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| SxSW ’08 Interview – Blip Festival director Paul Owens |
Blip Festival - At SxSW '08! |
by Jason Whyte
“Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet explores this worldwide music scene known as chiptunes, which is basically people making new music with old videogame hardware. These are people who grew up playing early videogame consoles (Nintendo Entertainment System, Atari, Game Boy, Commodore 64) and realizing that they really like that "primitive" sounding music coming out of their televisions, and that this is the kind of music they want to make. So our movie tells the backstory of this movement, leading up to the first annual Blip Festival, a gathering of 40 chiptune artists from around the world. The movie isn't just for fans of videogames though, but anyone who appreciates music really.” Director Paul Owens on “Blip Festival” which screens at this year’s South By Southwest.
Is this your first film in the at SxSW? Do you have any other festival experience?
This is my first film in a film festival ever. I can't recall ever even attending a festival, or giving an interview either...
Will you be coming to Austin to attend the festival? If this is your first time, what do you expect to discover? If you have been here before, what do you love most about the city?
I'll be in Austin for the first time for SXSW, but I heard it's a pretty cool town so I'm expecting a lot. Don't let me down, Austin.
Could you give me a little look into your background (your own personal biography, if you will), and what led you to the desire to want to make film?
I think watching my taped off HBO copy of Back to the Future every day as a five year old had a lot to do with it.
Growing up, you were no doubt asked the eternal question “When I grow up I want to be a …” Finish this sentence, please!
Pro bowler! ...then later...a writer, an archaeologist (only because of Indiana Jones), and then film director (not just because of Indiana Jones).
While you were making the movie, were you thinking about the future release of the film, be it film festivals, paying customers, critical response, and so forth?
I was mostly trying to make sure the movie wasn't terrible, so I guess you could say that, in a certain way, I was thinking about the critical response.
How did this project come to fruition? If you could, please provide me with a rundown, start to finish, from your involvement.
I had just graduated from film school and I wasn't doing anything at all. On a whim, an old friend of mine named Paul Levering (now my Producer) reconnected with me and told me about this music made on gameboys he had been hearing about. He suggested a documentary would be a good idea. I agreed, figuring it had a cool concept, but thinking it would probably be more novelty than anything else. We went to a show and we were both blown away, both by the energy of the performer and by the quality of the music, which made you forget it was even composed on a gameboy. It was just one of those things that you get right away. That was the first performance we filmed and that was over two years ago, and now we have a movie somehow.
What was the biggest challenge in the production of the movie, be it principal photography or post-production?
The movie was made with what little money we had saved up from our day jobs, so money was sometimes an issue, especially when we got a parking ticket, which happened quite a bit.
Please tell me about the technical side of the film; your relation to the film’s cinematographer, what the film was shot on and why it was decided to be photographed this way.
Asif Siddiky is the cinematographer. We went to film school together and he is in to video games as well so he was a natural fit. We went with the Panasonic DVX100 camera just cause we're such fans of the look of the 24 frames per second mode. Also, all the equipment for the film needed to be borrowed from (very generous) friends and we knew we could get three of these cameras at once, which is how many we needed to cover the festival the right way. So in a sense, the cameras chose us.
Talk a bit about the festival experiences, if any, that you have had with this particular film. Have you had any interesting audience stories or questions that have arisen at screenings?
I have no festival experience at all, but ask me this question again in April and I'll tell you about the time at south by southwest when that funny thing happened during my screening. Pretty hilarious.
Who would you say your biggest inspirations are in the film world (directors, actors, cinematographers, etc)? Did you have any direct inspirations from filmmakers for this film in particular?
In terms of documentary, the Maysles Brothers. I had Gimme Shelter in the back of my mind the whole time. Thankfully, no one ended up getting beaten around by bikers at the Blip Festival, although it was a concern.
How far do you think you would want to go in this industry? Do you see yourself directing larger stories for a larger budget under the studio system, or do you feel that you would like to continue down the independent film path?
I dont know what it's personally like to direct a movie under a studio, so it's hard to say. I do know that I had complete freedom, as well as an amazing time, making this movie independently, so as long as I can retain that on the next movie, I'll be happy.
If you weren’t in this profession, what other career do you think you would be interested in?
Pro archaeologist bowler.
Please tell me some filmmakers or talent that you would love to work with, even if money was no object.
I thought Klaus Kinski was a great actor, so if death were no object, it'd be nice to work with him.
Do you think that you have “made it” in this profession yet? If you don’t believe so, what do you think would happen for that moment to occur?
I've "made it" into south by southwest. That's about all I was hoping for.
How important do you think the critical/media response is to film these days, be it a large production, independent film or festival title?
Obviously smaller movies depend on it and larger productions are immune to it, but only for so long. So I'd say it's pretty important. Saying this will get me good reviews, right? Only joking... four stars though, right?
If this film could play in any movie theatre in the world, which one would you choose?
There's an old movie house near my hometown that I saw my first movie (Ghostbusters II) in. I want it to play there.
What would you say to someone on the street to see your film instead of the latest blockbuster playing at the local goo-gooplex?
I'd try to tell them my movie was better than whatever he was seeing, but he'll probably start to tell me about the cool blockbuster he's checking out at the goo-gooplex and convince me to join him. I wouldn't be able to help it, especially if the movie had dinosaurs in it.
No doubt there are a lot of aspiring filmmakers at film festivals who are out there curious about making a film of their own. Do you have any advice that you could provide for those looking to get a start?
Stop looking for a start. [cue inspirational music] Just start.
And finally…what is your all time favourite motion picture, and why?
This is the hardest question. Hmm...Groundhog Day was on TV last night. That's a pretty good one.
This film is one of the many features that will be screening at SxSW this year from March 7th to 15th. For more information on this film, its screening times and for more information on SxSW, point your browser to the official website. – Jason Whyte, efilmcritic.com
link directly to this feature at http://hollywoodbitchslap.com/feature.php?feature=2417
originally posted: 03/01/08 02:12:51
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