Action, here we go, gonna show ya what I know
Break it free from the mainstream, studio machine
I want it my way, indie film nation
I want it my way, indie film nation
Going all the way, indie film nation
You know it's gotta be, indie film nation
Indie film nation
Indie film nation
I want it my way, indie film nation
Going all the way, indie film nation
You know it's gotta be, indie film nation
Okay, hi, Sue Lawson here for Indie Film Nation
I am joined by Lily Ayers and Danielle Bernal
I've been practicing her last name
They are here with the film Last Fast Ride
Which is an amazing journey, actually
Tell us a little bit about the film
Because I know that everybody's seen it yet
The film was actually Danielle's idea, the concept and the title
And it's a documentary film, 86 Minutes
It's the biography of Mary Anderson
Who is a punk singer in the early 90s from the Bay Area
But it's much more than that, it's a bio of her life
And how much more I should say?
That's pretty good, I mean it starts off really light
And just goes through a crazy journey
With all her friends and family
Newspaper clippings and Lily does a really great job
Now what made you decide that you wanted the story to be told?
Well I wanted her to be honored in life
Because I didn't feel like she was very much honored in death
I mean all the way around
I wanted her to be honored in death
Because I didn't feel like she was in life
And I pitched it to her best friend Daniel
And then Daniel knew Lily
And then Lily came over and we just hit it off
I had done a music video for my friend Daniel de Leon
We've been friends since I was a teenager
And he told me Daniel had this idea
And he recommended me to Daniel
And said oh you've got to get Lily to do it
So we started talking about it and I couldn't get Mary and Story out of my head
I was still in film school at the time
I was at Columbia University in New York
And when I finished with school I was like
Daniel do you still want to do this movie?
And she said yes so I took the idea to my producer Shannon Factor
And she was launching her production company Sin Aspire Entertainment
And she also loved the story
And we thought it would be great to do the documentary film
And do research to make a narrative feature film
All along I've been working on the script as well
So now the script is 95% there
We're done with the documentary
It took five and a half years to make the documentary
That's an enormous amount of time
Not necessarily unusual for a documentary
But still a long time
How do you stay focused?
I just wanted to do justice to the material
And to make something that I could be proud of
And that Daniel and Daniel and all Marion's friends could be proud of as well
All the huge responsibility to see it through
And just facing a mountain of footage and photographs
It was daunting at times
And I was like God what am I going to do please help me
And I prayed constantly and I just kept working on it
Until it was something I was happy to show
Well the result is there
It's an amazing film
I'm wondering how difficult was it for you
Was it difficult? How did you feel the first time that you saw the finish?
I was, my mouth was open the whole time
I was like oh, Lily really did this?
Holy shit, I was like oh my god
You know I was just amazed
She really captured Marion's life
And our relationship and everything
It was almost like she was peeping over our shoulders
It was cool, I'm really stoked on it
Super stoked
She was involved from the beginning throughout
We touched space a lot through the different cuts
And I worked very closely with Daniel and with Daniel de Leon
And then the more the project started to grow
It was going to be a short to begin with
And it just grew and grew and I was like Shannon
We've got to make this a feature documentary
It just took on a life of its own
And people sent me footage, people sent me photographs
So I just had this mountain of material to work with
As well as the original interviews that we shot
So it just had to do justice to the story
And make it as visually interesting as possible
So along with all the found footage
And the interview footage
I also shot 8mm film around town, very pregnant
All around LA
And I did a shoot where I went up to San Francisco
With my 35mm black and white film
And shot up in San Francisco and in LA
Just to add another layer
And I think that helped keep it visually interesting
When we talk about the layers
There's a certain texture to the film
We were talking before about the fact that there are almost call outs
There are certain words and phrases that you
Really enhance the impact of them
By showing them visually on the screen
As we're still hearing them said as well
Yeah, I did like a little punk rock, like cut and paste
It's very punk rock, it's like fan zine
This aesthetic in these punk rock magazines
Where it's just cut and paste
Like in a lot of the flyers
That's how they put the punk rock flyers together
So I thought that would be cool to just punch
And highlight some of the dialogue
Yeah, that was another layer
Were there any challenges when it came to
Unearthing all of that archival footage and photos?
Well, I was really fortunate in that
People just gave me stuff
And Daniel had a box full of stuff
Daniel had a box full of stuff
Lolly had a box full of stuff
Friends came out of the woodworks
I didn't even know some of my friends
From LA knew Marion
From like long before Modesto
They were like, we totally know Marion
We have flyers and pictures
And I'm like, here's Lily's number
And then Lily went from there
She put this big puzzle piece together
And now it's complete so we all can see it
So cool
That's exactly, along the way, that's how I describe it
It was like a three-dimensional puzzle
Just more than three-dimensional
I don't even know what to call it
But just to put the music and the dialogue
And the pictures and everything together
In such a way that supported the story
There is a lot of music as there should be
There's a lot of music and it was getting the licensing rights
To it, was that a challenge in any way?
Not really, most of the music was Daniel's
That he worked on with Marion
So that was under his publishing company
And we had to track down Martin Courgett
From Baby Alive
And we found him, just friends of friends
We're like, does anyone know where Martin is?
And they came through and found him
So we just put out the APB for Martin
And then Randy Magnus had the early footage
Of the Modesto years
So he had already said to use the footage
From that time
So it was just a matter of getting all the paperwork in order
But no, the music was all
It's all Marion's and Daniel's
Yeah, Marion's and Daniel's and then Martin
And Randy
That's cool because she was in every part of the music
In the video
There's not one song in there that she's not a part of
Oh, there's one song?
Okay, you know the footage of Marion
With the oranges behind her?
Yeah, what is that?
That's me and the composer
Oh, Articacio?
Yeah, my composer was so awesome
Ashish Pathak
He made an original score
And he had this idea to do this cute little bubbly
You know, tune behind the oranges
Okay, I was, yeah, I heard that
And we just had fun with it
And I was like, sure, whatever
I didn't know that
Now you also made a choice
As far as the look is concerned
You did not stay 16-9
You mixed it up with the 16-9, the 4x3
Yeah, I wanted to stay true to the original footage
As much as possible
And then I just like separating out the elements
So we had this SVHS footage
We had, you know, the original footage that we shot
So I just wanted those different elements to stand out
On their own
I take it that you're both quite happy with the way it's turned out so far
Yeah, of course, you know, just the nature of documentary
And the archival footage
I would have preferred if I had total control
Over the sound and some of the image quality
But the image quality, I mean, that's been, you know, I'm really
I'm pretty happy with that
There's some photographs that I would have liked to have better quality
But I think, you know, I did the best I could with what I had
And I'm just super stoked
I'm just really happy with how it all came together
So yeah, there's maybe that 5% that I would have liked to fix here and there
You know, like, especially some of the sound quality
On the earlier footage
But yeah, I'm very happy with how it all came together
Now we were telling you that this is also your first feature film, is it not?
Yes
Yeah, I had done a few small documentaries when I was in film school
And before film school
And this is my first feature
And it was supposed to be a short as well
And it just grew and grew and grew
And that's, yeah, it's the first feature film
So what's next?
Next, we hope to make the feature film based on Marion's life
The script is 95% there
I'll take one more pass at it
And hopefully over the next year we'll do more film festivals
This is our first festival
So we want to get the film out to as many people as possible
And then get the feature film made
And then we, Danielle, and I would like to work on a book on her life
Because Danielle's story is also amazing
I think it would make a great companion piece to have a book on Danielle's life
So we have a whole series going here
Which is pretty awesome
Congratulations again
And if people want more information on the film, they can go too
Sure, lastfastridefilm.com
Or on Facebook
And from the beginning, one more thing I should mention
Is that from the beginning we had had Marion's daughter in mind
And it was very important for Danielle and Danielle and I
To set up a trust for her
And we're going to have a link on the website
Where people can donate to Hannah's trust
And we're going to donate a percentage of any profits we might receive to Hannah's trust
Wonderful
Again, that's lastfastride.com
Lastfastridefilm.com
Lastfastridefilm.com
Or check out the Facebook page
And contribute if you can, please, to Hannah's trust
Thank you so much
Thanks
I think the first time she ran away, she was 13
She said that she was hearing voices
She said her eyes
I'll never forget her eyes, you know, like
Look right through you, you know what I mean
She was one thing off the stage
And as soon as she got on that stage
She got to be something else
I remember singing this one key
She had this kind of Cleopatra
Sort of hairstyle
This crazy punk rock sex goddess
Kids in the audience were just drooling over the Marion of the Girls
She would break microphones, Dan
She would break microphones
She would throw stuff
I want to have fun and make a statement at the same time
Dan started getting way more extreme
You didn't see the tournament, people like that, especially in the country
Hopefully she could not inspire other kids to go out and make records, you know
Such beauty, such love, such great friendship
I just think she's a phenomenal
I always think they're perfect
Marion was always trying to stab me with knives
Her voice
She started to bring her co-workers in the sex industry on stage
One of the finest punk rock moments
I've ever experienced in this class
You always hear that expression
I believe in today like it's her last
She really did do it today like it's her last
She really did do it today like it's her last
