INDIE INTERVIEWS - FILMMAKER KURT DIRT

Kurt Dirt is a musician, filmmaker and self proclaimed Duke of Puke, a well known artist in the UK indie Underground scene having contributed to movies like Troma's 'Return To Nuke Em High' and a string of other Indie concoctions as well as recently debuting his own latest gore soaked masterpiece in the form of the shot on Hi8 'Life is Cheap'.

I recently caught up with Kurt to discuss low budget filmmaking, old skool formats and what inspires him to make movies.

Every journey starts with an origin story, How did you know you wanted to make films?

I was a pretty sickly kid so I'd be asleep most of the day and awake all night, therefore I got hooked on late night ITV and channel 4 horror / weird movie marathons. I'd come in to school the next day and excite & horrify my classmates by telling them about what i'd seen. Of course sleep deprivation, fever and calpol always made my memory of the plot lines a little more trippy! I loved seeing the fear / disgust on their faces and I get the exact same buzz when I screen my movies today!

With more and more people choosing to just go out and shoot their own movies now, what made you take the DIY approach to making movies?

For me it's about maintaining control and the fun, I do this for my own enjoyment and to entertain fellow weirdo's. I have ideas for a hundred movies and I don't think I could ever pitch one of them to a studio / production company without being sectioned or put on some kind of register. I also like the way DIY movies look, to me they feel more dangerous. My main inspirations for 'Life is Cheap' were Troma,Yorkshire low budget film makers Smile Orange and the early films of Alex Chandon such as Bad Karma

As we all know DIY filmmaking can be tough, what were some of the downside of going out on your own?

Money is an obvious one, we were really lucky to have some generous donations via kickstarter (triple figures is mega bucks to us!) but there were costs for things such as travel expenses for actors etc that stacked up pretty quickly, also getting people all in one place can be a knightmare, it certainly pays to sit down, work out where and when you need everybody and plan it properly. 

On the flip side, what were the upsides?

As previously mentioned there's the freedom, we weren't bound to any set in stone script or screenplay so we could kind of riff on what worked on camera and what didn't work. All of our cast were fantastic but Ben & Louise in particular really shone when it came to improvisation and building on their grotesque characters. As a director I think it's important to stick to your vision for the project but it really does pay to listen to your cast and crew and allow people to think outside the box and come up with their own ideas, shoot everything and see what works and doesn't work when it comes to editing. My main indicators for what was going to stay in the movie was if I was struggling not to laugh behind the camera or if I was squirming to the point of thinking "what am I doing with my life?" 

Another great thing is getting to see the enthusiasm people put in to the project, especially the actors / crew working for little or no money, a good atmosphere on set / a buzz around the project as a whole can be really infectious. 

You recently produced 'Life is Cheap', which you shot on Hi8, what were the challenges of working on an old skool format?

Really not as many as you may think. What I love about working with Hi8 is that everything instantly looks kind of grubby and a little worn, you get all these cool little glitches and dirt without having to spend time and money on plug in's. The only real restrictions we faced were when it came to digitizing the footage. I work on a Mac and for some reason the majority of digitisation devices only come with PC software so we had to hunt around for a compatible programe online. The other is sound. Even if your going for the whole grunge / video nasty asthetic it's always worth still recording everything with a boom / sound recorder. I really regret not doing so on 'life is cheap', fixing audio issues in post was a nightmare and left us with lots of great scenes which were unusable due to actors lines being muffled or distorted.

Apart from 'Just make movies' what advice would you give people starting out making their own films?

Be yourself. Don't feel like you have to make films based on what you think other people want to see. Take time to sit down and work out what kind of aesthetic you want, what you want your audience to feel and do your research. Reading books by people I admire like Lloyd Kaufman, William Castle and John Waters and then making notes was a great help. Network and find other people who share your excitement and get them on board. Helping out on others projects can also be a great learning experience, for me working in various capacities on Lloyd Kauffman's 'Return to Nuke Em High', Liam Regan's 'Banjo' and Heidi Moore's 'Dolly Deadly' taught me much more than any film school could. 

And finally, what is next for Kurt Dirt?

Me and Ben (joeby cleftico in life is cheap) have been making plans for our next project, a gory buddy road movie with Jimmy Savilles ghost and Peter Sutcliffe. Ben has written some songs for it already and they're hilarious, definitely secured our place in hell. Also I'd like to take a break from comedy/ exploitation make a really scary, gruelling Horror movie, something that will make people feel like I did when I was a little kid cringing infront of the TV watching Evil Dead or the Texas Chain Saw Massacre, too afraid to get up and stop the VCR. I've been working a 'day job' at pasaje del terror in Blackpool and as well as being fun it's great research in to what not only makes people jump but scares them on a deeper psychological level.

You can pick up 'Life is Cheap' now at https://videorgasm.bandcamp.com

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MJ

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INDIE INTERVIEWS : LIAM REGAN - DIRECTOR OF BANJO

Liam Regan is a UK born filmmaker who has recently made waves in the indie community with his low budget debut feature Banjo based on his short film Confessions of Peltzer. Since premiering last year the film has played all over globe and solidified Mr Regan's status as a up and coming filmmaker to watch. 

Inspired by filmmaking legends such as Lloyd Kaufman (Who makes an appearance in Banjo) and Frank Henenlotter, Liam Regan wears his love of genre movies on his sleeve with a style and approach that is reminiscent of the golden age of splatter cinema.

Micro Budget Massacre recently caught up with Liam about his experience making Banjo and what comes next.

Every journey starts with an origin story, How did you know you wanted to make films?

Ever since I can remember, I've always been enamoured with horror movies, some of my favourite childhood memories was when my Mum took me to my local video rental store and I would instantly be overcome with goosebumps and have a outer body experience (became dizzy) whilst browsing through the video boxes with gnarly artwork. A few of the memorable films I rented were the likes of 'Cat's Eye', 'Critters 2: The Main Course' and 'Ghoulies Go to College'. 

I quickly became a fan of creature feature flicks and with the addition of Sky Television in our household (in the early 90's) my love for the genre grew further as channels such as Sky Movies Plus and 'Bravo' showcased such milestone films in my life like 'Child's Play 2', 'Puppet Master 3: Toulon's Revenge' and 'Basket Case 2'. 

However it wasn't until the Summer of 1996, when one of my weekly trips to Blockbuster Video resulted in a purchase (My Mum purchasing that is, I was only 11 years old at the time) an ex-rental video tape of 'The Toxic Avenger Part 2', a movie that showcase a dark mixture of horror and comedy, fused with exploitation and ultra violence, I had never seen anything quite like it before, and then when opening my Sky TV guide magazine back in September of 1996, I noticed that the channel Bravo was having a Troma season in October, and this eventually introduced and exposed me to their back-catalog of films. 

Titles such as 'Surf Nazis Must Die' and 'Rabid Grannies' made me excited for every Saturday evening to roll around, with my eyes firmly glued to the TV at 10pm in excitement. So thank you to Troma Entertainment, they corrupted my fragile little mind, to want to be a filmmaker with self masochistic tendencies. 

With more and more people choosing to just go out and shoot their own movies now, what made you take the DIY approach to making your first film?

I realised that nobody was going to give me money to make the kind of movie, that deep down in my heart, I wanted to make. Plus, I'm a nobody (still am) - Prior to Banjo, I had no track record, other than a shitty 13 minute short film titled 'Confessions of Peltzer' and numerous IMDb credits as a production assistant on independent genre movies I've worked on over the years, and why should they give me money? This is a business at the end of the day, and investors at least want to see a return, and I'm wanting to make a movie about a guy who snaps his penis (based on a true story) and summons his imaginary friend, which in turn, manipulates him to shoot up his office. 

Banjo isn't a possession movie, or a zombie movie by the numbers, so it's a gamble - and it was a gamble for yours truly also. Plus, I didn't want to compromise my vision, I wanted this to be purely my movie, with my name on it, I have always viewed filmmaking as immortality in a way, leaving art behind for generations upon generations to discover (now I have panic attacks about all physical media being destroyed and digital rights being lost in the apocalyptic wasteland, long after I die. Paranoia is a bitch!),

As we all now DIY filmmaking can be tough, what were some of the downside of going out on your own?

It's a very long, lonely and self masochistic process. You write the movie on your own, then you have like a hundred people help you during the actual film shoot, and then you're on your own yet again. It can be depressing, self deprecating, yet it's the best kind of film school I have ever experienced. You make a million mistakes, and ruin and tarnish relationships and friendships, but through the blood, sweat, semen and tears, you create your film-baby. 

On the flip side, what were the upsides?

Creative freedom and expression, I had producers, actors, you name it drop out during pre-production, due to the extremities and content of the initial drafts of the screenplay. However I felt like I managed to strike the right balance, and I was able to hire the people I wanted to work with and move forward with the project, and held the vision I always had for 'Banjo'. I remember the first draft of the screenplay having at least 12 rape scenes, I remember being heavily influenced by hardcore exploitation horror movies during that period. I cut that down to 1 rape scene, which people never mention in reviews or interviews. 'Banjo' is essentially a rape-revenge movie, but has never been branded by that genre, which has puzzled me. 

So after that hard work, your filmmaking journey is far from over, what happens when the film is done?

The film is finished and everyone thinks you're rich and a millionaire, when in reality, you're broke as you have ever been in your life, and are clutching at favours, and you'll meet a dozen people wanting to take advantage of your current desperate situation. People you would class as friends will inevitably end up on your shit list by the time the year is through. You'll make another million mistakes on trying to find a sales agent/distributor for your project, and then you'll waste a shit load of money on film festivals that don't even consider your movie, even though you have paid them an extortionate fee to at least watch the movie. I think the best way I could put it is: "Life is not a movie. Good guys lose, everybody lies, and love... does not conquer all."  

Every film is an experience and more importantly a lesson, what did you learn that you'll take with you to your next movie?

Don't write too much dialogue, create more action sequences and make a much more fucked up movie. Lloyd Kaufman (President of Troma Entertainment) is my favourite shit disturber, he dealt with "taboos" and subject matters that the Hollywood system were too afraid to conquer back in the 70's and 80's, and I'm wanting to carry on that tradition. The key is to make a movie that nobody forgets, sure they can love it, or hate it, but they'll never forget it, that's the dream. I absolutely love making films, it's what I was put on the earth for, and I don't care if I need to max out more credits cards, or take out more loans or work as many legally available hours I can at my day-job, nothing will stop me from creating, it's the best therapy out there. I want to entertain people, I consider that as one of the major importance in life, other than finding the cure to cancer. 

And finally, what is next?

I'm currently writing a rape revenge/black comedy titled 'Parents Evening' which if you put the following movies: 'Heathers', 'Jawbreaker', 'Detention', 'Class of 1984' and 'I Spit On Your Grave' in a blender, you would have the 'Parents Evening' protein shake ... full of bodily fluids. I hope to shoot that in 2018, and if anyone wants to give me money for 'Banjo 2: Make Room for Daddy' I would be more than happy to bring those characters back, but it all depends on the success of the home video/on demand release of 'Banjo' which is due out on Amazon and iTunes by late 2016. 

For more information, feel free to add me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/refuseliam or follow me on Twitter @refuseliam

For more information on 'Banjo' please like the page at http://www.facebook.com/banjofilm or follow us on Twitter @banjomovie

IF YOU FIND THIS BLOG USEFUL. PLEASE SHARE. You can keep up to date with our filming goings on at our FACEBOOK PAGE :)

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