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Your new film Laughter
- in a few words, what is it about?
Joey is bullied and pushed around. When him and his two friends plan a
prank, it goes deadly wrong. Months down the road each and everyone pays
their actions with their lives. Basic question: Why
a clown? I wanted to do something different. So i thought
to myself what are people afraid of? Well my dad gave me that answer and
told me that clowns are people's fears or they like them. Which is very
true, because clowns can be nice, or they can be straight up scary. Plus
you can go many ways with clowns. They can be friendly at a kids party, or
they can hide the dark and wait for that moment to get you. With Laughter
being essentially a slasher movie - is that a genre you can at all relate
to, and some of your genre favourites? Yeah, it's a genre I
grew up on whether it was old slashers or new ones. It's a genre that is
dying and we are all trying to save and see something more come to it.
Some of my favorite slashers would have to be the Halloween series, the
music and just a man that can stare and walk slow as hell and still catch
you. (Other) sources
of inspiration when writing Laughter? When
writing any type of script you take a part of life or something you may
see while driving and then add to that. That is what inspires a lot of
writers. I will be driving and then see something and write it down, or
take a childhood memory or dream and turn that into something. Then also
other work of films I saw and say I like that idea, but how can I make it
different or better. So you just take a look on life and just go with it. How
would you describe your directorial approach to your subject at hand? Watching
and studying other films. You want to direct the film, but also make it
your own. I need to make sure I am not doing the same camera work as
another horror flick. Do some test shots or I even like to film the same
scene 3 or more times, but if different ways. One take can be great, but
more takes give you the option to switch and cut to many ways. Also to
help yourself in post. So the better way you can direct yourself and make
it simple on all ends.
Laughter
contains quite a few rather gory scenes - so what can you tell us about
creating these, was there a line you refused to cross, and how important
do you rate these scenes in the context of your movie? When
making any film that runs to the horror genre, the first things you think
what new death scene can I make that has never been done. Now that being a
very hard area to fill. So I thought of ways and ways to come up and I think we did reach that goal. The shack scene was a fun death to create.
Now in the script it's written differently than what you see on film.
The script was to be a man tied up with hooks in his hands, and legs, but
the hooks being under all his bones to be more painful. Which then later
gets torn out and making him bleed to death. Well when we filmed it we had
an issue making that come to life, so I pulled the scene and came up with
something new a few weeks later. Which was the father chained up and then
taking the axe to the arm and burning the shack down while he was alive.
Which I thought was different and more a what the hell is wrong with this
clown. That he will go past the line to do anything. There are many scenes
that I can talk about, but don't want to spoil the scenes for any that
have not checked out the film. Rating these deaths in the film are extreme
and not for the group that hates gore and torture - if I were to rate them
on a scale of 5 stars, some would be like a 3 and then most like 4 1/2 and
maybe one or two being a 5. What
can you tell us about your key cast and crew?
For the first
time I have the chance to work with a cast that I did not know. There were
a few that I did go to school with. An 80% of the cast never met until the
day of auditions. There were some that have done small projects,
commercials and theatre. Then there were some that wanted to just come out
and try for the part. The cast was great and hard working, so it was a fun
experience to watch what I wrote come to life during production. For my
second film and working with this new cast I thought they did a great job.
Now for crew we had myself running cameras, my fiancee running audio, and
then lights, clapboard, and other tech stuff were run by the cast. We all
took part in the crew area to make things meet and get finished. A few
words about the actual shoot and the on-set atmosphere? The
production of this film was a lot of fun. When filming everyone went from
talking to silence which made things easier to film. Then when the cameras
were off we sat around, went over lines, talked about the next scene and
gave thoughts and just made things easier and flow quicker. The atmosphere
where some of the scene were different and then slaughter house was just
amazing and set the mood for the final scene. What
can you tell us about audience and critical reception of your movie so
far? The response from the audience from the premiere were
these: "Great Movie" "Well put together" "Nice Story
Line" "Gross death scenes, but new ideas" - which made me
think well did a great job and nailed it. I also had some that said the
color was too dark, some areas it was hard to hear, which there were so I know for the next time to watch for that. Now the reviewers side
I am
getting back about the same response from the audience that has gotten a
chance to see Laughter. So on that note it's been a great ride so far,
about 75% or more love the film and had fun with it and the other
percentage had issues with it or just hated the film, and you will get
that with all movies. Let's go back to the beginnings of your career:
What got you into filmmaking to begin with, and did you receive any kind
of formal education on the subject?
Well it's been a thing
with films. When you are small you watch movies and say I want t be this
or that. Well, when it comes to filmmaking you can be all that. Also I
love the way you can sit an come up with something on paper and then film
it and make it come to life. It's a way of art that can be expressed in a
lot of ways. Now when I was small I watched a lot of horror films and just
kept growing and growing from there and I knew I wanted to make my own
horror films. Well before that I made jackass videos when that was the
thing to do in the day. Then shorts and then went to college and completed
my degree and now just trying to do my thing and make movies that are
different. What can you tell us
about your debut feature The inFected? The
inFected was my first feature and I did not really think a lot would go
for it. It was a script I wrote my last year in college. I had a choice to
either intern somewhere or make a short film. Well it ended up from a
short to a feature film. Now although it did not win awards or get a
distribution it did go to the San Antonio Horrific Film Fest, Scarlet
Waters Showcase in Austin Texas, and Pittsburgh Horror Film Festival in
2011 and was nominated for Best Feature and Best Make-up which was cool
being that it had no budget and actors were myself, my fiancee and her
brother and sister and other family. So in my eyes I thought for a first
try it did well.
Other
filmwork of yours you'd like to talk about? Any future projects you'd like
to share? I will keep this short! I worked on a web series
that was shot in my hometown, Mob on the Run. Other than that
never did any other projects. My newest project I am working on is a
sequel to Laughter, and if all goes well it will start production in the
summer of 2013 How would you describe yourself as a director? Decent,
hardworking and a leader. Yes at times I drop the ball and fall behind.
The question for that is who doesn't drop the ball at times? I can't rate
myself on what I can do. I just go with it and hope I get the job done.
Which I have done so on The inFected and Laughter. Not saying
I am a great
director, because I'm not. I am still learning and trying to figure out
what terms are and what this is and what that is. So from now till my
career is done I will just be learning and proceeding down the path. Filmmakers
who inspire you? Adam Green, Tim Burton, John Carpenter,
George Romero, Sam Raimi, Tobe Hooper - and that's just a few! Your favourite movies?
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Halloween
series, Friday the 13th series,
Nightmare on
Elm Street series, Hatchet 1
and 2, Frozen, the Dead series and much more that I can go on. ...
and of course, films you really deplore? Remakes!!!!! Yes I
go and see them, and yes some of those are good and bad, but this is why
we are indie horror filmmakers. We are trying to come up with new and we
do not get looked at for a second. Just need to end the remakes and think
outside the box and then we won't hate on any movie. Your/your
movie's website, Facebook, whatever else? We don't
have a website for the neither of the films, just a Facebook page for both
Laughter and The
inFected. Anything else
you are dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? If
you are a filmmaker, producer, actor, writer or a fan of the genre keep it
going. Once we stop and give up that's it, the genre will die. So keep pushing
and just do what we do best, scare the shit out of people and make some
kick ass horror/slasher flicks. Thanks
for the interview!
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amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
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eThaiCD.com
find Adam Dunning at adultvideouniverse.com
