Control and Comedy: Interview with Danny Plotnick

30 June 2009

Screenings - External

Danny Plotnick is one of the true pioneers of the DIY underground scene that emerged in the mayhem of the post punk ’80s.

As formal exercises in control and comedy, his films examine twisted pop culture, the counterculture, and ever-so-slightly tweaked human relationships.

FTI speaks with Danny, who is in Perth for Revelation Film Festival and Revelation’s Seminar and Masterclass Series.

Why make films? What’s your motivation?
When I started, I was immersed in the world of counterculture. I was really influenced by punk rock, but couldn’t sing or play an instrument, even by punk rock standards. In college, I started seeing movies by Sam Fuller, Russ Meyer and a lot of crazed 1960s Eastern European films. I was hooked. I had never picked up a film camera before that point, but I was drawn to the language of those films and how they told stories.

Your films are wild, funny and stylistically excessive. What are you celebrating?
I’m a firm believer that truth is stranger than fiction. I observe the world around me and watch things that are too good to be true. Steel Belted Romeos is based on a true story of me getting punched in the face at a stoplight. After I stopped bleeding, I realised, “Hey, that would make a great film.” But the great thing about film is that it doesn’t have to be realistic. I like high energy films and films with a gritty, aesthetic. I’d try to bring that energy to my early work and make things that were hyper-real. If it seemed like I was trapped at a stoplight forever, why not make the stoplight last seven minutes in the film. Playing around with reality gave the films an unhinged quality that I explored quite a lot early in my career.

How did you get started as a short filmmaker?
That’s easy. Back in the ‘80s when you made films on film, filmmaking was really expensive. A short film might cost $100-500. A feature would minimally cost $10,000-20,000. And if that was all you spent on your feature, chances are it would look pretty bad and be marginalised. All of this is a long-winded way of saying that if you didn’t have a lot of money, you had no choice but to make short films. As I would come up with ideas, I would naturally think in short strokes. Edit things down in my head. Come up with projects that would be ‘realisable’ on a tight budget. The advantage to making short films was that you could work quickly. For awhile I was making one or two films a year. People who made features back then would spend three to five years on a feature, in a large part due to the expense of it all.

Much of your material comes from an almost documentary-like observation and love of subculture. How much goes into your films before the shoot – with, for instance, research/life experience, scripting and storyboarding?
Again, given that my background is making films on film and expense was a big concern, I spent a lot of time in pre-production. The more time spent in pre-production, the more money you can save and the more work you can accomplish in a short time. And given that most of my cast and crew never got paid, it was important to work as quickly as possible. With the exception of a film called I’m Not Fascinating, all of my films were completely scripted, storyboarded and rehearsed to death.

As for research and life experience, I’ve always made films that are based on true stories or are about things I’ve cared about. So, that said, there was never much research that needed to be done. Living life was the research. For something like Swingers’ Serenade there was a bit of research, but again, that film was inspired by old movie magazines that I was collecting. So I had the research archive in my house already.

What is your process?
Come up with an idea. Mull it over. If I’m still thinking about the idea a couple weeks down the path, then it’s time to act. I keep a notebook on me. Ideas for shots or shards of dialogue can sneak up whenever. Jot those down. Most of Dumbass From Dundas was written on a bus ride from work to home. Set aside a weekend and knock out a script. Rehearse. Rehearse. Rehearse. The actors will probably bring something to the table. As I rehearse, the script gets rewritten. Meet with the cinematographer. Come up with a shooting plan. Block out a weekend and try to get everything shot in two to three days. Plan for a day of pick-ups. Edit. Edit. Edit.

Do you have any advice for emerging filmmakers?
There is so much film and media out there. There’s a lot for the audience to wade through. My big piece of advice is to make films about things you are passionate about. Don’t make a film just ‘cause it seems easy or because you want to be a star on YouTube. If there is a story you have to tell or a worldview that has to be shared, then make a film with passion. If you do a good job and it comes from the heart, somebody out there is gonna dig it.

SAN FRANCISCO’S DOOMED
7:15pm Thursday 9 July 2009. Astor Cinemas
Danny Plotnick will present San Franciso’s Doomed, a selection of his films, including:

• Out Of Print – a celebration of the treasure hunt required to find quality culture in the ’80s and ’90s (before the Internet took over the world)
• Swingers’ Serenade – based on a script found in an old 1960 copy of Better Movie Making which suggests that some aspiring filmmakers had more on their mind than simply documenting the rituals of Thanksgiving and Christmas
• I, Socky – the story of a rogue sock monkey
• Dumbass From Dundas – a movie which has resonance with anybody who has lunkheads for pals

THE INSIDE TRACK ON WORKING OUTSIDE THE SYSTEM
10:30am – 1:00pm Saturday 11 July 2009. Edith Cowan University
In this rare opportunity to meet a true pioneer of independent filmmaking, Danny Plotnick will talk about how he made films cheaply and quickly, relating his experiences to those facing the contemporary filmmaker. As he puts it, he’ll be looking at “the little things you can do when you have little time and resources that will allow you to make something that looks and feels like a real film as opposed to something that looks like it is dashed off in a buddy’s apartment. Focusing on working with friends as actors. Storyboarding, scripting, quick cinematography tips, using available lighting, and sound tips.” This session should inspire anybody who wants to make movies.

WELCOME TO THE NO BUDGET INDIVERSE
3:00pm – 6:00pm Sunday 12 July 2009. Leederville TAFE
What does it mean to make films for no money? What is the video underground? What is the world of hidden cinema? Danny Plotnick, Mike McCarthy and Cori Dials will be joined by debut feature director Ben Steinbauer to blow the lid off a whole undiscovered sector of the filmmaking world.