Bryony Makes A Zombie Movie
Interview with Bryony Matthewman
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Twenty-five-year-old Bryony Matthewman lives in London, and for the last two years she has been making videos online.
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Where did the idea for Bryony Makes A Zombie Movie come from?
I've been making videos on YouTube for over two years, with no prior film-making experience. During that time, I've done smalltime collaborations with other YouTubers from around the world, and it struck me that the many talents my e-friends have in writing, acting, filming and editing could be brought to a larger scale project than just a short YouTube video. I thought it would be a nice idea to try to create a feature film through the internet, and a zombie movie seemed like a good genre to try, as it's such a classic and is so open to interpretation.
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Would you like to work in feature films as a career?
Possibly! I love the excitement and magic of making a film, but I do tend to get bored easily, so I think something like prop management, set design, or costume would be something I would rather do as a career. Possibly production – I imagine a normal job in the industry would be less fraught and stressful than this project has been! Wrangling with thousands of other people all around the world (in many different time zones!) can get a little exhausting!
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If you were to make another multi-platform film, would you do anything differently?
Yes! I would know how to organise people ahead of time, for one, instead of people coming to me and then me trying to create a framework out of those people. I would allot the time for writing (which was a huge bottleneck for this project, as it was being written by a huge group of people who were all across the globe, with not many guidelines, so it caused a lot friction) – a specific time, and I would know the reality of making a film like this, so I could schedule it accordingly, whereas this time around I really had no idea whatsoever until it happened! That said, I am not unhappy with how it happened.
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How did you find dealing with the different time zones over the course of making your film?
I've made a lot of oversea friends since I started making online videos, so I'm kind of used to it – America is behind the UK, and I tend to stay up until the early hours, so it fits in quite well. We usually use MSN or iChat or Skype to chat. Other than that, email was the main form of communication, and I set up a forum for people to talk to one another and discuss things, which was instrumental specifically in the writing process.
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What were your biggest challenges along the way?
Dealing with a lot of people who are all donating their time and energy for free, and trying to keep everyone happy. The writing process was a very difficult time, as it held up the whole project, and communication sometime broke down. There are still people who won't speak to me because they feel slighted by something or other that I did or didn't do as manager of the project. I got through it by just realising that whatever happens on a project like this, some people are inevitably going to get upset.
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What was the most fun part of making your film?
I think the shooting was the most fun. We only really had a single day of shooting so far, and it was very, very busy and quite stressful, but so exciting to see it actually coming to life after so much blood, sweat and tears!
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Are you pleased with the finished product, as it stands at the moment?
Absolutely! I am so happy with it! At the screening, everyone laughed at the right moments and jumped in the right places, which made me so happy! The directors, Tim Keeling and Pete Curran, did such a great job and the edit looked fantastic.
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How did the red carpet screening at the Renoir cinema on the night before Halloween go?
Awesome! Everyone was really positive about it, and everyone had good ideas for where the project could go from here.
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What did you wear to the screening?
Hah! What a strange question! I wore a blue dress from Banana Republic. I had gone shopping for something new, but I couldn't find anything that seemed appropriate. I really wanted to find some fancy Miu Miu or Marc Jacob shoes as I had an excuse to buy some at last, but I couldn't even find anything that would have been quite right, so I ended up wearing an old pair of shoes! They looked nice enough!
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What next for Bryony Matthewman?
I have a load of bits and pieces that I have been putting off until November, like the bunch of paintings that I've been meaning to paint and sell (I'm an illustrator and graphic designer), I'm about to move, which I've also been putting off and, of course, I want to finish the film! I want to work out a way it can get finished, building on what we've learned so far in terms of production and making things a lot more efficient and streamlined. I'm so excited about what we've achieved so far, that it would be such a shame not to see it through to its conclusion.
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