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by Rusty White
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EInsiders.com: I'm somewhat ignorant of DV photography. The DVD is in a widescreen
format. Did you add the matting in post production, or were you able to matte
the camera when you filmed. The reason I ask, is the movie is framed as if it
was shot in widescreen as opposed to being shot full frame and artificially
matted afterwards.
Sal Ciavarello: Yes, shooting it in widescreen was planned from the very start. We matted
the viewfinder on the camera in order to give Huy his guidelines and later
placed the matte during post production.
You shot HPE in 11 days. How long was post production?
Post production was about 4 to 5 months.
Is 4 to 5 months a long post-production period for a DV film?
I don't think it's a long time. You still have to make the same decisions
you would make when cutting a film. There was no need to sync the sound to
the picture since the two were married in the original recording but I think
4 to 5 months may be too little time. I hear some filmmakers who can take up
to 6 to 12 months to cut a feature even if shot on DV.
I checked out the actresses (Christine Gallo, Wendy Allyn and Jessica
Hester) on IMDB. Only Christine Gallo seemed to have any prior film
experience. I thought they did a great job. Did they have any previous
experience not listed on IMDB? Have you kept in touch with them? Wendy Allyn
seemed like someone who would be fun to work with!
I keep in touch with most of them very often. One of them threw a pretty
cool Halloween party very recently and I just heard from Wendy who is out in
California doing a show. We all lived up in that cabin for those 11 days and
luckily they turned out to be three of the coolest, nicest and most down to
earth gals you could ever encounter. And that says a lot! Believe me I have
worked with quite a number of actors before this and some of them have turned
out to be real head cases. I don't think I can name a film that the actresses
were in that anyone would recognize. And yes, Wendy could be a fun actress to
work with when she decided to get into one of her goofy moods. I really miss
the whole experience I had working with all of them. It was so much fun.
What was your budget? Any tips on how a budding filmmaker would raise
the cash?
It was under thirty grand. As for any tips on how a budding filmmaker can
raise the money...hmmm....begging sometimes works. If anyone has any better
tips please e-mail me!
Several times in HPE the girls make reference to the cell phone or the
gun or the car as being their savior. Do you feel that DV is the savior of
young (or old) independent filmmakers? It seems that since "Jaws" and "Star
Wars" created the mega-returns blockbuster mentality in Hollywood, that the
days of the "small films" have become numbered?
Well, that's a tough call. I can say that it was definitely my savior
otherwise I would still have the same old conversations with my filmmaker
friends trying to come up with a way to raise $300,000 instead of $30,000. I
see lots of filmmakers and I'm not just talking about nobodies like myself,
but established filmmakers like George Romero who has thought about it and I
know for a fact that Roy Frumkes is in post production with one starring that
rocker chick Joan Jett. So, things are changing. Slowly, but they are
changing and with time the technology advances and the images get better and
better.
You stated that Miramax was interested in HPE, but they were insisting
on the deletion of certain conversations which they said might be perceived
as profane or blasphemous by Catholics or Christians. I thought your dialogue
raised good questions. It dealt in a very refreshing and realistic way, the
concept of God having or not having a place in peoples lives, and of people
being angry with God. To me, the fact that Miramax passed on your film is
further illustration of the fact that the moneymen in Hollywood are not
artists. Any comments.
This guy ain't out chopping fire wood! |
SC: I agree one hundred percent. Everything has to be politically correct
nowadays in films or I should say in Hollywood films. You can't say this and
you can't say that. You may offend a large group of folks and they won't buy
that ticket and I'm sure that's what was running through the mind of Miramax
when considering HPE. In a way I can understand their reasoning after all
this is a business like any other but it is also a form of censorship, and in
my opinion it's also a kind of monopoly over the people's free will. They are
in control of what you and I can see in a theater, that's arguable I know,
but it's kind of true. If my film has a line which they believe should be cut
because it's considered taboo then you have to cut it unless you have final
cut written in that contract you've signed. But we independent filmmakers are
the future and the Internet is our greatest tool to reach lots of folks
across this great vast globe whose interest goes well beyond the same old
Hollywood Bullshit. What we need are a few artists sitting in those executive
chairs. I guarantee you that you would see more and more variety and truly
artistic work.
I admit your disclaimer "If any Christians or Catholics were offended
by this movie they should have watched something else" upset me in that I
thought it put up a wall. It seemed contrary to the tone of the script you
had written. The characters of Angelique (Christine Gallo) and Sarah (Wendy
Allyn) have several conversations in which Angelique comes across as anti-God
and Sarah is pro-God. I felt that you showed great honesty as a director by
just putting it up there on the screen and not taking sides. Let the viewer
get what they want out of it. It was real powerful. Was the disclaimer in
response to criticism received by people from the religious right? I felt
your movie deals with these issues more openly and honestly than the attempts
to deal with faith in "The Exorcist."
That was my little message to anyone thinking of attacking me. That
comment wasn't designed to offend anyone. It was also a very tongue in cheek
sort of comment and my producer tried to make me cut it but I thought of it
and still think of it not as an offensive attack but as a defensive shield to
anyone thinking of busting my balls and calling me "evil" and to "go to
Hell," and all that good stuff. I just don't like folks who know they will
hate the picture before even watching a frame of it but will see it anyway in
order to attack it and say that this is the Devil's work and even attempt to
ban it. So, that little comment is really for them.
Another area which you say may cause some to condemn the film is the
unbiased way in which the character of Angelique discusses the history of
Satanism and the differences between the dangerous hardcore cultists
portrayed in the movie and people like Anton LaVey who the character claims
are peaceful practitioners. I admit to knowing little or nothing about LaVey
and his church. What are it's precepts as you understand them? The Angelique
character states the LaVey church is just a group which believes in rational
thought, but isn't really interested in worshipping the Devil. Maybe I
misunderstood the dialogue, but if that is true, then why not just align
yourself with philosophers like Kant and Benthem who propounded the adherence
to rational thought?
The LaVey practitioners believe in rational free thinking. Satan, to them
is a symbol of how one should live their lives. There is no way in hell, no
pun intended, that I can truly explain the religion without going on and on
and on. This review will read more like a book.
You told me in a previous e-mail that George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead"
was the film that made you decide to become a filmmakers. What was it about
that movie that impacted you so hard?
Well, I would have to say the characters. I found myself really rooting
for them and wanting them to survive that nightmare. When Roger is bit you
know he's done for and the other characters know it too and it plays on your
emotions. Romero did a fantastic job on the pacing of the film, the action,
the gore and more importantly creating really great characters that you just
love. It had the perfect amount of each element. It's simply a masterpiece.
And I would also like to add that it does not need to be remade! Hollywood
just gets dumber and dumber.
In HPE, you take a less is more approach to creating suspense. I was
reminded of the films Val Lewton produced as I watched HPE. Are you a fan of
his work?
I can't say that I have seen all of his films but I do vaguely remember
seeing the Cat People and there were scenes where shots of shadows lurking
and creeping could send chills down your spine. I have read that although he
was a producer he did have a great influence on how the picture was made. I
wish we had more of that belief system placed in films today instead of
showing everything to an audience with cheesy CGI animation. Another perfect
example is Freddy Kruger. In the first film his facial features were barely
lit and that made him creepy and part of what scares the shit out of
everyone, which is the unknown; but by the third, fourth and whatever number
they ended up with Freddy was over lit and his personality was overexposed
and was forced to become a joke.
I thought your timing in HPE was impeccable as far as knowing how long to
prolong the tension before punching the audience in the stomach. Once the
characters, to use their words, "Are officially fucked," you pace the film as
if you are making love to the audience. There is a moment of frenzy followed
by a period of calm which slowly builds back up to frenzy and subsides and so
forth until the film's great climax. How much of the pace of the film's last
two thirds was decided at the writing stage and how much worked itself out
during the editing process?
The pacing is something that I have become very conscious about since my
last film. The pacing on my short flick Blue Shadows was not one of my
primary goals. You live and learn. During the writing and structuring of the
story pacing was high on my list of things to be aware of. Not to pat myself
on the back but I tried to keep the timing as close as possible when I was
directing and editing the picture to how I had envisioned it to come along in
my mind when I was writing it. And that means being aware of what to cut in
the editing room or moving things along when directing. It can be a very
scary venture if you say to yourself "well, I'll worry about it or fix the
pacing in post" You can't do that. Making sure you are one hundred percent
happy with the screenplay is priority number one. When editing the picture
you have to hope that you are the same person or you are in the same frame of
mind when you wrote the story. Hopefully the visions are the same.
» continue interview (part III)
Rusty White
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