Bampire - Interview with Zoe & Malachite
01:14:36
About
The BAMPIRE Interview Bit of a change this episode; Lee and Adam chat with filmmakers Zoe Wassman and Malachite Saaquya about their movie “Bampire”, which they are in the process of crowdfunding. Bampire is a 90s-set horror comedy, introducing a brand new element to vampire lore - vampires who morph into deer! Combining live action with practical effects and animation - it’s described as “Evil Dead 2” meets “Roger Rabbit”. It has a cast including genre stalwart Diane Franklin, “The Room”’s Greg Sestero and the legendary “Lloyd Kaufman”; animation from Josh Stifter; visual effects by the award winning Trysta Kelley; and Taylor Morden in the director’s chair. Having completed filming, the guys are now looking to raise the funds required for post production. As you will hear, Zoe and Malakhai’s passion and love for this project is infectious, they really want to get this out there, and from what we’ve seen of the amazing footage they have, so do we!Have a listen, and go to bampiremovie.com which will take you straight to their Indiegogo page, there you’ll see a teaser and find out exactly what you can do to help this movie get out there, and pick up some lovely merch too! Support independent film.
Transcript
Show full transcript
LeeGood evening and welcome to Horror. I'm Lee.
AdamI'm Adam.
LeeAnd we're here this evening for something really different and really exciting.
Leewe heard about a new movie coming out and we've been contacted by the makers, both writers we have here with us this evening.
Leeso that's Malachite Zakaya, is that correct? Awesome. And Zoe Wasserman.
LeeWelcome guys, how are you doing?
MalachiteOh, so good. Thank you for having us.
ZoeYeah, very excited. We're excited to talk about our project. I mean, it's all we think about.
LeeWe I think that's the thing with independent movies, like it must
LeeI I've never been a part, but where you have so much to do, it it must be hugely time consuming, yeah, and you must have to fill so many different roles to to get through a project like this.
ZoeOh yeah.
ZoeAnd we had very few people to fill those roles, so for every one person we had, they did four to five jobs.
ZoeAnd that's just, you know, where we're at in the industry.
Zoefulfilling those roles is very expensive, it's very time consuming and when it's not what someone is doing on a professional level at that point in their lives, it's also hard to make that kind of time.
ZoeSo every single person actually went out of their way, took PTO, just really committed and gave us everything that they had to spare for the entire year and a half that we were in pre-production and production.
Zoeand it's crazy, like you said, with the timeline, we were in pre-production for
Zoea year and three months and we filmed the movie in three weeks.
ZoeSo you prepped for this long.
MalachiteAnd then it is crunch time.
MalachiteAnd you just gotta nail it.
MalachiteIt's kind of this thing where like if you are an independent filmmaker and you have even an idea for a movie you want to make, it starts out on that level of almost like a dream or like a like a huge goal, but you don't know what steps to take to get to it.
MalachiteBecause you don't have all these resources available and so you even with the curating a script that you feel like is possible to achieve on a lower budget or without that Hollywood support.
Malachitefrom there through you're sort of just building this like, okay, I don't know how I'm going to get this to happen, but the story's in my head.
MalachiteI'm passionate enough about it and so finding like, oh, what can I tweak or what pieces fit and and I can build around those, I can build my script around maybe like a location that I know we have in town, or just all that sort of a thing.
MalachiteIt becomes this very like ethereal dream building process for those first steps because it's like you're asking for something that you just don't have.
MalachiteYou don't have the help from the actors, you don't have a crew, you know you can't really pay them, at least not up front.
MalachiteAnd so you go around just trying to pull on strings and and find like a almost it's like the world has to start working with you a little bit and and give you.
Malachiteoffer up on a plate like, oh this is your here's your gaffer, you just You met him like in line at a at a coffee shop.
ZoeToday.
MalachiteBut now you can make your film.
ZoeYeah, exactly, like we actually met a group of people who moved to Oregon.
Zoea handful of weeks before production. I mean, we did not know them from Adam nor Eve before they made it, you know, to Eugene kind of a thing.
Zoeand they reached out to Malachi because they saw some of his acting and they were really impressed.
ZoeHe's actually one of the actors in the movie as well, he plays one of our lead roles.
Zoeand one of those people actually helped us build one of our most insane sets.
ZoeHe actually constructed a fully movable, so like it's built of a ton of unique individual pieces that all can refit together and it's a cave.
ZoeSo it's like a a cave that is now like built inside of a studio and it was one of our most important sets.
ZoeThe hardest to find, the hardest to do practically because you're literally underground with a bunch of lighting equipment.
ZoeAnd blood that you're spraying everywhere.
ZoeNo way.
ZoeLike who's going to let you do that?
Zoeso this was like, we have no idea how to do this, we have no one in our lives who builds caves for a living.
Zoeand then we meet this guy a handful of weeks before production and he's like, of course, yeah, sure, let me at it.
Zoewe didn't know if he could actually build a cave from scratch, but we trusted him.
ZoeHe seemed confident.
ZoeAnd he just set off and really created just a magnificent set.
ZoeI mean, I was stunned when I saw the results.
ZoeSo
ZoeThank you, Michael Rucker.
MalachiteHe ended up saving us about $11,000 on what it would have costed to like order a pre-made cave set in a like professional filmmaking sort of sense.
Malachiteand instead he made it cut it all out of foam and like painted it himself.
LeeWow.
LeeYeah, because I was going to say we've skipped so far.
LeeWe haven't actually mentioned what the film is.
AdamOh, sorry.
LeeThat was my fault.
MalachiteWe get a little excited.
MalachiteNo, but our film is called Bampire and it is a amalgamation of if you imagine Bampi and Vampire brought together.
MalachiteBasically the concept, so we live in Eugene, Oregon, on the West Coast of the US and there's a ton of deer around here, just everywhere.
Malachitewe have like lots of wildlife and lots of forests.
MalachiteBut the deer will just pop up in the road, almost like every other day.
MalachiteYou'll see a deer and sometimes they'll just stare you down.
MalachiteLike you know, honestly the most intimidating way of like, no hit me, I dare you.
MalachiteAnd so we came up with this concept of like, well,
Malachitewhat if vampires are shapeshifters that can turn into bats, fanged bats, but also, what if they could turn into fanged deer?
Malachiteand they're there is truly a species of deer that have fangs rather than horns.
MalachiteThey're called musk deer.
MalachiteCrazy and so we realized all these are real, let's write a whole script around them.
Malachitebut they live traditionally in like China and Russia and not over here in in Oregon, so we wrote this concept of like, okay,
Malachitewhat if they had discovered evidence of musk deer in this area and they go out to try a community group of community college students.
MalachiteDriven by their over enthusiastic biology teacher, they all go out into the woods just to try and explore these like cave paintings that have been found of musk deer.
ZoeBut that's not what happens.
LeeFantastic.
LeeI mean great concept as soon as I saw the trailer, what I loved about the trailer is that it doesn't give too much away.
Leewe were discussing just before we before you guys joined us.
LeeWe were saying how much we love the trailer, it looks incredible, it looks absolutely fantastic.
LeeAnd again, it's that it leaves enough ambiguity for you to be like it it draws you in but doesn't just give you the money shots of the film in the first five minutes and then just you know.
LeeWhen you watch it, you know, there's nothing worse than a a trailer, which is ultimately just the best scenes of the film.
LeeAnd then you just watch the trailer with extra bits in that drives us nuts.
ZoeMe too. I don't watch trailers anymore for that reason.
MalachiteAnd it's it's been a hard thing to balance because we captured such cool pretty effect, like gore effects and we have like some practical creature transformations in the film.
Malachitethat we want to show so badly.
MalachiteLike it's it's one of the things we're most excited about.
MalachiteWe're huge horror fans and we set out just trying to find like all of the the.
Malachitebest way to elevate some of these practical effects and so now that we've achieved them.
MalachiteIt's like, of course we want to show you guys our monster in full makeup and then.
MalachiteBut then you'll know who it is.
ZoeAnd then.
MalachiteIt's yeah, we've been really careful.
AdamIt's that horrible balance, isn't it?
AdamWhere it's like when when you're so especially because, I mean that's the great thing is we with a lot of independent films you're so excited about it and you're so into it that it's like, no, we want to show you.
AdamNo, seriously, we want to show you this bit.
AdamAnd then but it's like, no, I've got to back off here.
AdamBecause like you say.
AdamYou you can't just you can't just sort of like just immediately give everything away and sort of you know, it's got to be there, so it's the part, because that I mean, I've always thought that's the thing when you watch sort of.
Adamlike American Werewolf, they won't go too, they didn't go too detailed into what is the bit that everyone talks about when they've seen the film.
AdamAnd it's trusting to that sort of thing of, no, when they see this.
AdamThey are going to be blown away.
ZoeAnd.
MalachiteYeah.
ZoeAmerican Werewolf in London was one of our like initial dreams.
ZoeLike we're like, if we could have a transformation sequence that is even an echo.
Zoeof this greatness.
ZoeThen we have, you know, we'll have something to talk about.
ZoeAnd our director, Taylor Mordon, he was on board with that vision from the get go.
ZoeI mean, our group love of the 80s and the 90s nostalgia of practical effects of some of the staples of the movies that came out during those times.
ZoeLike we actually, we have this VHS camera, I don't know if you can see it back there, but it's all wrecked.
Zoeso we actually used this not just as a prop, we had an identical camera that we actually filmed found footage on.
ZoeSo we're using real like VHS found footage in the movie itself that our director, who is like raised, born, you know, grew up in the 90s is still like a big nostalgia fan.
Zoehe actually was the guy like operating the camera and I mean he grew up like in high school using one of these.
ZoeSo it really just reads like a pro in his element getting to do something that he's been excited about and wanting to do for a while.
Zoeand that's like the VHS found footage is what it is, but that goes for every single one of his shots.
ZoeI've never seen a man work a camera the way that guy does.
AdamYeah, because I was I was looking into what he's done because he's done a lot of I see he's done like he's done a lot of short films, but most of his features have been documentary.
AdamBut there was for example, one of them was the the last Blockbuster about the Blockbuster video store.
AdamSo you know where that sort of where he's coming from.
AdamLike a lot of them and like music documentaries about the 90s and things like that.
AdamSo you know that that's where, you know, that's where he's coming from, that's where his sort of interests lie and stuff like that.
AdamSo it's you know, it's so when you guys so was it originally it started with you guys?
Adamand then he came on board and then and gradually a lot of the time a lot of indie filmmaking.
Adamalways seems like a cult almost where it's like.
AdamOne one person's got a vision.
AdamAnd you just have to draw so many people in.
AdamAnd they do have to give up a lot.
ZoeOh my gosh, yeah.
AdamTo sort of help and bring that about and everything and manifest the whole thing, so it's it kind of feels like that.
AdamBut so it started so it started originally from you guys, it was your sort of like like script and was where it sort of the initial spark came from was yourselves.
MalachiteYes.
MalachiteSo Zoe and I sat down with that concept of like these deer could be vampires.
MalachiteThey want to make us crash so they can drink our blood.
MalachiteAnd then we wrote that into just a really exciting, youthful, also just really grounded and realistic sort of script.
Malachiteand brought it to Taylor because we he had just moved to town.
MalachiteAnd we had seen his portfolio and kind of that just amazing like sense of like flavor that he brings to all of his projects.
MalachiteAnd kind of youthfulness and his ability to just inspire and make contacts with people.
MalachiteLike initially, we brought the script to Taylor and the first person we reached out to is we emailed Rick Baker, who does the the Werewolf transformations.
Malachitejust as a dream, like no way we're going to get Rick Baker.
MalachiteBut.
ZoeYeah.
MalachiteBut that's how we approach this whole film and Taylor really came in with that sense of like.
Malachitethat attitude of like, well we might as well ask, like they might want to help us, it's you don't know until you try.
MalachiteAnd through that attitude, he's been able to bring in just some amazing people to our film, which we would have made either way.
MalachiteWe would have made it with no famous actors with nothing, just with our friends in our backyard if we had to,
MalachiteBut so we wrote this great script that had all those elements and then we found Taylor who had that kind of mind.
MalachiteAnd that skill set for bringing more and more people together.
MalachiteAnd he was able to find a lot of amazing people, he got Diane Franklin, who is the princess in Bill and Ted's excellent adventure.
AdamYeah.
MalachiteShe came in for a role.
MalachiteAnd one of the sweetest people I've ever met, absolutely amazing, so talented.
MalachiteShe does a French a French accent in our film and it's like.
Malachitethe just the vigor she approaches that with, like she brings out, is incredible.
MalachiteAnd then we also went on to get Greg Sestero from The Room,
MalachiteHi Mark.
ZoeHi Mark.
MalachiteOh, hi Mark.
ZoeI know.
MalachiteWe we were in contact with him for like half of a year and he was like, yeah, I'm interested for sure, this is awesome.
MalachiteAnd so Taylor just kept talking to him about it and by the end, Greg actually came in and.
Malachiteacts in our film and he did it for free, he did it as a volunteer.
LeeOh, wow.
ZoeYeah.
ZoeJust to support indie filmmaking.
MalachiteYeah, just because his relationship with Taylor and with our script and with trying to schedule with us and seeing how much we were just giving it all we could.
MalachiteHe's like, you know what, guys.
Malachiteall you have you paid for my flight and that's all you need that's all I need.
LeeWow.
LeeThat's.
LeeThat's incredible.
LeeI mean it's.
LeeIt's fantastic to see people.
LeeBut it it must be nice for you guys to have had this as you say this initial crazy idea in the car and then you kind of knock up a script.
LeeTo think, we'll get some friends in.
LeeMaybe we'll make a short.
LeeAnd then before you know it, you've got people who you've, you know, yeah, who've come all this way and who you watched on screen as when you were younger.
ZoeAnd like, seriously.
LeeHave them excited by your idea must be really, really reassuring to know that it's not just some crazy idea that no one's going to no one's going to be on board with.
LeeLike you've just managed very easily to sell it to a whole group of people who you, you know, really aspire to be part with.
MalachiteYeah.
ZoeIt feels like a real accomplishment just to have had the amount of energy and excitement and love.
ZoeI mean, there's no better word for it, it's love, you know, every single person who joined this project did it because they love filmmaking.
ZoeBecause they love the story, because they love their craft, because they loved us.
ZoeYou know.
Zoein some cases.
ZoeI mean, it really was an act of love and dedication toward this project that got it to where it is right now.
Zoeand honestly like, you know, I I I can't sing Taylor's praises enough because he really was just such a huge part of this.
ZoeAnd I I met Taylor while he was working on a project that was called Space Beavers two.
MalachiteNot one.
ZoeTwo.
AdamPretty good.
ZoeI know I was like.
MalachiteYeah.
ZoeHe had found this archive of footage from the 90s and 80s of these kids who had essentially tried to make this movie about beavers in space and they had done it in the style of the original Star Wars with like miniatures, you know, flying through just darkness, right?
Zoeand like practical beaver costumes in astronaut suits.
ZoeAnd when I like when he told me about that idea, we had already had the.
Zoethese deer our vampire conversation.
ZoeAnd at that moment, I was like, this is our guy, he'd do it.
ZoeI know.
ZoeHe'd do it.
Zoebut then I learned later that Taylor, when he saw my reaction to Space Beavers two, thought, okay, this chick's real.
ZoeYeah.
ZoeYeah, and that helped me do something like pretty cool too.
ZoeSo like I think the the love of, you know, the art form but the specifically like nostalgic and, you know, these things that we've watched growing up that we'd never gotten the opportunity to do, most filmmakers don't get the opportunity to do one of the things that we pull off in this movie.
ZoeBut we've managed to create this piece strictly by adapting when there were problems, solving everything that came into our path as quickly as we can.
Zoewe were able to actually bring in some really exciting elements to this piece.
ZoeThat we didn't even plan to have to be given with, but now we couldn't imagine our movie without them.
MalachiteYeah, like one of the coolest elements in Bampire is that we've chosen to animate certain things, always on top of practical, so a world where you have your real life actors.
Malachitebut then maybe like a feral deer jumps out of a bush and scares them and for that moment it's this animated deer and it,
Malachitewasn't originally in our concept, we thought we'd go practical, we even thought we'd go more like silly, obviously fake sort of like Monty Python esque practical.
Malachitebut that's not the way it went, we were really open to adapting and trying to use all the resources we could find as well as possible.
MalachiteWe ended up meeting and getting connected with just an incredible makeup and practical effects artist named Trista Kelly.
MalachiteAnd she is just a total up and comer works out of Portland, Oregon right now a ton.
MalachiteBut she was able to elevate a lot of our transformations into like, okay, we're really going to do this, we're going to have multiple steps where it looks like the horn's coming out a different amount and we're going to shoot it all.
MalachiteAnd we're not just going to throw an animated horn on this head.
MalachiteSo we we adapted like, okay, we'll we'll animate some things due to safety and due to the fact that we don't have the budget.
MalachiteAnd also due to that just amazing kind of Who Framed Roger Rabbit flavor that we thought.
Malachitehasn't been shown in a movie in a while and could really fit into this horror genre.
MalachiteSo, we we just said yes to all of that.
MalachiteAnd I think I'm really proud of us because we didn't stay too hard to any one aspect.
MalachiteWe found what could shine in in any moment, what could shine the brightest is what we chose.
MalachiteAnd it just led to this really interesting amalgamation film.
MalachiteWhere we have there's like a one of the characters brings a VHS and is filming stuff and so we cut to you seeing what is actually filmed through his VHS and that's all.
MalachiteLike Zoe said, practically literally recorded on tape before we digitalize it.
Malachiteand then we have animated sections over everything and it and then real practical stuff.
MalachiteAnd it just it turned into something that was so so unique and almost so like specialized and diverse that it was.
MalachiteI don't know that we could have set out to make it as a plan, but the fact that we were able to incorporate those elements when they when they popped out as options for us.
MalachiteJust really gave us the biggest ability to achieve as as many of these things as possible.
MalachiteBecause we we set out, Zoe wrote us the incredible script, which really I feel is like step one and what got a lot of interest here, but we're a small group and we didn't have a lot of funding.
MalachiteWe didn't have a lot of you know, like we said like our initial our initial concept was, hey, we'll do it in the backyard with our best friends if we have to.
MalachiteAnd then from there we just made all these cool little connections where where we got it to add a little bit of value, a little bit of value and before we know it, we got Greg Sestero showing up for free.
MalachiteAnd we've we ended up putting a bunch of all of our own savings into the film.
MalachiteAnd that's like the only budget we got.
MalachiteSo a very humble initial starting budget.
Malachiteand then a lot of people who are willing to sign on just for potential payment and stuff like that.
MalachiteSo I I know I'm rambling but it it's like every step of the way it just grew a little bit, a little bit, a little bit into something that now.
Malachitehas had so much love poured into it.
MalachiteAnd it's just humbling.
Zoeand like, yeah.
MalachiteJust truly amazing, like if everybody is passionate about one thing and nobody is in it just for themselves, it's incredible.
AdamYeah.
MalachiteLike like a culty sense of like, we're doing this because we love it.
ZoeAll hail Vampire.
MalachiteIt's incredible what what you can do.
MalachiteAnd incredible how much work people put into this film for for very little personal gain and, oh, we just want to pay him all so much.
LeeOh.
LeeIt's got to be said, you're saying, you know.
LeeIt it was done on a on a a low budget and it's entirely independent and stuff, but Adam and I were discussing from the trailer, it looks incredible.
LeeLike it looks fantastic, it really does look, yeah.
LeeHead and above what I would expect in, you know.
LeeFrom a from a a lower budget, you know, as you say, just just pulling a team together and getting friends involved and stuff.
LeeOh, it just looks magnificent.
LeeSo, yeah.
ZoeOh, thank you.
MalachiteYes.
AdamIt really, really does, guys, it just, you know, we were.
AdamWe were we were we were stunned that it because it looks it looks like a it looks like, I mean, the love is showing there and the talent is showing there, but also it looks like this had, you know, a lot of money poured into it and a lot of and, you know, the fact that you guys did that in like three weeks and stuff like that really does look terrific.
AdamYou know.
AdamIt's like.
AdamAnd like you say, it's that whole thing of you've just managed to be like sort of draw so many people into the orbit of it, all of whom are just contributing their parts or their multiple parts.
AdamLike you say, because you you're sort of you're doubling up both as an actor and the writer and it sort of, you know, there's a lot of people wearing multiple hats on it and stuff like that.
AdamBut yeah, I think certainly from the footage we've seen, I mean, it looks.
Adamit you know, it looks a million dollars, you know.
AdamIt's it's.
Adamreally, really good.
ZoeAnd.
AdamYeah, it doesn't have.
ZoeHonestly.
AdamYou go.
AdamI was going to say, it doesn't it doesn't have that sort of thing sometimes where there'll be there'll be some sort of drop off on an independent film in some way or another.
AdamIt might be, you know, it might be like the sound wasn't there or it might be that the effects weren't there or something like that.
AdamYou know.
AdamAnd it's just, but yeah, overall what we've seen looks incredible.
AdamYou know.
AdamIt does really.
ZoeIt's got.
AdamCertainly excited us for it.
AdamYou know.
AdamWe really we really can't wait to see this.
ZoeThis project, like our our practical effects artist.
ZoeTrista Kelly said it more than once onset.
ZoeAnd I think it's just a beautiful way of saying it.
ZoeYou can put a decapitated neck wound on somebody, you can take off their arm.
ZoeYou know, and have it be fake.
ZoeYou can spray blood as much as you want, but if you don't have someone underneath that prosthetic.
Zoeselling that blood spray.
ZoeIf you don't have someone behind that camera.
Zoecapturing that frame to be magnificent and stunning and full of depth, it doesn't matter.
AdamYeah.
ZoeIt doesn't matter how great that effect is, it doesn't matter any piece of it could fall apart.
ZoeBut none of it did for us.
ZoeAnd by every right it should have.
ZoeI mean, and I I don't say that lightly.
ZoeWe had a hundred challenges that we overcame, one a day.
ZoeI mean, one show stopping challenge per day is what I would say this project.
MalachiteOne day it was bees.
ZoeLike millions of wasps.
MalachiteThousands of wasps.
ZoeYeah.
MalachiteLiterally.
ZoeLike we had accidentally cooked meat over a fireplace and left, I guess, a chunk of meat in the campfire.
ZoeAnd the next day we show up to film.
ZoeAnd we're supposed to be at this set all day, we've got, you know, three weeks, right, 21 days.
ZoeOne of those days is at this set.
ZoeAnd it's full of bees.
ZoeMillion bees.
ZoeI mean, I've never seen so many bees.
ZoeAnd we've got two people who are allergic, our director is literally like paralyzingly terrified of bees.
ZoeAnd he overcame that as well as a hundred other challenges.
ZoeThat only he knew about, you know.
Zoereally like the testament to this piece could be said by any one of the 28 people who were there.
ZoeBecause every single one of them was a champion for this project.
ZoeEvery single one of them fought a million bees, you know.
ZoeBut yeah, it's definitely had its own sense of gravity, like people have been pulled.
ZoeLike you said, into the orbit of this project and until each one of those pieces came into play, there wasn't a project.
ZoeEven even for us, you know, having Taylor show up and say, I'm working on Space Beavers too, we hadn't even started writing the screenplay.
ZoeAnd there he was, the guy who was supposed to direct it.
ZoeAnd you know, it's just one of those moments where you got to listen to those signs, you know, the second that you're given that opportunity, like you better kick that door down.
ZoeBecause like it might shut again in a moment if you're not careful.
ZoeAnd we just took advantage in every every time that we could of someone who was.
ZoeWe didn't take advantage of people every chance we could.
ZoeBut we took advantage of the love that people were willingly giving us.
ZoeLike they were really just excited.
ZoeAnd essentially said, hey, if you don't if if it means that we get to make Bampire, don't pay me till we can make some money off Bampire.
ZoeThen pay me with that.
ZoeI'll take some of that money.
ZoeBut if it means that we get to make this movie right now, with these people, then yeah, I'm in, sign me up.
ZoeThat was their everyone's energy from the get-go, no matter how much we offered to pay them.
ZoeThey were had this attitude of, no, please, put it toward the movie.
LeeIncredible.
LeeThat's incredible.
LeeAnd and that's just the beauty of of indie filmmaking, you know, from what I've seen is that it is a project of love for for everyone involved.
Leebecause it does always seem a bit of a house of cards, as you say, every day you turn up and you're like, right, what's going to go wrong today, what is going to threaten the entire project this time next week.
LeeAnd it's and it it must be a matter of troubleshooting all the time.
LeeBut if you've got a core group and you're all you're all as dedicated as one another.
LeeAnd as you say, you haven't got anyone who's just showing up for a paycheck or whatever, then is amazing what you can you can get through.
MalachiteYeah.
MalachiteIt takes that much love and if any single person is willing to say.
MalachiteOh, that's okay, let's move on.
MalachiteAnd and just treat it like that casually or without that much perfectionism, it's going to show.
MalachiteAnd so yeah, putting together, I mean, it's.
Malachiteyeah, none of it happens on on accident, like we took this huge leap, but we've been making short films in the same community for five to 10 years, you know.
MalachiteAnd just just meeting people and seeing everyone's skill set and how to.
Malachiteempower each other, I mean, I think that's that's the keyword to focus on if you want a group of people who are all passionate and encouraged.
Malachiteand and willing to speak up, you need a group of people who all feel empowered and feel like.
Malachitewe're making something great and I can make it a little better and there's not a sense of ego, if I have an idea that can make it better, people are going to love me for that.
MalachiteNo one's going to feel mad at me for taking the spotlight or or any of that.
MalachiteIt's that that sense of like empowerment and just appreciation is.
Malachitein the workplace in general, that that gets lost really quick sometimes.
AdamAbsolutely, yeah.
MalachiteBut if you're able to, if you pour the love back into the people who are working and and giving themselves to to your project.
MalachiteIt's definitely will pay off.
Malachitethat's one thing that we learned for sure.
MalachiteIt's like we everybody, everybody on set of like probably 30 people all became best friends.
MalachiteAnd and just just like at the end we all held hands.
MalachiteAnd talked we said stories and we sang a little Kumbaya.
MalachiteAnd you know.
MalachiteIt was the most hippie thing I've ever participated in.
MalachiteAnd we're from Eugene, Oregon, which is like it's hippie Central over here.
MalachiteSo.
MalachiteEverywhere.
MalachiteFliers in the hair.
MalachiteSo.
MalachiteBut that passion, that love, and that empowerment where everyone is like, no, I'm going to make the lighting a little bit better.
MalachiteEven though I might not be getting a lighting credit or like you do it every way you can.
MalachiteYou do it by saying, hey, I'll give you a lighting credit.
MalachiteYou know, you'll do it by just thanking them every time you see their face in the morning.
Malachite
MalachiteBut that also we took such a leap on this and another one of the takeaways is.
MalachiteDon't make a film in three weeks.
MalachiteIt's so we got so lucky.
ZoeIt was a miracle.
MalachiteWe got so lucky.
ZoeThere are only so many times that I would use that word.
ZoeBut this project was miraculous.
ZoeAnd I know that we've talked about 18 different elements that we've got involved in the film and how excited we are about every single one of them, but that's what no sacrifices looks like, that's taking a piece that by every right, we should not have been able to make at this budget level and we didn't miss a scene.
ZoeWe have stunts taking place in moving vehicles in the original screenplay, well, now we we have more intense stunts taking place in a moving vehicle, but it's cartoon.
ZoeSo no one's getting hurt.
ZoeYou know.
ZoeIt's like, there's no way we were going to have someone hanging half out of a window being pulled on a trailer with eight people strapped to the hood of the car, all with gear strapped onto them.
ZoeHeck, no.
ZoeWe're like, we're not there.
ZoeWe're doing this, like we said, with people that we love, no way are we going to risk them in that way.
ZoeNo way.
ZoeThat's where the conversation stopped when it came to our practical stunts because it was never going to be worth risking hurting somebody.
ZoeSo everything that we've done was not just for the love of the piece, although the story was our top priority.
ZoeFor the love of the people, it was taking our human resource that we had, treating them as respectfully as possible.
ZoeAnd if they were saying, hey, there we can't do this, you know, there's no way we can do this amount in this much time.
ZoeOkay.
ZoeWe're not going to do that amount then.
ZoeWe're going to do this much in this much time and everything that we execute, we're going to execute perfectly.
ZoeEverything else, we will figure out a way to do it, but it might not be the way that we set out to do it.
ZoeAnd like that level of adaptation had to come from every member of our team.
ZoeEvery member.
LeeIt is something we say a lot in independent film, Adam and I have discussed it.
LeeAdam on the show, how when you've got an indie film and you can see for budgetary restraints or whatever.
LeeYou have to adapt and change and sometimes those things can end up being the key things that you love the most.
LeeLike you say with the idea of bringing in the animation.
LeeOkay, we can't actually do this.
LeeLet's animate it, let's do that.
LeeAnd and it ends up going from what could be a negative of I can't really afford it, it's going to look chunky or it's not going to.
LeeAnd all of a sudden you you elevate it by thinking around the corner and coming up with a whole new way of doing it.
LeeAnd all of a sudden it's it's an extra spark.
LeeAnd it goes in the plus column.
AdamIt it suddenly becomes someone's favourite part of the film and it's something that is an adaptation of due to time, budget, you know, capability or whatever like that.
AdamAnd also it's just great to hear that level like you say about being responsible to everyone because that's why everyone wants to show up.
AdamBecause quite frankly, there are, as we've seen recently, there's a lot of bigger budget movies that aren't doing that, you know, there's there's a lot of heartache out there about how people.
Adamyou know, treated on set and how you know, things things corners are cut and things like that and it's just, you know, at the end of the day, like you say, you're making a film.
AdamYou know, if you if you're if you know, if.
AdamI don't know, it's not not like heart surgery or bomb disposal or something, you know.
AdamYou know, it's like, we're making a film, we're not going to, you know.
ZoeWe're not going to.
AdamWe're not going to hurt someone or get someone, you know, injured in in for the sake of a film.
AdamYou know.
AdamIt's but again, it makes it it brings everyone together, but also it just means that you.
Adamfind these ways around that quite often are just so much, you know, they become the parts that people remember.
AdamThey become the parts that people go, that was unique, I haven't seen that before.
AdamAnd, you know, it's a real sort of it can become a selling point.
AdamYou know.
AdamIt's it's just great.
AdamYou know, it's a fantastic.
Adamscenario and and like you say, it's having to be adaptive, it's having to bend with how things go.
MalachiteYou know, I think at least as an artist, I feel really passionately that acceptance is like a.
Malachitethat is the key source of like growth and beauty and ownership of who you are.
MalachiteAnd love for things.
MalachiteSo just that sense of like, yes, we will show those vulnerabilities in a way that.
Malachitewe love and other people will be able to love them too.
MalachiteInstead of maybe covering up those parts and hoping people don't notice, that's I think that's the opposite of acceptance.
MalachiteAnd so in these moments where we said like, yes, we can't afford to.
MalachiteWe we accept that we're not going to have an actor ripped out of a truck while it's moving, but if we animate it, we can have him ripped in half and his legs can stay in the bottom of the truck.
MalachiteIt's such a weird way to say it, like acceptance can be usually turned towards the self in such a beautiful way.
MalachiteBut when you turn it towards the film or towards your art, too, it just allows unique things to shine.
MalachiteAnd that's.
Malachitebeautiful.
ZoeAbsolutely.
MalachiteAnd so I think historically and culturally sometimes we snuff out the unique things or we try to cover them up because they're risky.
Malachitewe might be judged for them.
MalachiteBut yeah, let let the uniqueness shine, it's it's it's worth it.
MalachiteAnd you wouldn't you wouldn't get a film like Bampire if you didn't just have that that attitude of like that sort of yes and.
MalachiteOr that like, oh, it hasn't been done before, but I could see it working, I could find love for it, even if I don't know, who cares if anyone else does.
MalachiteBut
ZoeAbsolutely.
MalachiteGosh, I do I want to say like we had this almost like miracle level of success in this thing that we set out to do.
MalachiteAnd and kept saying yes to, but one of the things we had to say yes to was.
Malachitelet's try to shoot this in in two and a half weeks because our budget isn't there.
MalachiteAnd we flew like four or five out of state actors in during those weeks.
MalachiteIt was an intensive, very high stress two to three weeks, like often times 16 plus hour day.
MalachiteI mean like often times like 16 hours on set and then for us as producers and me as an actor producer, that's on set for 16 hours, come home.
MalachitePrep for tomorrow, try to put a social media post out, and then you then you get to like eating and sleeping maybe for four hours before you're back.
MalachiteAnd no joke, that was our that was our schedule for two and a half weeks and
Malachitethat was the only that was what it took to to put everything we could, all of the money we could into the film.
MalachiteAnd not have to worry about different segments or, you know, all of that, it was what was needed, but.
ZoeMan.
MalachiteIt's the next film, hopefully we don't have to say yes to something so extreme.
LeeI was just about to say.
LeeI'm going to say you guys have to need some downtime.
LeeBut equally, I can still.
LeeI can see that you're both still buzzing from the from the production.
MalachiteOh my gosh.
LeeSo.
LeeAre you already thinking of new thoughts?
LeeAnd writing some ideas down and possibly.
MalachiteI've been thinking Bampire two, Bampire two.
MalachiteThere's so much love for Bampire and there's so many open-ended story elements, especially if you think like in in the prequel sense and the after the math.
Malachiteafter math of Bampire sense.
MalachiteSo I've been thinking a lot about what kind of stuff we can come up with to build off of Bampire specifically.
MalachiteZoe is just a prolific writer in general, she this is her first.
Malachitefeature that she's written and that will be produced.
MalachiteBut she's got a whole you know, bag full of other features and they're all just really unique.
MalachiteAnd so I she's been putting a lot of work into that.
MalachiteBut right now, the real truth is all we can really focus on is is Bampire still.
MalachiteIt's been trying to build a marketing campaign and find.
Malachitewe're not as much as we sound like we're finished it and we're so excited that it went well.
MalachiteWe have so much work.
ZoeWe have a lot of work.
ZoeYeah, it's like post-production.
Zoeis 50% of a project.
ZoeSo we've done 50%.
ZoeWe still have about half to go in terms of taking all of that.
ZoeAnd combining it into an amazing film.
ZoePutting in the animation, putting in the music, you know, finishing our fundraaising like we're going to run this Indiegogo campaign for.
Zoe
ZoeAbsolutely.
ZoeBut one thing that I really want to make clear is that we're doing this because we believe in independent film.
ZoeI completely see the value in major studios, who wouldn't.
ZoeRight, it's kind of you can't ignore the value of working with a major studio.
Zoeand I also see the value in working with a union, you know, and and figuring out how to make that something that really does benefit your career.
ZoeBut there are a lot, a lot of talented artists out there who can apply for a union and not get into it.
ZoeAnd who can wish to work with a major studio, but may never even get the opportunity.
ZoeAnd what other avenue is there for those million.
ZoeI mean, I'm talking like a large handful of artists, who those are just not pathways toward success.
ZoeThis is that pathway for so many artists out there.
ZoeThis is the way that they can hope to make their dream come true is through independent filmmaking.
Zoethrough uncensored filmmaking.
ZoeAnd as a writer who specializes, if you will, in uncensored film writing.
ZoeI personally believe it's it's one of the only ways to keep the art out there pure.
ZoeI and by that, I mean something that's coming from the heart, not coming out of a wallet and back into a wallet.
ZoeNot that.
ZoeSomething better than that, something that people choose to do because they love it, because they believe in it, because they think it's going to be impactful artwork.
ZoeI mean, and that's something I don't see coming out of a lot of these other pathways.
Zoedoes it happen?
ZoeSure.
ZoeBut what I love to see 800 times more, yeah, like of course, who wouldn't.
ZoeIt's good art.
ZoeSo if this is the way that I get to make my artwork and if I get to make it with these people, then this is the path that I would choose.
ZoeAgain and again, no matter that dollar sign and even though we say, yeah, I hope we don't have to do that again.
ZoeIt's like what I do know beyond a shadow of a doubt is that no matter how well Bampire does, we're going to be back out there making another movie.
ZoeSo.
ZoeYou know, Path films and Pop Motion Productions is not done yet.
MalachiteIt's the best experience of my life personally, because it brought a community together.
MalachiteWhere we all were so passionate and so supportive of each other and there's just that's.
MalachiteI think just the peak of human experience is is being.
Malachiteso lucky to be appreciated and useful to like like 20 people.
MalachiteI'm such like a hermit.
MalachiteI'm used to like only talking to my friends and my family.
MalachiteBut 20 people all said thank you to me, it was like, I know.
ZoeI had someone say, they've never been hugged this much on a film set.
ZoeAnd I just I just love that.
ZoeYou know.
ZoeNot to just resonate.
ZoeOn what people have said, but the man who built our cave, Michael Rucker, he said something that was really passionate and subtle in his way that he is.
Zoe
Zoewhere he said, you know, if if people kept doing what we're doing out here.
ZoeAnd if this project goes as well as I think it could.
ZoeThen we could really turn the tides.
ZoeAnd coming from someone like him, that's incredibly meaningful and I think it's really true for the industry nowadays.
ZoeWe need good examples.
ZoeYou know, we can't have indie films out there hurting people, underpaying people.
ZoeAnd then ultimately not turning out a good product.
ZoeThat's just not it's not worth it.
ZoeYou might have to choose, like I said, not paying people to make it like work because then they're all showing up just for the love of it.
ZoeThat's not ideal.
ZoeBut at least it made a piece of artwork that no one's getting hurt for, that is going to be good.
ZoeAnd ultimately, the people will get paid for.
ZoeSo it's it's one of those things where you just don't get a lot of good examples in independent filmmaking right now.
ZoeWe've both been subjected to some pretty crazy stuff on the film sets that we were on before Bampire.
ZoeAnd it was a really big part of our experience to make sure that everyone on set was safe to be around.
ZoeThat everyone felt like they could ask for things and were comfortable.
ZoeI mean, these were the most important objectives going in, even despite knowing.
Zoewhat we were going to do is absolutely insane.
ZoeIt really did it really did take precedence for us though to keep people safe.
ZoeYou know, and to keep them feeling respected.
ZoeAnd I think that is why it went as well as it did.
ZoeBottom line, is because we went into it.
ZoeCaring about the human element, which is something that's missing from.
Zoethose two pathways for sure, but independent film as a freaking third.
ZoeYou know.
ZoeYou need some folks to come in and say, this is what it could be.
AdamAbsolutely.
AdamAnd I think also.
AdamYou've got that it's it's like you say, it's about bringing an artistic vision with no one interfering where the interference is the restrictions of budget, the restrictions of what, you know, who you've got in your team or whatever like that.
AdamBut it's not the restrictions of, oh, can you not do that because that doesn't play well, or can you not do that because we're not those films, we don't do them, you know, we're not we're we don't look, no one watches cows in Space Foams this year.
AdamYou know.
Adamor whatever.
AdamAnd it's sort of, you know, it's it's remaining true to that vision in the sense of you do with it what you can.
AdamBut it's not a team of people telling you, don't do this, don't do that, this is not the way it's done.
AdamAnd indeed, you know, sort of like, or if you cut that corner, we can get this done quicker, but, you know, you then end up with someone who doesn't want to work with you ever again.
AdamBecause.
Adamsomething went wrong or something wasn't, you know, someone wasn't treated correctly or whatever like that.
AdamYou know, there's something to be said for having that sort of thing.
AdamOf having like a rep company where you can you sit see it where it's like, you know, there are directors and who have a group of people who are happy to always go back and work with them.
AdamBecause you know they've had a good experience and you know, it's not just.
AdamOh, we did that film and it was successful, it's clearly because, oh, actually, I had a good time whilst doing this.
AdamYou know.
ZoeI've gotten messages from every single one of our cast members at this point just saying, I can't wait till we're back on set together making Bampire two.
ZoeAnd.
MalachiteI'm like.
ZoeI'm like.
MalachiteI'm like, please.
ZoeLet me get off Bampire one.
Malachite
Zoe
MalachiteThis guy.
ZoeAlways.
Zoeplanning over here.
ZoeBut it's it's it's true.
ZoeI mean to have 28 people tell you that this was one of the best experiences they've had in their life, it's it's humbling.
MalachiteIt's meaningful and it's and it's not something that happens on accident.
MalachiteFrom the very beginning, I mean, we we made we made our company Path Films last year and with the goal of.
Malachitewe want to bring paid work to Eugene, Oregon because we think that paid work is kind of the only way to elevate the quality to the point where we think these indie projects could start becoming profitable and just continue to build a community around that.
MalachiteSo we want to bring paid work.
MalachiteBut all but all that means nothing if people don't want to work with us twice.
MalachiteAnd that that's the real essence of what we are about.
MalachiteJust as a company even.
MalachiteWe think it's the best way to be as a company to have that legitimate sort of upstanding, honest, generous attitude toward the people we work with.
MalachiteBecause if we're good business people, we can still make money, we can calculate, we can be generous and yet still calculate right, still make the amount of profits needed to make another film.
MalachiteAnd everybody will be all the more excited.
MalachiteWhile they're working, if they're being valued properly and they'll be all excited to come back again next time too, and so somehow even with like a shoe string budget and with.
Malachitemost of the people to this day still not having been paid, we we captured just that essence and I think it's because it's it's not on accident.
MalachiteIt's because we set out saying, this is this is our goal.
MalachiteWe've seen a lot of independent sort of like amateur films get made and a lot of the time, it's just one person's idea, one person has enough respect to bring a group of people together around their one idea.
MalachiteBut a lot of times it it can become sort of hostile and and not turn out.
Malachiteinto a positive experience and it we just really wanted to find a way to do it in a grounded, holistic way.
MalachiteThat we could, even if Bampire isn't what our dreams were for it, people would want to work with us again.
MalachiteAnd then if if what we really see as our vision for Bampire happens, I mean all of a sudden it's a it's a real world changer for
ZoeEveryone.
Malachiteinvolved.
MalachiteAnd just everyone and for our whole community.
MalachiteI mean, nothing like this has been made in Eugene for a very long time.
MalachiteThe film Animal House was made here.
LeeOh, really?
Malachite
LeeOh, wow.
ZoeOur claim to fame.
MalachiteAnd since then there's been nothing in Eugene and we're it's like a two, three hour flight to LA from here.
MalachiteIt's like we're not that far from a lot of talented people.
MalachiteI mean, the people in our community for sure, but the people just up two hours drive north in Portland, Oregon.
MalachiteThere're that's a pretty big hub and Seattle is up further from that.
MalachiteLots of people on the Pacific Northwest that are good at making film.
MalachiteAnd so.
MalachiteYeah, we just we just wanted to build that that little section where you know.
Malachitewe care enough to get a good product and we care enough to also treat people right.
ZoeNo matter what.
ZoeAs the first priority.
ZoeAnd that that will like I think it's a key part of our belief that that will turn out a good product.
LeeYeah.
MalachiteI mean my hope, my hope with Indiegogo is that back you know.
MalachiteBack in the day it was always you'd have these films that maybe funded by a very eccentric millionaire.
MalachiteWell now maybe you can be funded by a thousand very eccentric people with a normal wage.
MalachiteAs long as you've got enough like-minded eccentric people, you know, it can come together.
MalachiteYou know.
MalachiteI love it and I love being able to interact as a fan and a viewer of the art form.
MalachiteI love being able to sort of push the wave in whatever direction you're interested in.
Malachiteand I think that that is just another opportunity for that too.
MalachiteLike if films are funded partly by interested audience, it's it takes away a lot of the guess work and the overly carefulness of trying to make a film people will like.
MalachiteBecause they're saying directly, yes, we want this, yes, we want it super gory.
MalachiteIt doesn't have to be like some crazy intricate like current fitting into the current story this year.
MalachiteOr anything like that.
MalachiteIt's like.
Malachitewe want a bloody awesome, exciting horror film.
ZoeWe'll pay for it.
MalachiteYeah.
ZoeYeah.
ZoeAnd the way like with Indiegogo as a platform.
ZoeIt is really nice because we can offer perks for people who do decide to back us at this super early, you know, level of us trying to get this movie out there.
ZoeOne of the ways that we can thank you guys for supporting us via this platform is by offering up a pre-release digital download of the movie.
ZoeSo there will be like a digital showroom where if you go on, you donate, I think it's $29, you'll be sent a link and you can actually watch Bampire before it ever comes out to the general public.
ZoeSo that's one way that you can, you know, benefit.
ZoeIs you actually get to see our movie before everyone else?
ZoeBecause.
Zoeyou helped us make it, you know, that's the idea.
ZoeAnd our merchandise that we can also sell via Indiegogo.
ZoeSell more more giveaway at this point.
Zoeit's all limited edition right now.
ZoeSo that means, you know, it could be worth a lot of money someday to say, hey, I was in at the ground level of this thing, let us give you something that's unique to being at that ground level of this production.
Zoebecause that that's really the cool part about this as well.
ZoeIs that it's not just us coming and saying, please give us everything you have.
ZoeIt's let us give you something in return, let us show you that what you just donated your money to was really, really worth it.
ZoeAnd we can prove that by like actually showing you the product, and so our Indiegogo campaign is like really based on thank yous.
ZoeYou know.
ZoeIt's based on thank you for being our sponsors.
ZoeThat's why we've selected the gifts that we have, that's why we're trying to show you guys the movie as one of our biggest like opportunities for being a part of the campaign at this level.
ZoeWe want to give you guys that feeling of, I really did, you know, I started this.
ZoeI'm now getting to see it at the ground level of where it's at and that's because I put in that $20.
Zoe30, you know.
Zoeto make it happen for these people.
ZoeSo that really is the level that we're still at right now.
ZoeBut I really believe that this product is going to be exciting enough that everybody should go get that link.
LeeThere you go.
LeeYou heard.
LeeYou heard them there, they're excited.
LeeWe're excited, go and get involved.
LeeThe more money you give, the faster you'll get to see this film, I mean, I don't know what more incentives you could possibly need than that.
LeeBut there it is.
LeeRight, thank you very much, guys, for your time.
LeeThis evening.
LeeIt's been wonderful, it's been lovely to speak to you.
Leefingers crossed, we get to speak to you again soon.
LeeWe get things going.
Leeyeah, obviously keep us updated.
LeeAnd, yeah, we can't wait to see it.
MalachiteAwesome.
MalachiteYeah.
MalachiteWe'll be in touch and you guys mean the world to us just thanks for this opportunity, it's been really truly fun.
AdamThank you for reaching out to us because we we're excited.
MalachiteYes.
LeeLet's go.
LeeExcellent, right, thanks very much, everybody.
LeeTake care, goodnight.
AdamGoodnight.
ZoeThank you.
