 | About the film . . . |
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| a. What do you think is the most unique aspect of your film? |
"I think that it originated on Imax format and that it's an independent film. I was really surprised when we were approached that we were given the opportunity to use that format. I was just blown away because I love the format and I just never imagined that I'd get anywhere near it. But through the generosity of the Large Format Cinema Association I was able to use this format. It's so expensive, it wouldn't have been possible unless I got the donated services that I did. Seeing something I did on that screen just blew my mind."
"It's weird because it's really hard to get seen in that format. The theaters are really reluctant to take shorts; they can't justify spending money on shorts, but hopefully soon it'll have a chance. It was running a couple cities, but it's not anymore."
Mark received the support of the Large Format Cinema Associate thanks to some of his friends from CalArts who were part of the association's experimental film and animation task force, which supports independent film makers to guarantee that there is experimentation in large format film.
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| b. What was difficult in putting it all together? |
"The format. We had a lot of complications, and it took a lot of time to figure out how to communicate in that format. We didn't have a lot of money for digital post-production, so we tried to do as much on camera as possible. So all the light effects, and sparks, and a lot of the special effects were done on camera, so that meant multiple exposures and lots of painstaking calculation while we were shooting."
But, on a positive note, once the Imax print was made, Mark could reduce the print to any format and create an extremely sharp image.
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| c. Talk about some unexpected surprises that arose? |
The More shoot outlasted its scheduled duration by 5 weeks due to complications that arose during the filming. "We had camera problems and a lot of human error just because we weren't used to using the format. We would shoot something and we might not see it back for 10 days, so we'd have no idea if the film was over-exposed. And there were times when we had to back up and shoot again."
All of Mark's film from the last ten days of shooting was slightly over-exposed due to a loose screw in the camera. He was able to clean up the film for the most part, but he still describes it as "really tragic, really heartbreaking." "I don't even see it anymore," he says, "but it was like I could not stop looking at these little flares."
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| d. Talk about the reception your film has had a previous screenings? |
"I thought I was making a weird movie for a small audience and it turned out to be a really universal film. . . . Throughout the filming, I was worried that it wasn't going to communicate well."
But clearly, Mark's work does communicate to the audience; More is posted on the internet at ifilm.com and it's the most downloaded film on the site--some 65 thousand times! He's even received emails from fans who have decided to start making films after seeing More.
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