Please tell us about the projects you worked on before making ‘Seeing you for the last time’. How did you start, and how did you learn to make films?
Basically, I am a musician, a singer-songwriter. Every time I had to shoot a music video with different crews I was really into the process and after some time I wanted to try directing. I watched them working and tried help them with the process. With my references other artists came up to me to ask me if I would direct videos for them as well and I got excited about it.
Tell us about ‘Seeing you for the last time’. How do you describe it?
I had a really hard period in my life 2 years ago. She was about to start her new life without me. But couldn’t really let me go. Kept me close. After break up she was always open to drive around the country with me and I never knew when will be the last time. This stuck in my head and I observed every sentence, every look she gave me, every laugh – “maybe this is the last time, or maybe this one”. Funny thing is I shot the material for “Seeing you for the last time” 3 years ago with her. She is the female character in the video. This take was not planned. I saw the sunset and when we drove past the field and I thought this would be perfect and good for something in the future.It was perfect for this song 1 year later. I couldn’t use the real footage because I didn’t want her face to be seen, we did not speak anymore. I had to change the texture. That was the reason why I learned how to use AI with Stable Diffusion.
Please tell us about your favorite filmmakers.
My new inspiration is Wes Anderson. Maybe he became a bit more mainstream lately, but I like how he can work simply with creative ideas. And he proves that the focus has to be on creativity over budget. I loved the movie “Everything, everywhere, all at once”. I think Dan Kwan made a brilliant job with that one. When a director has a good sense of humor that adds to the drama and gives air to the concept that some movies really need in my opinion. I prefer slow cuts and those who can use this technique.
If you were given a good budget, what would be your ideal project?
As I am a musician as well, I have this dream about a 10-12 song album where each song gets a music video and every one of them is a part of a whole movie. Without any lip-sync and with short but well-timed dialogues or silent parts.
Describe how you would ensure that production is on schedule. What steps would you take?
Planning and choosing the right team is the key element here. I always give more time for scenes that it would possibly need because in the moment sometimes good ideas come up and experiencing is part of the creation. We have the main elements, the “spine” of the story that always has to be on time and we have to make sure that we record them before anything, and the rest time is for fun. Of course, we have rain days and sickness and any type of vis major events that we can’t do anything about. This is the main reason why I plan the shooting longer than what I usually need to record everything. No one gets upset.
What was the hardest part of making ‘Seeing you for the last time’.
We had to be quick with everything, because of the sunset. We only had time for 3 runs and no more. It was windy and the drone pilot didn’t have time to practice and he was alone. There was no one to take care of the camera.
If possible, tell us about your next work. What plans do you have for your future work?
The plan I described above. That is my next big project. I have to write the synopsis then the screen-play, build up my team and get funding to be able to work on it for a few months. The music album is almost done, it’s in the mastering studio already. I don’t want to release it without the movie.