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Your new movie Retro
Joy - in a few words, what's it about?
A woman joyfully dances to her favorite 80s tune, when the true source
of her joy is revealed.
What were your sources of inspiration when dreaming up
Retro Joy?
I did see in your review where you said the story
hardly matters, but the story matters more than everything, so thank
you for the opportunity to interview. The story is about pushing
through hard times, and how strength and joy come from the Lord. The
story says that no matter who or what tries to take your joy, it won't
ever actually happen because joy comes from an eternal place. Even
today May 28 as I write this, I have a peace and a joy that never
leaves me no matter what people try to do to me, or say about me. None
of that has authority or can take away my joy as it comes from the
Lord. I always believed in a god, but I didn't use to believe in
Christ or the Bible. In all those years I always rejected Him and His
existence, but my sister has always been a believer, so I always knew
about Him. I found Him while parked in my car in March 2024 after
calling out to Him for the first time ever in my life, while in the
lowest place. He filled me with a peace I had never felt in my life,
in that moment. He answered me. It hasn't been easy because some
people dislike those who believe, but He says that we will face
tribulation in this world because of who we believe in, so I'm always
prepared for it and I take it to Him always. He gives me peace,
comfort, joy, and He takes care of things in His time. I never want to
go back to who I was and what my life was like before I knew Him. That
is the story behind
Retro Joy, and it means absolutely everything.
We need to talk about the tune that's playing in
Retro Joy, Paul
Hardcastle's Rainforest - now what does that song mean to you personally?
Yeah! I love this song. I was born and raised in Raleigh, North
Carolina and lived there until I was a teen before moving to MA with
my family. There's a radio station in NC called Foxy 107.104 where
they used to play classic R&B music (the station has regressed since).
Growing up, Rainforest played on that station. We had a huge boombox
radio - that thing never died! And the batteries were immaculate
because they lasted for a long time, through years of us having no
electricity. My siblings and I used to dance to Rainforest. We grew up
on classic R&B, but especially 80s R&B. I was born in 1990, so I heard
80s music on the radio all the time anyway, and also, my mom was an
80s person, and she played records from that era all the time; it's
what I grew up on. We used to dance to Rainforest as well as other
songs from artists like Janet Jackson, Prince, Teena Marie, Rick
James, the S.O.S. Band, Debarge, Rene & Angela, etc. The 80s R&B from
that era was the soundtrack of my childhood and I like dancing to it.
The film is a callback to my childhood where 80s R&B and dancing with
my siblings helped lighten the...heavier areas, for lack of a better
word...
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Do talk about Retro
Joy's rather unique look, and how was it achieved?
I used Capcut to edit the movie. It was the first time I used the
program and I was happy with it. The program has some great
transitions and visual effects. I used 80s-style VFX to give the film
a grainy, static-y look - the look of a VHS tape basically. I also
color-graded the movie to give the video more life and make it look
less flat. I created the stacked videos by accident, but thought they
looked cool, and it reinforces an older look, so I added them to the
movie. I was concerned about editing this in 9:16 (vertical look) over
the traditional 16:9, but it worked out nicely. In this day and age,
the kids are using TikTok to create videos with, so it is also timely
choice...for a timeless story.
You also used some AI footage in
Retro Joy, right?
Now what prompted this decisiion and what can you tell us about working
with AI?
I watched the movie without the AI-generated dancers and felt that
since the song loops and is longer, and since I only shot myself
dancing from a few angles, the film needed more to keep the audience
engaged. I didn't want the movie to become boring or predictable. I
hadn't made a film since 2020 (Daydreamers Love This was filmed in
2020), so seeing AI (LLMs, diffusion transformers, computer vision
etc.) dominating the filmmaking scene was both overwhelming yet
fascinating to me. It's so different from where we were in 2013 when I
first started making films. I wanted to join in, keep up, and learn
how these tools were being used in film. I figured I'd take the
opportunity to experiment with it and see what I could do to improve
my film. Using AI to create additional 80s-style dancers to bring
variety to the dancing was the perfect way to use the tool in the
film. I used Canva, and was very happy to get a *few* clips of a few
seconds of usable content; most clips the tool generated were crap.
Prompt engineering is so important to generate the appropriate outfits
and movements, and even then, the output could still be mostly crap
(dancing weirdly, not dressed in 80s style clothing, wrong size,
etc.). But I'm happy I got *some* useful clips though, and I'm excited
to see how I can use AI in future filmmaking processes.
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You also appear in front of the camera in
Retro Joy as the film's
dancer - so what was that experience like?
I was actually coming out of a cold when I danced for this, so I
wasn't feeling 100% well, but I was happy to be out of bed and moving
for the first time in a few days. It was cool dancing to the song. I
was very happy listening to it and dancing to it. I was kind of
hesitant to do it in front of the camera at first, but I did it
anyway. I held back some because I was in front of the camera haha. I
shot a couple of takes with more lively movements, and a couple with
more restrained movements, including some focusing on my feet and
other angles (most of which I did not use). Since I didn't like a lot
of the angles once I started editing, I decided to diversify by adding
AI-generated dancers lol.
Do talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
I shot several takes in my apartment, using different
angles to see which ones I liked better during the editing phase. I
changed up the speed and style of my dancing for each take; I just
played the music and just danced. It probably took a couple of hours
to shoot, but it took several months to edit. It took even longer to
secure the publishing and master licenses for the song's use in the
film - but I did get them! Now I just have to submit to festivals
before the terms are up lol.
The $64-question of course, where can
Retro Joy be seen?
People can stream the film on my Vimeo here:
https://vimeo.com/1180671180
Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception of
Retro Joy?
So far I've only posted it on my social media accounts. People have
told me it makes them feel happy and want to get up and dance. They
like the biblical reference. I also got compliments on my dancing, the
editing, and the song. I hope to submit the film to festivals.
Any future projects you'd like to share?
I'm interested in re-recording the song Her by The American Dawn and
re-writing the lyrics to fit what I want to say about my own
situation. I love that song. I want to create a music video for it,
but animated by AI. It'd give me another reason to experiment with AI
in filmmaking. To give a sample of the lyrics:
No, I don't deserve it But I wanted it, more
than you could knowIn another life, I've
seen your eyes beforeIf I leave, is it
better than to feel in vain? Don't brood for
me ever, baby, do your thing (the way)
The way you want me a little, you run and then
You want me a little more than I want you all over again
And again and again and again and again
And again and again and again
Again and again and again and again and again
And again and again and again
My lyrics though are not defeated like the original song. It's based
on feelings I've had about someone I met in December 2024. The song is
basically saying what you wish you could say to a person you had
affections for, but won't, like: You closed that chapter when you
mocked my affections and walked past the door, proudly. I forgive him,
but I don't forget when someone mocks my affections and
triangulates/plays games. A man who gets a little close, and then
sabotages/runs away, and then gets a little close, only to sabotage
and run away over and over again in a year-plus-long cycle, due to
fear, insecurity, and a love of control is not ready to love or be
loved in the way I want to love and be loved. I had to accept it and
move on; that is what the song kind of processes. A woman in her 30s
who wants marriage and a family doesn't have time for a man who is
frozen, and scared of love and loss of control - so much so that he
can't take a step forward. The song basically says, I was the
vulnerable one before. Now it's your turn. In the meantime, I wish you well and I'm moving on.
That's the song I have on my heart right now to create.
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Your/your film's website, social media, whatever else?
raeshellecooke.com,
and you can find me Linkedin. Also follow me on Twitter: @RMCPict
Anything else you are dying to mention and I have merely forgotten
to ask? I think that's all of it - thank you!
Thanks for the interview!
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