Years ago, Chad Fox (Keaton Collective, The Braille Tapes, Chrome Lakes) and I wanted to make a documentary about what inspires the songwriter. We had recently watched quite a few wonderful docs about music and wanted to make something that reflected how we interacted with songwriting.
As we were thinking of the themes, the rules and what we would call the film, Chad said, 'We've gotta to keep it cinematic.' The name was perfect. And it became my mantra and it actually changed the way I made films. Such a simple statement with no special meaning helped me slow down and step back from the project and think about character and how that character will inform the story. The definition of cinematic does not really define a type or quality of filmmaking, but it makes sense to me - and it sound cool.
I learned a lot making this film, and though I wish I knew what I know now (about my own process, my ego and the people I work with), I am still proud: we swung for the fences! The process was painful (pre and post), but the shooting of it was kind of magical and some of the imagery we created still makes me smile.
Our crew was wonderful, the bands were troopers and in the end we made something that was kind of weird, kind of cool, and had a lot of potential. And the phrase keep it cinematic just makes sense to me.
Caleb Young | Director