TWO DEVICES CONNECTED
“That moment stuck with me for months after the event. There was something about that line that was eerie and I just needed the right container for it. One evening I was watching Stranger Things and the idea of the parking garage struck me. The next day, I started pitching the concept to my business partners and they love the idea. It was a clean, simple short film with a fun premise.I wrote the script and we started figuring out how to pull it off.”
“The hardest part was figuring out the right amount of nuance when telling the story. I wanted to keep it vague but also plausible. If the audience didn’t buy into the story feeling real, the twist would feel like a cheat. I really wanted it to be dark and nuanced but leave it open for interpretation. From there, it was all about finding the right location. There are a ton of parking ramps in Minneapolis, but we were only able to convince one to allow us to film.”
“My favorite working filmmakers are Nolan, Fincher and Villeneuve. Their work heavily influence my writing and directing style. For TWO DEVICES CONNECTED, films like PRISONERS & ZODIAC heavily influenced the look, feel and camera movement. For the story, the biggest influence is BLACK MIRROR. As someone that loves technology, both LATENCY and TWO DEVICES CONNECTED were heavily influenced by that show.”
“We filmed in a parking garage in downtown Minneapolis. It was an overnight shoot, so the only difficulties were keeping the energy up and making sure we were shooting quickly. Once that sun came up, we were screwed. It was also mid-October so it got a bit chilly in the evening. Our DP’s car died at one point, but I think it just started working again later in the night!”
“I really wanted the first shot to open on the trunk and be a long take. It subconsciously sets up the importance of the trunk and builds the solitude of the environment. Lighting the inside of the car was tricky, but my DP, Scott Regan did a fantastic job getting the look we were going for. We shot with the Red Raven with Leica R Primes. For lighting we used Fillex LEDs outside the vehicle and Litegear Literibbon for the inside the car.”
“I worked with Brody Howard and ditch in Minneapolis with the post production. Brody did a great job really digging into the story and the psychology of our main character. The color was done by Kris Smale at MPC. I also worked with Nick Christopulous on sound design and mix. I think I drove him nuts with putting in all the footsteps and subtle sounds. For music, I brought on Eric Applewick. I loved his style and thought he could bring a great, eerie undertone to the piece. I was the writer and director of the film.”
“This is one of the my favorite projects that I’ve worked on. I really want to try and nail down the look and feel of my work. Another film I shot called LATENCY has a similar feel and I tried to use similar camera work. Both are playing in this BLACK MIRROR type world that I really wanted to explore.”
“I have a few more shorts written in the same style that I hope to make sometime soon.”
