By Oliver Hunt
Being a filmmaker in New York must be tough, as it has become such an iconic location in cinema. What does New York City mean to you and how does that come through in your films?
Did you attend any film school on your path to becoming a filmmaker and what was your initial interest in the medium?
When I was a kid I went to see ET and I thought that the silver nitrate dust coming from the projection booth was magic. I wanted to make magic. I wanted to make people think, feel connect. I knew then that I wanted to be a director when I was in sixth grade. I read somewhere that Jim Jarmusch went to NYU and that became my goal. I got in, and realised it wasn’t what I expected, so I switched majors in the middle of my freshman year. I studied philosophy and a bunch of other things that interested me so I could expand my viewpoint, and I would take internships at production companies or PA gigs on films so that I could learn things. I started out as a script reader and then a script doctor, but I always knew I wanted to direct. Eventually, I signed up for classes at The New School to learn filmmaking and took those along with my NYU classes during my senior year.
For your short film The Difficult Kind the aesthetic style reminded me of the Mumblecore movement and Andrew Bujalski’s sophomore feature Mutual Appreciations. Now that the Mumblecore movement has quietened down do you feel your style is in line with the movement?
I don’t think Mumblecore has died down. I don’t think any of the auteur style, self-exploratory, filmmaking movement can die down. It just gets reinvented and it evolves. I think my style is kind of a hybrid. Somewhere between Dogme 95 and Mumblecore with a touch of neo-realism. One of the ties that connect these styles is that it is all about a DIY ethic. Making use of what you have, collaborating, taking chances and just creating. They’re both very good ways to learn and figure out your style. It always feels weird labelling my work, I like to think that all filmmakers are constantly evolving, honing their craft, trying new things. If I did have to break down what I thought of my style it gets murky. Visually, I have always been a fan of super 8 film, that grainy, gritty, dirty look.
Even though I shoot on a pretty decent digital camera I like to make it dirty in post because I think it’s prettier. I also like making people feel like voyeurs and leaving them breadcrumbs on their path to discovery about the characters. My end goal is never revelation, it’s always just a snapshot of the characters lives. Most people live pretty normal lives. They go about their day and exist. My characters are always just existing, doing very mundane things, but they’re never just regular people. I tend to go to dark places in my writing. Everyone knows the serial killer, bad relationship, hit man stories, but I like to see what drives them, what they do when they aren’t doing that one thing that makes them different. I think it is the philosophy major in me. I like to explore the fine line between good and bad and most of us straddle that line every day. I like creating characters that are finding themselves and figuring things out for themselves in everyday situations.
It is easy for any New York based filmmakers who deal with the theme of young adults searching for romance as well as themselves; to be aligned with icons such as Woody Allen or in more recent times; Lena Dunham. Who are the people who inspire your body of work?
Like I said earlier, I live for Jim Jarmusch. I love that he causes such a visceral reaction in people. You either love him, like I do, or you hate him. No one is ambivalent. I love that he is so hit or miss and that he isn’t afraid to try new things and work on ideas and concepts that other people would find boring. He’s fascinating to me. I think he inspires filmmakers to take chances and just tell the story they want , how they want. I also like Catherine Hardwicke, Chan-Wook Park Kimberly Pierce, John Cassevettes, Claire Denis, Steven Soderberg, Kasi Lemmon and I think that Maya Deren is a visual genius. I love the way she fragments her frames, it’s so pretty, like walking through a dream.
I’m a filmmaker, at the end of the day I’m inspired by everything and everyone. I’m constantly seeking out new films, stories, ideas, styles. Inspiration can come from anywhere. Sometimes I like to bury myself in a good book, or get lost in a museum, or engaged in a conversation with a surly old man at a dive bar. I like to take it all in.
What equipment did you use when shooting The Difficult Kind and is that the same equipment you use of your other projects? Do you feel the need to fill a set with an abundance of lighting equipment or other technical appliances?
Going back to my Dogme 95 / Mumblecore hybrid statement, I like to shoot with natural light, I shot The Difficult Kind in colour on a Canon 5D. For me the story determines what I use. For my web series I use a t4i and external lights because of the contrast and the number of characters in each scene, the DP would go crazy. In the feature I used a super 8 camera and the DSLR. In my pixie project shorts it was always either the t4i or 5D. For the short series I’m working on now I’ve used a super 8 for two of them and the t4i for the other three, I’ve got a lot more to go so, I’m letting the stories decide. I’m not a fan of a lot of equipment, or people, on the set. I like to give the actors the freedom to explore the space. It makes things seem more intimate. It’s a better environment for everyone involved when the actors are free to just be in the moment. Besides, it is often a lot easier when you have a one person crew, it allows you the freedom to shoot anywhere. I’m a big fan of the army of one.
You have a web-series called Beg. Borrow. Steal. What can you tell us about the ambitious project and is there anywhere online that people can check it out?
Three Friends. Making Thier First Feature. One Misdemeanor at a Time. My producing partners over at Mad Carousel (Andrew Harrison and Dallas Coyle) came up with an idea about what we thought it would be like if we couldn’t create and were forced to turn to crime to support our film or music making habits. I kind of took the project and ran with it. I was home one week with a horrible cold and in between chugging NyQuil and sleeping, I would curl up with my laptop and write. I finished about seven minisodes and the entire first season. I showed it to the boys and they thought it was good and we went with it. I originally didn’t intend on acting in it, but we couldn’t find someone to play the character based on my alter ego so I stepped in for what I thought would be one minisode. But once I started shooting I didn’t want to break the momentum. It felt good to try new things and constantly be able to shoot and direct.
The series is about three friends who lose funding for their first feature and turn to crime to pay for it, but the only thing they know about crime they learned from watching movies. So, it is kind of a disaster. In January we get to the meat of the story. The minisodes are kind of like a glimpse into their lives. We have 5 more minisodes coming out in December and then the story begins after the new year. We had to take a shooting hiatus because we had so much footage. Then I got sidetracked with all of the shorts and the feature. But, the web series isn’t dead. It gives me an excuse to keep shooting when I don’t think I can anymore. We have a vimeo page so, everyone should watch and don’t let my crappy acting influence things. I think the episodes and minisodes we have coming out starting in January, I come off way more natural but it was very hard for me in the minisodes to take off my writer director hat. The actors would look at me when they flubbed a line and we would have to cut. Now we have a flow and they get my directing style more, so the newer episodes are great and I get to actually act. I’m still not great at it, but I don’t suck as much.
What challenges have you faced since working on Beg. Borrow. Steal. and do you look for funding from investors or fund your own work?
I funded the series myself. Somehow we ended up with some press and then we got some really cool sponsors. Lots of vegan snack companies like Beanfield and Veggie Booty and Core Snacks. We also got product from Izze which was huge for us. I wasn’t doing it for money; the web series is a labor of love. I just wanted to be able to create. I had a few false starts earlier last year and I ended up losing a lot of footage for some shorts that I did, so the web series was a way to get me to keep going. Not taking on investors allowed me to keep the project mine. I could take chances; let it find it’s own way. Self-funding meant that I would be able to retain creative control and after having a previous film turn into a disaster because of all the cooks in the kitchen, I was a little gun shy about trying that again.
Crowdfunding popped up as an idea but I didn’t want to wait 30-90 days to shoot. I wanted to strike while I had free time and could just jump into it. I do think that if you want to do this and can’t come up with your own capitol, Seed and Spark is a great resource for filmmakers looking to do their own web-series, or film. You can crowdfund and find collaboration partners, which is key. You can also screen your work there when you’re done. They really push the projects on their site.
Web-series are becoming an interesting medium for low-budget filmmakers to get their names out into the world. What would you say to anyone out there who is considering producing his or her own web series?
DO IT! There seems to be this silly theory that you can’t do it on your own , or you need a lot of money, or a big name, but you can. Sometimes you need to be fearless and jump. I kind of lucked out because it was just supposed to be a web series that I was doing with my friends so I could get back on the horse and get more behind-the-camera time, there was no pressure. I didn’t think anyone would see it. It was more about me crushing my fear and just going for it. A kind of ‘screw you’ to that voice in my head that was still a little broken after last years nightmare and kept telling me that I couldn’t. I was lucky enough to have so many talented people who thought I was a talented writer and a decent director and were willing to take the leap with me.
From a filmmaking perspective, a web series is the ultimate learning tool. They allow you to gain confidence, see what works and what doesn’t, hone your craft. The important thing to remember is that you should just keep going. With a web series you can create something on a near weekly basis. You can try something new. You don’t need a lot of money and it can be anywhere from a 30 second minisode to however long you need it to be. It is not as stigmatised as a medium as it was in the beginning. You can showcase your talent, writing skills and ideas, plus people are willing to accept low-budget production values because of the medium.
If you want to be a filmmaker then you need to make films. You may not be the most famous or the most well known, but you are no less a creator than anyone else. Everyone has to start somewhere. A web series means you are locked in and ‘forced’ to create for at least three episodes. That is three things you’ve created. You can see the evolution and growth from the first webisode to the next, as a filmmaker you can track your progress and then you have the confidence to make a short or two or six and then that feature doesn’t seem so scary and you know how to work with no budget, with a tight schedule and minimal equipment.
What does the near future hold for you? Are you working on any projects that you can talk about?
This year has been insane. The feature I did over the summer, Blackout, was featured on the Moviemaker Magazines instagram page. That was huge for me. I took pictures of the production and got so much feedback and exposure. Earlier in the year I re-did the Pixie Project that I did last year and made a lot of shorts, they’re making their rounds for screenings and festivals later this year and hopefully into next year. But what I am really excited about is the two features, Ctrl. Alt. Del. and Unravelled that I’m shooting in the next three months. In the in-between time I’m working another Panic Pixie Project that I’m calling 30 one minutes. I’ve come up with 30 1-minute script ideas and I’m shooting them over the next six weeks. I plan on releasing them on my website next month, one a day. I’m also writing more pieces on feminism and media for Bitch Flicks and there is a full season of Beg. Borrow. Steal. coming out in late January. I’m also getting married to my super supportive fiancé, comedian Nathan Rand, in the spring.
He’s been dealing with me throughout all of my pre, pro and post freak-outs and been such a great cheerleader during the craziness that has been this year. Also, our backpacking honeymoon means a six weeks where I won’t be shooting, at least that’s the plan. I’m bringing my Fuuvi Bee 8mm retrostyle digital, Superheadz digital Harinezumi and Lomokino with me, so who knows. And, it’ll be my real break. I’ve been in go mode for the most of this year it might be nice to relax. There is just so much good stuff going on and it frightens and exhilarates me at the same time. I keep coming up with new projects for me to do because I have all these ideas in my head and I don’t want to lose the momentum I’ve been building. It’s tiring, but I don’t want to stop. It’s turning into a crazy ride and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
I do want to offer some advice for all the filmmakers out there who like me are starting out and trying to navigate things. 1, It’s okay to be afraid. Use that fear. As cliché as it sounds it really is a great motivator. The fear of not trying, the fear of failure, just face them head on. 2. After you screw up a few times you will get better. The worst thing that can happen is that you’re horrible. But we all have to start somewhere. 3. Connect with other people in the same boat as you. Together you can navigate the waters and turn the dingy into a cruise ship. Collaborate and commiserate often. 4. Let go of what you think you should be doing. Make your own way. No one is going to like everything you create. Some people might even hate it. Just remind yourself that you’re not creating for them, you’re creating for you. 5. Just keep going. If this is your dream and your passion then don’t let bitter people bring you down. Ignore the good and bad reviews and don’t let either go to your head.
http://gorillafilmmagazine.com/2013/11/10/an-interview-with-guerrilla-filmmaker-shay-revolver/#sthash.4VXvx4Jy.dpuf
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