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After working as a sound designer on multiple independent projects, Graham Reznick has exploded onto the independent horror scene with two projects that have met rave reviews from the mainstream media. His debut feature I CAN SEE YOU is described by Graham as a "psychedelic campfire tale" about a group of advertising employees on a camping trip to find the perfect slogan for a cleaning product. His short film THE VIEWER, filmed in 3D, is the story of unlocking the truth behind a man's violent murder of a woman seen through his eyes and thoughts. Both films recently completed a successful run at New York's Kraine Theater by Cinema Purgatorio. Reznick was also second unit director and sound designer on Ti West's latest THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL. To talk about both films and his career as a whole, Reznick took time to answer questions from the Crypt exclusively via e-mail.
COLONEL’S CRYPT: What started your interest into moviemaking? GRAHAM REZNICK: Our amazing local video store growing up had a five-for-five-dollars deal from Friday to Monday; five movies for five bucks, and they had an amazing collection, too. Pretty much any film you could think of they either had or they would be interested in purchasing. My high school also had a great film study class that gave me enough insight to want to experiment with basic storytelling techniques. Because of the class and the deal I think I spent every weekend in my junior and senior year sitting in my parents’ basement watching movies! That habit really solidified my love for film, which I’ve had in some form since I was little, but I first realized that film was an accessible career option in early high school when my family purchased one of the initial MiniDV cameras on the market - the JVC GR-DVM1. It looked like an oversized zippo and had no flipscreen, only a viewfinder that you cocked back like a gun… but it was a huge step up from the early 80's shoulder-carried VHS camera (which recorded to a full-sized VCR you carried in a giant bag) we had prior. I spent a lot of time, along with Ti West, blowing up G.I. Joes and editing on VHS decks, making short films. CC: What is it about the horror genre specifically that attracts you? GR: Genre boundaries are a strange thing, and very fluid, so I'm not sure if it's the horror genre itself that attracts me (though much of what I love is firmly rooted within the boundaries), as much as the ability to create horror in the viewer’s mind - which can happen in any genre and still be just as effective. In horror it's the most prevalent aspect of the film. I like that on screen you can create a set of conditions that allow the viewer's imagination to go wild - what the viewer will come up with based on their own experiences and fears is way more terrifying than anything you could just show them. They become an active participant and I'm always excited and surprised when people say "Oh, in THAT part of the film I totally thought THIS was going to happen and it was TERRIFYING!" It's usually not the same exact thing that I was thinking of, or the same thing another audience member was thinking of, but it's true to that viewer and probably scarier to them than anything anyone else could have come up with. The brain is eager to frighten itself - and the horror movie is a safe place for that experience. CC: Talk about your company, Asphasiafilms, and its mission statement if you can. GR: Aphasiafilms is my "brand," in the sense that I'll put that logo on any work I create (that is fully my own) that I think is representative of my artistic voice as a filmmaker. More exciting are Glass Eye Pix / Scareflix and Cinema Purgatorio - Larry Fessenden and Ray Privett's companies, respectively. Larry has been a huge boon to the low budget filmmaking community by funding and supporting projects that would otherwise have a hard time getting made. All of the Scareflix films have been incredibly unique and off-beat horror films that, if it weren't for Larry, may not have had the opportunity to be produced. Ray Privett, first through The Pioneer theater in NYC and now through his own theatrical / DVD company Cinema Purgatorio, has been a big supporter on the finishing end - getting the films seen. Both of these small companies take big chances where larger companies are taking smaller and smaller risks - and these big gambles will pay off. I think that people are increasingly looking for more unique films, and these guys are making it happen. CC: Your feature directorial debut, I CAN SEE YOU, is described by you as a “psychedelic campfire tale.” Where did the genesis of the film come about? GR: Jury duty! I had Delaware jury duty in the spring of 2006. Ti West and I had previous talked about pitching a movie idea to Larry Fessenden, so when I found myself with some time to kill I began to plot out a film, which became I CAN SEE YOU (Ti’s pitch became TRIGGER MAN). Jury duty ended up only lasting 3 hours but I already had the basic sketch – it’s amazing how focused you can be when you think you’re going to have to kill a lot of time. The specific setup of the film – the ad guys and their assignment – was very loosely based on an experience the actors of the film had a few months prior. They all belong to commercial / music video / comedy company Waverly Films. One of the big music labels that had hired them to do a music video ended up being very tough to work with... We were all very young at the time, 23-24, and I was very interested in the persistent pressure from a much larger, more established company – in a narrative sense. I thought that would be a good jumping off point for the psychological fun and games that ensue in I CAN SEE YOU. The “psychedelic” aspect of the description refers to the idea of “mind manifest” (the origin of the word “psychedelic”), which is how I see the latter half of the film unfolding. CC: The plot of I CAN SEE YOU seems to root from the combination of corporate marketing and environmental tampering. Being that global warming is one of the most talked about issues of this day, was that one of the catalysts for making this film? GR: It was something I was thinking about a lot, probably due in part to Larry Fessenden, whose film THE LAST WINTER is about global warming. It weaved it’s way into the narrative, but it wasn’t the main focus of I CAN SEE YOU. In a sense it’s a narrative catalyst for the events of the film: even if we’re not directly causing something terrible, the things we do have consequences. How it must feel to be doing something as simple as graphic design, but knowing that eventually, somewhere down the line, it’s contributing to something awful. With global warming in particular, we’re all doing things - simple every day things - that “don’t help” – even if we actively oppose it in larger ways. Most of us still drive pollutant cars, waste electricity, waste materials… it all adds to this strange collective ‘guilt’ which I find very interesting… because that ‘guilt’ also leads to introspection and change. CC: Graphically and visually, the film is very strong. Without giving away any spoilers, what were some of the most challenging moments in making these images work so well as they do on film? GR: The film was shot in mid 2006, three years ago now, so I had a very long time in post – that helped a lot! I also had the help of Neal Jonas, who is a very talented effects artist (he also co-edited some of the film and recorded a lot of the underlying guitar feedback with me). Neal provided some of the effects work as well as guiding me through After Effects which I did not know very well coming into the project. There was a lot of playing around with imagery / animation – I would put together abstract visual sequences, then seed them throughout the film to create and arc that tied in to the characters progression (or, regression). A lot of it was planned in the script, but it takes on a new life as you really begin putting it together. We also shot the film in such a strange, modular way: the main shoot was only 9 days, and we shot little bits and pieces before and after. Some of the more abstract scenes I shot with only a vague idea of how I would fit them in to the overall narrative. There was a very important and very different sequence towards the end of the film which I worked very hard on getting right – and ultimately I realized it would not work with the film I made. It made sense when we set out, but it no longer fit the rest of the movie once it had been completed, and I had to drop it. Fortunately, some of the material from that scene was woven back into the final version… The scene in question will be one of the extras on the DVD, so I’ll leave it to the astute viewer to figure out what it was… It’s all a big, weird balancing act to make a film like this: a giant jigsaw puzzle without a box cover to follow and pieces that keep changing shape. CC: How did THE VIEWER come about and why the decision to make a film in 3D? GR: The short answer is: I love 3D. The long answer is: Cinema Purgatorio, the space where we showed the film theatrically, is not a typical screening space, so we were able to control the entire presentation of the impending I CAN SEE YOU release. Ray Privett, the owner of Cinema Purgatorio, showed the Flaming Lips film CHRISTMAS ON MARS last year and it was shown as this whole experience… something you immersed yourself in from the time you walked in to the time you walked out. No trailers, no commercials, just the movie and audio/visuals that related to the movie. It’s such a great way to PRIME the audience for their experience – to get them excited. I wanted to do something similar for the I CAN SEE YOU release, but I wasn’t sure what. Sometime in December ’08 I went to see BOLT in 3D and had an epiphany – I want to be making 3D movies. I don’t want it to be the ONLY thing I do – but man, what a ripe apple for the picking. There’s so much to explore with it as it’s own medium. In a few years, we’ll start seeing true front runners, true masters of the form, but because it’s so new people are hungry to have any experience in 3D they can. I want to offer them an experience they aren’t likely to see from the typical big budget studio offerings: a psychological, psychedelic, reality bending mind warp science fiction film. Though… James Cameron’s AVATAR sounds pretty unbelievable, so I may have to take that back…! At the very least, I wanted to make THE VIEWER to investigate how possible it is to make a viable 3D project with no budget. As it turns out, it’s not only possible - it’s really fun, and incredibly satisfying. CC: What kind of camera did you use to capture the 3D technology? GR: We used two borrowed Panasonic HVX 200 P2 cameras, bolted to a board. CC: In addition to writing and directing, you’ve established yourself as a top sound designer. For those who don’t know, what are the key jobs of a sound designer on film? GR: Ideally I think a sound designer should be just as important to a film as a cinematographer, even working closely with the composer to create a unified soundscape for the film – but you don’t always have that luxury! The responsibility varies from project to project, usually depending on its budget, but the sound designer typically edits and/or creates all of the sound effects and ambiences and whatever “non-musical” soundscape you might hear. On lower budget projects (such as THE ROOST), I also performed and recorded the foley, recorded ADR, edited dialogue, etc. There are people who are specialized at these jobs (and far better at them than I) so when you can afford to distribute the work - and just oversee the progress - it frees you up to focus on the overall creative aspects. If the D.P. is a Director of Photography, a sound designer would be like a Director of Sound. On most of the Glass Eye Pix films, particularly Ti West’s films, I have been fortunate enough to work with a fantastic composer who I think is one of the best working in film today: Jeff Grace. Every score he turns in surprises us all, and each one is better than the last. There is some overlap in the work that we do, and we’ve been able to adjust to each others creative process and make the sound and music work together in what I think is a very unique, organic way. I have no doubt that Jeff will be sought after and revered in the years to come. CC: As a sound designer, you’ve worked on projects that have been shot on film, MiniDV, and High Definition. What did you shoot I CAN SEE YOU on and what is your preference when it comes to shooting your own projects? Do you prefer 24p over film or vice versa? GR: We shot I CAN SEE YOU in 108060i HD. I would have loved to have shot on film but it was not a realistic option, particularly in regards to the relatively loose style of shooting we employed for certain sections. The Panasonic HVX200 had just come out so it was a great opportunity to shoot something on DV that was a much higher quality than standard definition MiniDV. The workflow dealing with P2 media was a big challenge and most of the software had not caught up yet, and we made some mistakes which prolonged things, but overall it was a great experience and I’ve shot several projects since on the format (including THE VIEWER). Gordon Arkenberg, the cinematographer, who I have worked with for years, has a brilliantly gifted eye and always finds a way to make the image beautiful and interesting despite the budget and very limited resources. In that way, the shoot was not a challenge to me, visually, at all. I’m sure Gordon found certain things challenging, but he made it work and I didn’t ask questions. I imagine there are a few suspicious mounds of dirt hidden away in Delaware’s state parks… CC: Explain working with Glass Eye Pix and most specifically with Larry Fessenden? GR: It almost sounds like you mean “Explain yourself, young man!” Or maybe that’s just how I read it. Budget, Budweiser, Babes and the Buddy System. Minus the Babes. CC: You also did second unit direction and sound editing on THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, which premiered at Tribeca. Being you’ve worked with Ti West, James Felix McKenney, and Glenn McQuaid numerous times, does it get easier with each project because of the familiarity or does the type of project make it more challenging? GR: It does – but as you mentioned, the projects keep increasing in scope, so there’s always new challenges. What gets easier is our ability to work with each other in a more optimized fashion – a lot of the initial “getting to know you” stuff is out of the way. So far I’ve only worked with McQuaid and McKenney once each, and with each it was a very good experience. We all knew each other from Glass Eye projects so it definitely made it easier than just jumping into collaboration cold. Ti and I have known each other since we were about seven, so there’s not a lot of traditional “direction” from him when we work together – a lot of it is communicated in referential code, a weird sort of language you develop with someone when you’ve known them most of your life and have had a lot of the same experiences. Sometimes he’ll have something very specific he’ll want and communicate to me, and sometimes he’ll just give me a scene, I’ll go away for two days and come back with what I think it needed. From there it’ll be weeks of nitpicking from both of us over whether or not a specific wind track should be 2db louder or if that clock in the background is 1db too high. We should videotape our sessions sometime, if anyone ever needed proof of how un-glamorous and tedious filmmaking really is… CC: What would you say are the most important keys to independent filmmaking? GR: Being creative, staying loose, being open to new ideas, going with the flow, professional back massages, taking input, disregarding input, Ben-Gay, good coffee, Advil, good shoes, clean socks, adaptability, a firm resolve to keep your vision intact, letting go of your vision when you need to, a naïve sense of purpose, a chiropractor, secret stash of better coffee, earplugs, patience, impatience, pride, humility, hot sauce for catering, friendly demeanor, imposing presence, stress ball, punching bag, shooting range, vitamin pills, vitamin drinks, vitamin shakes, exercise routine, first aid kit, Beethoven’s symphonies for the car ride there, Electric Light Orchestra for the car ride back, persistence, hot showers, cold showers, thick skin, disregard for others’ feelings, empathy for others’ feelings, a car, never letting anyone else on the crew drive your car for any reason at all even if it’s about to get towed, car insurance, low blood pressure, good supply of tea, meditation, naps, top secret third stash of even better coffee, caffeine pills, sleeping pills, ability to avoid too much craft services, friends who are willing to work for free, professionals who are willing to work for free, a very good producer, lots of gaffer’s tape, a budget that has a realistic post production allocation, a good script, knowledge of every tiny little aspect of the filmmaking process from top to bottom, a massage seat for your car, a massage seat for your producer’s car, scholarly knowledge of other movies, complete disregard for other movies, shamelessly ripping off other movies, being completely original and unique, having forgiving and understanding significant others, supportive parents, expendable acquaintances, neighborhood bar, backup bar after you get kicked out of neighborhood bar, sunny apartment, pets, plants, the ability to leave the major metropolitan city you may live in at a moment’s notice, hobbies outside of filmmaking, the ability to drop those hobbies for months at a time, good friends, the ability to drop your friends for months at a time, backup supply of cash, ability to produce new cash at a moment’s notice, the ability to deflect loan payback for as long as possible, lots of water, breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snack, five year plan, two year plan, six month plan, two week plan, two day plan, two hour plan, two minute plan, and a backup life plan that you never allow yourself to consider. CC: Where do you see filmmaking and in particular the horror genre going within the next five years? GR: I think that TELEVISION has gotten exceptionally good lately, and it’s freed up filmmaking to focus on the experience. There is so much great TV – The Wire, Deadwood, Lost, Arrested Development, Battlestar Galactica, Dexter, etc etc etc – and the thing they have in common is that they all are long form. Even the shows that pretend to be episodic (Arrested Development, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Entourage, The Office) have a strong through-line over a season or several episode arc. We don’t watch these shows because they’re well shot, or because they’re well scored, or because they’re well art directed, we watch them because we live and empathize and grow with the characters over a long period of time. They become friends to us – we know they’ll be there every week, we know we’ll continue to get new information and adventures. Movies now have the ability to focus on something a little different: experience. Movies have always had that component, and while I don’t think movies with big complex plots should go away, I think that filmmakers and studios are beginning to recognize that when I go to a movie, I want to have a two hour experience that I can walk away from and feel like something just happened. I don’t need a complicated story to do that – I just need a solid set up and unfolding of events. That setup can be incredibly simple: three guys go out into the woods to hunt and get shot at by a sniper they can’t see (both Ti West’s TRIGGER MAN and John Boorman’s DELIVERANCE have the same setup – but West’s is about the visceral experience, whereas Boorman’s is about the overall story of the situation. Both are great, in their own way.), or the brief, heated moments a couple gets to spend with each other every few months in their long distance relationship (Joe Swanberg’s NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS). I CAN SEE YOU is about the fractured, subjective perspective of a frustrated mind losing a clear sense of reality – it’s an experience that’s interesting and worth having, and one you can safely walk away from. 3D is another kind of experience that’s
so ripe for experimentation, and I hope it catches on enough for
filmmakers to really have fun with it and push it before it gets stale or
formulaic patterns of 3D storytelling emerge and take over. It’s been
called the ‘plot to save cinemas’, and on one hand I completely agree, in
that cinemas need to offer something different and more immersive than
what we can easily get on TV, and for free. The large, overwhelming space
of a theater can do what no television can – take over all of your senses
and focus you right into the world of the film. Well, except for the
occasional incredible home theater - and even then you are missing out on
the public, communal “pressure” of watching the movie with a theater full
of people. GR: JOHN CARPENTER’S PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1987), THE CHANGELING (Peter Medak, 1980), ALTERED STATES (Ken Russell, 1980), DON’T LOOK NOW (Nicolas Roeg, 1973), and INAUGERATION OF THE PLEASURE DOME (Kenneth Anger, 1954) I think I’d save the early, history
“classics” of horror for Horror 201 (or 102? However that naming
convention goes), and focus the first class on films I know would grab the
audience, young or old, and give them that intangible “experience” of
horror. With the exception of INAUGERATION OF THE PLEASURE DOME, the
first four films are easy (enough) for a modern audience to enjoy – they
use a modern language of cinema- and they are incredibly compelling and
effective at creating a terror-filled tone. Anger’s film is more
esoteric, but after the transition from pop (PRINCE OF DARKNESS) to
deadpan (THE CHANGELING) to strange (ALTERED STATES) to oblique and artful
(DON’T LOOK NOW), I think Inauguration would not seem to be such a leap.
It highlights the ability for film to take a collection of what would
independently be very innocently beautiful images and sounds and slowly
sculpt them into a terrifying occult experience that defies description. GR: I have several top secret projects I’m developing… as well as 3D feature I would love to make if I could find the resources. CC: Thank you very much for allowing the time for the interview. GR: You’re welcome! Thank you for
taking the time to interview me! You can check out more on Reznick by viewing his website at http://www.aphasiafilms.com/ and also at www.glasseyepix.com.
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