Joe Sherlock

INTERVIEW

Tell us a little about yourself, where you come from and so on.

JOE: I grew up in New Jersey, watching Doctor Shock on Mad Theater and Horror Theater every Saturday afternoon. I was into Greek mythology, superheroes and Star Wars. When I was 10, we moved to Oregon and I continued my fascination with all things sci-fi, horror and fantastic. Influential instances include seeing Don Dohler's The Alien Factor on channel 12, John Carpenter's The Thing on numerous sleepovers and Don Coscarelli's Phantasm on the CBS Late Night Movie. They made me the monster that I am today!

You started off at making movies when you were young with Super 8 film and then moved to video in high school where your first major production was STARCHASERS. Talk a little about that.

JOE: When I saw The Alien Factor, I was struck by how much it was just a bunch of guys running around in their backyards, wearing monster outfits. The characters had East Coast accents (like mine at the time, since I had recently moved from Jersey) and the surroundings looked like my old neighborhood surroundings. On top of it all, they were showing it on "real" TV. I figured that if they would show something like that, that I could make movies too. I did several stop-motion animation shorts with my Dad's super-8 camera and actually wrote Starchasers as a Super-8 project, but never got it off the ground. Several years later, my friend John Bowker had a VHS video camera and we decided to resurrect the project. Starchasers is basically the story of a space patrolman (Trif) who chases after an escaped alien criminal on earth. My friends and I ran after each other in the woods wearing Halloween masks and shooting fireworks at each other and had a blast. Someday,....someday, I'll make Starchasers again....and it'll be totally cool.....Yeah...

The Evilmaker was an intense shoot over 9 days. Have you ever experienced anything like that before?

JOE: What a loaded question! Yes, it was intense. No, I had not experienced anything like that before. I don't think any of the crew were prepared for how things went (or didn't go) on that shoot.

On the set you used special lighting to give it a professional look. Was this your fist experience doing this and how was it?

JOE: The Evilmaker was the first project where I used a real lighting kit - previous productions had been shot either with bare-bulbed lamps or halogen worklights. The kit gave me a lot more control and I was really able to get the depth of lighting that I often wanted but found so hard to get. This was also my first use of gels, which also gave me more to work with.

There is a huge fight scene in "hell". How difficult was that to shoot?

JOE: It was hard. The director and I had actually met and storyboarded a lot of that fight, but when it came time to shoot it there was a lot of miscommunication on the set. Added to this was the fact that I was pretty sick during this part of the shoot. Stress, lack of sleep and the long shoots had given me a nasty cold. Every few takes, I would retreat into a side room, gulp from a 2-liter bottle of orange juice I had brought from home, as well as force down bagels with peanut butter. This was alternated with can after can of pepsi and various cold medicines. I barely had a voice on this whole sequence. It was hard.

You have done many other movies under your production company F&C. How was it different working for someone else?

JOE: It's good and bad. It's good to be able to concentrate on the camera/lighting/sound without having to worry about motivating the actors. We all had to chip in with striking sets and setting equipment up, though, as is the case on most no-budget movie shoots. However, it is hard when things are not moving as quickly or as smoothly as you think they should, to not jump in and take control of things. Unfortunately, I probably did that more than once on The Evilmaker. A lot of that shoot is a bit fuzzy, I think due to the sleep depravation, but I do remember one instance where the director seemed to be drifting off to sleep about 4 in the morning. I was more than ready to be done for the night and make the 45-minute drive home, so I kind of started barking out orders to the cast and crew to get set for the next shot. As soon as I did it, I felt bad about it, but it was just out of frustration.

You have gotten many compliments on your photography for The Evilmaker. Who were your influences?

JOE: Actually I have to say that it was a real collaborative effort between John and I on The Evilmaker. More often than not, John had a particular way he wanted things to be shot. In some cases, I was limited to simply that. In other cases, I could enhance his vision with an angle or tweak of my own. In some cases what he wanted wasn't possible in this dimension or universe. In a few cases, he had not idea and let me come up with something cool. As far as influences, the only one I can really cite is DP Tim Philo and director Sam Raimi who worked together on Evil Dead 1 and 2. I really get into extreme angles, interesting close-ups and just plain mind-blowing shots. David Lynch has a lot of really weird and cool shots in his movies. Mmmmmmm...I like 'em.

You and the director John Bowker have known each other for over 15 years. Did it make things easier filming or harder? Were you guys on the same wavelength?

JOE: I think by far it made things easier than if I would've been working for someone I didn't know. John and I have a lot of the same influences and instincts so I think that we were often on the same wavelength. Of course, there were times when we weren't on the same wavelength at all, but usually that was in the wee hours of the morning when we should've all been in bed!

What was the hardest part to shoot in the movie? How did you overcome the obstacle?

JOE: I think that hardest part of the shoot was the final battle in the living room. We wanted to have bright lights flood the room and have the hooded figure engulfed in "good" light. In the end I think it came off close to the way John wanted it, but it was a fucking pain in the ass to shoot! We had all kinds of lights and people working each one, all trying to work in synchronization, while I tried to work the exposure on the camera to we would capture the desired effect. We just keep messing with all of it until it worked (or we got tired of trying - I can't quite recall!).

Was there a really funny moment on the set you would like to share?

JOE: In one scene, for the plot to move forward, Serena had to drop the necklace she was holding. There wasn't really any reason for her to do this, she just had to drop it. Someone came up with the idea of having the location owner's dog run through her legs, startling her so she would drop the necklace. So there we were in the dark in the middle of nowhere with one crewmember baiting "Willie" with some lunchmeat to run between Stephanie Beaton's legs. If that wasn't a funny enough image, on the first take, Willie ran AROUND her gams to get the ham! I love that dog.

How was it working with everyone?

JOE: Loaded, loaded, loaded questions! Let me say this: the Evilmaker shoot ran the gamut in emotions from furious to elated and nearly everything in-between. Vague enough for you? :)

What's next on your agenda for Pipedreams as well as your own company?

JOE: Next on MY agenda for Pipedreams? Well, I've all but signed the contracts to DP Evilmaker 2. That and I still need to follow through on a promise I made to edit John Bowker's first video feature, Dreamwalkers. For my own company? I have two feature-length video features that are painfully close to completion. Something always seems to come up (most often of my own doing) that keeps me from wrapping them up. In addition, I have a few small projects in various stages of post-production. On top of it all, I have my erotic crime thriller Underbelly, 99% shot, but remaining to be edited & scored. I'm really happy with the footage and performances and can't wait to get this one finished and out there for people to see. The way things are going, I'll be premiering it at my 50th birthday party (about 16 years from now for those who are counting). After that, I plan a long rest once John moves to Hollywood and starts working with a "real" crew!

Any last thoughts?

JOE: There is no bathroom in limbo (Ask John about that one).

Thank you Joe. Look for his up and coming projects from F&C Productions Odd Noggins and Underbelly.

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