Something To Be Desired: Halloween Special

"Not another new horror magazine?" asked Zombos.

I nodded. "Yes, they seem to be popping up as fast as flies on a corpse these days."

"Any good?"

Before I could reply, I heard Zombos junior calling for his dad. Zombos panicked. "Lord no! If I have to watch High School Musical one more time I'll pluck my eyes out! Don't tell him you saw me!" Zombos jumped behind the sofa to hide.

"Have you seen Daddoes?" asked junior, as he ran into the room.

"Why no. I don't know where he is," I said, while motioning to junior to look behind me.

"Dadda!" he cried, jumping onto the sofa beside me and looking behind it. He is such a bright boy. "Come on! Mommy said you would watch High School Musical with me while she went shopping."

A cry of anguish escaped Zombos' lips as he was reluctantly pulled out of the room. I could hear him moaning all the way down the hall. Poor fellow. At least things were getting back to normal at the mansion.

I returned to reading my new horror magazine. When that was done, I flipped on the old PC for something completely different, and started watching the Something To Be Desired: Halloween Special.

STBD has been on the Internet air for  four years now. Created, directed and produced by Justin Kownacki, who is also a rodeo clown and lawn-flamingo assembly worker (hey, it's Pittsburgh, what else are you going to do?), the comedy series follows the trials and tribulations of DJs at the WANT FM radio station.

The Halloween Special is a fast-paced, wacky zombie-fest complete with gore and well done makeup, that places our intrepid DJs in a dire situation as they try to not get eaten by the horde of dead party-goers that suddenly show up at the station. It also answers the burning question, "what does a vegetarian zombie eat?"

It took STBD four years to finally do this Simpsons' Tree House of Horror-styled episode, so I asked Justin and Erik Schark (he plays Rich Mathis on the show) a few questions about the special and STBD.

Tell us how STBD got started, and what keeps it going.

Justin: STBD was born from an idea for a short film that eventually outgrew its home. I started thinking, "What happens to these characters AFTER this incident?" The desire to follow them and watch them grow led me to start thinking episodically, and since the barrier of entry to web video was low -- I already had access to a camera and editing software -- I decided to give it a try in 2003 and see what would happen.

What keeps us going is a belief that all media is converging and soon "web video" and "tv programming" will be synonymous. If we're all going to end up watching everything on the same box, I'd like to think STBD can survive these rocky years and continue to pioneer this new media landscape.

How did you become interested in directing and filmmaking?

Justin: I was a writer and artist growing up, and that storytelling sensibility always stayed with me. I watched lots of TV and movies, read lots of books and comics and thought in terms of narrative for as long as I can remember. After high school, I started dabbling in video and that led me to a college degree in animation and multimedia, with an emphasis on video. I was hired at a multimedia company and spent my days making corporate and industrial safety training videos, so the need for a legitimate creative outlet led to the "what have we got to lose?" mentality that spawned STBD.

As such, I'm afraid I'm not much of a director in the classic sense. Because I also run the camera, handle the props and lights (what few we use) and write the scenes, I'm usually too busy getting what I know I need to make a scene work to actually work one-on-one with the actors like I know I should. Considering I have no acting background, I'm not sure I could communicate my ideas effectively even with all that extra time.

Can you give us a life-cycle rundown on the creation of a typical episode, from inception to posting on the web?

Justin: Our standard episodes are one part necessity and two parts opportunity. I always know where I'd like the story to go, but I rarely write or plan too far ahead because, with a group of talented but volunteer actors, I can't ever guarantee that our schedules will all coalesce smoothly. So while we're always angling toward a few major plot points, I allow myself some flexibility in getting there in order to make use of the serendipitous locations and events that fall into our laps along the way and weave them into our story.

In theory, I audition new actors in spring, and we begin writing the plotlines (and eventually the individual scenes), which form the tapestries of the episodes.  Then we film throughout the summer, begin editing in August and airing new episodes in September, for 30+ weeks. The average episode will have 3-5 scenes, necessitating 2-3 filming days at separate locations, plus writing and scheduling time. The 1-2 hours of footage will then be edited down to a 10 minute episode over the course of anywhere from 8 to 24 hours, depending upon the complexity of the scenes (and my distractible work ethic).

Posting the episode to Blip.tv, cross-posting to STBD and MySpace, and then making a second version available for RSS / iTunes users takes an additional 2-3 hours, including rendering time.

As director and writer, are there special considerations to be made when doing a a web video series?

Justin: Absolutely. Some lessons I've learned, though I don't always adhere to them myself (I've been weak):

Make a strong spine for your central storyline. Stick to it.
  - Be flexible. Allow yourself the ability to invent on the fly.
  - Schedule as far in advance as possible.
  - Alternately, know who's usually available with a few hours' notice.
  - What is the audience supposed to take away from the viewing experience? Identify the feeling you want to instill in them. Whatever doesn't suit that feeling, no matter how clever, time-consuming or expensive, needs to be cut.
  - What story elements are important? What needs to happen first, second and last? Are there certain aspects of the story that have been absent from the narrative for too long?
  - Don't be confusing. This includes both narrative (over or under-explaining things) and visuals. Audiences expect certain angles and coverage of scenes, based upon what they believe are the core elements of the scene -- which characters, props and information is important. If you don't give them what they expect, they may be confused.
  - Surprises are good. Confusion is not.
  - Don't try to pass off sloppy filmmaking as "technique." Unsatisfying content is still unsatisfying, regardless of whether you did it on purpose.
  - Give the audience just enough information that they should care about your characters and situations, but don't expect them to behave the way you intend.

Expect to be surprised instead. (Example: I had no idea Leo would grow to be as popular a character as he's become. I don't relate to him directly, but I underestimated how many other people do.)
  - Be kind and courteous to those who offer you favors (locations, props, food, etc.)
  - Be kinder and even more courteous to your cast, who are likely following you in this venture because they believe in you and the material. Nobody gives up the good life to work in indie video unless they enjoy it. Make your set an enjoyable place.
- Be kindest and most courteous to your friends, family and significant other. Considering the hours you'll be pouring into your web video, they'll need a few  hours from you in return. There is a world outside your lens.

Who are your favorite directors, and why?

Justin: I come and go on most directors, but the names that have stuck with me thus far include: Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, Calendar), Whit Stillman (Metropolitan, Barcelona), Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave), Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides), Hal Hartley (Henry Fool, Proof) and Jim Jarmusch (Dead Man, Down by Law), as well as Fellini, Spielberg, Kubrick, Soderbergh and Tarantino. I also love the work of Michel Gondry, but it's almost a genre unto itself.

I like any director who marries a singular, idiosyncratic vision -- and frequently one which falls far outside the Hollywood (read: American plot-driven) norm -- with authentic characters whose tale captivates me not because of what happens but because of how it happens and whom it happens to.

What led to doing the Halloween special?

Justin: The STBD cast and I had been hoping to do a Halloween Special for several years now, but we never had the advance prep time to pull one off. Now that our cast is the largest it's ever been, I knew we had the personnel to execute mayhem on a wide scale. Andy Rubacky, the owner of one of our regular locations (517521 chic department store) happens to be a huge zombie fan, and when we said we were considering doing a Zombie Shootout for Halloween, Andy said, "You know, there's an empty warehouse upstairs..."

This episode allowed us to completely break our normal filming and editing habits and have some fun with the character archetypes we've created, while also staying true to the skeptical vibe of the regular series. It was important that we not go completely over-the-top in terms of action, but I think our attention to awkward humor helps ground this episode firmly in the STBD universe.

I'm sure creating zombies is not easy. What challenges did you have to overcome in getting the STBD Halloween Special completed?

Justin: We had a wonderful team of makeup artists, all four of whom worked long hours for little food and no pay to help bring this episode to life. Believe it or not, they're all self-taught AND under the age of 22! Thanks to their undeniable skill, the biggest problems we encountered had nothing to do with them and everything to do with me. I frequently make things up as  we go along in terms of filming, adding and subtracting shots as I pre-edit episodes in my head. But with so many cast members and extras on-hand, and so many sequences filmed out of order, my main problem was in keeping track of everything so no loose ends got away from me in post.

I also had never filmed anything like these action sequences before, so understanding where to be for the optimal angle and how best to light everything was a complete learning experience. Plus, when you're dealing with expensive effects on a shoestring budget, you can't afford to make many mistakes (by way of  money OR time).

There are still a few question marks I know we could have answered with a little tighter of a shooting schedule and a finer attention to continuity, but overall I think we nailed all the major goals we had for the episode.

Can you share with us any tips or tricks for aspiring directors who would like to do web series and online filmmaking?

Justin: I think I inadvertently answered this above, but I can add a few more:

- Figure out what it is you want to say, and say it. Is it a message? Is it a story? Is it the study of a particular character, cast or lifestyle? Decide upon one driving root for the show and allow everything to build around it, but allow yourself the flexibility to adapt the idea should you realize down the line that you can improve.
  - Protect your equipment. If you only have one camera, and you lose or destroy that camera, you don't have a series.
  - Stay in touch with everyone in the cast. Allow them to help out as much as they can / should. Learn who's good at what, but more importantly, learn HOW to work WITH everyone, and how they can all work together.
  - You can't do it alone. You CAN create a videoblog alone. You CAN'T create a multi-character series alone. Accept (reliable) help.
  - Feed your cast. They'll forego wages, but they can't forego meals. (Compliments and positive feedback are a close second -- don't hoard it.)
  - Enjoy it. Remember: you're doing this because you love it. If you stop loving it, find something you do love and do that instead.
- When in doubt, add zombies.

Now it's Erik's turn.

Tell us how you got involved with acting in general, and with Something to Be Desired specifically.

Erik: I actually started acting in community theatre productions when I was about 13. I'm primarily a stage actor and have done musicals most of my life. I have my  degree in theatre and lived in New York City for almost 10 years before my wife and I decided to come to Pittsburgh to start our family. I saw a notice on Craigslist that STBD was holding open auditions, so I checked out the series and wound up watching all 3 of the previous seasons and became an official fan. I thought the idea had a lot of promise, and Justin Kownacki, the creator, was clearly a talented guy. Everything looked very professionally put together, so I decided it was definitely something I wanted to be a part of.
   
Fill us in on the character you portray on STBD, and what it's like doing a continuing series for the web.

Erik: I play Rich Mathis, the publisher for Vanity Press, which has made its name publishing "chick lit". Rich is actually a blast to play. He's a very offensive, uninhibited guy who has almost no boundaries which lends itself very easily to comedy and gives me plenty of room to play. The great thing about doing a continuing series is that you can really flesh out a character and keep finding new facets. You can slowly put an entire life together. It's sort of like doing a long run in a play, but the script keeps changing, so it stays fresh.
   
Which actors inspire you and why?

Erik: I'm inspired by a lot of different actors, far too many to list. I love people who can make me laugh in unexpected ways, and I love strong performers who also  know how to show their vulnerability. A short list: Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Bruce Campbell, Steve Carell, Sacha Baron Cohen, Chow Yun Fat, Hugh Jackman, Hugh Laurie, Robert Sean Leonard, Tobey Maguire, Ian McKellen, Mandy Patinkin, Amy Sedaris.
   
What challenging experiences, if any, have you overcome during filmingSTBD?

Erik: Well, part of the challenge of the show for me when I started was the semi-improvised nature of it. Coming from the theatre, I have a lot of respect for the script, and I was pretty loathe to stray from it at first. Justin is really fantastic about input from the cast, though, and really wants us to just have fun and be inventive within the framework that he provides. He's not married to his words in the least. It's been a very freeing experience for me. I now feel like I can do anything in front of the camera.
   
Doing the Halloween special episode must have been fun. Can you share with us any anecdotes or misadventures regarding it?

Erik: I may be a bit biased because my character got quite a few really great lines, but I think everyone involved had a really good time making it. My nephews were involved with it, too, which was great fun for me (one of them was the "ninja zombie"). They also supplied quite a lot of the weaponry we used. There was a great air of collaboration during the whole thing with our zombies coming up with crazier and crazier notions of what would be fun to do. The zombie baby was actually a suggestion by our 9-month pregnant zombie. We were also blown away by our make-up crew, I don't think any of whom were older than 19 and all self-taught. They really came through for us on basically no budget.
   
Finally, what question would you like to be asked, and what's your answer? What's in store for the future?

Erik: Right now, just about all of us at STBD are pitching in to help organize PodCamp Pittsburgh: A New Media Conference being held this coming weekend. It's a FREE meet-up for bloggers, podcasters, and anyone interested in blogging and podcasting. We're going to have some amazing people here including Andrew Baron of Rocketboom and the cast of Tiki Bar TV. Check out www.PodCampPittsburgh.com for more info and to register for FREE.
   
As for the future of STBD, we're planning to continue posting new episodes every Monday, and we just launched What Do You Want? Weekends every Friday where we can take viewer suggestions and our own crazy ideas and post shorts that have nothing to do with the continuity of the show. We've already featured a couple of anti-Santorum PSA's and a 2-minute guide to where to get drunk in Pittsburgh. I have some plans for that feature, including more in-depth looks at some secondary characters, fantasy sequences, and pilot episodes for other potential series.

The forum is up and running again, Justin's Behind the Scenes blog is updated almost every day, and we're hoping to roll out even more merchandise for our fans. We're basically hoping to continue to grow our viewership and eventually take over the world. We want to be the web series that all others are judged by.

 

Thanks Justin and Erik. Keep those Halloween Specials coming. As an added treat,  watch the STBD and TROMA promo, with the always unpredictable Lloyd Kaufman, and his bevy of TROMA ladies. Wait a minute...if he's always unpredictable, then that means he's predictably unpredictable. Hmmm. Just go and watch STBD: you will be glad you did.