"Second Star" short film

Watch the film HERE. The press release for this project is HERE. Director's notes about the project are HERE.

"Second Star" was first screened at Chicago's Space 2941 in December 2010.  It has been featured on The Critic's Word, Queeramblings, Buzz Magazine, Tube Tide, Big Gay Horror Fan, and Fangs, Wands, and Fairy Dust.

"Darkly enticing, 'Second Star' brings urban fantasy to the Peter Pan story. In the seedy, forgotten depths of Chicago, youths commingle for a mysterious party. Derek Quint's film spookily meanders through reality and fantasy, leaving the viewer with a chill and hunger for more."
--K. Kriesel, Queeramblings

"....the director, Derek Quint, follows a guerilla film style for a very realistic opening. For someone living in Chicago, it’s something you witness nearly every day, but are rarely a part of the way it is shown to us here. Once the party begins I liked how drastically the tone and atmosphere changed. This noticeable difference takes us in to a surreal cycle of events--we can’t be completely sure what’s real and what’s not, much like our protagonist, who is scared and lost in the world she finds herself in.

The bending of fiction and reality is among my favorite themes that can be explored through film. It’s the perfect medium to do so.....'Second Star' takes advantage of this exploration and experiments with the characters' psyches.

The director writes that he isn’t completely sure what happens, how it ends, or what is reality and what is fiction, which emphasizes the importance of the experience relating to 'Second Star'; it really doesn’t matter what happens because the story since it's about something much larger. It’s up to you to decide what that is."

--Kelsey Zukowski, The Critic's Word

"Intriguing, Ambitious"

--Zach Zimmerman, Buzz Magazine

"How many times has Big Gay Horror Fan hoped to stumble upon a forbidden warehouse on New Year’s Eve and find some cutely smooth stud, waiting within, to seduce me? Well, honestly, never. But the thought did cross my mind after watching Derek Quint’s beguiling short, Second Star.

In Second Star, two transient youths, fighting their way to warmer climes, run into a mysterious benefactress of sorts on a subway tunnel. Accepting an invitation to spend the evening with her, they soon find themselves locked into a willowy game of seduction and intrigue.

Writer-director Quint creates a moody dreamscape, here, with seemingly no budget. Images of fairy tales, elusive realities and those creepy party scenes from Rosemary’s Baby and Midnight Cowboy enter one’s mind upon viewing. Most importantly, Quint makes you wonder what really goes on in the dream world of those forced onto the streets for survival, making Second Star a sociological statement as well as an artistic one.

Featuring a solid cast, with BGHF favorite Heather Dorff (What They Say, Afraid of Sunrise, Mother’s Blood) and the truly delicious Andrew Bochniak making indelible appearances as a pair of glittery masked wraiths, Second Star also features some story driven boy on boy action – a true holiday gift to the guys like me and the girls who love them, everywhere!"

--Brian Kirst, Big Gay Horror Fan

"Inspired by J. M. Barrie’s 'Peter Pan', this dark tale definitely has a weird, confusing, ominous vibe and I honestly had no idea what was going on the entire time but I knew (from experience) that my reactions were normal and it was supposed to be unusual for a reason. It's not for everybody but what film is really?"

--Julie Harber, Tube Tide
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"Second Star" created itself very quickly. I just organized the project so that it happened. It won't be everyone's favorite film of mine but I feel that most adults will be able to relate, in some capacity, to the themes within the film.

The story takes place on New Year's Eve in which a troubled young woman is unable to distinguish between reality, dream, and hallucination. J. M. Barrie's book, "Peter Pan", informed and inspired the project along with an old English ghost story and modern, urban myth and nonfiction.

I'm not really sure what happens in the film--I've never had that occur with any other project that I've done before. I have no idea what actions take place in it or how it actually, truly ends. If you're not able to tell what is reality and dream within it, that's fine because I don't know either.

I feel that this is the darkest film that I've ever made and I leave it up to the viewers to decide for themselves how they feel about it and what actually happens within the story.

It was (understandably) a relatively strange project to shoot. Thanks to the actors for doing such a beautiful job and thanks, especially, to the "party guests" who kept the mood upbeat and the shoot easy.
"Second Star", a short film by Derek Quint

Stephanie Sylvester as The Girl

Troy Zitzelsberger as The Boy

Brittany Collins as Bell

Andrew Bochniak as Peter

Heather Dorff as The Siren

Talia Borgia, Jamie Dounou, Emily Gajek, Maura Hearrin, Valerie Lyvers, Monica Okoniewski, and Adam Roker as Bell's Guests

Special Thanks to: Ben, James, Matt, Sarah, and Johann Sebastian

"Second Star" was first screened for Dark Room no. 1 at Space 2939 in Chicago on December 17th, 2010.

The Long "Danse"....

I have a secret:

For a moment, right before we were about to shoot "Danse Macabre", I thought about doing a feature-length version of the story instead of having it be a short film.

It would have involved Count Dracula, The Blue Bride, The Red Bride, and The Gold Bride staying at some presidential suite in a hotel while they're in town for the masquerade ball and for Dracula's business meeting. Was it a business meeting that he was actually going to or was he trying not to worry the girls and actually about to sign a secret truce with the Vatican in a neutral city?

Was the whole kidnapping/assassination attempt a way of the Vatican trying to avoid the meeting and simply eliminating their enemy altogether?

Hmmm....

Maybe so;)

In the longer version, we would have learned much more about the fiasco that the characters endure.

I know that we definitely would have seen much more of the over-the-top decadent undeathstyle of the vampires (their rooms, multiple costume changes, their thoughts, intents, regrets, and how you spend your freetime when you're 800 years old)......

Maybe....there would have been a situation in which the young nun tries to ransom Dracula's release in exchange for turing her into a vampire and having him all to herself.....

.....maybe we would have seen the bits of chaos that break out in the hotel when the Transylvanians have some hotel employee snacks before the Halloween party.....

....maybe we would have learned about the contention between the 3 vampiresses.....

....maybe (certainly) we would have learned more about the Vatican agents, the cruelty of the main priest, and how deeply unprepared they were for their mission......

.....and maybe Dracula, himself, would reveal more of his motives. Has he really softened so much over the years or is he more ruthless than ever but just hiding behind a more pleasant form? Was he truly helpless within that chained-up box or was he using this absurd situation as an opportunity to test his three wives?
Maybe this film, as much of a ridiculous comedic romp as it is, contains a deeper, not-so-dark allegory wrapped in its stale candy shell?

Well, some of those things are hinted at with the 11 minutes and it gives the fans of this short film some thoughts to chew on while watching it so watch closely and you'll see glimmers of those submerged plot points.

Also, before we filmed, I thought to myself: "You know, this will have to stay a very quick short because we don't have the time or the money right now to do this as a feature-length."

And I was right. Because, yeah, we didn't have the time or money to expand the project. Too late now.

But.....it's fun to think about the larger story that was possibly maybe meant to be folded within the short film "Danse Macabre". So, the next time you want to see these goofey characters running around Chicago, try watching the film with these thoughts and possibilities in mind.

"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.