MicroCinema Scene

MicroCinemaScene sits down with Slava Siderman, the man behind the camera of such outstanding micros as Y2K:  Shutdown Detected and The New Chapter.

Who are you and what do you do?

I am an aspiring filmmaker with a tool belt for every occasion.  The last 10 years I spent going to film school and shooting my own films.  I received a Bachelors Degree in Motion Picture from Brooks Institute of Photography.  In the process winning the prestigious “President’s Award” which at the time I was the 51st student to win in Brooks’ 50-year existence.

But before all that, my parents and I journeyed across the world on our way to the United States in 1979 during the Cold War.  I spent many months accompanying my parents to night school as they learned the language.  My nights were filled with foreign accents and my sketchpad.  I loved Spider-man (still do) and used my time to hone my artistic skills drawing the web-slinger.  In High School I continued my goal of becoming an artist.  After a few years at a Commercial Art College and a Local Junior College’s film program, I was accepted to Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA.  While at school I worked on over 55 projects ranging from student shorts to Hollywood features.  By the end of my education, my address book and resume was filled with enough folks and experience to hire me in most any film crew position.

Upon graduation I quickly jumped into back-to-back features, Cinemax style (Andy Sidaris type of film without the guns).  The connections I made while in school led me to many television shows, working as a video utility.  To this day I continue doing freelance work to pay my bills and fund my filmmaking ventures.  As any hopeful filmmaker, I keep pursuing that carrot on a stick of getting paid for what I love to do.

But for now the last seven years I have spent almost every weekend shooting or doing post on some sort of project.  My partners and I made Y2K: Shut Down Detected, which was a short horror film with a feature length documentary.  A bit backwards but it was a budgetary decision.  This short was a big success earning high praises from people such as John Landis to numerous festival screenings and awards.  Currently I am working on many open projects while trying to find distribution for our feature length psychological-action-thriller (The New Chapter).  For more information you can definitely get an idea of what is going on by going to http://www.BlackRussianFilms.com as we have fun film facts, a newsletter, and a variety of informative news on many old, current, and future projects.(cheap plug)

For people who are new to your work, which project of yours would you recommend?

That is a hard question to answer since each project is like my baby, my spawn, my life … each one has it’s own unique style and sensibility.  For the best cinematography I would suggest my student portfolio film, My Brother’s Keeper and Jason Fenton’s Shining On which also has a great story and performances, for the coolest horror-monster effects our award winning short, Y2K: Shut Down Detected is a must, and our latest feature The New Chapter is for your action-sci-fi-horror-loving fans.  Each of the movies I have done, I gave my entire life up for…personal and professional.  Filmmaking is my passion and what I live for.

But I guess as any parent, deep inside they do have their favorite child, so I guess to answer honestly it would be a toss up between Y2K: Shut Down Detected for the editing-action-effects aspects as well as the door-opening it gave us and my new project Angel for Hire for the subject matter.  But how can a parent recommend only one of his or her children?  They all have something special about them.  And I love each project for it’s own unique reason.

What’s it like spending months, even years, trying to bring a project to completion?

You have to be very optimistic.  You constantly have to tell yourself it’s worth it … motivation is a big key.  Of course the number one factor is loving what you do.  After spending months and years on a project, it becomes more like a job away from your real job.  So if you don’t love what you do when there is no monetary gain in sight, you might quit or slack off.  You know, like going to play sports with buddies rather then spend that extra few hours working on the project even if it feels like menial work.  Anyone with a passion or love for something does it for the love and that dream of one day seeing his work succeed.  Give respect to the art and artists that preceded you.  Don’t take things and people for granted.

Sometimes, though, times do get rough as you wonder if it ever will be completed.  Just take, for instance, Y2K: Shut Down Detected.  The movie is about the Y2K computer scare and we completed it December 17, 1999.  A whole 14 days before the “Y2K!” (Insert: sarcastic frown) The film was hashed out in 1997 and had a deadline of March-April of 1999.  Our Audio/Music guy gave us a run-around for months…every time pushing the deadline and never meeting it.  Finally in late September he quit, simply saying that he saw no potential in the film and was moving on to another project. When we received our audio from him we noticed he didn’t even touch our work for months.  We scrambled to find a new sound and/or music guy.  We pulled all our resources together with John Gonzales (co-director) finding Jeff Menke and Jason Gile to do our music and Tommy Watt (associate producer) saving our filmmaking lives getting us sound work and mixing.  Culminating in a December 17th, 1999 final sound mix.  That same night John took the final film to a Film Festival running locally in town.

Needless to say, believe in what you do … be persistent and always look for that light at the end of the tunnel.  As I always say, “It’s a big rock, start chiseling and after a while you will not only see a dent but will create what you worked so hard for.  It might take time but it will get there.”

Can you share any behind the scenes war stories?  Any moments where you wish you could turn back time?

Well besides the one I told earlier?  There are always war stories, on every set.  Each crew, cast, or filmmaker comes off a shoot with a luggage of goodies.  Whoever is reading this can vouch for that as they are probably sitting right now reminiscing over such memories

One war story I will never forget was during the late stages of shooting for The New Chapter.  We were shooting massive amounts of inserts, effect shots, green screens, etc. at Trent and Tommy’s work’s underground garage.  There was equipment, props, lights, blood, guts…all over the garage.  We spent one weekend doing all our big green screen shots (not including the van chase).  After a long day and another coming the next morning I volunteered to sleep within the massive heap of equipment and props…rather then clean up and reset the next day.  I slept in my car with the window rolled down, listening for people and possible thievery.

I slept maybe three hours that night.  I just wound up setting up equipment for the next day of shooting.  It was one of those memorable sacrifices one makes for the love of the game.

Turning back time?  Yeah, ever letting the original sound guy on Y2K: Shut Down Detected get his grubby yet very talented hands on the movie.  But hindsight is 20/20, and everything is a learning experience you can benefit from in the future.  Any horror story or setback always teaches or prepares you for next time.  So truly turning back time would mean turning back real-life experiences I learned from.  I rather have the awful memories with life-long lessons then never have experienced what can truly help me in the future from project to project.

One more short but funny moment that sticks out came during the shooting of The New Chapter.  We were shooting at night at the back of a warehouse.  Being the camera guy, the shot called for me to run up to the back door with the cast as Leonard Clifton (who played Morris Spivey) jimmies open a locked door.  This particular shot was his POV, so when I got down to the door handle level, I braced myself on one knee.  Well, that knee was jammed into a concrete block with the edge of it deeply pushing into my flesh.  After a few seconds my knee gave as the camera took a nose-dive into the metal door, fixing the eyepiece into my eye.  The huge thud scared the rest of the cast and crew inside the warehouse, and after inspecting the lens and camera for damage we had a nice laugh knowing no damage was done.  That sequence will make for some great behind the scenes.

A behind-the-scenes documentary about the shooting of the infamous shoot out in The New Chapter is being produced.  In thirty words or less, can you sum up that experience?

Over 500 frames of storyboards, 60 guns, 15 cast members, three filmmaker crew, two days, 32 production hours, no rest, no sleep, eight minute shootout … I am sleepy and tired. (30 exactly, well not including these parentheses)

What and who are your influences?

I love the horror film genre as well as the occasional goof-ball funny blood-ridden Troma production.  I also really enjoyed Andy Sidaris growing up.  Troma and Sidaris productions know what they have and who they cater to.  That’s why I love Horror…it’s the only filmmaking genre (besides Sci-Fi) that has such a dedicated following resulting in conventions and such.  The filmmakers always seem accessible at these events and are respectful of fans.  I always loved Clive Barker’s work and after meeting him at Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors, I had that much more respect for the man.  I gave him a copy of Y2K:SDD and he was very thankful and gracious in introducing himself while excepting it.  On the other hand Robert Englund shunned me like a red-headed stepchild.

To me though, influences come more from certain films then filmmakers.  My earliest influences, I guess, would have to be the Nightmare series and Hellraisers, with a splash of Henry.  The movie that psychologically had an effect on me was The Exorcist.  To this day I can’t watch the movie alone or in the dark.  I want to make a movie or at least a scene within a movie that can pull out that type of emotion and fear out of somebody.

Your favorite moviemaking tool?

My favorite moviemaking tool recently is our G5 with the bells and whistles.  Others would have to be the Canon Scoopic M (16mm camera) we used to shoot Y2K:SDD and the rigs we built for The New Chapter; such as a Backpack rig, ground level dolly, and especially my Pogo-Cam I still use today.

Is there a “trick of the trade” you’re able to share with your fellow filmmakers?

Well, one thing we learned is to plan and schedule your film accordingly.  When prepping or writing your story, make sure to keep in mind your budget, resources, and available locations.  Most of the time it’s easier to write around what you have and can afford then later trying to find something you might not be able to get…having to compromise or settle for something you might not completely be happy with.  Work within your means.  The New Chapter was strictly written around what we could get our hands on from cast, props, locations, effects, etc.  Made life a lot easier when finally getting up to the plate to start shooting.

If there’s one thing people should know about Slava Siderman, it’s…

His loyalty and dedication as a crew person and filmmaker.  There is nothing I will not try or do for the sake of the project.

What other micro-budget productions have you seen, and are there any you’d recommend?

In recent past I’ve seen quite a few, but while doing these new projects, I found very little time to get myself out there.  I am trying right now to change that.  But of the ones I remember and can definitely recommend would be Mike Prosser’s Dividing Hour, The Good Book, and this Cops-style short as the officers gather up zombies around town rather than criminals.

What are you currently working on?

Currently I have a pile of things on my desk.  It’s hard to juggle the work, but it keeps me busy and out of trouble.  We are waiting on music and final ADR on Shining On, a feature I shot and helped co-produce for a friend, Jason Fenton.  John Gonzales and I are in early stages of post production on a documentary about a local High School football team, I am doing a documentary on a hardcore wrestler named Angel, Angel for Hire, writing a book on our journey of creating The New Chapter, plus constantly trying to promote Y2K: Shut Down Detected and The New Chapter.  Oh yeah, and that comes after work.  Ha Ha, any Indy filmmaker can relate to that.

Who would you like to work with in the future?

Gosh, I guess a better answer is, who will like to work with me in the future?  I would be happy working in this industry for years to come.  But I guess if I had to make a choice, possibly Lloyd Kaufman for his weird style and open door for ideas.  It definitely wouldn’t be for the money.

What’s the best advice you can give to someone out to make his or her own movie?

Believe in yourself and what you are doing.  It has to be done out of love of telling a story cinematically.  It’s great to have dreams and high hopes, we all do.  Just remember to be realistic with your goals…when shooting for the stars, the rocket can come down crashing even harder.  Love the art, respect the art, and you will be successful in whatever you aspire for.  First do it for yourself, for the love of filmmaking, and with that other things we follow.

Related Articles:

• Y2K: Shut Down Detected