An Interview With Bryan Papierski on Shooting an Experimental Film for a 24-hour Film Festival
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Stills from "My Parents Went to Paris and All I Got Was an Old French Showgirl" (Working Title)
I happened to walk in on a conversation with Bryan Papierski (www.artisfood.com) at a local watering hole- the discussion being making a fun little film piece for a 24 hour film festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Unfortunately this was around the time of NAB, so I was unable to be around for production, but I offered my assistance for any post festival VFX if they decided to take it further. Due to some technical difficulties, they were 2 minutes late when submitting the work, which disqualified them for the contest- after hours and hours of hard work and no sleep!
So now, "Paris" has new life! For the 24 hour piece, all effects were to be done in-camera to save on time. Since they were unable to enter it in the contest, the idea now is to use After Effects and some third party plug ins (by Digieffects and Red Giant, among others) to polish the piece. We'll be adding more textures, patterns and depth, and to enter it in future contests and shows once it's finished. I'll be working on this along with Ahmed Altawil (editor) (www.Altawildesign.com), who will be finessing the final edit. We'll have a follow up interview with Bryan after the post is finished, and I'll talk more about the finishing tools, trials and tribulations. I thought it would be interesting to interview him to see what I missed in production, and hopefully you find it equally as interesting, since there was really no budget and they only had 24 hours to shoot and edit the original- and the end result is just visually stunning!
Interview- Q & A
Alicia VanHeulen : Bryan, could you please explain the requirements of the contest, the 24-hour film festival, that you originally created this piece for?
Bryan Papierski : It was all to be done within a 24 hour period. Everything- like the shooting, editing, music, all originally done in 1,440 minutes, and that’s the bummer because it took us 1,442 minutes!
BP: We couldn't get FCP to output to the tape they gave us (ok, I had not bought the new version yet) and Alexander Plewes (www.storefrontpictures.com) ran the Hard Drive and blank tape to the office and did it on their machine- but at the 24 hour mark he was 3 minutes into our 5 minute piece.
BP: The other requirements were- Place: Baseball Diamond; Object: Remote Control; and the final edit could be no longer than 5 minutes.
AV: What was your main inspiration for the ideas, beyond the given theme?
BP: It all started with me calling the people I work with all the time and asking them if they wanted to enter the 24 hour festival. The first people were at a Christmas party; Deano (www.deanostudio.com) who usually gaffs for me, I wanted him to shoot; and Stuart Poltrock at Sound Post USA (as long as there was no REAL work) to do sound, and to my surprise they all said “YES”.
BP: The main inspiration for me- and what I explained to everyone else- is to be creative with only US to claim the ideas and look! To be honest I was starting to wonder if I was creative any more. When you work in the real world, CREATIVITY doesn't follow Webster's definition any more. And as to the idea, I thought it would be fun to have these wild people in a film that’s just about… well, it didn't really matter until we got the theme.
BP: Let's face it- we all have a wild side that we may hide from people, and to make a film with that side theme was all I really was thinking. If at all!
AV: Describe the camera/equipment used, and the reasoning behind the choices.
BP: We used Thom Bell's (www.bellproductionservices.com) Canon HD camera, P&S mount and ALL his 35mm lenses. The reason, I/we didn't want to go through off of this and have it look like video… Plus I knew in the back of my head this was bigger than the 24hr film.
AV: How did you plan your shots on a limited time frame, and manage such a large crew?
BP: To start to answer that question in the real world I usually direct and shoot. And production is all about pre-production (ask any producer), so usually I have all the shots planned out with extras for any given shoot.
BP: But not knowing the theme I couldn't do any of it, and it was driving me nuts. But I did realize that, and had a DP take care of the lighting and that gave me time to think about the next shots and the scenes.
DL: The story doesn't come out in the 24hr. piece well but wait until the rough cut Ahmed, you (Alicia VanHeulen/Toolfarm) and I are working on is finished … its such a trippy piece and the visuals are so powerful that people don’t even watch the story. The next morning I called my mom to check it out on youtube.com/papierski and her comments were something like this as she was watching: “Wow… That’s cool… nice makeup… where did you get the costumes… did you paint your shop for this… he's huge……..?”
AV: What was your approach to lighting with your time limitations?
BP: Dean and I were talking and I asked him if he had any thing he wanted to try. He said “I do Bry, but it's dark!”. He explained the lighting look over the phone and I went over to my comic collection and said, “I have a few books for you to see, and take some home to look at the composition!
BP: Also, the look called for one big source which really helped on the timing. He actually went to salvage yards to make the units!
AV: What was your greatest challenge?
BP: Having no budget. It reminded me of being back at Art Center in Pasadena. Doing all the pre-production with little to no help. I had an great art director, Bill Taylor, but he had to work and I was in-between jobs... so who do you think painted the set and bought the craft service... not my PA’s, Bryan and Alex… haha.
BP: So the real shoot was a 69.3 hour shoot. Just when I would start to relax someone would call or just show up because he or she had a free moment. It was really nice to see everyone go beyond their call to duty. THANKS EVERYONE!
AV: Your ultimate goal or wish for this project would be....?
BP: It's funny, initially it was to be creative and have fun and remind ourselves that we really love the business we are in. Now it's… wait… that is it… be creative and have fun and maybe somewhere out there someone with a little (or a lot!) of money wants to have fun and play with us!
BP: The icing on the cake is the Super Happy Funtime Burlesque (www.superhappyfuntimeburlesque.com) actors who were in it (and some that weren’t) now want to do a show called “Genesis”. We're hoping to start on Creation, (day one will be an easy set and lighting!), then Adam and Eve. Boy is that going to be wild!
AV: Can you tell us a little about yourself, your background and interests?
BP: Where to start? I was born in Detroit, MI the same day the Tigers won the '68 world series (that makes me old). My parents worked in the TV Commercial world as set builders and designers. So that's what I did...
BP: I went to high school at Interlochen Arts Academy and my majors were photo and sculpture (which I still use both to pay the rent today). I graduated and that summer worked at the Michigan Thanksgiving Parade as an art director. At the end of the summer I moved to LA and found a place in the slums of Pasadena (the night we moved in 2 people were shot around the corner from us while we were out getting hammered to celebrate our new home. There I worked ar Ritz camera, Serrio, and as as a set builder- then to the Rose Bowl as an art director.
BP: One day the main art director came by and said "Bryan, have you shown your work at Art Center yet?" “What's an art center?” I said. “Tomorrow I'm giving you the day off to go and show you’re work to them, if you get in, GO!”. So I did and I was accepted. I called my mom and said "What do I do?" It was toooooo expensive to go right away and I only needed to wait 4 more months to get residency. So I went! 5 years later I graduated with honors in film and was awarded the 9 term honor...
BP: ...which I had to turn down because some alum friends from England were making a film and wanted me to shoot it. I don’t think it ever got finished, but it was my first lesson in the real world of FILM. From there a bunch more happened (some good and some bad) but to sum it up all I can say is I stuck with it and it seems that film is how I make a living! Oh yeah, interests: Film, Art (all types), scuba, welding, painting, making things (my loft, you can go to myspace.com/papierski to see some samples) , life, try new things and smile!
AV: Thank you for your time Bryan, and we look forward to seeing how the work progresses!
BP: I'll keep the updates (as soon as the edit gets down to 10min) on youtube.com/papierski. Im really excited! Ahmed, you, and Stuart have your hands full... I cant wait to see what we come up with!!!