Hi, this is Clint Stark. Welcome to the director's commentary for my new short film, Crazy or Die.
Hey, how come it's director's commentary when it's clearly I'm here? This is Lonnie Stark. I'm the quote actress.
Oh, that's a good point. Thank you for joining us. It couldn't happen without you, that's for sure.
So, we shot it over about a two-week period and we had a couple of concepts and we just kind of expanded on them.
This red lighting that you've used in a couple of your pieces now?
Yes, that's right. I mean, you can't go on with red or purple.
I like the voice over here where you added the echo and then moved into sort of reality, so it's this sort of mixture of reality and perception.
And even poetic, the little prince climbed a high mountain. The only mountain he had ever known were the three volcanoes. Who are you? He is asked astound.
We chose the little prince. It was very opportune, actually. We went to Portland a while back. Actually, this was several years ago.
I went to the famous Powell bookstore and this was just a pop book and I always liked the little prince and it was just such a gorgeous book.
Plus, it provides great visuals because things are popping up on the screen, which looks really kind of cool.
What's it like working with stuffed toys?
They're challenging to work with. Their personalities are a little bland.
Well, but at least they're not unionized.
No, they're not.
That shiny sequin, that's a costume I had for a jazz recital many years ago by Blackbird.
You gave some good direction here where to look, where to stop.
Yeah, you stop right in the focus point. You more pull focus there. I love that shot. You hit the mark perfectly.
Tell me a little about these stuffed toys. They appeared in a couple of your pieces.
They do. Actually, you can take it for face value or you can dig a little bit deeper. I don't want to give it away, but the first one I did was all American Apple Pie when you baked the Apple Pie and they showed up and they show up again here.
We've got one more in the pipeline where they may make another appearance.
We've got a lot of questions around what that thing is, that purple thing that you go into. I think we'll keep that a secret, right?
We have to decode it.
I like the overlay. It reminds me of that book, The Portrait of Dorian Gray, which is a really fascinating story if you ever want to read it. It kind of fits into this theme as well, actually.
You use a smoke thing, right? How did you get this effect?
It didn't quite work out the way I wanted. You know, sometimes you try things and they don't work how you want. Other times you get little bonuses and happy accidents.
Yeah, I wanted a lot of smoke in the bathroom and you're worried about, you know, all the smoke and I want the light streaking through it.
It kind of made it hazy, but I guess it kind of worked.
This is my favorite timing that you use some slow-mo here on the DGH5.
See the writing there? That used up a whole tube of Shiseido lipstick.
That's why we had to do it one take. You didn't want to do it again.
I just found a lipstick and started to write it and then I realized it just...
The budget's just spiraling out of control. This part's great because I think I just said, hey, you know this reaction here?
Just pretend I asked you, we're going to do another Stark and Sider video. How do you feel about that?
I really like this shot, the contrast between the red here, the slow-mo and then just the shots of the water.
Really different light colors. That was really...
Yeah, I guess, you know, shadows and light. I like that one, yeah.
A little $10 neon rope from Amazon and it turned out pretty good.
I really like it because you don't know what it is and then my face appears and you're like, oh my gosh.
She's being straggled by rope or what? What's going on there?
Sometimes you feel like that in a day.
Yeah, no doubt.
I love this song. When you picked it, I just thought it worked so well and it contracts with the gluten-free cereal there.
It's got a good vibe to it, you know? It's kind of got an electronic 80s feel, which I love.
And this was in a local supermarket that we go to quite often.
Yeah, how'd you feel about walking around in a wig?
It was public.
Yeah, we just went there. We didn't really ask anybody. We just thought, okay, we're going to go shopping with a wig on.
Yeah, I just kind of followed you with the camera. I was trying to be discreet. I didn't want to get, you know, people's attention.
I was just waiting for someone to pull us.
Like I said.
Yeah.
And I just got that leather jacket recently.
Yeah, it really worked.
Like a bit Bon Jovi maybe or something.
Trying to play around here with the idea of identity and the social pressure is actually sometimes of trying to conform with society.
And so there's a deeper, I'm trying to push a deeper message in here. I don't know if it succeeds completely.
We're just finding out who you are.
I also think it's really interesting that scene just as an exit, that was all sound effects you put in.
Yeah.
So all that stuff was totally sound engineering.
And that's something I'm, you know, working on.
And so, yeah, none of the audio is in camera.
Yeah.
It's all added later.
Yeah.
And the uppers and downers, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Actually with the latte, we started out wanting a beer and cigarettes.
Right.
And we couldn't find cigarettes because neither Clinton or I smoke and a lot of places stopped selling it.
So we decided to get latte instead.
That's good because it would have been to maybe cliche otherwise, I think.
Yeah.
And during one of the first screenings we did of this before, we, someone actually commented
and actually laughed at that part.
So I thought it was really cool.
I like the way you call it a screening.
It's great.
Thank you.
Okay.
My wig's really falling apart here.
Yeah.
And this part, I'm telling you, don't blink.
Don't blink.
Don't blink.
Don't blink.
Like Clint's standing right on my left here.
Don't blink.
Don't blink.
You can't see him, but he's lurking.
I'm lurking.
And you did a really good job because it's hard, you know, to do the Naomi Watts thing here.
That pair of sunglasses is actually yours.
Oh, yeah.
It's prescription.
So I had to actually, I couldn't see really properly through them.
There's just so many obstacles and pressures in this production.
This part was interesting.
Well, yeah, I'm trying to leave the edit pretty long here.
So you're trying to think what she's thinking.
And you have time.
I learned that Walter Merch wrote a great book of Link of an Eye.
And I'm trying to actually really think about identity and sort of think out through all
the themes that we talked about for this film.
Yeah.
It's good.
I think that's what you have to do when you're trying to get into a character, even if it's
something a little short film like this.
Crazy or die.
Yeah.
I love the title.
I love the questions around why crazy or die.
And I think it just provokes people to think about identity, sanity, insanity, reality,
perception.
I told my dentist that he looked at me and kind of worried.
Like my parents do.
Well, I don't know.
He's the dentist, right?
Well, thanks very much for watching.
That's crazy or die.
Stay tuned.
We'll see you in the next one.
There we go.
Are you ready?
Mm-hmm.
Three, two, one.
Oh, again, you moved too fast.
Can you just hold it?
Can you just study the label?
Use your same arm into the same motion.
No, use your other arm.
No, I use this arm.
Your left arm.
Yes.
No, you didn't.
Bye-bye.
