicated towards this. We 315 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:35.599 rescheduled a day and confirmed that this was going to 316 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:38.640 work with them, and they said yes, and then they 317 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:44.039 canceled again. We shot in September. The makeup date I 318 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:47.200 think was in May, and then we had to find 319 00:17:47.240 --> 00:17:49.839 a company that would agree to do it, and we 320 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:53.160 ended up shooting it in September of the following year. Essentially, 321 00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:57.880 the fact that it cuts together is just like wild 322 00:17:57.960 --> 00:18:01.880 to be, but like that's an example of kind of 323 00:18:01.960 --> 00:18:03.920 how hard it is to do things on your own 324 00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:07.680 and trying to roll with the situations that are constantly 325 00:18:08.200 --> 00:18:09.759 you know, coming at you, I suppose. 326 00:18:10.519 --> 00:18:12.799 So what are you doing in the meantime between that year, 327 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:15.039 Is that when you're doing most of your post production. 328 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:20.200 Yeah. I had started editing the film and was putting 329 00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:23.400 everything together and just like desperately trying to like coul 330 00:18:23.480 --> 00:18:28.480 jewel somebody into doing the prosthetics for it. We'd been 331 00:18:28.519 --> 00:18:31.759 talking to somebody, but they kept They're more involved with 332 00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:36.279 like actual like union film productions and things of that sort, 333 00:18:36.359 --> 00:18:38.680 so they're quite busy. They're like, we can maybe do 334 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:41.759 time here, And whenever I it would get towards that 335 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:44.160 timeframe and I'd try to schedule something with them, it 336 00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:46.519 would just be radio silence. So there's a lot of 337 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:50.319 like wasted time trying to figure out if they would come. 338 00:18:50.359 --> 00:18:52.480 And then we found this other company called Locked in 339 00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:55.240 the Cellar, which is a local company, and agreed to 340 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:56.920 do it, and we're happy to do it for the 341 00:18:56.960 --> 00:19:00.200 budget that we had. I tried to do it a 342 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:04.680 smart way because the prosthetics that were required. I smartly 343 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:09.359 tried to reduce the application areas creatively, and I think 344 00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:11.799 people once they watched the movie will kind of understand 345 00:19:11.799 --> 00:19:15.599 what I mean by that. But they were absolutely wonderful 346 00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:20.720 to deal with and kind of made all the awful 347 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:23.680 feelings associated with trying to get this sequence finished go 348 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:26.279 away in that moment and it just kind of worked out. 349 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:28.759 Would it be accurate to say that some of those 350 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:31.319 short films that you had made helped prepare you for 351 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:36.160 this feature and just overcoming some of those weird adversities. 352 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:39.279 Oh for sure. So I mean understanding like coverage, and 353 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:43.519 my editing work also helped me prepare for that as well, 354 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:46.039 but like understanding like what I need from a scene 355 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:50.920 to shoot at the bare minimum, because like, when you're 356 00:19:50.920 --> 00:19:54.640 shooting with such a narrow time frame, you don't have 357 00:19:54.839 --> 00:19:58.279 time to get as much coverage as as you would like. 358 00:19:58.839 --> 00:20:01.759 You know, it's going to be what's our creative looking 359 00:20:01.799 --> 00:20:05.599 medium shot and what are our close ups? And you 360 00:20:05.640 --> 00:20:08.880 don't get too much in between those coverage points, sadly, 361 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:12.960 but you just make it work and hopefully with our 362 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:17.240 limited coverage it doesn't appear limited. That's the goal anyways. 363 00:20:17.319 --> 00:20:20.400 So that's your call, I suppose as well, if you're 364 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:22.119 like kind of shows a little bit. 365 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:26.759 I thought it looked fantastic and I never would have 366 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:28.920 known that there was a year gap in some of 367 00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:30.839 those shots, but that you have at the end of 368 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:34.000 this it looks completely cut together, very very naturally. 369 00:20:34.839 --> 00:20:38.799 When it came together, I just felt like such a 370 00:20:39.559 --> 00:20:42.519 a sense of relief. And when we were going to 371 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:46.000 this might be jumping ahead, but going to like Boston 372 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:50.160 Underground Film Festival was such an absolute dream. Like when 373 00:20:50.440 --> 00:20:53.440 I got the email that they had accepted us, you 374 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:55.440 n actually think like, oh, this is an accident. So 375 00:20:56.279 --> 00:20:58.920 to that did I guess? This is an incorrect email, 376 00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:02.279 and I'm gonna get a email that says, sincere, apologies, 377 00:21:02.680 --> 00:21:05.440 we did not mean to include you, but it was 378 00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:11.519 a real request, which is insane for me, a problematic language. 379 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:15.119 I apologized, but like it just felt like surreal to 380 00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:19.559 be included in such a great festival, and then to 381 00:21:19.559 --> 00:21:22.400 see the other films programmed, you kind of feel like 382 00:21:22.519 --> 00:21:25.599 the little kid looking up at the grown up movies 383 00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:27.680 to a stander green because they have budgets and they 384 00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:30.119 look great, and you know, you have Nicholas Cage in 385 00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:33.359 The Surfer, you have Ethan Embery and Alan the Wolf. 386 00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:36.519 The Ugly Stepsister is such a great movie. I absolutely 387 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:39.880 love it. I went to that festival as a fan 388 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:42.400 as well and watched as much as I could while 389 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:45.279 I was there. Because you know I'm such a big 390 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:49.839 genre fan, I've lost the threat of your question. I apologize. 391 00:21:50.759 --> 00:21:53.839 I was asking you as far as overcoming adversity. Did 392 00:21:53.880 --> 00:21:56.240 you have the luxury while you were doing the post 393 00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:58.440 production of being able to show this to other people 394 00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:00.960 and get feedback or did you just because you are 395 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:03.359 an editor, do you just know this is how it 396 00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:05.839 needs to be? And plus I don't imagine you had 397 00:22:05.960 --> 00:22:07.440 too much room to change anything. 398 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:12.440 No, so we didn't have an ability to like reshoot things. 399 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:15.720 I mean, we technically could have, but I was I 400 00:22:15.720 --> 00:22:18.519 didn't feel that was necessary. To be honest, I was 401 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:20.920