Allan Holt’s Short Film Screening at Cannes

Do you know what good karma is? It’s that feeling of giving to someone and knowing someday it will come back to you. Allan Holt is a good friend to the Wild West Film Fest and the founder of KU filmworks, an organization founded to help aspiring filmmakers.
Allan recently had his short film accepted at the Cannes Film Festival in France and he is currently raising money to fund a vital trip to the festival!
We hope you will help him by throwing a few cents his way.If you would like to donate a few dollars to Allan’s journey he has a paypal link set up on his site. Read the interview from last year below and go to his website and learn more about his exciting new short film!
www.allanholt.com

Check out Allan’s Cannes blog at: http://livefromcannes.blogspot.com/
He will be writing daily updates about his Cannes journey- throughout the course festival.

WWFF -
Tell us what KU Filmworks is and why you started it?

AH -
Andrew Loos was a theater student and I was a film student, and after being disappointed by how our student film did in a festival, we decided we wanted to try to raise money and make a bigger project that we could go nuts with. We wanted to make an Indie film of some kind, and we figured we could take advantage of the university setting, and the resources available to students, combined with the desire to make a movie, and to be more ambitious than class projects. We wanted to go all out and see what happened. So the two of us started putting together all of our contacts, started a student organization, and started mobilizing for war. We were both almost done with school and it was time to get something in the can. We didn’t have any money, but we had friends with the same attitude. Some film students make their movies just like they’re writing a school paper for class. That wasn’t us.

WWFF -
How did starting KU Filmworks help your career along?

AH -
Well, first off, doing something like that gives you something to talk about when you’re chatting with people. That’s important. Also, it crystallized a group of production people who still work together. But it was a great learning experience about following goals, having meetings, getting things done. It was a confidence builder. In a more concrete sense, though, it gave me pieces of work to show people that helped me start working as a special effects artist in Los Angeles.

WWFF -
How hard was it for you to make the big move from Lawrence to Los Angeles? What did you do when you first made it out?

AH -
It was rocky. I did go into debt from the Filmworks project, not from financing the movie, because we raised the money for that, but from taking off so much time from work to do the film, and paying for that final year of school during the same time. So I had to take a couple of months and recover before I headed out here. Making the movie seemed like the most important thing to do at the time, but I could have done it without the debt. This happens to lots of filmmakers- you have to keep the big picture in mind – at least some of the time. I was also lucky to have several friends out here around the same time. In the effects industry, which really only exists in LA, you have to work for free at first, no matter where you went to school, so I was lucky to have saved a little bit of money. I started working with Rob Hall at Almost Human, which at the time was just him, and after a couple weeks he paid me in DVDs, and then soon – money!

WWFF -
What was your first break into the industry?

AH -
There were 2 early ones. The first was that after working hard for free, I had proven myself enough to get a job on Minority Report, working on constructing the police jetpacks and other effects props. This got me through a few early months, getting to know the city, and then Rob Hall stole me back to work on a horror movie with Dennis Hopper, after which he landed the “Angel” TV series, which was soon followed by ‘Buffy,’ ‘Firefly’ and ‘Miracles’ not to mention a few horror movies. So those few weeks of working for free early on paid off in about 4 years of continuous work with his company.

WWFF -
Any advice to people who are getting ready to make the plunge?

AH -
Save up some money, and stay out of debt. Arrive here with cash in your pocket. Have as many contacts as you can before you come out. Have a good idea what you want to do before you get here, but be adaptable. If you want to be a director, know that there is no path to directing other than directing, or writing. In some ways, making a film is much easier in LA, because you can get anything so easily- its a whole city where movies are what they do- so grip rental, camera rental, post production, all of that is everywhere here. There are more production companies than there are gas stations. But in many ways, for the independent film maker, like a recent college graduate, making movies can be harder here than back home- because everything is harder when there are 400 times as many cars on the roads, its costs 5k to shoot on the street corner because of permits. Logistically, in many ways LA is out to make life difficult for you. If you live in Hollywood, on certain days when there are events going on, it would take an Apache helicopter to go out and get an omelet. I’ve dreamed about making a Michael Bay style movie about driving across town at 4pm. So, if you’re going to be a director, make a couple of good shorts where it’s easy: back home. When you get here, value your skills, and know when to get paid more, especially if you start out unpaid.

WWFF -
In the past 7 years or so you have worked as a creature technician and make-up effects artist – on 100′s of television shows and many movies. What inspires you to do this kind of work?

AH -
I love the environment of the movie set and the make believe. You get to meet lots of different people who are great at what they do, and you work together to create sophisticated make believe. You try your best, but whatever happens happens, and at the end of the day, you move on. It’s only a movie. It’s funny how, in LA, this is a perfectly normal job. Monsters, creatures, makeup and decapitations, is not just for that Goth kid in the corner drawing on his notebook! It’s all walks. As an artist I do it because I like faces.

WWFF -
Are there a lot of jobs in these areas in LA? What’s it take to break in?

AH -
There are tons of interesting jobs in Hollywood. Anyone motivated to work on a movie set can do it. If you want to work on movie sets, here’s my litmus test: Can you stand outside in the cold rain till 4:00AM and still feel enthusiastic, just because you’re on a movie set? If the answer is yes, then everything else is just details you are going to be fine. If not, you could work in postproduction. Same story there, but without the freezing rain. As far as specializing in creatures, there’s no way to tell what the job market is or is going to be. Because, computers are clearly a big part of the future in the character department, but yet, they still do gigantic prosthetic shows, like ‘Grinch’ and they still build full-scale monsters some of the time. There are other related areas, like model departments, art departments; the computer side of things is huge and getting bigger all the time. As far as breaking in, if you wanted to work in creature FX shops, anyone can end up working in the biz, but if you’re going to be good, they expect that you come out here already having taught yourself, because there are so many resources out there. Then, they’ll still make you work for free so they can teach you their way of doing things and test you. The best school-built skills for a person who wants to do this are fine art skills like drawing. Drawing and designing can really get you in the door. I’ve also seen people with machine skills quickly get into creature mechanics. Some people go to school for makeup FX. That can’t hurt, except that if you have 10 grand to spend on school, why not use that to live in LA while you work for free and become a trusted artist at a shop? You’ll probably still have half of that money when they start paying you. You should have already taught yourself a lot anyway. If you haven’t, you may not be that interested in this stuff. Same probably goes for digital work, like AfterEffects. Go teach yourself, become a badass, and then come out.

WWFF -
You recently worked on a film with Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale. This might be a silly question but have you ever had a “star struck” moment?

AH -
I’ve had a few… I have to say I generally don’t because the attitude is I’m there to do a job and so are they. But if things are going well, we’re all having fun. You just have to know when its appropriate to go up and chat with them and when not to. If they like what you’re doing sometimes they’ll chat with you. A lot of actors don’t want to be treated weirdly- they are there to work, you just don’t wanna corner them and tell them your life story just because you’ve seen them on TV.

WWFF -
Your line of work requires you to spend hours of time with actors applying make-up and prosthetics. Do you have any interesting stories?

AH -
A few. Can’t tell a lot of them though. I have also heard a lot of interesting stories from stunt people. They always have crazy stories. Lots of them are martial artists, daredevils, ex military, etc. and they have these crazy stories about fighting in Kung-fu tournaments in Asia, or motocross racing, etc. with scars to match.

WWFF-
What was it like to work on the set of the television show “Angel”?

AH -
It was great. High production value, very tight schedule for us, however, long hours both at the shop and on set. Each episode shot for6 days, on 35 mm with a pretty high budget. We’d do Mon-Thurs at Paramount an then Friday night we’d go out and do night exteriors on location in various places around LA, like Chinatown, Griffith Park, etc. The sets were always awesome. It was fun to inhabit that Joss Whedon world where anything could happen, and that gets really fun when they have money: these incredible sets, great physical fix people, a great digital fx team, and us with our rubber monster shop. The crew was great. The actors were pretty laid back. The creature FX did take lot of effort in the schedules and budgets, but a lot of what we did, from Season 3 to the end of the series, looks pretty good. The situation for me was, I would do a lot of shop work- making molds, making creature skins, painting things, casting actor’s heads- but then I’d end up on set for a week. I became the main trusted set guy for a while, and often they would bring me something I had no idea how to operate because I hadn’t worked on building it- and sometimes the first time I put my hands on something was moments before it was to be shot, in front of the assistant director, and producer, actors, crew, who start asking me to demonstrate how the effect works so they can shoot it- and I would figure it out on the spot- “well, its a puppet rig where we’ll take this thing here, and then this will separate like this….” and I’d have a crate containing some mechanical puppet over here, and then run over and check on the stunt guy in a monster suit over somewhere else and do art touch ups on it- like airbrushing or gluing parts of it, then I’d run over to another stage with 2nd unit to set up a fake body to get decapitated, and bowl the head across the ground for 6 or 7 takes till it hit a certain mark, then run back tithe mechanical puppet, attack an actress with it for a scene, check the stunt guy again, bargain with the production team to let the stunt guy out of his contact lenses and gloves to cool down, etc. etc. I was always psyched that this show needed such a high volume of creature FX all the time. That was great, because when we started on it, 2001, I was always wondering when they’d quit doing practical creature FX and take over with computers. When I saw Golem in Lord of the Rings, I thought – ‘that’s it. They can finally really do it.” But then I realized it took a team of 100 computer engineers and proprietary software developers and zillions of dollars, and only the top 1 percent of digital companies could pull off an entirely digital character like a human.

WWFF -
When you started KU Filmworks you made a short film called “Ghost of a chance”. You and Andy Loos worked extremely hard to make this film happen. You wore many hats. How did this film help your career?

AH -
I’ve only shown it to a few people out here, but it has helped. Also, simply having that to talk about has been great because it’s an impressive story. The story may be more valuable than the film itself. People give you respect and say ‘you pulled that off?’ In terms of work, it helped because a chunk of the money we raised I used to create special FX, which I had in my portfolio to show to people when I got here. I’d given myself some experience with some more expensive techniques, which I couldn’t afford on my own. Most importantly though, any time you go all out on a project, you really refine your preconceptions about those things- about filmmaking, about storytelling, about the logistics of it all, and how thin you can spread yourself. It’s influenced my other creative projects.

WWFF -
You have mentioned that you are an introverted person. How hard was it for you to break out and play the director role? Any advice for young aspiring artist/directors?

AH -
Wasn’t hard. I wasn’t extroverted like an actor, but you don’t really have to be. You just have to know the answers, communicate them, and respect the needs of the crew. If the shoot is really tough, the needs of the crew do include a supportive director who is available, can communicate, listen, and be fun. I think that was something I knew instinctively, having worked a lot of crews as a grip and effects artist, while in school. Years later, out here in LA, I was working on a film where the principal actor, who was popular with the crew, was hurt on the final shoot day, and went away in an ambulance. None of us knew how bad it was, or if we could finish the movie. We were all muddy, freezing, exhausted, far from home, concerned for our friend, and we needed some leadership to boost morale. The director said nothing to the crew and it really hurt his image. It took a camera guy to gather the crew around and say a prayer, some words of encouragement, etc. In that situation, it doesn’t take charisma; it just takes some appreciation for the crew and the cojones to say so. Charisma matters a lot less than knowing the answer. Some of the great directors I have been on set with like Ang Lee, are very quiet and focused, but at hour 12 of a tough shoot day, a guy like him knows what the next shot is and why and knows what the performance should be. And if the crew needs leadership, he’s got it.

WWFF -
You are currently pitching a feature script that you have written. What is it like to pitch a script in Hollywood?

AH -
It’s hilarious. I should answer this Monday, as I have a number of pitch meetings Sunday. It would be pretentious for me to say too much since I haven’ sold a script yet (although I have a lot of stuff happening tomorrow). There are a couple important lessons- the first of which is that people really will listen to you. If you have a good idea that’s ready, you will get called back. I was a little shocked by that at first, because millions of people are trying to get their ideas to Hollywood and it’s so famous for having a closed door. The second lesson – don’t send it out too soon.

WWFF -
Tell us about the network of people from the Kansas City area who currently live in LA and work in the industry. Do you find that this has aided in your success?

AH -
There actually seem to be tons of people from KC living here. I have run into them randomly at bars, Yoga classes, the gym, etc. Andrew Loos, who started FIlmworks with me, now owns a marketing company out here that is doing huge business, and we still work on each other’s projects. I have other friends from KC in various fields like visual effects, art department, reality TV, and film finance. I occasionally call some of the OG Kansas guys for advice, like producer Mike Robe or screenwriter Mitch Brian, both of whom I first met during the original Filmworks era. All of these things help.

WWFF -
How important is networking?

AH -
The two things you have to do in LA, boiled down, are, 1. work on your thing, and 2. build relationships. You have to know when to shut the door and get some time on the clock building your skills. That’s why you’re here, so, get something done. Don’t party everyday, unless you already have the career you want. But then, you also have to know when to go out and drink (or not drink) with people. You have to build relationships with people you’re going to work with. Go to all film wrap parties. A film wrap party is not so much about hooking up with the wardrobe girl as it is about having a little fun with each crewperson. You’re kind of saying, “hey, I liked what you did on this movie, lets work together again some time.” You have to become a face in the film community, even if just in one small circle. And if you can, you should constantly try to hook other people up with jobs. Do a little bit of that and now you have a family. Going out to parties and bars has gotten me jobs, gotten me into doors to pitch movies, gotten my screenplay to a high profile Hollywood agent (even though he didn’t like it, my vodka-aided pitch in the corner of the bar got him to read it within a day, which is almost unheard of). I suppose the same could be said of golf courses.

WWFF -
You are currently working on a stop motion animation project that is being shot in HD. Can you talk about this project? What is the story? When will it be completed? Can we see a sneak preview?

AH -
It is my first stop motion film. We actually shot the film with a digital still in an image size much larger than HD. A friend of a friend is a professional photographer, Becky Sapp, who volunteered to do the film just for the experience, so we set up a workflow to use her EOS camera. The advantage is, the image size is so large, we could online in 2K resolution and do a 35 mm film print that would look as if it originated on film. Not sure if I’ll come up with the money to do such a print, however!! I am actually doing an offline edit in an HD format, which I still think is kind of funny. I’m doing it in DVCPRO HD 720p24, which is a great codec because it is easy for a computer, even a good laptop, to handle, but it still looks pretty damn good on an HD screen or even projected on a moderate screen. I wanted to try a stop motion film using a combination of my FX background- making rubber heads- and digital manipulation. The story is simple- its about being absorbed by your own work- an artist is doing a painting, and as he puts more energy into it, it comes alive and literally eats him. So I made 5 different heads for the puppet, all with different facial expressions, and we set up a technique using ‘Frame Thief’ which allowed us to “onionskin” the current live image from a DV camera next to the still camera, with previous frames. What this means is we were able to shoot the same movements with different heads, having them lined up in the same spot as the previous head. Now, having the same shots with the different facial expressions, I’m working with KU grad Chris Martin, who works as a compositor at Stargate Digital, and he has come up with a simple way to morph these facial expressions together. So if you have one 24 frame head turn from left to right, you have all 24 frames with both heads, and we can morph the expression from one to the other along that path- or better yet, be more subtle about it and do things like go halfway between the expressions, then part of the way back, all the way forward, etc. There is a lot of possibility for subtle expression, and stuff you could never get with animatronics, yet it still has that handmade feel of puppet heads physically existing on the set. I think it’s going to be weird and fascinating to watch. (I will email you a clip tomorrow.)

WWFF -
What do you miss about Lawrence and Kansas City?

AH -
Primarily people. And sometimes, being able to drive unimpeded. Lawrence has a great feel – very laid back, but still very cultural, with the University, nightlife, etc. And the film scene seems to be happening there now, which is great. I am always hearing about bigger projects happening there, which is good for everyone.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 25th, 2007 at 8:48 pm and is filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.