One of the most enjoyable horror/comedies I've had the pleasure of seeing, Camp Death III in 2D, is coming soon to Amazon Prime streaming and I've been able to conduct a few interviews with the cast and crew of the production. Here's another of these special interviews, the director of the film himself, Matt Frame.
Me: Hello, and thank you for taking the time to do this. Where did you get your initial love for filmmaking?
Matt Frame: In 1981, I tagged along with my sister (and her
friends) when her birthday party went to see 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.' I was 9
years old and my life absolutely changed that day.
Me: Had you not gone down this road, what did you have
planned for your career?
MF: I don't think I ever considered a career outside of the
entertainment business. I've certainly dabbled in several elements of it (both
in front of and behind the camera) but after seeing 'Raiders' I was
destined/cursed to go down this road, I guess.
Me: Having started out working on documentaries and shorts,
what did you learn from that experience that prepared you for a full-length
film?
MF: I learned to allow people the room to be brilliant on
camera. If you box them in, an interview subject will seize up and give you
nothing of use. But if you allow them to say whatever they want (on any subject
they want) then you can get gold.
It's the same with actors. Give them the basics, turn on the
camera, and get the hell out of their way. Typically the extent of my direction
was “Could you stand a little more to the left, please?”
Me: Do you prefer working in select genres of film or going
for work in general?
MF: I don't really consider making films 'work' simply
because I rarely make a cent doing it. It's the opposite, actually. I consider
it a very expensive hobby/obsession.
Having said that, I think I'll be sticking to the
comedy-horror genre for awhile yet. I have unfinished business re: the Camp Death
films. The on-set filming (for this one) was such miserable experience for me
that I feel a deep motivation to exorcise those demons by having fun the next
time around.
Me: As for your new movie, ‘Camp Death III," what can
you tell us about the film in general?
MF: It's a comedy-horror spoof of Friday the 13th part III in
3D. It's best described as 81 minutes of pure surrealist madness that 35% of
people are going to loathe.
Me: What specifically attracted you to the film having never
done a feature-length effort before?
MF: To be honest, I thought it would be easy and fun. I
couldn't have been more incorrect! Lol!
Me: Do you have any kind of specific style to film-making
that emerged during the shoot?
MF: I call it the Matt Frame 'Pure Chaos' film making
method. One must go into filming utterly ill-prepared, battle bad weather and a
mutiny by one of the producers, suffer a mental breakdown and then attempt to
film the remaining 60% with bad health, no money, and actors waffling in their
motivation. If you follow that recipe you might just make the next 'Camp Death
III in 2D!'
Me: What was the set like while shooting the film? How did
the cast and crew react to the type of film being made?
MF: Uh-oh. I think I'll pass on this question if you don't
mind.
Me: Do you recall having any odd or funny on-set stories
about yourself or any of the other cast/crew members?
MF: I remember vividly the scene in which the Irish
character gets his legs burnt off. By that point in production I was utterly on
my own and so it was just myself and the actor, Niall King. I was working
lights, sound, camera, fog machine, and special effects, which in this case was
gasoline and fake mannequin legs.
I was just about to roll camera when the fire department
showed up, blaring sirens. They were responding to a call of a fire (at the
forest locale) where we were filming. We spent about 10 minutes convincing them
that, 'No, no fire to be seen here, Officers. All lights are battery powered.
We wouldn't dare be so irresponsible' etc etc. They eventually bought our
nonsense (even though I had a full gas can sitting beside me) and trudged off.
As soon as they left, I fired up the camera, doused Niall's fake legs with far
too much petrol, lit a match, and...damn near burnt him and myself to ash.
Me: Was it difficult to balance so many different jobs
during the production?
MF: Yes and no. The post production stuff that I did
(editing/sound design/vfx/color grading etc) was relatively simple given that I
was on my own and thus followed my own schedule.
The on-set stuff was trickier. I ended up doing multiple
jobs myself (camera, lights, sound etc) simply because I found it less
stressful than tracking down people to volunteer. It certainly slowed things
down on-set and (I would imagine) frustrated the actors to no end but I needed
to do everything I could to keep my fragile sanity intact, you know?
Me: Lastly, what else do you want to promote you're working
on for our readers?
MF: On Saturday, December 29th we are having a world record
'Camp Death-athon' in which myself and several of the cast/crew will watch the
film for 48 hrs straight, providing commentary and stories about the
production. It'll be streamed live via the Camp Death III in 2D Facebook page
and viewers are welcome to ask questions or provide opinion as we go along.
'Camp Death III in 2D!' is being released February 15th on Amazon Prime.
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