Jack_Gunthridge
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Film Maker's Blog
Jack Gunthridge and the Neo-New Wave
Mar 27, 2007 10:37PM
Since "Fairy Tale Romance" has now won a second award as best experimental, it seems that I can no longer go without trying to define this film and my style.
I do not consider "Fairy Tale Romance" an experimental film. In the first place, this film is a feature length romantic comedy. I don't think there has ever been a feature length experimental film that has also been a romance or a comedy. That brings me to a second reason that this film is not experimental. This has a very clear narrative story line and should fit squarely into a narrative catagory.
Where the film does cross into a somewhat grey area is that it was made with Barbies. Although I did use some stop-motion animation, the majority of the shots are live action. Voice-over work was done. So there is a cross pollination between live action and animation. These are both traditionally narrative catagories. As a form, this should not move the film from narrative to experimental.
As an artist, I would define myself as Neo-New Wave. I am a writer, director, producer, and star of my films. It is total independence where I make the films that I want to make. I prefer natural lighting and actual locations as opposed to sets and lighting kits.
I do not have anything against Hollywood films. My films have been strongly influeneced by Hollywood films. I do wish to reform Hollywood and to create a renaissance in Hollywood. That does not put me in opposition to Hollywood. Anybody who watches "Fairy Tale Romance" can very clearly see the Hollywood influence. I have even descibed the film as flamboyantly Hollywood. A film like that can not be considered experimental. This film is too close to Hollywood to be experimental.
Jury's Choice
Mar 16, 2007 09:32PM
I am very pleased and honored that "Fairy Tale Romance" has recieved a Jury's Choice at the Pumelo International Film Festival. This is the highest honor that any of my films has ever received.
It sounds like the festival is going great. I hope people go to see "Fairy Tale Romance" March 21st.
The experience of the BGSU Film and Media Festival 2006
May 16, 2006 08:54PM
Having my film shown at the BGSU Film and Media Festival was really quite an odd experience. I had entered my film in the narrative catagory. A few days before the festival, I get a phone call asking me if I would have a problem switching it from narrative to experimental.
Although I have four stories going on at the same time, I don't believe I did anything with the narrative that hasn't been done before. The narrative patterning was influenced by D.W. Griffith's "Intolerance." And I have a hard time saying that a film that starts "Once upon a time..." and ends with "And they lived happily ever after" is anything other than a narrative film.
Some people have told me that it was the use of the dolls as actors that pushed me into the experimental catagory. This, too, is a little odd to me. When I made the film with dolls, I thought of them as actors and directed them as if they were real people. That is part of the reason that I went to such great lengths to make the sets look as realistic as possible. I wanted the audience to buy the reality of the film and to forget the plasticity of the people performing in it.
After I switched catagories, I felt certain that I was going to win Best Experimental since I was sure that I wasn't going to have any competition. When I actually got to the festival, I learned that I was up against a girl who made a movie about body image and weight issue and a guy who had a film dealing with death. Here I was with my romantic comedy that dealt with that ever so deep and serious issue of love. I was sure that I was going to lose.
I was a bit surprised when I won. It was the first time I had ever won anything for any of my films. One of the judges told me later that he was a bit skeptical at first when he heard that my film was made using dolls. He said I won him over, though. That is always a nice feeling. I think every director wants to make the audience forget the process of how the film was made and to let them just enjoy the story.
Having my film shown at the BGSU Film and Media Festival was really quite an odd experience. I had entered my film in the narrative catagory. A few days before the festival, I get a phone call asking me if I would have a problem switching it from narrative to experimental.
Although I have four stories going on at the same time, I don't believe I did anything with the narrative that hasn't been done before. The narrative patterning was influenced by D.W. Griffith's "Intolerance." And I have a hard time saying that a film that starts "Once upon a time..." and ends with "And they lived happily ever after" is anything other than a narrative film.
Some people have told me that it was the use of the dolls as actors that pushed me into the experimental catagory. This, too, is a little odd to me. When I made the film with dolls, I thought of them as actors and directed them as if they were real people. That is part of the reason that I went to such great lengths to make the sets look as realistic as possible. I wanted the audience to buy the reality of the film and to forget the plasticity of the people performing in it.
After I switched catagories, I felt certain that I was going to win Best Experimental since I was sure that I wasn't going to have any competition. When I actually got to the festival, I learned that I was up against a girl who made a movie about body image and weight issue and a guy who had a film dealing with death. Here I was with my romantic comedy that dealt with that ever so deep and serious issue of love. I was sure that I was going to lose.
I was a bit surprised when I won. It was the first time I had ever won anything for any of my films. One of the judges told me later that he was a bit skeptical at first when he heard that my film was made using dolls. He said I won him over, though. That is always a nice feeling. I think every director wants to make the audience forget the process of how the film was made and to let them just enjoy the story.
Film Production Blog "Fairy_Tale_Romance"
Guys and Dolls
May 29, 2006 08:20PM
It is always interesting as a filmmaker to watch your film with an audience. As much as you try to plan how a film will be received or try to tailor it towards a certain market, the audience sees your film as something else. Of all of my films, this one seems to be getting the most unexpected reaction.
As a writer, I set out to make your typical romantic comedy. Even though I was intercutting four fairy tales into one narrative, I was still telling a basic Hollywood story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy get girl in the end. As bad as it sounds, I wanted the film to not be that much different than "Maid in Manhattan" or any other romantic comedy.
As a director, I was careful to direct the scenes in a manner that would play up the longing desires of the characters. For the ballroom scenes, I had a girl help me with the dancing. I knew as a guy that I couldn't make the figures dance beautifully. But my ultimate goal was to have the most amazing night of dancing for Cinderella and her prince. Even when it came to do the love scenes, I had kisses that lasted longer than I know that I wrote them for. I even shot these magic moments from various angles to make sure that I had enough footage to edit the kisses as something more than just a peck.
As an editor, I would enter the footage into the computer or start to edit the scenes together, and I would think to myself that this was going be seen as the biggest chick flick ever. I became almost embarrassed as a guy having created this. As I watched the film coming together, I noticed that the dolls gave the film an added feminine quality that I had never intended.
And then I released the film. I had the first preview screening with a group of girls. They seemed to like it. They were a little annoyed that the couple didn't get together in the first half hour, but other than that they were happy with the love story. I then showed it at the BGSU film festival. I got more positive feed back from guys. I even had one guy ask me if I had copies for sale. And I didn't think anything about this until this weekend when I watched it with another of my guy friends. The film seems to play better with a male audience.
Somehow I started out making a movie that girls would enjoy and ended up making a romantic comedy that guys like. I think I might have done something that Hollywood would have never thought about. I've made a movie with Barbie dolls that should be marketed to men between 18 and 25.
As a writer, I set out to make your typical romantic comedy. Even though I was intercutting four fairy tales into one narrative, I was still telling a basic Hollywood story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy get girl in the end. As bad as it sounds, I wanted the film to not be that much different than "Maid in Manhattan" or any other romantic comedy.
As a director, I was careful to direct the scenes in a manner that would play up the longing desires of the characters. For the ballroom scenes, I had a girl help me with the dancing. I knew as a guy that I couldn't make the figures dance beautifully. But my ultimate goal was to have the most amazing night of dancing for Cinderella and her prince. Even when it came to do the love scenes, I had kisses that lasted longer than I know that I wrote them for. I even shot these magic moments from various angles to make sure that I had enough footage to edit the kisses as something more than just a peck.
As an editor, I would enter the footage into the computer or start to edit the scenes together, and I would think to myself that this was going be seen as the biggest chick flick ever. I became almost embarrassed as a guy having created this. As I watched the film coming together, I noticed that the dolls gave the film an added feminine quality that I had never intended.
And then I released the film. I had the first preview screening with a group of girls. They seemed to like it. They were a little annoyed that the couple didn't get together in the first half hour, but other than that they were happy with the love story. I then showed it at the BGSU film festival. I got more positive feed back from guys. I even had one guy ask me if I had copies for sale. And I didn't think anything about this until this weekend when I watched it with another of my guy friends. The film seems to play better with a male audience.
Somehow I started out making a movie that girls would enjoy and ended up making a romantic comedy that guys like. I think I might have done something that Hollywood would have never thought about. I've made a movie with Barbie dolls that should be marketed to men between 18 and 25.
Film Production Blog "persistenceofmemory"
Guys and Dolls
May 29, 2006 08:20PM
It is always interesting as a filmmaker to watch your film with an audience. As much as you try to plan how a film will be received or try to tailor it towards a certain market, the audience sees your film as something else. Of all of my films, this one seems to be getting the most unexpected reaction.
As a writer, I set out to make your typical romantic comedy. Even though I was intercutting four fairy tales into one narrative, I was still telling a basic Hollywood story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy get girl in the end. As bad as it sounds, I wanted the film to not be that much different than "Maid in Manhattan" or any other romantic comedy.
As a director, I was careful to direct the scenes in a manner that would play up the longing desires of the characters. For the ballroom scenes, I had a girl help me with the dancing. I knew as a guy that I couldn't make the figures dance beautifully. But my ultimate goal was to have the most amazing night of dancing for Cinderella and her prince. Even when it came to do the love scenes, I had kisses that lasted longer than I know that I wrote them for. I even shot these magic moments from various angles to make sure that I had enough footage to edit the kisses as something more than just a peck.
As an editor, I would enter the footage into the computer or start to edit the scenes together, and I would think to myself that this was going be seen as the biggest chick flick ever. I became almost embarrassed as a guy having created this. As I watched the film coming together, I noticed that the dolls gave the film an added feminine quality that I had never intended.
And then I released the film. I had the first preview screening with a group of girls. They seemed to like it. They were a little annoyed that the couple didn't get together in the first half hour, but other than that they were happy with the love story. I then showed it at the BGSU film festival. I got more positive feed back from guys. I even had one guy ask me if I had copies for sale. And I didn't think anything about this until this weekend when I watched it with another of my guy friends. The film seems to play better with a male audience.
Somehow I started out making a movie that girls would enjoy and ended up making a romantic comedy that guys like. I think I might have done something that Hollywood would have never thought about. I've made a movie with Barbie dolls that should be marketed to men between 18 and 25.
As a writer, I set out to make your typical romantic comedy. Even though I was intercutting four fairy tales into one narrative, I was still telling a basic Hollywood story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy get girl in the end. As bad as it sounds, I wanted the film to not be that much different than "Maid in Manhattan" or any other romantic comedy.
As a director, I was careful to direct the scenes in a manner that would play up the longing desires of the characters. For the ballroom scenes, I had a girl help me with the dancing. I knew as a guy that I couldn't make the figures dance beautifully. But my ultimate goal was to have the most amazing night of dancing for Cinderella and her prince. Even when it came to do the love scenes, I had kisses that lasted longer than I know that I wrote them for. I even shot these magic moments from various angles to make sure that I had enough footage to edit the kisses as something more than just a peck.
As an editor, I would enter the footage into the computer or start to edit the scenes together, and I would think to myself that this was going be seen as the biggest chick flick ever. I became almost embarrassed as a guy having created this. As I watched the film coming together, I noticed that the dolls gave the film an added feminine quality that I had never intended.
And then I released the film. I had the first preview screening with a group of girls. They seemed to like it. They were a little annoyed that the couple didn't get together in the first half hour, but other than that they were happy with the love story. I then showed it at the BGSU film festival. I got more positive feed back from guys. I even had one guy ask me if I had copies for sale. And I didn't think anything about this until this weekend when I watched it with another of my guy friends. The film seems to play better with a male audience.
Somehow I started out making a movie that girls would enjoy and ended up making a romantic comedy that guys like. I think I might have done something that Hollywood would have never thought about. I've made a movie with Barbie dolls that should be marketed to men between 18 and 25.
Things Jack_Gunthridge said...
Fairy Tale Romance | posted 2007-01-15 00:48 |
Oops. I accidentally clicked on the stars as I was uploading the new video. At least I am promoting a film that I think is good. But don't let me influence you. You can read what other people have said about it, too.
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francescafini
Friend Since: January 10, 2007
Last Online: 2:51 am, December 22, 2007
2 Comments about Jack_Gunthridge
Feb 18, 2007 05:15PM
I would be very interested to know how your Pumelo Festival experience turns out. I don't want to burst any bubbles but these guys have invited just about every film I have visited to their festival. I had the nerve to ask the great one, Shavio, how he thought my film would fit into his festival and he replied that I shouldn't ask such silly questions and then smacked me with an insult about my lack of knowledge about what type of films are appreciated in India. Dam! How can I live with myself?! You can check these guys out by typing in, "Pumelo" on the WAB message board site. I hope I am wrong about these guys and admit to keeping their invitation on my site, Don't Talk So Dumb (marketing and all), but they are highly suspicious. Something for nothing always is and I am offended that they may be taking advantage of the hopes and aspirations of independent filmmakers such as you and me. But again, I hope I am wrong.
The very best of luck to you with your film! I liked making our film a whole lot more than marketing it. But it really is going very well.
Burnley
May 16, 2006 07:58PM
I really liked the movie a lot. The modern day relationship was my favorite!!
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