Your short 15-05-08
- in a few words, what is it about?
15-05-08
is a found footage home invasion/slasher short about four
young adults that witness a break in at the house across the road, they
grab a video camera and start to record as evidence... How did the project
come into being, and what were your inspirations when writing 15-05-08?
And how much of what made it into the film was actually in the script, how
much was improvised? And why did you decide to use the found footage/first person approach
for your movie? Well I was watching films like The
Strangers, Funny Games and Disturbia at the time of writing a short film
called Untitled Tape”which featured the White mask killers from 15-05-08
when one night me and my brother actually witnessed a
break-in at the house across the road which gave us the idea to write a
prequel to Untitled Tape which became 15-05-08.
The film
dialogue is actually about 50% improvised by our great cast which I feel
really added to the realism of the short. I decided to use the found
footage approach due to the fact I am a huge fan of this horror subgenre
and it's something I haven't experimented with before. I feel that this subgenre gets
a bad rep and / wanted to do something a little different from the normal
paranormal themed found footage films. 15-05-08
uses quite a few motives of classic slasher movies - a genre at all dear
to you?
Yes!!! Slasher films are very dear to me, I watched them most days, and
they are the main inspiration to my work, especially
films like Halloween.
I also hadnt really seen the slasher genre
intergrated into found footage before so I thought it would
be an interesting idea. What can you tell us about your cast, and why
exactly these people? The cast are all close friends and
family and I felt this would allow a relaxed atmosphere on set and also
make the fact that these characters are close friends more believable. What can you tell us about the
actual shoot, and the on-set atmosphere? As we are all
close friends it made the shoots very relaxed, not stressful and extremely
fun, which I feel makes for a better performance from the cast and crew. The
$64-question of course: Where can the film be seen? The
film can be seen free on YouTube for everyone to see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj3DH4bnkn4
Any
future projects you'd like to share? In October we released
a micro-short My Neighbour Dave (also on YouTube) which is an
introduction/profile to a character which we may develop further in the
future. We are also currently working on another simular character
intro/profile short Campside Slasher 2 : The Video Game, which should
be released in the next month as well as working on a mini sequel to 15-05-08
called Last Days of May, which will be from the
point of view of the white mask killers from 15-05-08
and go down a more
snuff/torture porn route. What got you into
filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any formal training on
the subject? Watching old Hammer
house of horror films and
slasher flicks with my granddad as a child really got me into filmmaking,
I would often write film ideas and draw horror characters. But it wasn't until
I was at college studying Art that I realised that this is what I really
wanted to do, so I made a short post-apocalyptic slasher film Chimera
with some friends, which helped me get into university where I gained my BA
HONS Degree in Film Arts. What can you tell us about your filmwork
prior to 15-05-08?
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Prior
to 15-05-08
all my work were projects for university , mainly short horror
films but also working on thrillers, comedies, dramas an even animation, my
favourite of which is Now Time For An Intermission, which is a homage to
70’s grindhouse & exploitation cinema in the form of a double
feature intermission with authentic adverts and movie trailers (this can
also be found on YouTube). After that I shot and co-directed a music video
for a local band Broken City Saints (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp-ZHNgyy84).
After this me and my brother
set up our company Sick Bunny Pictures and we made our first micro-short
Tools Of The Trade. Filmmakers
who inspire you?
The main people that inspire me are old
70’s/80’s low budget directors such as Tobe Hooper, Jess Franco, the
Godfather Of Gore Herschell Gordon Lewis [Herschell
Gordon Lewis bio - click here] and the master of giallo Mario
Bava [Mario Bava bio - click
here]. In more modern
times though the works of Fred Vogel of Toe Tag Pictures, Adam Green,
Edwardo Sanchez and also big names like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. Your favourite movies?
Always
the hardest question to answer haha, as I have so many but mainly horror
flicks like Friday The 13th Part 2, Halloween,
Texas Chainsaw
Massacre,
Evil Dead, August Underground, Hellraiser
2, A Serbian Film, The Burning,
Loved Ones, Home Movie, and also non-horror films like Pulp
Fiction, Desperado, Batman, Robo-Cop and The Crow. Your/your
movie's website, Facebook, whatever else?
You can check us out onFacebook for updates and sneak peaks at
https://www.facebook.com/SickBunnyPictures
And also YouTube:
My page http://www.youtube.com/user/nikkichatwin
Sick bunny page http://www.youtube.com/user/SickBunnyPictures
Thanks
for the interview!
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