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Jeff 216
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Commentary -by Jeff Welk Well, the greater part of my 2 skits (as Warren thankfully mentioned at the end of the film) were inspired by the Genesis album "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway." But there was a bit more to it than that. About the time Warren laid down what he wanted to do with this particular gauntlet, I had just walked out on a friend of mine after a few months worth of arguing. I was angry, more or less at myself, but I was also listening to the aforementioned Genesis album at the time. And so, anger and self-directed frustration gave way to what can only be described as a deep down insanity. On outside appearances, I seemed fine, but on the inside, I had completely lost it. And the album was the perfect outlet for that insanity. So, of course when I decided to write a segment for Gauntlet 216, the only thing that came to mind was my own interpretation of certain parts of the album. The way I wrote my interpretation was that I wanted to present the character of Rael as being a man who was trapped by his baser desires, which were represented by the Lamia that Rael spoke of (Don't know what a Lamia is? Go read the poem by John Keats.) He hated the fact that he could not move beyond his own primal needs, but at the same time he reveled in them, because they were all he had. Although the prison he was in was of his own design, he believed he could not break free by himself, hence the introduction of "John" (AKA Alan.) The presence of someone else, someone who seemed to be unbothered by their instincts, was the wake-up call Rael needed. He realized that he alone was holding himself prisoner, that he was to blame for the situation he was in. And as for the part where Rael "shaves his heart", well... it just wouldn't have been a suitable ending if he had just stood up and walked out, now would it? Well, as Warren and Alan know by now, I suck as a director. The only reason why it took so long to shoot was because going into it, I wasn't exactly sure just how I wanted to shoot it. But then again, the premise of the gauntlet was to get through it as quickly as possible, so we just shot a bunch of angles and hoped they would work. As for anything funny happening, the light kit burned through part of the carpet at one point (which always seems to happen with our group and lights... always burning through stuff...), and of course working with Sabby is always a chore... Luckily, I'm used to being clawed by cats, so I managed to remain in character while he dug his claws into my leg... I'd have to say i think my piece(s) fit into the final movie marginally well. Save for the fact that insanity was the big theme for the whole movie... Then again, since I didn't really have much idea what anyone else was doing (and they probably didn't know what *I* was doing), I suppose it fit in as well as it could have.... What can I say about my first cinematic attempt at something weird...? Well, overall I was happy with it... except for the fact that I was not allowed to use copyrighted music for my segements. I had all the songs planned out, and was intending to use a few songs from the Genesis album to help illustrate what was going on, but I ended up having to leave the music in Warren's hands... So, instead of the Lamia having actual voices, Warren put in a bunch of meowing and clucking, and instead of the "heart-shaving scene" being just plain weird as I wanted it to be, the music he used turned it into some freaky spatula-nipple- masturbation porno... Personally, I think that was just Warren's way of teasing me because everybody seems to think that I use porno music in all of my films... which is a great big load of shit. ;) I think 216 stands for : The number of men in white coats who will take us all away once the psychiatric community sees this film... ;) |
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