|
Your new movie Call
of the Void - in a few words, what's it about?
Call
of the Void
is a film about losing oneself in our own darkness and sorrow. The Void is
a representation of the shadow that lives within us all and in The
Painter’s case, his past as a soldier and opiate addict. The movie is
definitely an artistic representation of how someone tries to find
themselves in all of the emptiness and move past their own pain. It’s a
film that requires a lot of attention to analyze the details and one that
I hope invokes deep thought with those who watch it. It’s not a straight
forward film.
What were your sources of inspiration when writing Call of the Void?
My inspiration came from real life experiences. My brother was an
addict who lost his life to it. I’ve had friends lose their lives to
addiction. I personally have experienced a lot of darkness. I’ve seen a
lot of death and pain in life in a plethora of ways. So that really was
the inspiration for the basis of The Painter. The overall story was
inspired my interests in the esoteric and the paranormal. I really enjoy
subjects in that world so that’s where the source of void came from.
There was no script during the filming of the movie, just an outline. It
wasn’t until after the edit was close to being done that I wrote the
script sections and had them recorded with Jared.
Call of the Void
follows its very own nightmare logic - so how easy or hard was it to not
literally lose your plot telling your story that way?
I would say that Call
of the Void is one of the hardest yet one of the most rewarding
films I’ve every made for that reason. The movie really came to life in
the edit. We shot about 85 percent of the outline. Once I got into the
editing phase, I was able to really put this film together in a certain
way. I would start with a plan for the different chapters and start the
cutting process. I would then leave blank spots for the title cards to
show the story play out through the journal pages. Then, I would mark the
spots I knew I needed the narration. Once all that was done, I would take
the individual chapters and do all the music and sound effects. I think if
most people saw my process of making this film, actually most of my films,
but this film in particular they would give me a weird look as to how I
could make that process work into a cohesive story. This film was truly
authored by me in every way possible in the post process.
You chose to shoot Call
of the Void in black and white with no on-screen dialogue - so
what cab you tell us about these aesthetic choices?
We actually shot the movie in color and I had my monitor set for black and white.
The movie was shot at night in an old house in New Orleans. The house had
a huge skylight so we had to wait for the night to come because we shot
the entire film by candle and lantern light. There was no other lighting
used in the making of this film. I chose to do this to truly capture that
early 1900’s look. I wanted this character to live in complete darkness
because he’s not in the physical realm. He’s in the esoteric realm.
Also, that lighting choice truly made this film my favorite to shoot from
a cinematography point of view. Truly made everything feel older and
darker.
A few words about Call of the Void's
approach to horror?
I am a massive fan of the horror movies of the silent era and the era
of German Expressionism, with Vampyr
probably being at the top of my list. The way the shadows work in that
kind of horror feels far more classic. This is not a horror film where
gore and jump scares live. It’s more existential horror. The horror is
that The Painter doesn’t really know who he is anymore, but rather only
aspects of himself. He’s living in a constant state of repetition all
while being haunted by a version of his shadow self, and in that he is
forced to face his past, present and future self. It’s abstract while at
the same time embedded with a form of spiritual logic. It’s what I would
imagine all of us would experience as we embrace our place in the
collective unconscious.
What can you tell us about your overall directorial approach to your story at
hand?
My directorial approach on this film wasn’t much different than my
other films. I go over the scene with actors and what I want to happen, and
we walk through the scene. After that, I let my actors bring their art
form to life, only giving notes when I need to. The other half of my job
is the technical side as I’m usually the DP of the films nowadays, and if
I do have a DP, usually I’ve already created a shot list to make sure we
get the shots we need. On this film I had three cameras shooting at the
same time and I had them set up so I could monitor them at the same time,
control them and get the shots I need and that came down to blocking the
scene out in a way where I could do that.
Do talk about Call of the Void's cast, and why exactly these people?
When it comes to the cast, Jared Bankens is one of my first go-to
actors. Jared is not only an amazing actor but he’s also one of my
closest friends. He’s always down for something strange and creative.
It’s never a hard sale and he always delivers a great performance. My
friend Kirsten as the Scryer was also a no-brainer. Kirsten has an amazing
presence and she’s a wonderful actress. We always wanted to work
together so it was nice having her on board. She’s got an exotic quality
to her and it lended a great deal to the character of the scryer whom I
hope to build upon in the future. Katie is Jared’s wife and she just
helped us out, but it was nice to have her a part of the project as she’s
awesome to be around.
A few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set
atmosphere?
Light. During the breaks of filming, we joke around, have good
conversation and just let the film take a break. Because of the nature of
the film you need that break. The other half is the house was legit
haunted so we would hear walking above us. It was only Jared and I in the
house 99 percent of the time. There was no crew so the stuff we heard was
strange. Other than that, we turned on that darkness when we needed to and
turned it off when we needed to.
The $64-question of course, where can Call of the Void
be seen?
Call
of the Void will be out this year. I will be doing a Q and A in
Baton Rouge at Manship Theatre on October 17th, and I’m hoping it will be
in more theaters around the country as I work to get that done, and as far
as streaming and physical release of the film, that information will be
available soon.
Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Call of the Void?
Critically, most of the reviews have been positive. Naturally everyone
will have certain issues with any film. There’s no such thing as a
perfect movie no matter how much you love a film. It’s art and art is
imperfect. When I made the film I didn’t think anyone would like it at
all. It’s a strange movie to wrap your mind around so it’s always nice
to hear when people appreciate your work. When it started winning awards,
it made me feel good about what we did with the film and I can only hope
more people love it as much as we do. As far as the people who have seen
it, almost everyone has had nothing but positive things to say, so I’m
happy with that.
Any future projects you'd like to share?
I’m always working to create so I’m hoping to have new projects
soon but nothing on the table as of right now that’s super solid.
Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever else?
 |
Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned) |
The links below
will take you
just there!!!
|
|
 |
You can follow us on social media: @anatomicafilms and @callofthevoidthefilm
on Instagram, Anatomica Films on Facebook, and our website is www.anatomicafilms.com
and our YouTube page is Anatomica Productions.
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to
ask?
Don’t forget to check out our other films Abacus,
coming out soon, and my other two films that are out now. They Are
Watching, on VOD now and on physical Blu-ray October 8th with a
pre-order out soon, and
The Demonologist, available on VOD now!
Thanks for the interview!
|
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
