Writer/Director Chris Skotchdopole talks to Fest Track about visual style, perception and duality in regards to his new horror thriller: "Crumb Catcher", playing as an official selection at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00 [music]
00:26 Hi, this is Tim Waspert from Festrack. I'm at the Alamo Draft House in Austin, Texas for Fantastic Fests.
00:32 Well, just in terms of like, from a technical standpoint, the, uh...
00:37 It was very intentional with Adam and I, I think, about, like, capturing Magic Hour,
00:46 that, like, right before it, uh, it goes to dark.
00:52 For that whole romance scene, I feel like it has a little bit of an emotional weight to it,
00:57 where it kind of feels like they're dimming, you know, like they're, they're like...
01:03 And it's they're forgiving each other after a sort of, you know, 15 minutes of a disagreement that we're, you know, that we're observing.
01:15 And then it's, they forgive each other, and then it's like this beautiful Magic Hour,
01:20 and then it's like, tonight, and just trying to get that right was difficult,
01:27 but it's like one of those great, uh...
01:30 It's just a great feeling when you're capturing something with such a specific time in mind,
01:36 'cause you, uh, you know, I think it captures the feeling of, like, how people say that shooting on film,
01:43 it's like, everyone thinks it's special.
01:45 [camera shutter]
01:46 [camera shutter]
01:47 [camera shutter]
01:48 [camera shutter]
01:50 [air whooshing]
01:52 [air whooshing]
01:56 [air whooshing]
01:59 [air whooshing]
02:03 [keyboard clacking]
02:13 So anyway, technically, it was, it was, uh...
02:16 Adam and I really tried to, and when we were crafting the, um...
02:21 the light with, uh, Cody Westcott, uh, over at assembly,
02:27 he worked tirelessly to make sure that we were get, like, it felt like this long, you know, sort of six, six, seven minute progression into, now we're going into night.
02:39 [interviewer] Did you have to do a lot of color correction to make that happen?
02:43 Uh, yeah, I mean, everything, everything sort of manipulated, like, um, but, uh...
02:48 But yeah, that was a thought. I remember I was watching a lot of Gordon Willis movies, and I was just like,
02:53 "Let's just, I, I don't even want to see her face, like, she should just be up against the window, and, like, you, you just see her, and you're so interested," and, and so that, that was sort of the intention there.
03:04 [camera shutter]
03:05 [interviewer] Is it the, uh, design you're having issues with?
03:07 [camera shutter]
03:09 No, I think it's great.
03:10 [camera shutter]
03:11 [interviewer] You're not just saying that, you're being honest with me?
03:13 Because, I mean, I can take criticism, I can take pride in that.
03:15 [camera shutter]
03:16 Thirty seconds, I'm calling the police.
03:18 Bingo, bongo, up the Congo!
03:20 [siren]
03:21 I want the painting!
03:22 [music]
03:27 Looking at the duality, finding those moments of duality in each and every one of them, some of them are very obvious, some of them are much more subtle.
03:35 I mean, him going between being pissed at her, to trying to be, like, the Bruno Mars Rico Suave, is very decisive.
03:44 Right, it's also very aggressive, I find.
03:46 Yeah.
03:47 And that's kind of what I like about it the most, is that it's like, he's mad because she feels, he feels like she's exploiting his father's story.
04:00 Mm-hmm.
04:01 I don't really buy that. I don't think that she's 100% in the right, but I think he's sort of upset that he's going to hurt his father.
04:11 And she egged him on, or encouraged him to get it out, and now he's regretful of his own feelings, and he's blaming the person he loves, because that's just what we do.
04:26 And I think when, I always thought that when the Shane Rike scene happened, it was very like, "Oh, you just want me to be this Latino? Oh, I'm just a street kid to you?" or whatever it is.
04:42 Let me use the female perspective on this thing.
04:45 [thud]
04:47 Come on, Ellie, speak your piece.
04:49 Well, I guess I don't understand why the customer would want to sweep up their own crumbs.
04:58 Hmm.
05:01 [music]
05:08 You have all the tattoos. The fact that you sort of balance that with her in this would-be lingerie that she thinks is sexy, and probably--
05:18 Or wants to be sexy.
05:20 Or wants to be sexy, and probably is not.
05:22 Yeah.
05:23 The aspect of trying to--
05:24 Well, it's definitely sexy. I think it's just that whether or not she's able to be this person that she's supposed to be.
05:32 I mean, I think she's embarrassed to be like, "Ugh, people just lay on the bed? What is this? Presenting?"
05:38 Even him. The thing is, is that, is he doing that to be something for somebody else? For Rose?
05:46 There's so many interesting motivations. Was that just sort of from the get-go what you saw that you wanted to highlight?
05:53 I mean, I think one very early things I had, because his wife being Rose wasn't always a thing.
06:01 At one point, it was like, it was going to be his daughter.
06:06 That's an art dynamic.
06:07 That's a whole different thing. But yeah, I didn't want to get into that.
06:11 And then I ended up finding the duality between the two couples to be more interesting.
06:16 The Virginia Woolf aspect of the movie. Younger couple, older couple.
06:21 [MUSIC]