"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......

Making "Salome"

"Salome" was an extremely challenging project to make but I'm glad that it came out well. Here's some of the beautiful photography that was taken by technical advisor Anna Tzyna. Enjoy:

"Give Her What She Desires....."

Just a weird, experimental short film inspired by the Oscar Wilde play meant for independent film festivals, story/experimentation challenge, and editing practice.

Watch "Salome" HERE. Feel free to rate and comment.

Some beautiful behind-the-scenes photos by Anna Tzyna are HERE.
............................

About "Salome":

After, literally, years of not wanting to touch this project because of tech issues and editing issues and all kinds of other bullcrap, my experimental short film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play "Salome" is finished and up on Youtube (and I'll enter it into fests throughout 2010, obviously).

I like how it came out. If I could go back and change a lot of things, I would but it's too late now....Gotta let it go.

I read the play, fell in love with it, thought that I saw something in it that nobody's seen yet, was haunted by the story, and decided that I should do my own take on it.

It was shot to be an experimental film and edited as such. It's what it was supposed to be. This is a really strange little film but understand that it's about belief, perception (and falseness), dreams, and hidden thoughts/feelings/motives. And the aesthetic reflects this which is why parts of the film are made of paper (the stuff of written words, both true and false) and even most of the characters look like they're made of paper--brittle, bendable, fragile.

This Salome is not the fire-breathing temptress that she's usually portrayed as because, when I read the play, I did not see her that way at all. And one of the objectives of this project was to stay as close to the spirit of the Wilde play as possible. To me, Salome is a character who is trapped, desperate, and between a rock and a hard place emotionally. Her tragic flaw was not that she demanded the head of Jokanaan; it was that she fell in love with the wrong person. She has no where else to turn to and, the one person that she desires, believing him to be a lifeforce (a genuine source of thought, compassion, naturalism) leads her into a fall of faith in love. Salome's actions, after she is rejected by the prophet, stem from heartbreak more than lust.

"Salome" is a story of despair, regret, and lost possibilities.

And, for whatever reason, my version has cartoon snakes in it. Go figure.
..............................

Although Aubrey Beardsley is most commonly associated with Oscar Wilde's "Salome", my main influence for this project was another artist: the 16th Century Dutch painter, Hieronymus Bosch whose aesthetic, I thought, matched perfectly to the sinister, moonlit Wilde interpretation of this biblical legend.

In the painting below, entitled "Temptation", there is the figure of a woman in the middle. Her skin is the same color as her clothing (white on white on white on white), possibly Lot's wife (?) after she became a pillar of salt--the ultimate "Curiosity Killed The Cat" warning fable. Any way, this figure in the painting is aggressively menacing due to her inverted, bleached-out parody of purity. This figure was the core of the aesthetic for this project.

White on white on white. Bloodlessness. Shrouded. Drawn. Fragile.

Who is the only character in the film who looks like he has life in him? Who is the character that is the story's center of attraction? Exactly. Vampirism is also a metaphor in this project. What is it that Salome is drawn to.......?

Other influences on this project:

"Nosferatu" (1922)

"The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928) (almost nonexistant, minimalist sets)

"La Belle et La Bete" (1946) (yes, I realize that it's Cocteau in this pic,not a still from the film, but I like it and I think it's cool)

"Haxan" (1922)

"Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992)

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

It certainly is Oscar Wilde's "Salome" but there are other meanings, images, and subtexts that I've included in the short film, that tie into the story as well. Enjoy.

Questions? Write me: addovolt@hotmail.com --Derek

Guerilla Tactics

Why do things guerilla?

Well........to be honest with you, when you're able to get away with it, it's A LOT of fun and creates a kind of immediacy that doesn't happen any other way. I usually love doing things guerilla.

"Danse Macabre" was kind of an exception (because things got out of control at some points and I thought that the police were going to shut us down and/or people would really think that the coffin contained some unfortunate person/former-person in a bad situation) but, otherwise, I've had only good experiences filming, guerilla-style, on my other projects.

I've tried following the rules and getting permits. From my experience, a lot of times people act like assholes OR my low-budget project gets pushed to the wayside OR, depending on the location, the permit and insurance is so high that it would completely wipe out the budget of the project and then some. Which would defeat the purpose.

With my style of (primarily) digital filmmaking (and, as all those who've worked with me know, I like to move things along in a quick, sufficent fashion which, when you're doing a low-budget indie, what choice do you have?), attacking the location and hopping to it seems to work for me.

But, then again, having a no-rush, all-access location is really fucking nice sometimes.

When you need to go guerilla then just go for it, don't attract a ton of attention, move things along in a quick and sufficent fashion, and do what you gotta do.

"Scrapped Music Video/5 Minutes of Your Life That You Can Never Get Back"

A creative collaboration that just wasn't meant to be. Oh well. Since this project doesn't officially exist there will not be any credits listed in order to avoid confusion; all that you need to know is that it was made by me, Derek Quint, along with another independent director, Dana Von Dana.

This project originally was created to be a music video for a particular musician but he was creeped out by it and the video was tossed in the circular file. I think that the video is a lot of fun, though, and the actors did a great job. After the video got rejected I was just going to erase all the footage and call it a day but then, because we did spend some $ on it and there was time and effort put into it, I've rehashed the music editing so that people can at least watch the video and come to their own conclusions.

The project now known as "Scrapped Music Video/5 Minutes of Your Life That You Can Never Get Back" ended up having a kind of early-90's/Rob-Zombie-goes-to-"Degrassi High" feel to it and is a sort of goofy spoof of "The Exorcist" and "Xuxa".

A lot of people really hated this video but there were a good amount that really enjoyed it too. It all made more sense when it had its original song (obviously) but you can still get a sense for the narrative:

How do you have a nice family birthday party when your child is possessed by demons?

And, if you're getting frazzled by the prospect of it, and you decide to hire a Dominatrix to beat the stress out of you a few days beforehand, make sure that you don't short-change her!  Because what if that very same Dominatrix ends up working as a party clown part-time and your husband unknowingly hires her to entertain the family?!  Then you'll be really stressed-out (understandably).

So, basically, the storyline is a very typical family drama/character study.  Clearly.

Keep an open mind.

This edit of "Scrapped Music Video" premiered online October 29th, 2009.

Watch "Scrapped Music Video/5 Minutes of Your Life That You Can Never Get Back" HERE. Rate it. Leave a comment.

View "Remnants"

The project can be watched HERE. Feel free to Rate and Comment. More in-depth information about the projects from which these scenes came is HERE.

"Remnants" is a 4-minute video collage of scenes and images from our past projects, spanning from 1998 to 2004.  It premiered online September 30th, 2009.  Rather than uploading all the old material (some of these past projects are really good; some of them are really not-so-good), I've decided to compile some of my favorite moments into a 4-minute video. Witches, goblins, killers, pagan Barracuda Gods from alternate dimensions, robot ballerinas, Eastern European soap opera stars, drug addicts, cult members, enchanted transexuals, and geeks--all in fast forward.

Thanks to D. Doiel for permission for using his song "Silver on Pink" in this video. Clips are taken from the following short films:

-"The Revenge of Rumplestiltskin" (1998)

-"Rumplestiltskin Rides Again!" (1999-2000)

-"A Saturday Afternoon" (2001)

-"Miregale" (2001)

-"Scrumptious" (2002)

-"A Portrait: Untitled" (2002)

-"Eternity Beach" (2002)

-"A Really Hardcore Documentary About American Society" (2002)

-"Favorite" (2003)

-"The Unmaking of: 'The White Chamber'" (2003)

-"Here and Gone" (2003-2004)

Thanks to all those who participated in these projects throughout the years!