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Fall 2007 Contest Winners
| Moving Pictures is committed to bringing provocative and insightful film commentary to its readers. By hosting the Moving Pictures Short Film Contest, we hope to highlight fresh new voices in the world of independent film, providing filmmakers with contacts and a platform to show their work. MOVING PICTURES PRESENTS THE WINNERS OF THE FALL 2007 MPM SHORT FILM CONTEST
Narrative: The Last Thing to Go Through a Fly's Mind - director Steve Webb
(pictured, courtesy of the filmmaker)
Animation: Big Dreams - writer/director Robyn Von Arx
Documentary: The Art of Karaoke - writer/director Will Hartman
STEVE WEBB
The Last Thing to Go Through a Fly's Mind synopsis:
The debut short of brothers Phil and Steve Webb, a comedy about reincarnation and redemption and stars Ralph Ineson (Finchy from the British comedy, "The Office") as a dissolute waster who dies in a car crash. who is a total waster dies in a car crash. Given an ultimatum by God to repent or suffer for eternity, he refuses. He is then reincarnated as numerous creatures as he goes down the food chain. Finally as a fly, he discovers the meaning of life and changes his ways only to be robbed of happiness at the last minute.
Who inspired you?
I grew up watching classic British sitcoms such as "Steptoe and Son," "Dad's Army," "Rising Damp" and "Fawlty Towers," and have always been inspired by the actors, writers and directors of these low-budget TV masterpieces. In one of my favorite episodes of "Fawlty Towers" (called "The Builders"), you can actually see the set move when Basil Fawlty bangs Manuel the waiter's head into the dining room wall. It would be very unusual to see something like this with today's production values, but I don't think it detracts from the brilliance of the comedy. I try not to forget that great comedy doesn't have to cost a fortune. Director's that inspire me include Ken Loach for making one of my earliest favorite films (Kes). He was one of the first directors to mix "real people" with actors to get super-realistic scenes and has never been afraid to tackle any subject. I'm also a big fan of Paul Greengrass for managing to mix big high-action films like The Bourne Ultimatum with hard-hitting journalistically based films like United 93 and Bloody Sunday.
What was the inspiration for The Last Thing to Go Through a Fly's Mind?
I had already worked with my brother, the writer Phil Webb, on a public information film for MTV's Staying Alive Campaign, which he wrote and I directed. I really enjoyed the experience as I felt I could be really open about my strengths and weaknesses, and didn't find that egos came into the equation. After I finished filming the BBC dramatized documentary "Holmfirth Hollywood," I asked him to come up with some ideas for a comedy short. So he told me about this idea, that he had been working on.
I loved the script when I first read it but was worried that it would be a nightmare to direct, as it includes lots of animals and children. We started to go over the script together and rewrite it...a process that took the best part of a year. By the end of 2006, we felt the script was in really good shape so started to send it out to potential actors. Ralph Ineson (Chris Finch in the British comedy "The Office") was our number one choice, as we needed someone who had a great voice and good comic timing. We were overjoyed when Ralph agreed to take on the lead role and waive his fee to boot. |
What is it about film-making that excites you?
Apart from the sex and the money (joke), it's a great feeling when people are entertained by something you have made. It was a shock at the first screening of Fly's Mind when people all laughed together at certain points in the film. Until that moment, it had only been me and my brother who had found it funny. It was a massive relief that it seemed to work and a great experience when our film appeared to entertain. Having said that, I still sweat each time it's screened...worried that people might not get the humour or understand Ralph Ineson's strong regional accent. Since that fist screening at a small cinema in Soho London in Feb 2007, it's gone on to bigger and better things, with screenings at Cannes and at the Arclight on Sunset Boulevard as part of the Hollywood Film Festival.
Share something of your film education.
Almost everything I know about film making has been learned on the job over ten years of making television for British and American networks. Three years ago I took the single camera drama directing course at the National Film and Television School in the UK which I found a fantastically helpful way of knocking my unstructured approach to directing into a coherent shape.
The Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival is one of the best places to meet other filmmakers and immerse yourself in wall to wall workshops on every aspect of film. The quality of the speakers and information is extremely high and there's not an aspect of the industry that doesn't get covered. You also get the chance to meet hundreds of other film makers from around the world and see what they have been up to. It's a great experience...I can't recommend it highly enough.
What's next?
I'm now working on a comedy feature called "Just Like Chicken," also written by my brother Phil. It tells the story of two failing restaurateur brothers whose fortunes change when they start cooking their enemies and feeding them to their customers. It's super dark and whilst I am totally biased, think the script is fantastically funny. I'm hoping the attention generated by winning the MPM award will help get this feature made. -MPM
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ROBYN VON ARX
Big Dreams synopsis:
"Assistant girl" works hard at the big Hollywood agency. She has big dreams... She watches the big director be fed his big ideas by yes men, as she reads his truly unreadable script. She does whatever it takes to learn about filmmaking and then make her first film. It is well received. She gets tons of cards and "call me's" at her big student screening. That same big director she watched at the agency offers her a job. To her chagrin, that job seems to put her right back where she started. The animation is hand-drawn in a simple retro '80s style. What inspired your interest in film?
I've loved movies my whole life; I appreciate the escapism of movies and television. I remember the spectacle of Radio City Music Hall when I was three or four. For content, the first movie that really made an impression on me was Close Encounters of the Third Kind; I'll never forget it.
What was the inspiration for Big Dreams?
I had decided to go to film grad school, and I was doing a summer semester. I met all these great, talented people - but they aspired to work for someone else. I didn't understand why they didn't want to tell their own stories. I wanted Big Dreams to entertain, of course, but also I had a real desire to inspire. I wrote the film to subtly remind people of the importance of respecting one another and the power of our own point of view. As Oscar Wilde said, "All of us are in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." |
What interest and experience do you bring to filmmaking?
I have a real love of film, stories and people. Different languages, and the cultures embodied in them: In college, I attended JYA-Stanford University's Program In Brazil; earned a certificate of basic Chinese (Mandarin) from the University of Beijing, a certificate of French from the Sorbonne, and a certificate of Spanish from Academia de Español. I used to also be proficient in Portuguese.
I have production experience as an assistant director, camera assistant, script supervisor, grip/electric, editor and post supervisor; I've worked in wardrobe and accounting.
I've also directed and produced various short films, but everything I made until recently was just personal. Big Dreams is the first film I've had in festivals.
How has that festival experience been?
The first one was the 2D or Not 2D Animation Festival. The short wasn't finished so I had to send a rough cut. The Cannes Short Film Corner was the first festival I physically attended. I'd lived in Paris, so I had a certain impression of Cannes (although I tried not to). I hadn't been there during the festival before, and it was so much bigger than I'd imagined. I learned a lot, seeing other people's work and being able to talk with them about it.
And on the business side - distribution and marketing: I had worked at a talent agency; I'd worked for producers; I'd worked at marketing firms. I had some understanding of the business of filmmaking, but I learned so much more, in a big way, at Cannes.
There are other things I've learned at festivals, too. For instance, how to best communicate when you get up and talk before a film. It's interesting to see people's reactions to different stories.
What's next?
I'm always writing. At the moment, I'm working on a romantic comedy, which is interesting for me because my other work has been more dramatic. -MPM
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WILL HARTMAN
The Art of Karaoke synopsis:
Art Himmel discovered in the twilight of his life that he could sing like Sinatra. Now, this 82 year old WWII veteran and Cancer survivor sings karaoke three nights a week. Art is living, breathing proof that you're never too old to be as young as you feel.
Who has inspired you in filmmaking?
I'm a big fan of John Hughes. He's one of the great storytellers of our time, and what I love most about his work is how his humor always stems from organic, character-motivated situations. The comedy can be broad, but the characters are always based in reality.
What was the inspiration for "Art of Karaoke"?
One night I was sitting in a neighborhood karaoke bar with a friend (Grant MacDowell, who edited the film), and the place was pretty raucous, all these college kids drinking and singing. And then up to the stage came this little old man. Everybody was looking at him like, "Shouldn't this guy be at Bingo Night instead?" But then he started singing. And he just blew the place away with this booming, pitch-perfect rendition of "My Way." The bar went crazy! He got a standing ovation, girls came up to hug and kiss him, and he was beaming like a little kid. A couple of days before that, my friend Melora Hardin (an actor and director) had given me a pep talk on the importance of substance in filmmaking and how we, as directors, should strive to make films that have some societal merit or insight worth sharing with the people who've agreed to sit in the dark and watch our work.
And so it was, a couple days later, with Melora's words ringing in my head, I stumbled into that karaoke bar and saw Art Himmel singing, and perhaps because of my conversation with her, my eyes were open and I saw not just an old man singing, but a powerful portrait of positive thinking. Definitely a story with societal merit and insight worth sharing. So Melora gets a thank you credit in the film because she inspired me to look for inspiration.
What is it about filmmaking that excites you?
I've always been drawn to the craft of story. And how metaphors and allegories, when cleverly told, can powerfully influence the way we think and feel. I love when a movie makes me react viscerally. Makes my eyes well up with emotion, or evokes a belly laugh. I want to create stories that can do that, so I'm constantly thinking of ideas and working on the completion of scripts that have something to say about the world we live in. The thing I like most is the hands-on process of building a film from scratch. Some directors hate producing, but I really enjoy it. The process of making all those calls, brokering equipment deals, finding the locations, crewing up the production, getting actors interested (and their managers and agents interested), and taking a script from words on paper to a story that unfolds on a movie screen - it's daunting, challenging, at times really frustrating, but all in all an awesome, amazing experience. |
Tell us about your film training.
I didn't go to film school. Somebody once told me that you could learn more in your first three days on a film set than you would in three years of film school. That was true for me on my first short film, The Bus Stop (www.atomfilms.com), a dark comedy about a bunch of kids confronted with terrorists on their school bus. What I learned during those five exhausting days of filming really helped me understand how complex the process of filmmaking is, and how prepared a director has to be on so many different levels in order to be an effective director.
I think doing a short film is the best workshop. Writing it, going through the process of getting the money, equipment and crew to produce and direct it and then going through post with editing, scoring and finishing is an incredible, invaluable experience that will transform anyone who goes through it.
Also, I work in advertising, so I get to watch other directors work on the commercials I write, and that's very helpful too, especially when it comes to animation or effects and things that require larger budgets than what I work with in the indie film world. How did you shoot the film?
The Art of Karaoke was shot on two Hi-Def Panasonic HVX-200 cameras. I wanted to use two cameras so that the film could have a more "cinematic feel" in respect to the coverage. One aspect of the film that was really important to us ("us" includes Warren Hansen, our cinematographer, and Grant MacDowell, editor) was the quality of the singing. Karaoke bars aren't known for their superior acoustics, and with all the ambient bar noise, getting a clean recording of the music that would do Art justice was a challenge. We solved that issue by using one camera exclusively for sound on the main performance mic, and plugging it directly into the karaoke DJ's sound board! We let camera #2 also record the performance but from the bar, with the ambience and bar noise intact. This way, when we mixed both channels together, we were able to modulate the background noise with a clean, crisp recording of the singing performance that resulted in the singing really popping out in the film - not the easiest thing to do in a bar! -MPM |
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