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Japan and around the world there are a number of western filmmakers
making Japanese influenced cinema. Darryl Knickrehm is one of those
filmmakers. Despite that he has had his short films screened in
America, Canada, Australia and Italy, he wanted an audience for his
films in Japan, where he lives and works. He spoke with the film
editor from “Kansai Time Out,” an Osaka magazine where reviews of some
of his films had appeared. The editor said he was putting together a
screening for some other Osaka based western filmmakers and thought it
might be a good idea to combine the screening into a bigger event.
Thus, the Kansai International Film Festival sponsored by the Japanese
government that Knickrehm would like to make an annual event. The
festival will give filmmakers working in Japan an opportunity to
exhibit their films. Knickrehm’s films will be screening at the
festival where his film, “Out of Context,“ will have its world
premiere.
The festival will screen more than 35 films on August 24, 25, and 26,
2007. If you are in Japan at that time, visit the festival. Admission
is free.
Recently I interviewed Darryl Knickrehm online about his life, and his
films.
RS) Tell me about yourself.
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Darryl Knickrehm |
DK) I was born in Orange County, California and lived in the
same house all of my life. I would say I'm a pretty typical
Californian - love the beach, love punk rock, and love the out doors.
From an early age I was artistically inclined Two of my drawings were
winners in a nation wide cover contest for Oddessy magazine when I was
11 and 12 I enjoyed writing and won in a high school creative contest
two years in a row. I loved technology from an early age. I was
playing the Atari 2600 from age 4 and fiddled around on an Apple IIe
not long after. I never really discovered film until University. I
loved movies, but my parents never let me see an R rated movie until I
was 18 so I wasn't really exposed to many of the classic movies from
the past 3 decades until later in life.
I went to the film school at Chapman University, majoring in New
Media, basically computer special effects. I found out in a
cinematography class that I had a knack for photography and fell in
love with cameras. I prefer the old mechanical cameras. Its just the
feel of them, and the ability to control every aspect of the picture.
Technology does make it easier, but I wonder, who's taking the
picture, me or the camera? University opened me to the world at large.
I had to study a language, and because I like to go the
non-traditional route, I chose Japanese. I visited Japan three times
and fell in love with the culture and people. I feel some sort of long
lost connection with Japan, and find it a very interesting and
comfortable place to live. After graduating in 2003, I decided I'd
like to stay in Japan for while. I found a job teaching English so I
could get a visa, moved to Japan, and started making movies as my real
love. I've been in Japan four years. In my life here and in my movies
I am hopefully mixing a brew of Western and Japanese thought and
style. I've always loved diversity and want to help make the world a
smaller place, one where everyone can understand and enjoy each
other’s culture.
RS) What is a short film?
 DK) A
short film to me is the same as a feature film. It is something that
provokes thought and emotion. However a short film actually has a
wider range and more freedom than a feature film. A feature has to
sustain your interest for 2 hours. It also has to have character arcs,
plot devices, and completed storylines. Of course, a good short
contains those things as well, but it doesn't have too. A good short
film can be about a concept or an idea, or even just about exploring a
character. To me a short film is basically a thought or idea. That is
what three of my shorts, “In Absentia,” “The Visiting,” and “Out of
Context,” are. They are based on concepts that turn into an
interesting story. The characters and events might not be as rounded
or developed as they would in a feature length film, but in this case
they don't need to be. Because it’s cut down to only what you need to
tell your story.
RS) Where do you see the market for your work, other than YouTube
or the Web?
DK) I don't see the Internet or YouTube as the best way to screen
films. Things like YouTube and MySpace are great to show videos, but
most of the content on those sites seem to be more orientated "for
fun." I've placed previews for some of my films on both sites, but
they have gone practically unnoticed. I primarily target my films to
the more traditional route -- film festivals and screenings. I do see
the Internet as a powerful tool to advertise for films in general. Its
a great place to find information, details on screenings, view
previews and clips, etc about films, but I still feel that for a
filmmaker to be taken seriously they have to go the film festival and
traditional distribution route so they can be recognized by people in
the industry. However, with a changing world, that form of
distribution may be through online distributors.
RS) If it is the Web, are you concerned about the seriously
diminished quality films have on the Web?
 DK)
One reason I don't put my films on the Internet is that diminished
quality. I still believe people enjoy watching movies in theaters and
on their TV. I don't feel the computer is a viable medium to display
films in their best quality and for the audience in the most
comfortable of surroundings. Also, like all artists, I would hope to
support myself with my art, so if it were freely available on the
Internet, there would be little reason for viewers to come out to a
screening or a festival, the arena where the films were originally
intended for viewing.
RS) Where and who is the audience?
DK) Finding the audience is hard. Because there are so many other
filmmakers out there, and the market is saturated with their films,
it’s hard to find one's own niche. Everyone has a different angle on
how he or she makes films, and I guess my take is an international
one. In all my films, I want to mix Eastern – specifically Japanese --
and Western ideas and styles. My goal is to make films that show the
intricacies and stories of Japan to a world audience. Japanese films
have good stories that audiences enjoy around the world, if they see
them. But Japanese films aren't very popular internationally, other
then to film enthusiasts, and sometimes even in their home country.
Still the biggest sellers in Japan are movies like “Spiderman” and
“Pirates of the Caribbean.” It is my dream to make movies like those
but in Japan, with a Japanese twist. Besides, there are only a handful
of people doing what I'm doing at the moment -- living in Japan making
my movies -- so that is my angle on things.
There is a very small audience even aware of all the short filmmaking
going on. As the world gets smaller through technology and computers,
and as life gets faster and we have even less free time, I think short
films might become more popular. People here in Japan can watch films
and TV on their phones and their other portable media players. We all
have commutes to work. There is time to kill. And we can't always fill
that time with a feature length film so I believe that shorter films
will become more popular in the future.
RS) I know this sounds like I am being blatantly commercial, but
can anyone make a living making short films?
DK) Probably not. The only way to make a living from art is if
your art is selling. This is also one reason I don't like to put my
movies on the Internet. I suppose if someone got big enough they could
make some money off of short films, but I don't think it would be
much.
RS) Are short films a start for you on the road to longer or
full-length films?
DK) In a way, yes. There are two reasons I've made short film
until this point. First, I want to tell an interesting story rather
than to follow the traditional definitions of a film. If it only takes
10 minutes to tell the story properly, then that is how long I want to
take. Many movies have only a 10-minute story but are 90 minutes long.
I think I will always make short films, because I like telling
stories, and trying out new visual ways of telling them. But lately I
have been developing some longer stories for feature films. I'd like
to make a living from films so that I can focus on filmmaking full
time. Another reason that I make primarily shorts is that, it is all I
can do with the resources I have.
I live in Japan as I said. One of the most important things is get a
visa and make money to pay the rent. In Japan, one of the only ways to
do that for foreigners is to teach English. I have to maintain that
job in order to keep living here. Finding a steady crew and actors
especially in Osaka, isn't as easy as it is back home. The film
industry in Japan is mostly in Tokyo. I enjoy a challenge and prefer
developing my own crew and not having to compete with a hundred other
people just like me. Plus the schedule and budget constraints for a
short film is much easier to manage than for a feature I am hoping to
move up to features in the next year or so. My short films have been a
learning experience. They are also a way of telling those the stories
I've wanted to tell.
RS) What camera do you use? How do you record sound? What system do
you use to edit?
 DK)
I shot my first film “In Absentia” on 16mm and then edited it
digitally on Adobe Premiere Pro. I did the effects in After Effects.
“152” was shot on the Panasonic DVX100A and edited in Premiere Pro
with post done in Effects. From then on, I've been using a 35mm
adapter called the M2 that allows me to use film lenses with the
Panasonic DVX100A. It gives an amazing filmic and it allows me to do
everything manually, which I love. As for the sound, I have a small
studio where we have an editing bay and makeshift recording booth. The
composer of music of my films, Phillip Van Louwen, does a lot of
digital processing and recording of sounds for me as well.
Editor’s Note: Two of Darryl Knickrehm’s films, “In Absentia,”
and “The Visiting,” can be viewed online at the following
links.
“The Visiting,” is viewable at
Triggerstreet.com Film
Festival. You need to create a screen name to view the film however.
The link is:
http://posting.triggerstreet.com/gyrobase/Submission?oid=oid%3A1071770
“In Absentia,” is viewable at The Director's Cut Film Festival.
The link is:
http://www.thedirectorscut.org/dc_html/directors_cut_vote_vc.php?pid=00000095
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At NBC News for 35 years, Ron Steinman was bureau chief
in Saigon, Hong Kong and London, was a senior producer on Today and wrote
and produced for Sunday Today. At ABC News Productions, he produced
and wrote documentaries for A&E, TLC, Discovery, Lifetime and the
History Channel. He has a Peabody, a National Headliner award, a
National Press Club award, a International Documentary Festival Gold
Camera Award, two American Women in Radio & Television awards and
has been nominated for five Emmy's. He is a partner in
Douglas/Steinman Productions, whose latest documentary, "Luboml: My
Heart Remembers," aired on PBS' WLIW/21 and the History Channel in
Israel, April 29, 2003. He is the author of, "The Soldiers 'Story",
"Women in Vietnam," and most recently, "Inside Television's First
War: A Saigon Journal," University of Missouri Press, 2002. |
