| iR:
How did Flicker begin? |
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| Well, it all started when I was doing a
music video in Athens, Georgia for a band called Five
Eight. After we shot some of the video, we went down this
screening at the 40 Watt Club down there and it was a
thing called Flicker. The guy who originally started it
was one of the guys from Pylon. I was very inspired by
the screening and thought it was a great environment for
a gathering of these people who were making Super 8 films
and 16-mm films. |
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| That kind of germinated, and then six months
later, I was living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina at
the time, I decided it was time to start a very similar
kind of screening in Chapel Hill. I talked to this guy
who ran the club called Local 506. He was very open to
the idea so I decided to do it, and kept the name Flicker
with the idea that one day there would be Flicker screenings
peppered all over the world. It started there in September
of '94. |
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| The
Marquee at a Flicker event |
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| iR:
When Flicker started in Athens, was it the same kind
of public forum like the one we know now? |
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| Pretty much so. That one was originally
started because they have a really good art school and
film program there at the university in Athens. That Flicker
mainly involved the students who were showing their Super
8 short films, but it was certainly open to anyone who
wanted to show a short film. |
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| That really is the crux of Flicker: It's
open to all filmmakers who shoot on film. We don't show
any video. We might show a film that's been transferred
to video, but it's got to originate on film. |
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| A
short showing on the screen of Flicker |
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| iR:
So Flickeršs all-inclusive... Have you ever turned
down any submissions, or if they come in and meet the
requirements to be screened do you show them anyway? |
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| Yeah, certainly. There's a lot of films
out there that I think just aren't very tasteful, and
in some ways are, unfortunately, very offensive, and it's
just not worth it. The point is to inspire people in the
audience to make their own films. That's why some of my
favorite films, and the ones I really enjoy screening,
are the ones made by these first-time filmmakers. They're
not perfect. They're not pristine. And that just kind
of inspires other people watching who have never made
a film before to try because they realize it's accessible
and can be successful. |
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| iR:
Tell me about "Attack of the 50 Foot Reels." |
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|
 James
Parrish who runs Flicker in Richmond started this annual
special Flicker three years ago called "Attack
of the 50 Foot Reels." We all kind of stay in touch.
We put out "Best Of" tapes and stuff like
that... So James was emailing me and said he was getting
ready to do another "Attack of the 50 Foot Reels," and
I thought it would be great to do it here in LA. I think
the whole way he does it is perfect, so I pretty much
just cut-and-paste his whole concept:
The first 25 people who send in $25 get to choose one
Super 8 stock -- either one of the 2 black & white stocks
or the Ektachrome. I send them the film. They have to
send it back by Oct 12 and I get it processed. No one
sees the films, not even the filmmakers, until the night
of the screenings. I'll have them in order, so I'll
know whose film it is.
There'll be a lot of mistakes. It'll be very raw, you
know, but I'm sure there'll be some greatness there,
too. And I think some people might try to put sound
to them. Some people, who knows, might have a microphone
and some actors to try to do a very rudimentary looping
session as the film plays.
|
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| It's going to be really fun, and I'm very
excited about it. |
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| iR:
I wanted to talk a little bit about 8-mm film as a
format, and...uh, what do you find...? |
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| Super 8 or...? Remember there is a difference... |
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| A
short showing on the screen of Flicker |
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| iR:
Yeah, uh, what's the difference between Super 8 and
8 mm? |
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| Well, 8-mm was the home movie stock before
Super 8. The way it all started was home movie stock was
offered as 16-mm film, so people who had enough money
to shoot would shoot these films on 16-mm film. Then Kodak
realized they could split that in half and add another
perforation...it's still 16 millimeters, but with an extra
perforation. It comes in a 25-foot spool, which is called
regular 8 or just 8-mm film. That's the film where you
shoot down one side of it, and then flip the reel over
and then shoot down the other side. The analogy I always
use is like you drive down the highway and then you turn
around and come back. |
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| iR:
Two-in-one... |
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| Yeah, and they at the lab they process it
and split it right down the middle and splice the two
ends together, so you have 50 feet of regular 8-mm film.
Then in '65 they improved on that home movie stock with
Super 8, which doesn't have to be spliced or anything
like that. It comes in it's own foolproof package; where
with the regular 8, you have to spool it up and thread
the film through. Super 8 is almost like an 8-track tape
cartridge, you just pop it in and it's ready to go. Not
only is it easy to thread, or, you donšt even thread it,
it's easy to load... |
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| iR:
It's automatic. |
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| Yeah, it's all automatic, but also, they
improved the image quality because it's actually a bigger
frame than the 8-mm film. The sprockets are much smaller.
If you actually held the two up together, you'd see that
regular 8 has these really big sprocket holes that take
up like 25% of the frame; where with super 8 they're much
smaller, so your picture's a little bit bigger. |
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| So that was '65, and then they came out with
sound-striped film, and all these different things throughout
the '60s and the '70s. There's a whole amazing history
of it, with even Polaroid coming into the mix and coming
out with their own Polavision camera and Super 8 film
which instantly developed at home, just like a Polaroid. |
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| iR:
Is that still available? |
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| Oh, no. Like less than a year after they
came out with that camera and the Polavision film, Sony
came out with their home video camera and it just kind
of... |
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| iR:
...the video revolution began. |
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| Yeah, video has that whole instantaneous
thing and it was just hard to compare, hard to compete.
Unfortunately, Polaroid had to drop that. Those are amazing
things, though. A friend of mine has one...of course,
you can't get the film anymore. |
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| iR:
When did you shoot your first film? |
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| Let's see, I was in 9th grade, so I guess
I was 14, maybe 15. I went to a family reunion, my stepfather's
family reunion, and my cousin who was in high school herded
everybody into the basement. He turned off all the lights
and showed his latest Super 8 film that he and a friend
had made: His home movie version of "Rocky." It was the
greatest! It was hilarious! There was a big boxing match
and the guy drank the glass full of eggs. It was amazing.
I knew at that point that that was what I wanted to do. |
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| So for Christmas that year I asked for a
Super 8 camera and Santa Claus was very nice. My parents
have always been very supportive. I got a little Super
8 camera and made my first film that very day. |
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| iR:
Was it a remake of "Rocky 2?" |
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| No, it should've been. It was called "GI
Vicious." It was this GI Joe doll I had, but I kind of
shaved his head and made him look like Sid Vicious. It's
very hard to follow the story...it's very out of focus.
That was probably like '81 or '82. Then, I proceeded to
make films, little short films, with my friends and for
any kind of class project where I could convince my teacher
that instead of writing a paper, I can make a film. I
did that a couple of times. |
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| iR:
Do you have any current projects going on? |
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| So many things...I used to direct music videos,
and I'm still doing that. I'm also writing and planning
on shooting a feature in North Carolina. Also acting,
I'm an actor. I've been in some television commercials. |
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| iR:
Which television commercials? |
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Well, I was in a San Diego Zoo commercial
and a VW spot. Also, my friends give me a hard time about
this one, I was in a commercial for Sony digital cameras.
So I do some of that, but my main thrust is to direct...and
Flicker is near and dear to me, and I want to keep that
afloat..jpg) |
