I have a horror short for you to watch today called The rowThe story centers on an Internet content moderator who is confronted with an increasingly disturbing series of online videos that are creeping into his psyche.
This short film is shared in partnership with the FilmQuest Film Festival, where we seek to showcase some of the independent genre films and shorts created by filmmakers.
The film was directed by Michael Richand below we conducted an interview with him that you can also watch.
Without spoilers, tell us what your film is about, what its characters and themes are. Is it a proof of concept or a standalone story?
“The Queue is the story of a man named Cole who starts a job as a content moderator for a video-sharing website. We follow him on his first night as he filters an increasingly disturbing series of online videos that insinuate themselves into his psyche. It explores themes of online violence and voyeurism.”
What was the inspiration for your film? How did you get the idea?
“I read an article a few years ago about content moderators employed by major social media sites. Men and women tasked with removing violent and perverse user content. I didn’t even know this was a real job!
“I always thought that AI or algorithms would remove the offensive material, but – at least in some cases – a human has to look at it. You can imagine the kind of things they have to look at. And it reminded me of my teenage years, when I would come across LiveLeak videos.
“I was seeing the most horrific things, and it was this weird mix of emotions. Disgust, embarrassment, but also fascination. I think it’s scary what we have access to on the Internet. And it’s very easy to forget that these violent videos have real human beings suffering real-life consequences.
Tell us about yourself. What is your background? How long have you been a director?
“I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, with a father who worked in television news. Going to his station as a kid, I developed a fascination with cameras and production, especially the “behind the scenes” stuff, because that’s what he did. I went to Chapman University to study filmmaking and found my niche as a horror guy. After graduation, I continued to try to hone my skills by writing and directing short films.”
What drives you to work in genre cinema and tell these kinds of stories?
“I like genre cinema because it’s not afraid to dive into subjects that a lot of other people avoid. It’s a safe place to feel insecure.”
What was the part of the process of making this project that you enjoyed the most?
“I loved working with our lead actor Burt Bulos. We didn’t necessarily rehearse, but we had a phone call before we shot and talked about our vision for the character. Where does this guy come from? What makes this character work? And Burt had so many great ideas that we incorporated.
“The movie is a guy sitting at a fucking computer for 90% of the time. This could have been a disaster if it weren’t for Burt’s ability to engage the viewer and convince them that they were watching the most horrific videos imaginable.
What are you most proud of about this film?
“During our festival run, they programmed us with blocks of short films titled things like “Darker Than You Think” and “Nightmare Fuel.” I read a review online where a woman said the film made her nauseous. And it took about 50 people saying that for me to finally believe it, but some people find this film scary!
“For me it’s a miracle because we show almost nothing. Obviously, the power of suggestion in horror is used all the time, but I honestly didn’t know if it would work. When I was editing it, I thought I had made a mistake.
“Which was almost too bland (and it might very well be for my fellow Hostel fans). But when we did our first screening and I saw people covering their faces, I thought: Holy shit. This works!”
What is your favorite anecdote or moment from the making of the film that you would like to share?
“We didn’t have an AD or a script supervisor to make the movie, so I had this huge amount of paperwork to keep the schedule and shot list in order. Burt kept telling me I look like Andy Reid with his play sheet.”
What was the most challenging moment or experience you had while making your film?
“The most challenging thing was making sure we had enough coverage. I’m a big hypocrite, I don’t think looking at computer screens is cinematic. I wanted to make sure we never used the same shot more than once or twice in the edit to avoid the viewer getting completely bored.
“So we tried to do things like 12 Angry Men, where we get closer and closer to the character as the tension builds, which was difficult on such a small set.”
If so, how did your film change or diverge from its original concept during pre-production, production, and/or post-production? How did this change the way you approach future projects as a result?
“Going back to our lead actor Burt, he really challenged me to dig deeper into the character. And I think we had a really open dialogue on set that led to a better product. So I plan to give a lot of importance to the artists I work with in the future because he set a high bar.”
Who were some of your collaborators and actors in the film? How did you start working together?
“I went to film school with our cinematographer Dave Cortez. He’s definitely the most important crew member for my process. I send him pictures of what I want the movie to look like. And he’s like, yeah, I’m going to make it happen. Then you show up on set and it looks exactly like the damn references.
“He’s legit and super cool. Another key collaborator is our sound designer Michael Cullen. We also went to Chapman U together and I think he works in video game sound as a day job. Michael can make anything happen.
“He’ll hit me up once a year or two with a new short and he never gets flustered. Like, yeah, this needs some sex noises and a guy getting decapitated. And he’ll jump right in and make it look awesome.
“Our producer was Rachel Collins. We’re married. 🙂 And our executive producers were Kory and Juliann Gammon Kleppe, who were so encouraging to me as I made this film. When they helped me put it together, they insisted that it be my vision and that I not let any outside influences or opinions dictate what I wanted to do.”
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received as a director, and what would you say to new directors?
“Trust your instincts. On set, or even during the writing or editing process, it’s easy to get distracted by things that don’t matter. You have to save your energy for the real battles.”
What are your career plans and what do you hope this film will do for your career? What kind of stories do you want to tell moving forward?
“Before The Queue, I was mostly doing fun horror, but most of my feature film ideas are straight-up, scary horror. So I’m hoping to use this as a calling card for a bigger project.”
What is your next project and when can we expect to see it?
“I’m currently writing a horror article. It’s scary and fucked up. :)”
Where can we find more of your work and where can interested parties contact you? Do you have a website or YouTube/Vimeo channel? Social media accounts? Give us what we can share and we will share it!
My website: https://michaelrich.me/
Bonus Question #1: What is your all-time favorite movie?
“The Sorcerer by William Friedkin. The tension is unreal.”
Bonus Question #2: What film most inspired you to become a filmmaker and/or had the greatest influence on your work?
“The Evil Dead. When you watched most movies as a kid, you had no idea how they made them. With The Evil Dead, I felt connected because you could see some of the seams in the making of the movie. It felt really doable, like, wow, this is fun. I can do this.”
Enjoy the short film!
by Joey Fear
Source: Geek Tyrant
Lloyd Grunewald is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. He is a talented writer who focuses on bringing the latest entertainment-related news to his readers. With a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and a passion for writing, Lloyd delivers engaging articles that keep his readers informed and entertained.
