My roommate, and fellow filmmaker, Justin Suttles has released his latest short film Maggie and the Monster. I served on this film as the cinematographer and I am quite proud of what we achieved.
The video above is a technical briefing which I sent to our Gaffer, Marcus Kyle, the week of the shoot. For those not in the industry, it will contain a lot of jargon that might be confusing, but it occurred to me that it’s also a fascinating look into how a film is made. I wanted to share it here to show how some of the more high minded things we discuss on this Substack actually meet reality. I’ve also interspersed some spoiler free clips into the video to juxtapose how our planning was going versus how things went in reality.
This kind of briefing video is not at all typical in the industry, but I have found myself tiring of showing up on jobs and not having the slightest idea of what set up is coming next. It is not that most filmmakers don’t have a plan, they just end up not sharing these plans with their crew lower down the ladder, or doing so only with the most minimal of explanations. I’ve wanted to formalize some processes to help disseminate information down the chain of command and this video is an experiment in that process for me.
Justin’s films exist primarily within the genre of the Horror/Thriller and Maggie and the Monster is no exception. To be honest, this is a genre space that I have a complicated relationship with. I am not interested in the schlocky exploitative excesses that often accompany one’s mental image of this genre, nor in the wanton celebration of violence and suffering in various forms which are the common modes of expression in the space. And I think to his credit neither is Justin. As we’ve been collaborating for so many years we’ve had many discussions about the proper place for horror, and more broadly speaking fear within story telling – I certainly think it has a place. Fear is part of life after all, and it is one of the most powerful human emotions. Fearing and dreading the right things can actual help orient us towards what is good and true, and encourage us to leave darker avenues that lie before us untraveled. Conversely, an excess of fear and, our nervous attention to it, can work on our minds like self-fulfilling prophecies of anxiety, propagating unending cycles of paralysis and inaction, or worse still, bring us into a state of dread-filled worship of that which we fear most.
These thoughts swim around in the back of my mind when we make a film like this. But we are just as much filmmakers enamored with the possibilities of our craft, ever experimenting and learning as we go along. Whether or not we succeeded is certainly beyond me to say. I invite you to watch the film and let me know what you think.
Maggie and the Monster