Please tell us about the projects you worked on before making ‘I'm Not Talking’. How did you start, and how did you learn to make films?
I’ve worked on several projects before “I’m Not Talking” mostly as student work for Toronto Film School. Mostly short films of many different genres. Including Thrillers, Comedies, and Horror shorts. I currently have one short film in Post-Production called “The Coward” that will be finished hopefully sometime soon. It’s similar in tone to “I’m Not Talking” but it’s a chase scene instead of a sit down drama. I’ve always made little videos with my friends ever since I was a kid but, I really became passionate about making films at around 15. This is when I got into deeper and more complex films like Scarface, Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, and Se7en. Like I said I am currently a student at the Toronto Film School and that’s where I have learned the most about movie making regarding cinematography, editing, and production. But, I learned a lot about the making of feature films even before I went to school. By watching documentaries about filmmaking and analyzing films after several viewings.
Tell us about ‘I'm Not Talking’. How do you describe it?
“I’m Not Talking” is an intense thriller scene that I came up with as a project for my Advanced Directing class. It was originally meant to be sort of a Film Noir but, due to the resources I had available to me it ended up more as a contemporary Thriller scene. That being said, I’m still quite proud of how it came out. It’s about a girl named Lisa being interrogated by a police officer about the murder of a man named Rob Kenecky. She is the prime suspect in the case since she was Rob Kenecky’s girlfriend up until a week before the murder. She tries to resist talking to the police interrogator at first but after being convinced that it’s in her best interest to tell him everything she concedes.
Please tell us about your favorite filmmakers.
I have a lot of favorite filmmakers but if I were to narrow it down to a few I’d say that my favorites are Brian De Palma, Steven Speilberg, Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, and Martin Scorcese. Brian De Palma is just the master of violence and suspense. He takes the techniques and tropes of Alfred Hitchcock’s older movies and dials them up for a new audience in his films like Scarface, Carlito’s Way, and Mission Impossible. Steven Speilberg is perhaps the most prolific filmmaker in history and one that influenced me probably the most out of any of these directors. With his films like Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, and Minority Report. Christopher Nolan is probably my favorite filmmaker working today (aside from maybe Quentin Tarantino). With his extravagant setpieces, intelligent stories and bombastic sound that is found in films like Inception, The Dark Knight, and Oppenheimer. Quentin Tarantino is by far one of the most unique and uncompromising filmmakers I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t care what people think about his movies so long as he thinks they’re great he knows that everyone else will enjoy it. I love his films Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds, and Django: Unchained. And finally Martin Scorcese. A man who even at the age of 80 is still pumping out I think his best work yet with Killer’s of The Flower Moon, The Irishman, and The Wolf of Wall Street. Which is impressive considering this is the guy who made Taxi Driver, Casino, and Goodfellas.
If you were given a good budget, what would be your ideal project?
I would like to shoot a horror film. In the vain of Jaws or The Thing. Sort of a monster film where the monster is stalking people and progressively kills more and more people until the heroes of the story have to face off against it in one final stand. I have sort of an idea for a film where it is shot mostly at night (at least the parts where the characters are killed off). This monster is sort of a mix between the wolfman and the cat monster in Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video and hides out in the forest. We don’t see the entire monster until near the end of the movie. Instead we see small glimpses of the monster and the violence that it has left behind. All I would need is good special effects makeup for the monster. The rest of the film would be relatively cheap and easy to film.
Describe how you would ensure that production is on schedule. What steps would you take?
I would ensure the production is on schedule by first storyboarding every shot. Which is what I have done for everything that I shoot. It makes it easier to set up lighting and cameras and helps keep everyone on the same page. Also, I would meet with my production team several times before the shoot to go over every detail so that when problems come up on the day they are as minimal as possible. This includes rehearsing actors as much as possible. The best way to ensure production stays on schedule is to do as much as you can in pre-production. When on set, I would shoot less takes when production is running behind schedule in order to catch up.
What was the hardest part of making ‘I'm Not Talking’.
The hardest part of making “I’m Not Talking” was the fact that we shot it in an apartment and we had neighbors being really loud. So, it took forever to get a take with good sound. Also, it was quite hard to make the room look convincingly like a police interrogation room. In the end I think we did a passable job but, if we had a controlled set it would’ve been much easier.
If possible, tell us about your next work. What plans do you have for your future work?
I am currently preparing to shoot a Thesis film for Toronto Film School at the end of the year called “Memory Card”. It is going to end up being an 8 minute short film. The story follows a strung-out writer who investigates videos on an abandoned memory card as inspiration for his next novel and it pulls him deeper into the criminal underworld. The film is inspired by films like Insomnia, Rear Window, Se7en, Memento, The Ninth Gate, and The Ghost Writer. I have a teaser trailer on my youtube channel: Viceroy Pictures; if you are interested in seeing what it will be like. When I finish school I plan on pitching to Telefilm Canada to help me make my first feature picture. But, I can see myself working anywhere so long as I have the opportunity to work on interesting and worthwhile films.
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