"Danse Macabre" short film/Halloween Special

Our short film, "Danse Macabre", is finally finished.

Click HERE to watch it. Feel free to rate and comment.

"Danse Macabre" premiered online November 2nd, 2010.  It has been featured on Obscuro!, Horror Cult Films (UK), Goth Triggers, Big Gay Horror Fan, Lucretia's Reflection, A Dream of Dracula, Fuck Yeah Cult And Indie Films, and Dark Matter Zine among others.

"A fun little piece of independent filmmaking"
 --Obscuro! Films

"Screen it at your Halloween bash."
--Dark Matter Zine

"I enjoyed this a lot."
--Fuck Yeah Cult And Indie Films

"Campy Halloween Fun"
--Lucretia's Reflection

"A beauteous wonder......with humor and screwball energy"
--Big Gay Horror Fan

Director's Notes:

This project was a pretty crazy shooting experience, kind of expensive, stressful, strange, cold-- a lot of a lot. But, OF COURSE, it was worth all the adventure!


The plot can be summed up, fully, in one sentence:

  Count Dracula and his 3 brides are on their way to a masquerade ball in an American city on Halloween when they run into some trouble with a vengeful troupe of Vatican agents sent to track them.

And there you have it.

The entire point of this project was so that I could be indulgent (what else is new....) and create my own Halloween Special in the spirit of so many of the ridiculous/amazing/irreverent yearly TV programs that I enjoyed when I was a kid--to do something that felt like it had been around forever, something that you can laugh with and at while also having a true bit of that darkly delicious Halloween magic to it. "Danse Macabre" is a short film inspired by a full range of different influences: "Hocus Pocus", "The Worst Witch", "Teen Witch", "Garfield's Halloween Special", "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", and then "Adventures in Babysitting", "The Goonies" (c'mon, it's obvious), and so on.

"Mystery Science Theater 3000" was watched a lot before I started shooting as was Fellini's "Juliet of the Spirits" and "Casanova" as well a few 1960's Russian fantasy films (if you're not familiar with the film version of "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" from director Aleksandr Ptushko, for example, that film and its ilk are highly entertaining and very, very artistically inspiring). Emily Gajek's Gold Bride character, especially, was designed as an homage to the types of heroines and disenchanted princesses that traveled through those gaudy, vintage Russian fantasy epics.

But my film is just some goofey, little, short indie film--nothing as spectacular as its influences. But I still like the way it turned out and it's certainly a lot of fun to watch, the actors are terrific, and it came out the way that it was supposed to.

Of course, the classic Camille Saint-Saens composition initially inspired this whole project and I wanted to have my go at it in the sense that the film is a visual suite created to accompany the 7-minute 1872 "Danse Macabre" piece. Other suitable music pieces by Chopin, Beethoven, and Strauss helped flesh out the narrative. When the adventure kicks into gear, so does the centerpiece composition--Saint-Saen's "Danse Macabre". When that piece ends, so does the finale.

Visually, the film that we watch online has been degraded by multiple transfer generations in order to wear down the footage, fuck it up a bit, give it that "when was this made?" feeling--as in what dark corner of 1987 did they drag this out from? The colors and settings were adjusted repeatedly to give it that unhealthy, acid green tonality. The film succeeds in looking retro, strange, and worn-in and (yes!) seems indistinguishable from the kinds of strange cult shows that inspired it. I wanted this project to feel like you used to watch it all the time Back In The Day and that you found this footage on a VHS tape that's been hiding under your basement couch for a decade or two.

In the "Danse Macabre" short film, the Vatican agents speak in Italian and the Dracula family speaks in Romanian--as they would if they were meeting for a surprise showdown in an American city. Having them speak languages besides English (i.e. speaking their native languages instead) accentuates the other-ness of these foreign visitors and plays with the old film tradition of not-quite-there translations and questionable voice dubbing that many of us enjoy. The Italian clergy members, and their Eastern Bloc enemies, are NOT your nextdoor neighbors. These silly undead aristocrats, as well as their holy adversaries, are appropriately alien to American viewers and their language demands your heightened attention in order to understand their motives and emotions. So lean in closer because they are not like you and I.

All elements of the production, from the sound to the visuals, were adjusted and worn down in order to heighten the low-budget, funky, tin machine sensibility that I was going for. The cheesier, the better while also having a subtle sincerity regarding what the characters are experiencing. After all, this film is about a kidnapping followed by a slaughter--they're still real characters and it's not their fault that they are, and the situation that they're in is, preposterous. I was happy that I was able to get that queasy mix of complete ridiculousness with bits of genuine feeling--it makes people a bit uncomfortable which I enjoy. "Danse Macabre" is clearly a broad comedy but also has some heart to it.

Overall, I hope that you enjoy this corny little adventure and that you watch it every Halloween or whenever you like. And it's quite possible that there's more than meets the eye with this short film.....if you think so, read HERE.

To everyone who worked on this film, THANK YOU a million times over--I know that this wasn't the easiest or most simple project to dive into but you guys totally understood what I was going for for this and you knocked it out of the park. Amber Morrow, especially, thank you for doing double-duty; playing a role (perfectly) AND doing the gorgeous and subtle job on the actors' hair and makeup. When it comes to independent films, especially, the cooperation and talent of the small team that you work with is especially important--I'm very fortunate to have a strong group of frequent collaborators to share projects with.

"Danse Macabre", a short film by Derek Quint

Emmi Chen as The Blue Bride
Emily Gajek as The Gold Bride
Amber Morrow as The Red Bride
Lee Wolf as Count Dracula
T. Finerty as Priest #1
Jackie McKethen as Nun #1
David Chatham as Priest #2
Britany Collins as Nun #2
Adam Roker as Unit 77 Driver
and
Michael Marius Massett as The Vatican Spy

Music:
"Danse Macabre" by Camille Saint Saens
"Polonaise" by Frederic Chopin
"Egyptian March" by Johan Strauss

Romanian Translations by Mircea Granescu
Italian Translations by Scott Williams

Voice Talent:
Anca Barsan-Cayro
Stefanie Foresta
Mircea Granescu
Scott Williams

Production:
Stefani Foresta
Derek Quint

Music Performances:
Kevin MacLeod
Felipe Sarro

Hair and Makeup:
Amber Morrow

"Salome" short film

Lots of bells and whistles to it. Dream cast to portray these classic characters. I feel so, so grateful to have found the right actors for this project which is a tall order in that regard. I truly think that Emily Gajek was the perfect young woman to play Oscar Wilde's version of this character. Ryan Tiderington is to die for as Jokanaan (a character that is usually NEVER done right for some reason); Jay Disney's Herod is pitch-perfect and unique while Julie Neuberg LaBant is fabulously wicked as Queen Heroidas. The supporting characters brought the weird, sealed-off tomb of the world established in this film to life and stirred up the perfect amount of trouble, shifting the plot into gear. Actors are what make films good, not the director. Some may disagree, but oh well.

A difficult but rewarding and educational film to make. I wanted to nail the desolate, melancholic tone of Wilde's play to the best of my ability which is why this film was structured to feel and look like a performance on a stage as well as a kind of expressionist film.

Watch the film HERE.

Production notes are HERE.

Photos, done by the wonderful Anna Tzyna, are HERE and HERE.

The press release about the project is HERE.

"Salome" premiered online in September 2010.  It has been featured on Film Threat, The Gothic Imagination, The Gothic Society, IOBA, and The DePaulia.

"Salome" revisited

A new re-edited, leave-it-alone version of my short film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's "Salome" is HERE.

It's been polished over in some ways, roughed up in other ways.

I like this version--it's a lot closer to what I had originally envisioned with this project but I know that a few people will still probably like the older version better.

This revamp is definitely a lot spookier and even a bit more uncomfortable than the past one.

Ratings and comments are very much appreciated.

If you enjoy this project, send the link to your friends:)

Around The Edges

I work hard, sometimes, to make my films look like they're from 1991. Or 1985 or 1962 or 1924 depending on the project.

It's all about capturing a certain tone, feeling.

Projecting a sense of time-space distance makes you feel as though you're witnessing something that is not of now, something that isn't of your particular world. It doesn't try to draw you in, hug you, and say "Yes, please love me because I'm just like you."

It is what it is. Like it or lump it.

You're a witness, not a participant. The emotions are there if you're paying attention, if you're willing to focus, if you're willing to reach towards them. Rough films don't act needy or try to give you proverbial jazz hands. That's why I love obscure cinema, old films, and true dirty indies.

I DON'T usually want many of my films to look as polished and precious as the diamond tears of a baby unicorn. No Thanks.

A lot of the work that inspires me is the kind of stuff that you see on TV at 3pm (or 3am) on a Saturday on some weird cable channel. A little ragged, a little bit rough around the edges.

Strange projects, made under strange circumstances, telling strange stories.

I want to continue in a tradition.

I'm a traditional filmmaker when it all boils down to it. I want to carry on with, sometimes, doing projects that aren't as pretty as a Miss America pagent.

The new camera that I'll be getting is very, very nice......if you're making a Crest touthpaste commercial. Polished, extremely modern, lovely, polite. I have to get it for some forthcoming films.

I'll be using it for plenty of projects coming up and, without a doubt, I'll have to tamper with the footage to make it look like shit when the mood calls for it.

And I'll still be using my old, clunky camera too when the feeling strikes me.

Life, and emotion, isn't crystaline and perfect looking, adorably lit and smooth as a baby's rump.

No.

And neither are many of my films.

Some of them will be given the "royal treatment" but many of them will have that touch of darkness to them. No, not pretty darkness--a more natural approach--a look at how that feels sometimes.

The two films that I'm focusing on right now, "Danse Macabre" and "Second Star", are subversive, creepy stories about creepy people. It's only appropriate that they're not going to look like a 2005 romantic comedy.

Oh Rats!

The music video for The Baby Magic's "Rats" is up now for viewing. Click HERE to watch it.
............................

There was ALL SORTS of weird, experimental things that I did on this project.......some of which works well, some of it doesn't work at all, some of it is a "huh?". I used a lot of software, and combinations of software and lighting, etc. in strange ways that maybe I shouldn't have (like a chef in the kitchen who's allowing himself too many liberties) but this song isn't meant to be matched with pretty, fussy imagery.

The Baby Magic allows me to experiment, and try out new things with them, because they themselves are experimental in a lot of ways. That's part of the reason why I love them so much.
This project was very educational in the sense that I learned a lot of what I should and shouldn't do with some things but, overall, I like this project--we were intentionally going for a grungy, earlyish MTV kind of feel for it.

This video screams out "1993!". And, yeah, the song track was taken from a live band practice which gives it extra grit. I was thinking about The Pixies, REM, and Weezer.

The band acting as these characters are fantastic.

This project was a technical painting class--a crash course; some things worked, some not so much. You name it, I fucked with it (motion, frame width, color, contrast) sometimes successfully sometime irrepairably/regretably. Just to do "what if....". But, overall, a decent little indie rock video thanks to the ingenuity of a very imaginative Chicago band.

"Rats!" premiered online in September 2010.

"Baptized in Weirdness: an unauthorized journey through The House on the Rock" press release

The information and images in this posting can be freely used by anyone for mentioning/discussing the short documentary "Baptized in Weirdness" by Derek Quint, Addovolt Productions.

"I've never seen anything like it," says indie director Derek Quint.  "The amount of time, effort, and money that went into this place is crazy but it's completely baffling.  What is it all about?"

Quint is referring to House on the Rock, the bizarre architectural wonder and museum of oddities located in Spring Green, Wisconsin and the subject of his short film, "Baptized in Weirdness: an unauthorized journey through The House on the Rock".  The House was opened in 1959 by the mysterious architect Alex Jordan, Jr.

"A couple of friends told me that we had to go visit House on the Rock and that I should definitely bring my video camera.  I had never been there before and I didn't realize that we were making a documentary until we were half-way through it.  When I looked through the footage I decided to just go ahead and edit it into a short film using a narrator mixed with some of the music from inside the display rooms.  I wanted to try figuring out what it was that we were seeing because the place is so overwhelming and, to be honest with you, frustrating in some ways.  It's a beautiful puzzle that sometimes makes sense and sometimes seems to deliberately confuse you.  I don't really think that I cracked the mystery of House on the Rock but I wanted to ask questions about it regardless.  It's an incredible place," Quint explains.

Narrated by D. Doiel and produced by Addovolt Productions, "Baptized in Weirdness: an unauthorized journey through The House on the Rock" is a short documentary that can be freely viewed on Youtube.  See the link below or web search "baptized in weirdness documentary".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6N6UOITsss

"Baptized in Weirdness: an unauthorized journey through The House On The Rock"

The short documentary, "Baptized in Weirdness: an unauthorized journey through The House On The Rock" is now up for viewing.

Just a fun, casual little project. Not any big deal, not a lot of trouble.

"Baptized in Weirdness" premiered online in August 2010.

If you're not aware of what The House On The Rock is (and I know that many non-Midwesterners aren't), the Wikipedia page will explain it much better than I can (click HERE) and, hopefully, this short doc will give you a visual impression of what it's like in there along with a few of my thoughts and questions about it.

Recording sound in that place was a challenge and some of the darker corners of the attraction were difficult to photograph but that's just the inevitable nature of it--that's just the way it is at that place.

This project was narrated by the always wonderful D. Doiel.

Special Thanks to: Matt Labuguen and D. Doiel.

Click HERE to watch the documentary. Ratings and comments are appreciated.

"IshootRockstars: a look inside"

Addovolt Productions and Arrow Five One present "IshootRockstars: a look inside", a short documentary exploring the brilliantly creative Chicago studio led by photographer Kyle LaMere and makeup artist Elizabeth Neish.

all photography by Kyle LaMere

video by Derek Quint.

In this project:hair--Amber Morrow

sets/costumes/stylizations--David Beaupre, Christopher Provyn, Threadcount LLC.

music--"Radio 91" and "I See You Everywhere" by David Doiel

Special Thanks to: David Beaupre, Emmi Chen, David Doiel, Jason Ewers, Sharon Kung, Angie Ma, Angela McAdrian, Amber Morrow, Poison Love, Eliza Rickman, Traci Snowe, Threadcount LLC.Addovolt Productions and Arrow Five One Media, Chicago.

Watch the documentary HERE.

As usual, feel free to rate and comment.  This documentary premiered online in February 2010.

"Spirits of Detroit" so far

[UPDATED 08-05-12]

The documentary "Spirits of Detroit" is going well but there's a lot left to tackle for it.


I have to do A TON of visual concepts and segments to get to still which is why I'll be spending the remainder of this summer and the first parts of fall shooting scenes and more scenes and more scenes for this particular film.


"SOD" is a very traditional ghost documentary a la "Unsolved Mysteries", History Channel material, Biography Channel material, etc.  You get the picture.  It focuses strictly on the paranormal and mythic traditions within Detroit--legends and stories that are rich, plentiful, and distinctively weird.  I was not lacking material to explore.


What this project will NOT be focusing on are the socioeconomic conditions that are truly haunting Detroit.  Of course the history of Detroit is touched upon and, inevitably, the downfall of this once-great US city is explored to a moderate degree within my documentary.  There's no way to avoid that no matter what the main subject may be.  


The vast and devastating decay of the city requires complete dedication to that subject.  There is a new documentary coming out (it's in film festivals now) called "Detropia" (the link to it is HERE) which looks stunning.  I can't wait to see it.  This is a documentary that you need to see if you're an American, you know history, and you care about society and economy.  This is the meat and potatoes.


For people who study Detroit and everything that goes along with it, "The Spirits of Detroit" is a slice of cheesecake on the side.  That's what it's meant to be.


It's one of those projects where other projects have been cutting in front of it in line (like a dorky kid in the school lunch hall) over and over again.  Maybe "SOD" is going to get fed up with that treatment so we'd better watch out!


Other films (additional short documentaries [some for clients, some not], definitely the music videos, surprise short film projects) have popped up over the last few years that have demanded more immediate attention than "Spirits".  That happens a lot with indie film.  Something gets started, another thing comes up, one project gets neglected, and so on.  But I try to not be like that because I think that filmmakers who do that are flaky.


Ugh.  This documentary has been shooting for about....um....3 years now.  Inarguably, it's time to wrap things up.  "The Spirits of Detroit" will be online for Halloween 2012.

Alan Park Live

Last month I had the pleasure of taping some live footage (at Chicago's Bottom Lounge) of the very, very talented industrial rock band, Alan Park.  Here's some performace footage:

"The Dive"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkyV42U0z-s&feature=channel

"Vanishing Point"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN-NTNuS4VA&feature=channel

And here is their Myspace music page:

http://www.myspace.com/alanparknextdoor

The footage was shot in January 2010 and premiered online later that month.

"Go Ask Alice In Wonderland" (Cliff Notes edit)

I always encourage viewers to read about the film a bit first but if you're impatient and you've got ants in your pants, then watch the video HERE. (Feel free to Rate and Comment.)

Additional stills from this project are HERE.

"Go Ask Alice In Wonderland" premiered online Valentine's Day (what a beautiful valentine.....) 2010.

I wanted to make a very trashy family-special style of a warped (but beloved) story because I like to strip away the sanctity of some things and just to have some fun.

"Alice in Wonderland" was asking for a parody.

The "Go Ask Alice in Wonderland" short film is a narritive mashup of the Lewis Carroll classic and the teen drug panic spectacular "Go Ask Alice" (as in the Jefferson Airplane song....inspired by the Lewis Carroll book) written by Anonymous (aka someone's mom). I've read it and it's obviously a book about moral outrages (sex, drugs, rock n' roll, boys) clearly written by an adult writing what they imagine a teenager would write like if they were on a downward spiral away from home, church, and family. It's ridiculous and I love it.

Making "Go Ask Alice in Wonderland" was like experiencing a grocery check-off list of indie filmmaker phobia's:

-a budget that tripled itself (nice)

-a flood (watch for it in the background where the White Rabbit wallops Alice in the maze garden)

-camera malfunctions

-sound problems

-security issues (for Alice's house, we managed to brake into the monestary grounds without a hitch but got kicked out of the Hilton. Go figure.)

-swarms of mosquitos

and (definitely worst of all)

-a damaged DV tape that didn't reveal it was damaged until after we shot (fucking up the visuals in many parts and wiping out the sound completely in other parts).

...............

"Go Ask Alice in Wonderland" is a trainwreck. A mess. A small disaster.

But my actors are a riot so it was worth it. And I know that the end result will be appreciated by people of a certain temperment. It's just for internet viewing; it's fun but it's obviously damaged (notice all the digital artifacting with some parts i.e. the ruined DV tape) and not suited for film festivals. No thanks.

With the production is tatters, I just figured that I'd go ahead with the mess that it is and just encourage those rough edges. The characters in the story are a mess, the story is about being a mess, and so (maybe) the production elements themselves decided to join in on the theme?

So I just decided to go ahead and have fun with it, drinking Mountain Dew while editing, praying to St. John (Waters), and dreaming of "Little Britain" the entire time.
The title of the film is not "Go Ask Alice in Wonderland". It's "Go Ask Alice in Wonderland" (Cliff Notes edit). It was originally intended to be an hour and a half-long web series but, because of the damaged DV tape, I've decided that it's best as an edited, get-to-the-best-parts "Cliff Notes" version (since both sources for the narrative ques are based on well known books; wink, wink). So, in a way, it's an abbreviation of a television show that doesn't exist. And even though it says at the end "Coming Soon on VHS", I'm obviously just kidding and it's a play on the bizarro, bargain-basement tonality of the project--the kinds of things that you stumble across as a value movie at Family Dollar. There's some really obscure, strange shit that you discover at these stores. Who knows when or where these creepy productions were created but, nonetheless, I love that kind of stuff! Hence......."Go Ask Alice in Wonderland" (Cliff Notes edit) which is an homage to movies best left forgotten (especially random Canadian and British television literary adaptations from the 70's and 80's; for some reason there's a lot of those).

Anyway, Britney Collins as Alice is fantastic and, of course, I consider her "one of the team" and she's in many of my projects. Same goes for Michael Marius Massett as the White Rabbit, Adam Roker as The Caterpillar, and Emily Gajek as The Red Queen (quite a changeup from the ethereal, tragic heroine of "Salome"), everyone I manage to force into my projects in one way or another:) (thanks guys, I love you).

On a serious note, I feel EXTREMELY LUCKY to have such amazing actors to work with. Beautiful, talented people who work hard and are definite troopers through all the challenges that indie filmmaking, especially, presents sometimes.

With all the craziness that happend while making this project, my mom said that it was the ghost of Lewis Carroll trying to sabatoge the project because I was making fun of his Alice. And when Nancy says stuff like that, you know that she's serious.

I was a little bit freaked out/stressed/broke ass after completing this project which is why I only worked on casual documentaries for a year and stopped doing indie narratives for a while. For my friends and collaborators who wondered what the hell happened and why I disappeared for a while (in a way), there's your answer: I needed a rest because "Alice" wore me out!

Luckily, the project that I did right after this, with all it's expenses, bells, and whistles, was the "Danse Macabre" short film which came out.......exactly like what it was supposed to:)

So maybe the ghost of Lewis Carroll was pissed off at me but, apparently, Bram Stoker gives me the thumbs-up! Very good! I finally did something right.

Enjoy "Go Ask Alice in Wonderland" in all of it's cheap, trashy, drug-fueled, hot mess glory. A bedtime story for stoners, methheads, sugar fiends, and Michigan resale store shoppers (which is like a rolecall of many of my friends and myself growing up outside Detroit). Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that I found the idea for this project while shopping at the Salvation Army.....

Say it 4 times and you'll win a big surprise:

"Tizzleberries!"

"Tizzleberries!"

"Tizzleberries!"

"Tizzleberries!"

Oh, Alice......