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TSP Ep 124 Part 1: Interview of Writer and Director Steven Aripez
25 Plays5 months ago
In this episode, Tom and Steve have some brews and talk with Steven Aripez, the director of The Director's Cut. They discuss the films that inspired Steven's filmmaking career, the Jehovah's Witness faith, and Steven's first film!
So come along with us as we learn a thing or two!
You can find Steven and all that he is doing here: https://www.instagram.com/aripezfilms/
And you can find his feature, The Director's Cut here: https://tubitv.com/movies/100019561/the-director-s-cut
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:00
Speaker
All right. You ready? Yeah. All right. Welcome, everyone, to Twin Shadows Podcasts and podcasts about film filmmaking and filmmakers. Today, as always, you have your two great co-hosts, Tom and Steve. And today we have a very special guest. Another Steven has joined to have some chats with us. Steven Arepez. How are you doing, Steven?
00:00:25
Speaker
I'm doing good, guys. Thanks for having me on.
Discovery of 'Director's Cut' and Social Media Connections
00:00:27
Speaker
Yeah. It was kind of crazy. We were talking about this because we were editing our film. We were in the post-process on our feature film. Oh, nice. Steven was saying, Steven to my right. Oh. Steven with a pH was to my right saying, hey, you got to watch this film. It's on Tubi. It's really cool.
00:00:47
Speaker
It's called Director's Cut. And then I would search Director's Cut and there was like five movies called Director's Cut on Tubi. And I was like, which one are you talking about? And he was like the newest one. And then, you know, I think it was a Friday night. Yeah, I popped a little edible and I watched it and I was like, this is fucking awesome. And I searched your name in Google and your Instagram came up and I was like, I'm just going to see if he wants to come on the podcast.
00:01:14
Speaker
randomly messaged you and then here we are. That's the day and age we live in. If you're putting stuff out there, just be careful.
On-set Realism and Challenges in Filmmaking
00:01:27
Speaker
I might message you one day. How have you been, man? How was your week? Week's been good. Been a good week. Can't complain too much.
00:01:40
Speaker
All right, and then I think we all have some drinks in front of us. I'm drinking... I don't know what that tequila was called, but... Coralejo. Oh, yes. Very fine tequila from Mexico. And Steven, what do you got?
00:01:54
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I know we're gonna get confused with this whole Steven thing. Yeah, Steven got the modello and then Steven what do you got? I got some white rabbit. Oh the dead the dead rabbit dead rabbit. There you go I didn't I wasn't a big fan of the dead rabbit. What how do you what do you think of it? I'm liking it right now with the ice
00:02:11
Speaker
Yeah, I think it maybe just needed like a little bit of like watered down. It was it's I think it's a cheaper one Irish whiskey. And Steven, you got the classic Modelo you drinking it with a wine a lime and some salt? No, it's just plain. Well, you must like that drink because we were checking out your short films on YouTube and on and buds.
00:02:36
Speaker
Your actor's drinking a medallo on that one. Although I did see that he faked one of the sips. Dammit, why don't those actors just get drunk? Was that a... Well, we can get into more, but... Jumping a little ahead there. Was that an actual beer that they were drinking on set? It was, yeah. You know, we always appreciate that here. A beer from the restaurant that we got.
00:03:02
Speaker
Oh, okay. So that's yeah. Yeah because that was uh, I guess we're gonna kind of go on attach it We probably shouldn't but just real quick. How do you feel about actors? Drinking on set specifically I guess within the scene Like do you like that? Um
00:03:21
Speaker
It just depends. I think if it's under controlled, like if it's controlled, then I don't mind. But I don't want it to get out of hand, obviously. So I don't mind if they drink a little bit as long as they can handle their shit, you know? Definitely. And I think, well, one thing too is as long as it doesn't make them sluggish.
00:03:38
Speaker
Exactly. That's a big issue, I think, especially like this is like we like this is why we we outlawed pasta lunches on set. Because I think one day we made spaghetti for the cast and crew and that I don't think we actually did anything after lunch. Yeah, it's pretty heavy. Yeah, it was everyone was just like, yeah, we're not moving.
00:03:59
Speaker
Yeah, and then one time during the lunch break, we just started drinking and we all got way too drunk, but we still kind of finished out the day. You definitely can see the drop in quality on the second half. Yeah, be responsible, kids.
00:04:16
Speaker
But yeah, I saw
Personal Background and Influence on Filmmaking
00:04:17
Speaker
you, I saw LinkedIn for your film. I don't know if we're friends on LinkedIn or if it was just someone who knows you, but they posted Director's Cut, so I checked it out. And I started watching it. And then as I was watching it, I started to see some parallels to our film. And in fact, in your film, they talk about the Mojave Desert and that's where we're from.
00:04:42
Speaker
So, okay. Nice. Where are you based at? Are you based out in Los Angeles? No, no, I'm based out in Marietta Temecula area, which is like 90 minutes from Los Angeles. Yeah. Oh, all right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're like, uh, you're across over the hill for us. Just right over the hill. Yeah. Yeah. I'm right in between San Diego and LA basically.
00:05:07
Speaker
Yeah, I'm familiar with the area. I work in LA and I'm all over. Not so much that area. That's a little far out there. Yeah. But yeah, definitely. Are you a California born and raised? Yeah, I was born in Poway, San Diego County. And then I lived a little bit in Arizona and then came back to California.
00:05:36
Speaker
Okay. And pretty much been in California most of my most of my life, yeah. Nice. So then when did your love for filmmaking begin? Like what started all of that, you know? Yeah, I mean, I honestly, I just feel like pretty much since I was shown a movie, I've always been, you know, drawn to it, always liked it.
00:05:55
Speaker
Also, there was kind of like a forbidden thing about, you know, certain movies because I grew up in a, I grew up Jehovah Witness, you know, so it was very like horror movies and all that stuff was very forbidden, but it was automatically I was drawn to it. I took a liking to that was always very, I always wanted to see that type of stuff. But obviously, there was a restriction that I was trying to be a good, you know, a good, a good Jehovah Witness. But at the end of the day, movies went over.
00:06:23
Speaker
Do you remember what one of those, Jesus, it's not a enemy yet. Do you remember what one of those first forbidden films were? Can you recall?
00:06:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think hearing about the Exorcist was one thing. I remember that was a big talk because anything with demons and stuff was very big, at least from my experience with the Joel Witness religion. That was something that was just talked about. So I knew about it before I even seen an image of it.
00:06:53
Speaker
And then i've ever seen it play on tv and i saw a little bit a little bit of it and just that little like five seconds scared the shit out of me and it but i was like damn i do want to see that movie but i'm too scared right now because i was like i don't know i was like probably eight or nine yeah that movie scarred me as a kid what about you buddy yeah well that was always like the uh
00:07:14
Speaker
the forbidden movie, I think, for a lot of people, especially if you grew up in any religious household. It's like, no, you guys can't watch that. That's too grown up. That's only for the grown ups. I also think, sorry to interrupt you, but there was like a rerelease, I think, in like 99 or 98 or something.
00:07:32
Speaker
And that's kind of where it kind of blew up again. That's when they added in like the spider walk, like that was never in their original cut. And so I think like our generation, I don't know when you were born, but I'm 89, I think Steven's 85.
00:07:47
Speaker
So 88 yeah, so we're all about all around there so like we were all in like that age where it's like it came out just as we were starting to be like hit like 10 teenager and it's like yeah when that shit is real scary right and like and I think they made that that new cut was a lot scarier with that spider walk man, right? That's just fucking terrifying
00:08:07
Speaker
Like dude fuck that bitch could do that. Like shit. I remember watching that shit as a kid and like I was probably 10 when I watched it and I saw that bitch's face in my dreams for years. Oh yeah. That was the scariest thing is uh...
00:08:24
Speaker
Regan's face, you know when she's possessed it looks so the makeup was just so well done To me that's what a demon was for the longest time, you know Um, I was like it was it was reagan's face Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So with uh growing up jojoba's witness, um And then watching your films You know, they kind of have this uh darker element to them um when I saw directors kind of kind of has a
00:08:52
Speaker
kind of like a nihilistic slant to it, you know, it's heavy, you know, it doesn't have, well, I don't want to give too much away, but kind of a sense of nihilism I felt in the film. And then in your shorts, they tend to have a darker turn. So do you think
00:09:16
Speaker
The your religion plays a part in your filmmaking now, or is it just that was in the past and now this is just kind of like those? I mean, I mean, like I stopped being part of the Joe Witness religion when I was 14, like officially I was already kind of out. But like I felt like once my dad got away from it, I felt like I was like, OK, now I can truly be free from it. And yeah, I mean, I don't know if it really I think
00:09:45
Speaker
I think in
Early Filmmaking Journey and Collaborations
00:09:46
Speaker
a way, maybe subconsciously, I don't really think about it necessarily in the forefront. It's been, like I said, I've gone a lot of years without it. But I feel like, yeah, maybe subconsciously, I guess. I don't know. I haven't really thought about it, honestly. Yeah, because I did notice that.
00:10:04
Speaker
Directors kind of because again, there's like some parallels between our film and I was like, oh shit but you know, that's one of the things and why I was so excited to show Tom your film and I've kind of just been thinking a lot about film in general because We've really gotten into watching a lot of film obviously and for this podcast we watch a lot of the greatest movies ever made and
00:10:29
Speaker
And just seeing those films and then current cinema, it's refreshing to just go on 2B because you can go down a rabbit hole of
00:10:41
Speaker
Yeah, yeah non studio films You know and you can find some just really interesting storylines like with the director's cut um, it was interesting to see all the twists and turns the story took and You know, it didn't strike me as a film You would see from a studio, you know, they would want different endings or different takes to things and
00:11:05
Speaker
And I found that just I don't know just invigorating uh inspiring And I and I do feel like a lot of the real cinema is going to come from People like us are you know this new age because I think like the marvel films and all those Those aren't doing so well. So that's kind of we're we're probably going to see a shift in cinema where it's going in the mainstream and I think the heart's going to be like with what we're able to do and put together because
00:11:33
Speaker
There's really nothing that restricts us. The only thing that restricts us is our ability to capture the ideas and to put it on screen. Yeah, no, I mean, I pretty much agree what you said. Yeah, I totally agree. I think we're definitely not.
00:11:50
Speaker
It's a pretty interesting time, I guess, in the mainstream filmmaking, because you said the superhero genre is pretty much dying out, so definitely feels like it's open. It's played out that genre, so I feel like there's going to be a lot of interesting films coming up. I mean, there already is, but I feel like the floodgates are open and there's going to be a bunch coming out.
00:12:13
Speaker
Also, thank you for saying those nice words about the movie. I appreciate it. But yeah, I pretty much agree with everything which you just said right now. I think it's crucial. To jump on what Steven was saying and what both Stevens were saying just now, I'd like to say the thing that I'm interested in and what I've been thinking about a lot recently is,
00:12:37
Speaker
There's gonna be, there's this, the new age is gonna be these, is gonna be, I think the filmmakers like us that are just like these low to the ground, we like, I don't know how big the crew was for Director's Cup, but like, we're talking like five, 10 people cruise, shooting extremely slim, and then leveraging technology and stuff to kind of bridge the gap for professionalism. It's one of the reasons I'm a little bit excited about like the AI kind of making post things a little cheaper.
00:13:06
Speaker
Like the way I can like kind of audio master or help audio master or like just clean up dialogue, things like that with plugins that are, you
Learning from Failures and Production Challenges
00:13:15
Speaker
know, a $300 plugin is going to replace like a five to $10,000 dialogue cleanup. And that's only getting better and better. It's not.
00:13:23
Speaker
It's probably not professional level yet, but some of the stuff that we've been playing with just to kind of test the waters is really fascinating. I was curious to know like how big was the crew for, I mean, we're gonna talk more about Director's Cup, but how big are your crews for like your short films and do you have like a set group of people that you're making films with? Yeah, it's usually around 10 people is my crew.
00:13:49
Speaker
And yeah, I found like a tribe and they kind of come along, you know, and there's sometimes new additions get added. But yeah, it's usually like around 10 people per film. Director's Cut, I think it was, I think, nine or eight maybe. Yeah, if I remember correctly, yeah.
00:14:09
Speaker
So then with technology kind of, well, with technology making filmmaking easier, did that help to get you into filmmaking or did you go to film school? Like what made you decide to take that leap from enjoying the exorcist to now making your own films that will stand alongside that?
00:14:28
Speaker
Yeah, honestly, you know, I got into film pretty much once I separated myself and my family separated themselves from the religion. Like I said, then I just really cut loose on watching like no guilt. It was like a monkey off my back. I had no guilt. I was like, I went in watching pretty much all the movies that
00:14:49
Speaker
you know, I've heard of or wanted to see that were like rated R or that hard R and stuff. So I went right into that. My brother, who was four years older than me, he was already kind of secretly doing it, you know? And then once that happened, he was like, oh, here, watch this way. Watch it, you know? And then he just started influencing me what to watch. And he got into being like into screenwriting. So seeing him be into it and writing some scripts,
00:15:14
Speaker
kind of like sparked something in me. And then at first I just was like, I'm just going to be a writer. I think I was just kind of mimicking my brother, you know? And so I wrote a shitty ass script, a horror script, but it was really good because I got one done. It was like 130, maybe like 120 pages, you know, but it wasn't very good. But it was like very influential and like, wow, I can actually write something. And I was kind of, I kind of got the bug, you know? And then ever since then, I was like kind of writing stuff.
00:15:43
Speaker
Then one day I you know, I went to Hollywood video and I rented you know Have a big crush on Natalie Portman, especially at that time. Oh, yeah, and I was like, you know what at that time I think it Garden State was like 2004. Okay in Garden State and closer were available to rent maybe with 2005 but I rented both those movies a little Natalie Portman double feature and and I
00:16:10
Speaker
And watching the special features, especially in Garden State, really kind of clicked in my head. And I was like, if fucking Zach Braff can do it, why can't I do it? Nothing against Zach. The Scruff guy can do it. That's actually the reason why I wanted it to be a director. Not like his movies and stuff, but that special features really kind of opened my eyes and kind of took the veil off Hollywood to me. I was like, oh, it's like...
00:16:35
Speaker
you can do this. It made it seem tangible to me and not like some kind of fantasy. Then I was like, oh, I was already thinking this, but once I saw that, I was like,
00:16:48
Speaker
Yeah, I don't want to just be a writer, I want to be a director is the real thing. And I want the writing, the directing to be the main thing and writing to be kind of like, it just goes hand to hand, you know? I'm not a writer, I'm not a director, I'm a writer-director, you know? But if I had to choose, I'd probably choose directing. But yeah, I only write to direct basically is my reasoning for writing, you know? Absolutely, yeah. Yeah.
00:17:14
Speaker
So after that, that just kind of opened the, you know, that was kind of like, okay. And then ever since then, I just kind of, you know, movies, watching movies was different. Everything just felt different once I was like, okay, yeah, this is what I need to do. This is what I have to do. This is my plan A to Z. And yeah. That is something I think is fascinating. It's like once you start kind of getting into film, movies become different.
00:17:35
Speaker
Just the way you watch movies like movies just feel different too. It's interesting you say like the special features for Garden State are kind of what inspired you because I think that's one of the questions I like to ask and you kind of answered the question before we even got to ask you this like what's that film that kind of woke you up to the idea that filmmaking is a thing like I think for a lot I know for for me it was Clerks. I watched Clerks at a pretty young age and just remember thinking like
00:18:04
Speaker
that's it's just so cool that like this just when you watch it just as a film that just feels so doable. I mean, it's no exactly. And it's like these people sound like how like my I have an older brother and like, yeah, that's what introduced me to a lot of films.
Editing and Low-Budget Creativity
00:18:20
Speaker
And
00:18:21
Speaker
It's like this is how he talks. Like he says like weird dumb shit like this all the time. Yeah. And it's just fascinating because it's like we all kind of like find that film I think where our eye kind of like releases the veil of oh, like this is just a bunch of people standing around making this thing. And it's kind of awesome because I think that also kind of starts opening your eyes.
00:18:45
Speaker
to a different perspective of what film is and can be. So then did that lead into your writing and then you feel like you can start directing? So then did that lead into you doing shorts? And then when did you start that? Before I get to that, it's funny that you say Clerks, because I had seen Clerks. I'm a big Kevin Smiths fan before I even watched that Garden State Special features. So like my brother was super huge. He got me into Kevin Smith and all that.
00:19:13
Speaker
So I have seen with Clerks and it looks very doable, but I don't know why it never clicked. Like for some reason, Clerks has never clicked. I don't know, maybe I didn't watch the special features, but I always look like, yeah, that looks very simple. But for some reason, watching Garden State just like made it click. It makes no sense. Back when we had a great soundtrack, right? Isn't that kind of what also everyone remembers is like that soundtrack is fucking just killer. Oh, yeah. Have you seen Garden State?
00:19:40
Speaker
I just remember Natalie Portman with a knitted helmet. Yeah, yeah, because she's epileptic. Yeah, that's surely all I remember. Yeah, it's a good move. It's a good it's actually a really good rom com in my opinion. And but that closer was just such a
00:19:59
Speaker
Powerful combination and add the special features just take it to the next level. But um, you were asking me What was the question again? Sorry just uh, so after you wrote your your feature horror It and you decided or you said you're a writer director. Did that then lead into you doing shorts or Yeah, where the projects you started getting into from there. I
00:20:23
Speaker
Basically I got a hold of a fucking the cheapest camera I could find, you know, and just started the thing was more like I Started using my friends, you know, but they weren't really like passionate about filming. They liked films
00:20:38
Speaker
But that wasn't their thing. That wasn't like what they were going to go for as a career, you know? But they were down to help me. So I was just making a lot of, you know, amateur films, basically a lot of shitty films with them. But it was, you know, great practice, you know, really great practice. But I made a bunch of those that I don't even, I wish I had some of them, because some of them I think were pretty funny, but... Oh, did those get lost to time?
00:21:03
Speaker
Yeah, they're there. I used to use movie Vegas editing system. Oh, okay. And some of them got, you know, are saved in like my old PC computer that I don't have anymore. So it's gone forever, which is sad. Yeah. But
00:21:18
Speaker
But yeah, that's what I did and then I and then I went to you know community college I took two film classes there American cinemas American cinema and then the world cinema in and my teacher Jim Davis He was a great teacher and then I met some people there in class actually one of the guys that's in directors cut the character of Jason the
00:21:39
Speaker
the guy with the long hair and the beard. John Patrick Davis, he was in that class and we linked up and he was into movies and he wanted to be an actor. He's serious about that. I started gravitating towards those people.
00:21:58
Speaker
I was gonna say the one thing, one of the things that really stands out to me in the director's cut is the cast, especially the three guys and the girl. And they have great chemistry and they really play off each other well.
00:22:16
Speaker
And I know I'm from watching your shorts after watching directors cut it's like oh he's like he knows these people like I know that guy like that guy was in directors cut and they're like oh this guy was the lead in directors cut oh shit cool
Balancing Filmmaking with Personal Life
00:22:27
Speaker
like so uh how did I where did you start to meet like your your cast and do you have like
00:22:34
Speaker
That guy that is like your or that that actress that is like your your go to your inspiration Like I know that for us we all like for me I always have an actress like whenever I'm thinking of a project I'm like, where can I put her? Do you have is that kind of how it goes? Yeah you Yeah, I have that. Yeah, it's definitely with John the guy the guy who plays Jason the The guy that was in my college class. He's definitely someone that I always try to find a role for
00:23:04
Speaker
Yeah, he's just great. I think he's hilarious. I think he's just a committed actor. He's always knows his lines. I don't really have to direct him. I feel like we have a pretty good secondhand, you know? Because I've known him for so long. But yeah, everybody, the guy who plays Freddie, his friend in the indirector's cut, I grew up with him. And then we kind of drifted apart. He went his separate ways, and I did my own thing. And then, you know,
00:23:31
Speaker
But we were still friends, but not hanging out or anything like that. And then one day, I noticed that he's doing acting. I'm like, oh, dude, you're doing acting? I'm into this. And we rekindled our friendship, and then we got in to start making stuff together. And now we're back how we used to be when we were in elementary school, like really close friends. That was cool. Yeah. And because he was in Rob the Robber.
00:23:54
Speaker
Which is a pretty fun short, and I'm sure we're going to get into the shorts, I think, pretty soon. Like your question, Steven, you really like scissors. I guess so. Yeah, the shorts I do. Well, I mean, they're handy and everyone has scissors, right? Like it's a it's definitely a great go to object. But yeah, I do want to talk about how the progression of
00:24:21
Speaker
Like you went from your, I'm not Sony Vegas, but the Vegas like editing on like your old camera to where you are now. And when did you like decide on like, this is what I'm going to do? And like, are you started to commit to uploading to YouTube and things like that? Like when did that, I know that was probably a few years ago that I think your first video was posted, but like, what was the progenesis of that?
00:24:51
Speaker
Yeah, I think, so me and my, the guy who did the cinematography for Director's Cut, he's really one of my best friends, his name's Jeremy, Jeremy Allen Papas. When I met him, we were working at a grocery store, I met him, and we, you know, for the longest time, I didn't know he was into film. He didn't know I was, and then one day we got talking one morning and we're like, oh, shit, we're into the same stuff.
00:25:13
Speaker
He's a director as well, but he's really good with the tech stuff and he really got into that and that friendship with him and we took it to the next level. When I met him, we upgraded. I felt like we built each other up to, we got ourselves to the next level because he kind of had that same fire as I do.
00:25:35
Speaker
wanted to do this and committed to this. And then we started making, you know, we got a better camera together and stuff like that. We kind of share equipment as well. So that helps a lot.
00:25:49
Speaker
Yeah, 2019's when I uploaded, started uploading stuff. That's just because I felt like, okay, this is at least good enough to show, you know? I had so many things that I could have uploaded, but I just felt like it wasn't up to par for my taste. So, but eventually it's like, you gotta put yourself out there, you know? Eventually, you know, you're not gonna get any, you're not gonna understand what you need to approve on unless you put it out there for people to see, you know? And take the criticism.
00:26:12
Speaker
So going from just making these short films that no one's ever seen because they're lost in time to the ones on YouTube, how did your filmmaking process evolve from there to the YouTube shorts? And then what were some valuable tips and tricks you learned along the way to really help you with filmmaking? Yeah, I think just finally trying to buckle down and
00:26:41
Speaker
like treat it like a like oh this is what I'm this is like a job you know professionalism you know just try to make it even though we weren't you know big budget or nothing like that you got to have
Final Reflections on Filmmaking Passion
00:26:51
Speaker
that mentality that you're doing something you got to be on schedule like that type of stuff be organized like that was stuff that I was lacking a lot when I first started you know it was very kind of a like you know it's smokable and then let's film that scene you know it was very like it was very like like that you know so I think
00:27:09
Speaker
changing my mentality on the way I was going to go about pre-production. Pre-production, I think, is the most important thing. I think once I finally understood that and really started practicing, being professional during pre-production and giving myself a schedule, and me and Jeremy started doing that, and that really helped.
00:27:32
Speaker
get us organized and get us feeling like, okay, we can do this the right way or the way that's more efficient. Also, one thing, working with your environment, I try to make stories that are
00:27:50
Speaker
things that I know or things in some way, you know, usually with the genre twist, you know, but just like with dialogue and stuff like that and just shooting in my environment. I don't need to go to Hollywood. I don't need to go. I own my hometown and film in there. You know, I'm really big on filming in this area where I live from, you know, and just, I've been here a long time. With pre-production, what are the areas that you like to, or that you really devote a lot of your time to before you go and shoot?
00:28:21
Speaker
Shots, composition, that type of stuff. Luckily, Jeremy, my cinematographer, he's also a producer on the movie. He was like, hey, I'll be in charge of scheduling. We go over it and stuff like that.
00:28:36
Speaker
He's the one that goes for it and is like, okay, this is the first draft of the schedule, and then we go through the script and break it down again, and then we fix things that we need to. So it's really just having a good... I could do it myself, but I think before I made Director's Cut, I made a feature film that is also... It's in Vimeo Purgatory, okay? It's called Once Upon a Time in the Burbs, all right? So it's like a home invasion type of horror film.
00:29:03
Speaker
Uh, I, you know, I, I, I read rebel without a crew, Robert Rodriguez's rebel without a crew, really inspiring. Um, but so I'm like, yeah, you know what? Fuck it. I'm making this movie all by myself. I'm going to be the fucking camera guy, everything. And, you know, it didn't turn out how I wanted, you know, I think also I could have, I didn't need to strip myself of having to like, at least a,
00:29:30
Speaker
somewhat of a crew because they were all willing to help me. But for some reason, I was just being super cheap. They probably would have done it for free, but I don't know. My mentality was like, I'm doing it all on my own. I don't need nobody's help. I see actors. And I think I had a buddy help me with sound every now and then, but I was
00:29:47
Speaker
And I think my mentality was right and wrong at the same time. It was a great film school. I learned a lot and I was like, okay, the next film, I'm not gonna just put all the weight on me and me be everything. I think it ended up working against me for that film.
00:30:06
Speaker
So when I made Director's Sky, I made sure I'm like, I'm going to ask for help. It's okay to ask for help. I don't know why I was just super in that mentality like, no, I don't need no help. I'm doing it all on my own. So that movie suffered because of my stubbornness. But there's some good things in it, but overall, it's hard for me to watch that movie.
00:30:29
Speaker
and it was very heartbreaking too because it was like I was like really like I put a lot of effort but also it was just plagued with like life fucking up things you know like oh my actor got fired from her job I can't pay her so we went like months without filming with one of the lead actors
00:30:46
Speaker
It was just so broken up. First of all, I'm never doing that again. I was doing it super cheap, filming it on weekends. It was all spread out. It was not a good idea, in my opinion. I think it backfired big time. When I went into directors, I was like, we're doing this consecutively. We had a small break, but it was basically eight days in a row made with a two-week break and then filmed the last three scenes. You filmed that in eight days?
00:31:15
Speaker
The whole thing, total film days are eight days, yeah. Wow. Yeah. That's pretty good. Yeah, five days at the video store and then all the flashback or anything that takes place outside of the video store is shot in those three days, yeah. So when you said things went right and wrong, what were some of the things that did go right, though? The things that went right were some of the scenes, like some of the execution of like,
00:31:41
Speaker
Oh, actually, it came out close to what I was thinking, or this thing came out better, stuff like that. But there was a lot of undershooting in that first film, Once Upon a Time in the Burbs. I undershot that movie. To me, there's nothing worse than undershooting your film. I like options. I'm not like someone that does a billion takes or anything like that,
00:32:10
Speaker
I like angles, you know, I like different angles. And I feel like I kind of shot myself in the foot because I was trying to stay on schedule and I was managing everything, but I also just kind of, I kind of didn't manage it properly. And I was like, damn, I got to shoot this quicker. You know, it was just a lot of stuff that kind of happened in the day that kind of threw a wrench in the plans. And then it was like harder when it's just by yourself, you know.
00:32:35
Speaker
I imagine there's a lot of compromise that comes into play when it's just you. Exactly. And you're thinking about, oh, I have to do five more setups today, and then I have to break down. Yeah, yeah. It made sense in my head, but then in real time, it was like, holy shit, I'm fucking way in over my head, totally. And that's when you start scratching off scenes. That ain't important. That ain't important. Yeah, no, that happened for sure. We're going magical lights.
00:33:02
Speaker
I'm like, you know what? This is a one shot now. Let's go. Oh, buddy. Yeah. It was that type of stuff where it was like fucking a dude, whatever. I'm in it to keep it. There are so many times where we're just like, can we just get this in the master? Yeah. And then move on. And then you get into the edit and you're like, why the fuck didn't we shoot coverage? What are we thinking? Is that why you like so many to have a lot of different shots is for when you get to post and you start editing to just have more to pick from?
00:33:34
Speaker
Well, that, yes, I do like that, but also it's just kind of how, you know, I envision, I try to edit the movie while I'm writing the script. It's, I kind of have a hard time not just, I can't write the script, it's very hard for me to just write the script by itself without thinking of like, this is how this shot, this scene is going to be somewhat edited, you know?
00:33:56
Speaker
So and I edit my movie so yeah, I like having the options of like different angles and I mean trust me I love long takes too, but I when it's not like what you wanted. It doesn't feel like a good long take, you know, yeah, that's Yeah, there's nothing worse than having to break up that long take with like crappy coverage or like random inserts because you're like I don't need the cut and
00:34:21
Speaker
But there's no cut. So I just got to throw something in so I can go to a different take. Yeah, I think that's the ambition of people starting out is, you know, we want that long take because it's impressive when you see an undisturbed long take. But then when you're there, it's like, damn, I really wish I just would have had some coverage, man. Just another shot so I could break it up.
00:34:45
Speaker
Yeah, it makes sense in the moment, but then like when you're going to edit and you're like fuck You know what? I really it actually works better if you had a cut some things work better without the cut, you know Yeah without adding a shop but like there when when you're kind of limited when I shot that first one
00:35:01
Speaker
when you're kind of limited yourself to like you only have two angles or one angle it's like yeah and you're like damn this needs to be there needs to be more life into this scene and i don't have the like the footage to do it so you're trying to think of like how can i you know tinker with this and give it some type of little energy of life you know so it doesn't feel like just dull or something like that you know and that was the problem i feel like some of the scenes just felt a little too dull um
00:35:29
Speaker
And also it was a drag to make, you know, because of this long layoff, you know, the actress, one of the main actresses got fired. Yeah, long layoff. And and then I didn't even want to finish it, but I kind of the good thing about it is I was like, no, I got to finish it. I was like, all I need is one, like a couple of like.
00:35:46
Speaker
four more scenes to film and then we're good, you know? But that was a problem. I filmed it. It was like a drag. It was a lot of effort for me to get that energy to finish that movie, you know? And again, my heart wasn't in it. I was already moved on to other writing projects or other things. And it was more like a thing like, I need to finish this because I don't want to waste anybody's time. At least even if it sucks, at least I finished it and I proved myself that I can finish a movie. And I know for a fact that I'll be better in the next one.
00:36:16
Speaker
So how did it feel for you then when you finally finished it? Devastating. Devastating. Oh shit, really? It wasn't like a relief or anything? It was a relief, but it was also like me trying to trick myself that it's good when it's not. And it was devastating when I would like in my head snap back to like, this is fucking not it. This is not what I want people to see me as my first feature film. This is not good enough.
00:36:43
Speaker
Yeah, this is like this is this is like a suicide for you know, like suicide if I try to like release this or really really push for this be the movie that I'm gonna try to get on you know, get get people to see it, you know, yeah, it's like it then it is like
00:37:00
Speaker
Tough pill to swallow, but at the end of the day, in hindsight, you'll know that's the right move. And it was tough telling people, like, hey, I'm not releasing this movie. You know, people that worked hard on it, the actors. They just sent them a link. Oh, I get it. Yeah, sent them a link. It was tough, you know, and some of them really liked the movie, but I never, like, I'm like, you can't convince me, it's not. Yeah, but that's like their ego. And then also some people, it's just like, you know, some people, like, my favorite movie is Beverly Hills Chihuahua, too.
00:37:39
Speaker
even the people that there were some people that liked it but I think the majority of people felt like
00:37:44
Speaker
It was meh. It felt like a meh reaction. You don't need to tell me that it's not really working. I could feel it. It was rough. It was a fucking ego check hard. It was good. It was much needed and I'm glad it happened now. During the time, it was fucking devastating.
00:38:09
Speaker
Depressed I felt like you know, you know, I I had a good poker face, but it was fucking just I Was in my head, you know, I was like goddamn. I was eager though. I was eager to be like, okay the next one I'm fucking coming and it's gonna be definitely ten times better than that movie at least you know I was gonna be evolved in my opinion. So well, yeah, I think it worked out. I
00:38:33
Speaker
Yeah. Cause I was going to ask you like, how do you then pick yourself up? So then it was that also that pride that kicked in too. It was like, nah, I ain't done yet. You know, I might've lost his first round, but you know, there's 10 more to go. Yeah. No. Yeah. I think it, I think the answer is it's simple movies. Movies pick me back up. It's that simple. Just watching movies and watching them again and just going back and like,
00:38:59
Speaker
studying them again. It felt like it did feel once I finished that movie I felt like there was like another veil taken from my eyes you know like another like I had another like perspective when I was watching movies again. I felt like I there was a little bit of an evolution for sure you know because of the the experience even though it was it was heartbreaking. So watching movies again going back to just listening to commentary or whoever the filmmakers that influenced me
00:39:29
Speaker
just going back to their stuff and watching new stuff as well. Watching new stuff is the best because it always invigorates me and inspires me.
00:39:40
Speaker
if I like it. And it just always reminds me, film is never going to die. There's always going to be something retooled and fresh and it's going to keep giving me that spark. So even when it's a bad year in movies, if I feel like there's a bad year in movies, there's always movies that keep that fire going. And it just motivates me like, damn, okay, I need to step it up.
00:40:03
Speaker
And that's what I want to say something that's why I'm always on the hunt for films like directors cut because you're not going to like you can tell like you didn't have like millions of dollars to make this movie. It's like, okay, like we get it like we didn't have millions of dollars to make our movie, most of like, but when you find those filmmakers that are using what they have.
00:40:23
Speaker
and they're capitalizing on it. And you can see that it's like, if that guy, if Steven had $500,000, I'm sure everything would be a little bit different, but the essence of the story would be the same. And that's when you're like, fuck, this is why I'm like, oh, I'm excited about this. I'm excited to talk to this guy because I can tell that,
00:40:46
Speaker
that he's there, that it's there, like this is what he's going to do. And that's where it gets really inspirational to me because it's like, yeah, we've talked to a lot of people on this podcast about this and some friends of ours, Jared and Clark, they made a film and they were like, if we were just going to shoot in our apartment, we would have.
00:41:06
Speaker
Like they found a cabin to like kind of spice up the location a bit for their film. But they're like, if we just had to shoot this in our apartment, we would have. And I felt like it's like that's where and those are the people I like to talk to because that's how we are. If Steve and I were like, we only have a garage. We're going to find a way to write a movie around this garage. If we only have X, Y or Z, we're going to find a way to make the movie and.
00:41:30
Speaker
And hopefully the story can push through. And it's like, and there's like a charm. There's like a beauty to like this, like a cheap, low independent movie in filmmaking, where it's like, it's so nuts and bolts. It's like everything is like cardboard boxes taped on the wall. Like, you know, like it's, it's not great. Like the lighting isn't like, oh, we didn't buy like $50,000 dome lights to shoot outside, but cameras are so good nowadays. Like we can get pretty good nighttime shots.
00:42:00
Speaker
Like it's, you know, and that's where I'm like, damn, this is where it's fucking cool. Because I was thinking about it because you have a few outdoor night shots and I was like, this looks good. Like it looks really awesome. Like I was like, I need to shot more night shots. This was pretty, pretty sweet looking. And like what my favorite, I won't spoil it because I think everyone needs to go needs to go watch directors cut. But there's a.
00:42:23
Speaker
There's a scene that just makes me fucking die, man, every time I think about it. I'll say all I say is it has to do with rebar.
00:42:33
Speaker
And that dude, I was like, that line alone, like you can make a whole movie around that joke. Yeah, that was a pretty damn good line, dude. Because when that came up, I just started cracking up. I was like, fuck. Oh, shit. I was like, this guy knows what he's doing. It's funny as fuck. Like, I was dying. I don't want to like, I'm not going to say anything else about it. If you're listening to this, go watch Director's Cut on Tubi.
00:42:55
Speaker
give that shit some hype, throw that shit out there, because damn, that was funny as fuck. And there were some, I mean, there's a lot of good lines like that, but that was just like, that one tipped me over the edge. I was just like, damn, he went there? Fuck yeah, I love this guy. Like, that's what I'm always trying. And that's why it's like, the filmmakers, like, that are doing this on the ground, man, like, this is the shyness shit that, like, we can do. Like, there's this, I don't know if you guys ever heard of this movie, but there's this movie called Butt Boy.
00:43:23
Speaker
It's about this detective that's investigating this guy that sucks people up through his ass.
00:43:30
Speaker
And it is played so straight and so serious and then and this I'm gonna spoil it because you guys probably watch it But when this guy sucks the detective up his ass and he finds his son that's been missing for like years in the dude's ass You're just like what the fuck? Possible I don't understand what I'm watching ass sucking. He sucks a car up his ass like And you're just like
00:43:59
Speaker
What? And he's just like a nerdy IT guy. And I'm like, it's it's like the weirdest fucking thing. And shout out to that director. His name is Taylor something. I want to I want to look it up real quick, because I want to get that. I'm going to definitely have to watch that. I want to give that guy a shout out. But boy, a recommendation from Twin Shadows podcast. Yeah. But also make sure you go watch Director's Cut on Tubi.
00:44:24
Speaker
Yeah, I just have to see that scene now. The whole movie is actually fantastic. And it's like, these are the kind of films and stuff I'm watching. It's like, yeah, I'm gonna watch Furiosa. Yeah, Dune 2. I'm gonna go and watch it. I'm gonna go watch those movies. Yeah, they're probably good. Yeah, they're great. But the movies that are like really like inspirational to me that are coming out today.
00:44:45
Speaker
Our movies like Director's Cut, movies like But Boy, movies like Great and Terrible Day of the Lord, Hair Trigger, the films, the filmmakers we've talked to on the podcast, not because they just agreed to come on our show, but... Mostly because they agreed to come on the show. That's a big part of it too, but it's just like, it's because I connect with it on a level where it's like, you know, people are always like, I want to see my representation in movies. It's like, I just want to see like people doing it how I'm doing it.
00:45:13
Speaker
And doing it well. And that's why I like directors cut. That's why I like, you know, Great and Terrible Day of the Lord, Hair Trigger, Natasha Hall, like, you know, we've had like some bigger, quote, quote, unquote, bigger guests on our show, like C. Robert Cargill. It's like, yeah, he didn't he did Sinister and it's like, dang it on our level.
00:45:33
Speaker
We, we, I like, Sinister's really good. Yeah. That fucker got Ethan Hawke, okay? Like, if I had Ethan Hawke in my movie, I wouldn't be able to leave the bathroom because I'd be puking all day, like, because I'd be, like, so nervous, like, I'm gonna go talk to Ethan Hawke today, like, get the fuck out of here. Um, but, you know, like, that's the kind of cool shit that, and it's like, also, like, when we were chatting with him, it's like, these are just a cool dude. He's just like, make your movie, don't like shit on your movie, like, just love him and put it out there.
00:46:01
Speaker
Yeah, and be the biggest advocate for it. That was one thing he told us that, you know, because, because I think like with our feature, just watching it, because we're getting close to picture lock and you know, there's been some hard pills to swallow because like you were saying, just stepping outside of yourself and looking at it more objectively. And it's like, you know, there's some, some of those moments that just hit you right, right in the ego. But.
00:46:26
Speaker
You know, I think that's really important to be that advocate for your films because, you know, again, you don't know how the audience is going to receive it or how people will appreciate it or what they're going to see, you know, within the film. So for you, a big resource for, you know, being inspired and then learning. Is it the behind the scenes or the extras on like the DVDs, like the how to's of the films?
00:46:57
Speaker
No, definitely. I mean, when DVD came out and to me, the thing about DVD, yeah, it was better quality than VHS, but it was really the special features that sold. That's that sold DVD for me is like, what? And I can see how the movies made. And even before I decided to be like, like, oh, I'm going to go for filmmaking.
00:47:18
Speaker
I was already kind of watching the behind the scenes. You know, I was already doing these things. I was just like blind to realize like this is what you want to do. Like this is what you want to go for. You know, I think because being raised over witness, it was kind of like that's not a job you try to do, you know, be an actor or be in.
00:47:37
Speaker
filmmaker that's not or an athlete that's just that's all the stuff I was drawn to you know I was really you know I wanted to be a WWF wrestler when I was like yeah I wanted to always be in something that was like in the arts or entertainment so but I knew it was like it was like not a thing that you know your family in that religion really was like approving of you know yeah not a lot of Jehovah Witness birthday planners
00:48:02
Speaker
Exactly exactly exactly yeah or any any of them but you know yeah yeah so you know something i'm sorry to interrupt no go ahead wire on that on that channel what you wanted to be. Do you like what i'm curious like what are you do you have a day job now like are you working towards.
00:48:25
Speaker
making filmmaking your full-time gig? Is that kind of where you're at? I think I saw that you have a family. We have kids and that's how it makes filmmaking extra hard when you got babies. So I was curious kind of about that. If you want to dive into that at all, we're curious too about how you balance that personal life and filmmaking. Yeah, I do have a day job.
00:48:48
Speaker
Because I have kids Yeah Yeah, I really fucked myself that with when I was making that's another thing when I was making my first feature I found out that my now my wife, but she was pregnant and I was like, oh I think that also threw me for a whole You know, I was like literally about to start the it was like the week of and then I found out she's having a baby and then like I
00:49:10
Speaker
all this thing, like, you know, she's gonna keep it, you know? I'm like, all right, fine, this is it. You sure, baby? You sure? You really? You know, it's your choice, baby. Are you sure you want to? Hey, don't worry. I was trying. Trust me, I was fucking telling you.
00:49:27
Speaker
One of us, man. One of us. Yeah. I knew it, man. I had a feeling. I was watching your shorts today. I was just digging into everything Steven Arpez I could find. And I was like, I could tell this guy's one of us, man. Like, hey, it's going to be a fun chat. I know for sure. It's not just the tequila talking, you know, it's just, you know, there was just a vibe I got, you know, watching and watching directors cut. I mean, the title is beautiful because
00:49:57
Speaker
It's like the whole movie is also kind of just like, I love movies. Like the whole film, like when I was watching it, it's like, and you know, you have the wall of DVDs. I want to ask you about that too, because it's like, are those your DVDs? Shit like that. I want to ask. But it's also just like, man, this guy loves movies. Like he legitimately just loves film. And it just is so apparent.
00:50:24
Speaker
that that film is, it's like, you know how there are comedians that are like, it's like these are standup comedians for standups. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And it's like Directors Cut is a film for filmmakers and film buffs. It's the film where you're just like, you know, like you're talking about like, I wanted to ask you, like, what was your pick of the four films? It's like Reanimator, The Wailing, Jennifer's Body, and I cannot remember the fourth one. What's the fourth one? Yeah, The Devil's Candy. The Devil's Candy. Great movie. I love that movie.
00:50:54
Speaker
That's the one with, fuck, I can't think of his name, but it's like he's a painter, right? Yes. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's a house on fire. Yes. Yeah. And he's worried about his daughter. His paintings, yeah, all that stuff. There's like a killer, what's his name? Oh my God, what's the actor's name? The one who can move his eyes. Yeah, move his eyes. Yeah, which one can move his eyes? He can shift his eyes very quickly, yeah.
00:51:20
Speaker
I forgot his name. God, he's on the tip of my tongue, but the tequila is destroying my brain cells. He's a great actor though. He's in the movie Identity, which is a film I love. Identity is a great movie, yeah. Yeah, he's in that movie too. Man, I feel bad now. It's on the tip of my tongue, but right now I can't think of it. That's what we have phones for. I'll look it up real quick.
00:51:42
Speaker
But yes, there's a T in there. So what's your pick? Of those four films? It was reanimator. Yeah, reanimator is pretty fucking classic. Yeah, I think you gotta go with reanimator. But, you know, one film that I was kind of like, you know, being an egotistical asshole elitist with was Jennifer's Body.
00:52:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. A guest of ours, he did a podcast on it with some friends and they were talking about it. Jeff? Yeah, Jeff. And they were talking about gender for his body, so I was like, okay, let me give it a try. And then I actually watched the film and I was like, damn, this horror feels pretty fucking good. Like, this is a really fun horror film that a lot of people just really don't talk about, you know?
00:52:28
Speaker
Megan Fox, you know it gets overlooked. Yeah Yeah, I think I think when it came when it came out I kind of got like She cut her being in the movie kind of like just brought automatic hate, you know Yeah, and I saw it in the theater and I I looked I liked it from day one But I was like not finding a lot of people that were into it It was like it was one of those things where it's like
00:52:52
Speaker
Now it's got a resurgence you know now it's a hit you know now people you know karen kuzma kuzma she's great you know yeah. Yeah now it's got a second life which is great i'm happy to see that because i thought it was a good movie and i was shocked when it bombed at the box office i thought it was gonna be a hit.
00:53:11
Speaker
And i was like i think it's it's a film that's ahead of its time diablo cody i believe is the screenwriter for that i think she was going off of juneau i think she was kind of like a writer that was ahead of her time and now the time has passed because i watched lisa frankenstein i was like oh yeah i don't know if you guys like that movie but i thought it was kind of shitty i haven't seen it but uh pruit taylor vince
00:53:32
Speaker
Pruitt, Taylor, Vince. See, I knew that there was a Vince in it. That's the guy. And then Ethan Embry is the lead, of course. And Pruitt, Taylor, Vince is actually an actor from a show that I like called The Mentalist, as well as Identity and other things. He's just like a great character actor. He's like one of those actors when he shows up and thinks you're like, I know that fucking guy. And he's awesome. Yeah, he's that guy. He's definitely that actor. We're like, oh, I know that guy.
00:53:55
Speaker
I've seen that guy before. Yeah, and you know, it's like those are the actors like once you know their names and you're like, oh, I know that guy and then people look at you and they're like, you fucking know that guy's name? And it's like, yeah, I'm cool. Yeah. And they're like, yeah, you ain't that cool. Yeah, you know that guy. You ain't that cool.
00:54:15
Speaker
So, so then you go onto the shorts. I'll bring it back. That you put on YouTube. And of course, I mean, I imagine those are the projects you're most proud of because people can actually watch them.
00:54:30
Speaker
So, uh, yeah, I guess. Well, I wouldn't say I'm proud of it. I'm like, they're hard for me to watch. I can't watch. I will say I enjoy. Wait, wait, let me ask you this then. So is there any project that you are proud of? Like.
00:54:47
Speaker
Yeah, cuz I'm proud of the most is directors cut for sure. Yeah, that's the one that I'm proud of the most. I'm proud of all of them, but like there's levels of the proudness, you know, and directors cuz the highest one. Yeah, and then the other ones are all kind of like close to each other, you know, they're, they're,
00:55:04
Speaker
I really like that to you, to you whom I love, the model one. Yeah. I like, I do enjoy that one. I like that ending shot too, though, by the way, I gotta tell you. Yeah, that one. I love the final shot of that film, especially with the background. I think that's why I like it the most, is the final shot. Yeah, that was a bitchin' shot. Yeah. But, you know, I think... You know, I think that's a good sign, and I think for a lot of filmmakers,
00:55:32
Speaker
Well, I don't know a lot of filmmakers but I think it's a good sign when you see your film and you're just down about it. I think that's a good thing and I think that shows
00:55:49
Speaker
I don't know. I think the dead rabbit's making me a dead brain. Let me jump right up, buddy. I was going to say, I think that is a good element and a good head to keep on your shoulders is when you have that perspective, even though it's negative, because it still inspires you to want to go and do better and you know you can do better, you know?
00:56:10
Speaker
Like, you want to get out there and you're like, oh man, like I had this grand vision because I'm working on a short. The more I work on it, the more I become depressed on it. But, you know, I hope that having that negative outlook is a sign of a good thing, you know, because it just shows that you know that there's elements that need to be improved upon.
00:56:35
Speaker
It's kind of like the first step to recognizing you might have a problem, you know, is just recognizing you have a problem. But, you know, that is a good thing because we have also spoken to filmmakers who do their projects and there's no recognition of the areas that didn't work.
00:57:02
Speaker
And they're just convinced on like, yeah, this is amazing. And they kind of keep going on that trajectory. Yeah. With no improvement. You know, and that's scary. I think that's the scariest part. I think the scariest thing of being any artist is when you think your work is good. Yeah. Yeah. No, that makes sense for sure. Look, I.
00:57:24
Speaker
I like I said, I feel like I can always find a lot of things that maybe like some of them less than others, but that I really enjoy and I'm really proud of like moments in the film and stuff like that. Yeah. But.
00:57:36
Speaker
I kind of come to the conclusion that I feel like I'm always going to be chasing that, but chasing that, I'm not going to get exactly what I want out of my head. I feel like that's what I'm chasing every time I film. Like, dang, I got close, but it didn't happen exactly. There are some things in that. That's reality, right? Yeah, reality came in.
00:57:59
Speaker
It prevented me from getting exactly what I analysis like you know cuz the thing is you know I can't just like reshoot everything I don't have you know cuz I don't want to waste people's time and It is good to work on a schedule because it keeps you honest I think they keep you like okay like that's how it's gonna be if you want this to be career you're gonna have to be on some schedule you know and get things done and on time and and but get it as good as possible within that time you're given you know and
00:58:25
Speaker
So yeah, I know that's what I'm always chasing. I'm always chasing that getting as close to I can or getting it all the way, which I know it's not going to be able to happen to get the exact vision in your head.
00:58:40
Speaker
It's just not possible, I don't think. But I want to keep trying to get to that point. So I feel like if I keep that mentality, everything will be better than the next film. I think it helps the evolution, at least for me. Absolutely. And I wanted to double back a little bit too on...
00:59:01
Speaker
I think there's like acknowledging your faults allows you to grow, but also accepting your strengths allows you to know where to target the next film. It's like, I can do this very well. So let me capitalize on that and exploit that in the next store, in the next script. It's like, I can do this kind of dialogue or I can do this, I can do these kinds of setups really well.
00:59:30
Speaker
Let me kind of exploit that because I can do that well. And then we can test these little things. But another thing, and this is something that I see when I have been talking about a lot and struggling with is how to back away because I feel like sometimes you're just so close. Your nose is like against the screen. And it's like I know like when we watch we watch our film, it's called Dickhead, by the way. Yeah, I said a lot about it.
00:59:54
Speaker
Yeah, I thought of a perfect tagline, by the way. It's like, first, they were the final girls, then there was the dickhead. I'm like... Because we've been working on the editing for a few years now, because it was just like, we did some reshoots, we tried to add some... A few years, it's been like six years, man. Yeah, and it was just like... Well, or maybe seven years, I don't know. Well, there've been some... There's been some... You guys co-directed it?
01:00:21
Speaker
Yeah, co-direct, co-wrote, co-produced, and now co-editing. That's awesome. I think it makes your life easier. I know there's the art tour thing, but to me, Steven is the...
01:00:36
Speaker
Uh, he's like the yin to my yang in a sense. And he always makes me touch his yang. That's a weird part. Yeah. You know, and if you look closer, it turns into a wing because it's like, okay. And we just, we're good at calling each other out on the bullshit.
01:00:51
Speaker
without hurting feelings, which I think is like can be pretty tough to do with with some artists. But when I'm like, hey, what do you think about this? He's like, yeah, Tom, don't fucking write a movie about people eating puke. I'm like, oh, but it's called Chunks. That's a great title for a puke eating movie. And it's like, OK, OK, let me let me let me think about that. But
01:01:17
Speaker
But what I want to say, let me get back on my point, is when you're just so deep into it, and I feel like we were at points where I was like, this scene's never going to work. What the fuck is going on? This just sucks. There's nothing we can do to fix it. And then we stop editing for a week, and then we come back, and you're like, oh, that's not that bad.
01:01:35
Speaker
And it's because it's like we're looking at frame by frame by frame. And then when you actually just like take that step back, you're like, oh, that's like three seconds of of like maybe that's kind of weird. But it's like it's three seconds if like no one's going to know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's so true. That's so true. Honestly, I think one of the things that's another thing that I feel like is made for like people who are just starting out is like in your editing your own stuff is like
01:02:02
Speaker
you have to take breaks from it. You have to take, like, you know, the scene's not working that day, like, okay, just put it to bed, come back to it in a couple days or the next day, but I usually, like, if there's something that I feel, like, not good about, I try to give it, like, at least a couple days and come back at it with fresh eyes, and usually that will tell me, like, okay, this scene,
01:02:25
Speaker
needs doesn't need that much improvement or is working or whatever but sometimes you just your eyes get tired you're looking at every frame like you said every every little every like every second of the frame and and you're you kind of start kind of going a little loopy honestly i've noticed when i when i edit and i'm not like taking breaks i gotta you gotta take a break sometimes you gotta like after i film directors cut
01:02:48
Speaker
I like, I made sure I'm like, I'm not editing. I did a whole, I did almost, I just uploaded the footage, got it all ready, but I didn't start editing until like a month after. I wanted to kind of like go in fresh in a way, like refreshed from just shooting it, you know, for these long hours. And I was like, so I'm just gonna make sure I get my brain a break and then go back to it with like fresh eyes basically. And yeah, and there's like,
01:03:14
Speaker
I like, there's like three, four versions of Director's Cut, and the one that I got to is like, I think the best version, but it was longer, you know? And I screened the longer one, and I was like, oh god, I know where I need to cut. It was very helpful. I did like a private screening with people that I knew. It was packed house, you know, and I did little like, I did my own test screener basically, because I was like,
01:03:35
Speaker
Hey, I have certain things. I want to know this scene. I was kind of like I don't know this scene works, you know, so Doing that test screening really really kind of put it to perspective and I'm like, okay I know what needs to be cut out I know where when you watch it with the audience it humbles you real quick and it really puts it like oh I know where this shit is like definitely dragging or this is you know, you know, this is where it's not working I need to find a way to make this scene work better or oh, it's kind of like
01:04:03
Speaker
take some momentum away from the from the movie that it was going on, you know, so it was, you know, sometimes you just got to do your best because you're like, I can't really reshoot this. You've got to make this scene work a little bit better, tying it up. It's just taking away a few frames, you know, makes the scene just work better. It's it's weird. But that's the magic of movies, you know, it's it's thank God for editing or would be all be fucking blowing our brains out.
01:04:26
Speaker
Absolutely, yeah, there would just be a bunch of losers blood on the wall. But what I get the thing is like, and this is something that Stephen and I have like really got like, this was like, Oh, fuck, we get it. Like we watch a lot of these we try to watch as many of these like no budget low budget films and like it always feels like there's like this, they're like these chunky fuckers.
01:04:59
Speaker
And it's like, you know, we were looking at that. It's like, and I always call it like trimming the fat, like trying to like trying to sculpt it, sculpt it down. And, you know, and Stefano has the phrase and it's a popular phrase. It's like, kill your babies, kill your darling. Yeah, yeah. Like you have to be willing to sacrifice the scenes you love if they're not working.
01:05:13
Speaker
It's like when you go to the beach and you see that fat guy on the beach not wearing his shirt and you're like, yeah, put that shirt on fatty, you know.
01:05:21
Speaker
and That it can be I think is really hard when it's like, you know when you are doing like everything and you know I put so much work that day was so fucking hard like we got like I gotta figure out how to make this work and then you're just like and then it's like Hmm, maybe we don't have to figure out how to make it work Maybe we just cut the whole fucking thing and we just get rid of it Why don't we just throw it in the trash and they're like, oh
01:05:45
Speaker
movie's 20 minutes shorter. Oh. Yeah, yeah, no. That feels great. That feels so much better. Cause like sometimes I'm like watching, I'm like, guys, why don't you, why don't you just edit that out? Like just cut the whole fucking thing. Like you're fine. Like it'd be okay.
01:05:57
Speaker
I swear to god, there's so many times I've watched movies where I'm like, why? But then you also run into where when you actually talk to them, they're like, yeah, we know we wanted we needed to cut that out, but we couldn't. And that's we have some things like that, because there are it's like, you know, because you only had that that long, you only had that one shot with only one angle, you know, and you don't have the coverage. So it's like, well, yeah, I would have gladly cut that but
01:06:25
Speaker
Yeah, we had no coverage. We have this infamous scene between us, scene five of our film, where it's the introduction of the second main character.
01:06:36
Speaker
And we just did not shoot good coverage because it was a bad day. It was just a bad day of filming. Yeah. And it was like it was an out day shoot. It was outdoors. It was super fucking windy, like windy, so windy. Like and we were just putting boards over the microphone, like boxing the microphone off so it wouldn't get too windy. And like so we had to like do like like super tight
01:06:58
Speaker
close-ups so the microphone wasn't getting picked up and like people's arms because like everyone was like it's like essentially like we're making like a mobile like house that we were just moving around like these giant cardboard boxes like giant cardboard walls so like to kind of block the wind so because it looked like a goddamn typhoon we should have just like called the day we should have just been like no let's just move it to another day or move inside and shoot something else but like just stubbornness and it was like halfway through the shoot and this is the infamous scene 5 and
01:07:28
Speaker
And you can just tell like there was like we didn't finish the master and any in any of the takes
01:07:36
Speaker
So it was like, and so we were like, well, I guess we can't come back to that because it doesn't exist. Yeah. So we have to finish. Yeah. I know what you mean, dude. I've been there. I've been there where I'm just like, fuck, why didn't I go through with the whole scene and this shot and this angle, this terrible. Yeah. Sometimes I hate that the hardest lessons are learn the, learn the hardest. And you're just like, yeah. And it's just, it's just pure ignorance.
01:08:02
Speaker
But like, you know, ignorance is bliss because we probably would never even have started the film if we knew how hard it would be. But now it's like, you know, you're kind of get that you kind of get infected, too. Like, yeah, I love that. There's like this, like almost like it's almost like, you know, when you like talk to women that have been like abused by their husbands.
01:08:19
Speaker
And they're like, yeah, he beat me, but he, you know, he said he loved me this time, you know. And that's kind of what filmmaking is like. While you're, while you're like down in the shit and you're getting your ass beat, you're like, fuck, man, I really got to leave this guy. You're still going back to it. Yeah. Yeah. And then you're like, and then it ends and you're like in post and you're like doing the rap and like, you're like, oh.
01:08:40
Speaker
Okay. I like this. This was really good. You kind of forget, right? Like the pain kind of fades. No, yeah. Oh, we got a pause. Do you need to do a break for bathroom or anything? You guys need to. I definitely need to go to the bathroom real bad. We're going to pause for a minute. Yeah, go ahead. All right, we'll be right back. Go ahead, go to the bathroom. I'll probably take a leak too just in case. Awesome. Thanks, Steve. We'll be right back in five minutes. All right.