CSIF Members Missives
Been cranking out the odd article for the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers quarterly newsletter. Here is one of my latest contributions which shines some light on the ClimaXXX shoot this past June.
Big Giant Porn
A large format 3-D adult film. And by adult I mean hardcore. Oh, and it is a period musical. With a horse. And the actors sing while they have sex...
After blowing the bank on my indie HD feature defining edward back in 2003, then returning to work as a technician on an assortment of marginal television and movie projects to pay the bills, I revisited the directing with a couple non-dramatic films and, more recently, a short for Bravo!FACT entitled The Perfection of the Moment.
Like most filmmakers I have a vault of ideas in outlines, scripts and scrawled illegibly on napkins. Most are garbage and thankfully left to rot in some bankers box, but one ridiculous notion kept hanging around. ClimaXXX: a love story follows two filmmakers who are stumbling through their respective careers. Producer Dick and Writer/Director Peter are pornographers who after years on the scene have achieved little success. We meet them as they struggle to get their dream of a large format (Imax) 3-D adult film musical off the ground. A mockumentary style short, it uses porn merely as a backdrop for the humour and contains no actual sex. Sorry to creep you out/get your hopes up.
As a writer/director, I love to hear actors bring my dialogue to life on the screen. But what I have always been curious about is winging it. Handing a small group of talented actors the ball and just lettin ‘em go. Seeing what gets cooked up. A scary thing for a control freak like me. I mean, I have utilized improv in rehearsal, to help find the rhythm or pace of a scene, but never with the camera rolling.
After revisiting the script and casting a wonderfully talented group of local performers, I wrangled with the budget or lack thereof. When you are producing your first improv comedy style project, what indie filmmaker amongst us can afford super 16 spooling past the gate? Not I. But I felt like MiniDV, while inexpensive and allowing for hour long takes, was not the image quality I was looking for. Fortunately, that is about when I came across news of the HVX 200 and its tapeless HD recording. Finally I felt that this absurd tale might actually fly.
I was a little leery of being able to create an environment where the actors could just let go, but I learned that, as with more structured environments, it is all based on trust. As artists - directors, actors or craftspeople - we need support and an open exchange to feel secure in our exploration. I was constantly amazed by what the actors came up with, from little tweaks to a monologue to whole new scenes. The fact that myself and the crew were often outnumbered by the cast did not hurt either. A small set inspires both camaraderie and an easygoing atmosphere. This is a rare thing to behold on a film set and is something to be treasured.
As of this writing, ClimaXXX has unfortunately taken a backseat to other work, yet I have managed to complete an assembly and am working through a rough cut, on the cheap and ignoring the adage that directors should not cut their own stuff (unless you have no cake for an editor). There is no shortage of great footage and I have now expanded the project into of 5 or 6 web-isodes, on top of the short film version. Just goes to show that if you can dream it up, you can make it... you just have to be stubborn enough.
Published in the Fall 2006 edition of CSIF's Answer Print.