Kim Ryan Producer
'Desire' premiered in the Music video block at 2011 Hollyshorts Film Festival

Interview by Jasmina Nevada

-Would you like to tell me more about your video ?

Its sort of a long form music video/short film/ musical
It was created to go along with the 1st 4 songs on the album of the artist J Natural. Her new album is called love is on hiatus and so we made this short to go along with her album. It is a story sort of a love triangle kind of timeless very dramatic piece

-From the outset did you particularly want to make it a music video rather than a short film?

Yeah, actually she came up with the concept. Her album was finished, she was overseas, in her hotel room one night and came up with the story and when she got back she asked me to help her produce it. So it definitely was created to go along with those 4 songs

-The concept that is now the finished product did it meet your expectations?

Yes it did definitely. it was sort of a first for all of us as far as Eric Heights Director he had done a lot of music videos but this was the first time he had ever done anything that long it was actually 28 minutes long and Janelle and I did all the pre production and that was really a first for both of us too so we definitely learned a lot along the way and we were all really happy with the way it turned out

-What was the message you were trying to put across to your audience?

Kinda about doing something different and involving the music. Actually apart from the 4 songs off her album we had someone compose the music for the rest of it so it was really heavily about music and sort of tying that in with film.

-In view of the fact it wasn't the traditional short film or music video per se .. how long did it take you to finish it?

We did about a month of pre-production we shot it all in 4 days and then it was about 6 months of post production it was definitely our most challenging.

-So have you enjoyed the Hollyshorts film festival?
Of course this is probably the 3rd or 4th year that I have been back actually. This year is the first that I had something entered in the festival. The festival gets bigger and better every year and I have seen some really great films...

Links
http://jnatural-desire.tumblr.com/

Thanks for your time

“Byron” by Yolande Geralds
Shaqwan Lewis, better known as a Hip Hop MC and your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper “Skillz” Actor and writer
Cisco Reyes Actor
Willis Chung Producer
Dominic Comperatore Actor 'role of Byron'


Interview by Jasmina Nevada

-Would you like to tell me a little bit about the role of 'Byron'? (at Dominic Comperatore )

He is the only 'white' guy in the film and I have been playing white guys all my life.....

-I guess it is a bit of a 'Steve Martin' thing going on here?

Yeah, I was uniquely qualified for the job. So they called in all the white guys and I think that I was the whitest! I was pale and I stayed out of the sun for a couple of weeks whilst I was shooting ..I am a dedicated sort...

-Please outline briefly the movie?

(Shaqwan Lewis,). It's about circumstances and karma. Cisco Reyes plays a character named Dee who is not thinking about his actions or anything thereof and some things come up that he has to deal with and that is the basis of the movie.

-I am curious to know where did this concept arise from? Where did you get this idea to make this movie?

It actually came from a song the original version was a song I used to play it for my friends. I would play it and stop at about one minute and a half into the song and everytime without fail they would want to hear the end of the song. From that point on I started thinking that it might be something special and we developed it into a short film.

-How long did it take you from the initial concept to the finished product?

About 5 years, when I wrote the song there was no such thing as get your own camera and film your own movie. Technology hadn't caught up to us yet. There were no red cameras or DSLR

-Were you waiting for this development in technology to nail down your idea?

No, I thought I could buy a camera and shoot this myself even though I didn't, it worked out that way

-Which format did you shoot in?

DSLR'S 5D 7D's

-Do you think that the final product met your expectations?

Exceeded it..

-What message were you trying to bring to your audience?

That you can't control everything and be careful how you treat people as you never know those feet you step in might be attached to the 'ass' you have to kiss later on in life

-Most definitely and I think that is a lesson to everyone...

-How long is your short?

15 minutes around 14.46 minutes..

-How have you enjoyed the festival?

I have been here a few days and have seen some amazing films so we are definitely up against some good films but I think we have a good chance.....

Thank you

Links

http://www.yolandegeralds.com/2010/12/%E2%80%9Cbyron%E2%80%9D-a-short-film-by-yolande-geralds/

http://allhiphop.com/stories/news/archive/2011/02/03/22575375.aspx

Bryan Loudon -Writer,director & producer
Jason Barber Musical score composer
'Rape Kit' premiered at the 2011 Hollyshorts Film Festival

Interview by Jasmina Nevada

-I am extremely curious to find out from you both – why such a stark title 'The Rape Kit'?

It puts people on a back foot a little bit, it's a dark comedy actually. It puts people on one track and then they have to come to the comedy from an alternate direction.

-Would you like to outline your short film?

It's about a guy who has this horrible idea that he is going to rape his ex-wife for revenge. He buys this mask but he can't fit his glasses over the mask and so he ends up getting the wrong girl, because he has bad vision. He gets locked in this room in the basement with this girl who he just raped... and then he finds out that it is not the girl he thought it was. The movie is basically about this conversation between these 2 people in this confined space. They are both locked in this space for the whole night. To take a situation like that's so horrible and to find a way to bring humor to it was what really interested me in writing it. It's twisted but it does get funny

-So what you are saying is that you took an extremely devastating situation and tried to cast a positive light on to it?

No, it's not a positive light at all.... it just keeps getting worse. You can find humor in how badly it goes for these characters. It's definitely darkly comedic.

-Where did you get the idea to write such a story?

I like the idea of 2 people being confined and one of them has just done the worst thing he has ever done in his life. He is forced to sit across from the person whom he has just harmed. That in itself is such a charged moment and what sort of conversation would come about with that. That's what intrigued me. The way the girl takes it is unusual, she is a strange girl.

-This strange and unusual situation did it provide challenges during shooting? Did you change a lot of the original script to what actually happened whilst you were shooting it?

I tried not to, only a little bit. We lost some elements by making it shorter to keep it tighter. There were some changes and I tried not to do any improvisation. I personally, don't like that. In a script that's so specific as this one is if you get offline it could just go bad. It was written very precisely and its such a delicate situation that if you go off in different directions it could go really bad …..

-So in summary you keep everything precise and to the point?

Yes, that was the intent

-How long is the short?

Thirteen and a half minutes

Did you cut it down a lot to get to this time?

Originally it was 20 minutes, but at first pass I was not heading for length, I was just trying to get everyone’s best stuff together.

-In view of the delicate topic of the short film, how did you arrive at an appropriate theme score that would suit the elements of this particular short film? and obviously still maintain the message that you wished to convey via the musical score? (at Jason Barber- musical score composer)

Yeah, the subject matter, or should I say, the films title conjured up a lot of emotional responses at first. The great thing about working with Bryan is that he's so open to ideas, and was completely trusting from the minute we sat down about the music. We both wanted the music to play an almost transparent role, which is something I strive for anyway. We worked closely together in my studio along with Brad, and I wound up composing about 3 or 4 cues that developed out of a set of sounds, I designed using some 'ErHu' or 'Chinese Fiddle' recordings I'd made several years ago. Ultimately I arrived at at balance between musical tone and color that blended almost invisibly into the films sound bed. The only real exception to this is where Tommy's character attempts to explain his motivation for committing his crime. We really wanted to bring out the sappy, almost pathetic attempt of the character explaining something so horrible. So we went with a very short, soft piano and violin motif. It's a very funny touch. Bryan was wise to play this up. The audience reaction has been overwhelmingly spot on with Bryan's intention. It's the point in the film where the audience really seems to "get" how satirical the story really is. After the cues were finished we worked hard to arrive at a balance between music, sound design and dialogue that would allow the characters room to stand out. I think we did a very nice job.


-What's next in the pipeline for you both?

I have a feature script that I wrote called 'The Charm' that Jason Barber is going to produce and we are out taking meetings on it on this trip and taking the opportunity to talk to people about it. We are starting to gather different ideas we have for talent to start the casting.

Thank you for your time

Links
Bryan Loudon

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4182074/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1777602/combined


Jason Barber

http://www.jasonbarbermusic.com/

http://www.jasonbarbermusic.com/main/2011/4/21/bryan-loudons-latestjasons-score-slated-for-newport-beach-fi.html