|
Your upcoming movie The Gravedigger's Tale - in a few words,
what is it about?
The Gravedigger's Tale
is
about a young electrician who
is called to a cemetery one
day to fix a broken down freezer. A bored gravedigger
tells him horrible tales of
all the graves he’s had to
dig up to make room for the
new bypass being built through
the cemetery grounds. One
story stands out from the
rest, the dissenter of Rose
Burswick. How did the project come into being in
the first place?
After writing a lot of short
stories myself I soon came
to realize that, tho I was
proud of them, they weren’t
going to truly stand out from
everything else floating
around on the internet. Mainly
the dialogue was my
problem so I began reading old
horror stories. That’s
when I stumbled upon The Year's
Best Horror Stories, an
old anthology series of
talented writers from all over.
That’s when I found The
Gravedigger’s Tale, a story just
waiting to be made into a
short film. Witty dialogue,
great build up, and a satisfying ending.
What can you tell us about The Gravedigger's Tale's writer Simon Clark, and how did you track him
down even? And what was your collaboration like?
Man, Simon Clark is a true
legend and honestly a great man. From Doncaster, England,
which is great because my
family is from England. He has
been called the ‘Stephen
King’ of the UK, award
winning novelist, been broadcast
on BBC Radio, and I even
believe he has written material
for the band U2. He told me
The Gravedigger’s Tale was
his first professional sale in
the 80’s which is an honor
on it’s own, to trust me
making something that kickstarted his fruitful career.
|
|
After reading the short story
and wanting to make it so
badly I began looking into who
published the stories, or
people who represented him. I
struggled but then came
across his personal website
and noticed you can book him
for events, so I sent him a
gods honest e-mail telling
him my situation, what his
story meant to me, and what my
plan was if he’d sell me the
rights. To my surprise he
wrote back, he gave the ok to
make it and said go for
gold. We worked out an
agreement if I made a certain
amount of money then he would
get his cut.
Since then I have kept him up
to date on the project and
we have become friends. It
goes to show that people with
true talent and deserved fame
are very generous and kind,
I find that people who claim
they’re talented can be real
jerks.
Do
talk about your film's approach to the horror genre (as in suspense vs
sudden shocks, atmosphere vs all-out gore and the like) for a bit, and it
horror a genre at all dear to you, and why (not)?
This is where my passion comes
into play, old school
horror is one of the truest
memories I have when
remembering my childhood.
While kids where wanting to
watch Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory, I was begging to
watch Nightmare On Elm
Street,
The Changeling, and Alien.
Because we had an incredibly
small budget I chose to do
the old Twilight Zone style.
Use clever dialogue and
atmosphere to tell the story
and get a vision in the audience's head, then reward
the viewer at the end with
some blood curdling horror.
Not gory, but disturbing, the "less is more" approach. The
moment you realize the
gravedigger’s tale wasn’t
just a story, Rose Burswick is
real, it is what camp fire
tales are made from. It’s like
the good old days when people
had the ability to tell a
good yarn. What
can you tell us about your directorial approach to your story at hand?
My approach to the project was
what true horror fans
would recognise as the
beginning of horror, the beginning
I mean 20’s to the 70’s
style horror, from Boris Karloff [Boris
Karloff bio - click here] to Christopher Walken. Not the
new generation of horror
which is recycled so much we
know what is about to
happen, or films that just
have violence because it can.
I’m talking real stories,
real people, put into
situations that take you out
of the everyday, and into an
unreal nightmare. The Gravedigger's Tale
is my homage to
old films such as The Blob
with Steve McQueen, Hammer
Films, Ghost Story, The Changeling, shows like Twilight Zone,
Night Gallery, Tales
From The Crypt. Back when
tales of horror meant something. A
few words about your key cast and crew, and why exactly these people?
First was my AD, sound man,
and part editor Orson Hyde,
he helped a lot. He and I
where studying at JMC when we
met and instantly we got
along, talking movies and
everything else. Then I met
Michael Thompson who plays
the electrician, he also
helped find Nick Neild, the
gravedigger. Michael plays the
gormless electrician well
and Nick looks exactly like I
had in mind for the
gravedigger, also Nick is from
Doncaster which is where
the characters in the story
are based from. Chelsea
Boreham played the young
working Rose Burswick and did
this great approach of a
ghostly young radium factory
worker. Melanie Oliver played
the older Rose on the verge
of death and gave a hauntingly
great performance, happily
reaching outside of her
comfort zone.
Joel Rademaker is doing the
score, if anyone is more of
an old school horror fan than
me it’s him. He has
introduced me to some great
directors and films, and he
loves the music made by old
legends like Bernard
Herrmann. We had a producer,
Kristina Barry, but
unfortunately she had to
dropped out so I took that role.
But before she left she found
the two awesome make up
artists Taylah Wilson and
Whitney Tooth. They did a great
job by giving wear and tear on
the guys, and creating old
school make up for the girls.
Lastly my friends Ed Howson
(at Keelback Productions) and
Mat Hough gave what they
could spare to fund the
project, I’m really grateful and
I think they’ll be happy
with their investment.
My uncle Tony Champ, amazing
artist, hand painted the original cover art, which he
and I are proud of. And then
there’s me - DOP, director,
editor, visual effects,
compositor, 3-D work, sound
mixing, producer, screenplay, etc.
I
take it that for The Gravedigger's Tale, the right location was of
the utmost importance - so what can you tell us about yours, and what were
the advantages and challenges of filming there?
There was no question that we
had to film exteriors at a
real cemetery. I was thinking
of just guerilla shooting
but did not want to risk the
chance of being kicked out
and not getting my shots. So I
applied for a permit and
luckily it was cleared the day
before shooting, with some
catches - one: no filming
landmarks that could be
recognizable to the cemetery,
two: one day to shoot,
three: no close ups of grave
stones. I already knew they’d
say no to making horror so I
said I was making a drama.
Instead of filming the real
cemetery office I built a 3-D
model, which turned out to be
creepier. Shooting at the
gigantic Toowong cemetery in
Brisbane was really cool,
it’s old, has history, and some insane grave
stones. What can
you tell us about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
First day we shot the interior
cemetery office scene, it
was cramped and dirty, which
was perfect. Everyone got to
work straight away and we
started strong. Nick had a ton
of lines to act and slowly
things got edgy because he
started struggling a little
bit. I did my job and we
figured it out together,
filming the last shot as the sun
was going down. We got it done
but later I realized one
of the memory cards were
corrupted and I lost a fair
chunk of footage, so I had to
deal with that in editing.
 |
The cemetery shoot went really
smooth and was a lot of
fun. The last day was a
greenscreen shoot, and it was
great. I had so much freedom
but had to direct more then
on location shooting. Because
we had to step back in time
to the 1920’s for the flashbacks I feel greenscreen was
a good choice. I know there is
a bunch of filmmakers and
fans who claim to hate CGI and
greenscren work, but I see
it as another tool for
filmmaking, just don’t overdo it
and use it to compliment your
film. These CGI haters
forget to realize that special
effects began in 1902 with
A Trip To The Moon, a film
that made people realize that
the magic of film could be
taken further than our
imagination. After that film
we began to see some of the
greatest films ever made
because of the push to
experiment with special effects. The
$64-question of course, when and where will the film be released onto the
general public?
I’m not sure when it will be
unleashed to the public but
it will be finished by
Halloween this year (2014). I will
enter into a few festivals but
its purpose is to get
attention for a bigger project. Any future projects beyond The Gravedigger's Tale?
The plan is to use The Gravedigger's Tale
as a ‘pilot’
type piece to get funding in
order to make Australia’s
first horror anthology feature
film. I’d like to work
with Simon Clark some more and
bring his stories to life,
but that’s entirely up to him.
Also I’ve written a feature
screenplay called Meat, an
adventure horror about three
Aussie backpacking food
critiques who stumble upon the
black market human meat
trade in Hong Kong. I’m
working on an outback sci-fi
horror feature called Bring
Me The Axe, which is about a
commissioned team sent to find
coal pockets, but they
discover ancient rocks used
for necromantic rituals (The
Thing meets The Killing Box).
Lastly Russ Welsh [Russ Welsh
interview - click here] is
writing a screenplay called Car Troubles which we will
fight to get made, and I will direct this feature. What got you into filmmaking to
begin with, and did you receive any formal education on the subject?
Other than watching movie
after movie, I drew a lot of
pictures as a kid - we were
poor and drawing was a way of
entertainment. I guess over
time I began creating stories
behind the characters and
worlds I drew. This helps now
because I draw my own
storyboards. I had a strange
childhood, I remember living
on the land and always being
out in the bush alone, digging
up stuff and finding cool
sticks. I dug up cow bones
once and treasured them.
I began watching the TV show
Movie Magic in primary
school which showed all the
behind the scenes of my
favorite films and I tried to
copy it, building
miniatures, and blowing shit
up with fire crackers. I did Film and TV in high school and
made some fun shorts which
had everything in them that
the teacher said not to do -
swearing, violence, drugs, etc. I bought my own camera
and filmed everything, from
parties with my mates,
fights, to early short films,
then learnt how to edit on
the free Windows Movie Maker.
I tried doing a TAFE course
for film and TV but dropped
out, I felt uncomfortable there. I got a job filming
weddings and corporate events.
Filming weddings is how I
got all my gear and learnt to
film fast, fast, fast! You
can’t miss a moment at a
wedding, or you won’t get paid.
Right now I’m two trimesters
away from getting my
bachelor degree in 3-D
animation, it’s a priceless
knowledge for a filmmaker to
have, for example if I have
nothing to film I can plan
shots in 3-D, do previsualisations,
set build, and motion track,
etc.
What
can you tell us about your filmwork prior to The Gravedigger's Tale?
My first paid gig was doing a
promo video for my old work place, Specialists In Timber
Floor Installations (STFI).
I did weddings and corporate
videos for Playback Studios.
Then I began doing my own
stuff like music videos, promo
videos, and animation. My last
short film was Unstable,
an experimental film where me
and Mat Hough explored
character, camera angles,
sound, acting, and editing. It
didn’t have any sort of
direct audience, it was simply
for us to experiment and be constructive with. How
would you describe yourself as a director?
What I’m trying to become is
a director who can find the
strange sides of life,
understand the peculiar actions
that lay out a great story.
Find that magic in cinema
that gets me so excited to
even think about seeing a
film. Inspire people to feel
the power of real story
telling, to help bring ideas
to life. I enjoy finding the
motivation that causes a man
to kill, the mysterious
characters that make you fall
in love, the interesting
people who you want to follow
every step of their
journey, and most of all I
want to find a style that is
me, the style that can bring
you other worlds, journeys,
and feelings you’ll never feel in your reality. Filmmakers
who inspire you?
There’s Clint Eastwood as a
director because he brings
down to earth stories to life,
mixes comedy with true
arse kicking action, great
characters, and is just always
satisfying to watch.
Dario Argento for his
realistic approach to murder and
awesome scores.
Steven Spielberg because he
makes the magic in cinema
that I strive to create.
Ingmar Bergman, he touches the
very soul of human
relationships. My favorite is
Wild Strawberries.
Sergio Leone, just a master of
character development and
cinematography and pacing.
John Carpenter, who has a
totally unique style, an
independent filmmaker that
brings studio quality to all
his films.
Alfred Hitchcock, clever
filmmaking with fulfilling story structure.
Peter Weir is a great Aussie
who is capable of twisting reality.
Wes Craven, responsible for some truly terrifying
scenes.
Your favourite movies?
 |
Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned) |
The links below
will take you
just there!!!
|
|
 |
I’ll rattle a few off here -
The Thing (Carpenter), Once
Upon A Time In The West, Wild Strawberries, Jaws, Alien,
Mystic River, Platoon, Rolling Thunder, Close Encounters,
The Mosquito Coast, Tenebre,
Psycho, Evil
Dead, Taxi Driver, and so many more. ... and of course, films you really
deplore?
Ted, all the new crap for 12
year olds like Divergent,
Maze Runner, basically a lot
of films these days simply
because there is no story and the actors are
soulless. Your/your movie's website, Facebook, whatever
else?
The Gravedigger’s Tale -
https://www.facebook.com/gravediggerstale
My channel -
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC4DUx3RphHoAh2Xi2i73jw
My Facebook -
https://www.facebook.com/JoelRaeChamp
Anything else you are dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask? Thanks for giving me your
time.
Thanks for the interview!
|
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Joel Champ at adultvideouniverse.com
