SHE - A SHORT FILM - An interview with Chelsey Burdon and Mark Vessey

One minute these two were watching CURSE OF CHUCKY at FrightFest, the next they’re embarking on making a short film with the star: Fiona Dourif! In the middle of their Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds (a modest £3.5k) to make SHE: A SHORT FILM, I caught up with both Chelsey Burdon and Mark Vessey who kindly found the time to submit to my interrogations. Here then, in a She said, He Said about SHE (get it?) format are their separate responses. So, without further ado, here’s your respective ‘starter for 10’...

What previous filmmaking experience have you both had?

Chelsey: I started working on films about 4 years ago. I've been first assistant director, production manager and production assistant on all kinds of projects; features, shorts, music videos. Luckily for me they were almost all horror.  I'd actually focused my degree on stage directing and for a long time was more interested in becoming a theatre director, but as I was offered more and more film roles I guess I got the bug and film has always been a great passion of mine. My first bit of film directing came with my entry to the Shortcuts to Hell competition earlier this year, I was lucky enough to have my entry selected for the anthology which is available on iTunes. 

Mark: I'm a lot more experienced as a writer than I am anything else. I've been writing for as long as I can remember; reviews, short stories, etc. But it's only been this year that I've started writing scripts. I was talking a lot to two friends - who also serve as my biggest inspirations - and one day I just had a ‘eureka’ moment. In a second I realised this is what I wanted to do, this is my true calling. About a week later I'd more-or-less knocked 20 scripts out, in various stages of completion, and I'm not showing any signs of slowing down. I've had a fair bit of experience in actually making movies too. I've been working, on-and-off, on my first short film ENGLISH MARY 3D since January. We've got some incredible stuff shot already. Some big names are involved too. It's going to blow people away.

You’ve cited some of your joint influences as being Lars Von Trier's ANTICHRIST, Park Chan Wook's LADY VENGEANCE and Paddy Considine's TYRANNOSAUR. I think it’s therefore safe to say SHE won’t be your average run-of-the-mill horror flick...?

Chelsey: Absolutely. We are both huge horror fans but we also appreciate a lot of dark films that perhaps wouldn't fall into those typical genre conventions. SHE is horrifying, but it would be difficult to compare it to a well known 'horror' film that people might be familiar with. We hope that that's a good thing.

Mark: Certainly not. The idea for SHE came about with me falling out of love with horror and wanting to make something that hasn't been done before. As a self-appointed aficionado, I can guarantee that no-one will have seen anything like this.  

What’s the best short film you’ve ever seen?

Chelsey: Very difficult question. There have been so many great ones recently. The first one that comes to mind, primarily because it is so memorable and was so expertly crafted, THE OTHER SIDE by Alex and Oli Santaro. I saw this at Grimmfest last year and was really impressed by it, a prime of example of two first-time directors that really deserve to sink their teeth into a feature. I also love most of the stuff by the Bloody Cuts guys, they're a superb team and I always look forward to seeing what they will do next.

Mark: STEAMBOAT WILLIE. I think you'll be seeing a lot of 20’s era Mickey inspirations in SHE. Seriously though, all my favourite shorts actually are vintage cartoons (STEAMBOAT, THE MAD DOCTOR, GALLOPIN’ GAUCHO, BETTY BOOK M.D. etc.) If I had to pick a bunch of favourites that don't make me appear like a man-child, I'd probably go for VINCENT, THE STRANGE THING ABOUT THE JOHNSONS, BIO-COP, TREEVENGE and ANGST, PISS & DRID.

You’re already over the half-way mark towards achieving your target goal of £3,500 – how are you feeling at this point (nervous by any chance?)

Chelsey: There is this kind of nervous excitement. We were really surprised by how quickly we reached some of the big milestones and by the response that we have had so far to SHE. On the one hand we are really excited to make this and to, hopefully, blow people away with this bold little short. On the other hand, it feels like there is now a lot of pressure to make this something very impressive and I just hope we can live up to that.

Mark: Since this project has taken off, I've been constantly feeling a strong sense of euphoric anxiety. Most of the time I think to myself “This is so surreal. This is REAL, I'm actually living out my aspirations” and then other times I'll just have a massive knot in my stomach and stare at the Kickstarter page. I wouldn't change anything though, I feel incredibly blessed to have an experience like this.

Are you at all concerned that your friendship might be tested when you get on set and begin to co-direct?

Chelsey: Not really. Part of me is looking forward to us having little disagreements because that will encourage us to really analyse and question our individual ideas. Hopefully we will have most of that dealt with before we reach the set though.

Mark: Not at all. Maybe it will, but it's not something that I worry about. Whenever we've disagreed on something during the writing process, it's been very professional and we'll just talk each other through what we're thinking, and discuss it until we've reached a conclusion we're both happy with. I'm not ignorant to the fact that things will be a lot more stressful on set, but I doubt we'll be tearing each other’s throats out. Besides, Chelsey is already accustomed to me making her life hell, so I'm sure she'll be hardened to whatever happens during the shoot.

Mark states on the Kickstarter Q&A video recently uploaded that the idea for SHE came about from him being: “...sick of un-original horror; remakes, sequels and uninspired shit.”Presumably you don’t include CURSE OF CHUCKY (starring Fiona) amongst them...?

Chelsey: Haha, Mark will be the first to admit that he can be a horror snob when it comes to a lot of modern films. Me, much less so. We both enjoyed CURSE OF CHUCKY for what it is, a fresh, well written addition to an established franchise that brought some credibility back to a horror icon. Don Mancini did a great job with CURSE, the cinematography and pacing far surpassing any of the previous entries. For me, I think it comes down to the fact that the films I would like to make and the films I enjoy watching can be quite different. There are many sequels, and, dare I say it, even remakes, that I really like. My main gripe is with the 'popcorn horror' market, the endless franchises and soul-less money grabbing horrors that give the genre a bad name. It's rare that a film that appeals to the masses and becomes a box office success is also adored by true, passionate horror fans- though there are exceptions to every rule.

Mark: Horror is on its death bed, both mainstream and the underground, IMO, but obviously there are exceptions. MANIAC was a very interesting take on the original, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good CURSE was. But for every MANIAC, we have three THE THING's (prequel, obviously) and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2’s. It's very sad state of affairs, especially when horror was my one true love growing up. Still, at least now when people say “If you can do better, make your own film!” I can say I did.   

Clearly getting Fiona Dourif onboard has been a major coup – but isn’t the entire budget really just going to be spent on flying her over to the UK first-class and putting her up in a posh hotel?

Chelsey: Not at all, in fact our biggest expenses will be within the camera department. We will be shooting on two cameras with lots of top-of-the range lighting and grip equipment that will really feed into the visual style of the film that we have very high aspirations for.

Mark: Not all of it. Obviously a fair amount will be spent so she's well taken care of and has an enjoyable experience. We don't want her going away thinking “That was so unprofessional.” Everything penny will be put towards making this as professional a production as possible.

And then we mustn’t forget ‘He’ played by Phillip James – I say mustn’t forget, but with all the attention naturally focusing on Fiona Dourif isn’t there a danger he might be completely overshadowed?

Chelsey: That's a valid point. The script was always designed to be a vehicle for a great female lead but having said that, the role of HE is also very demanding. Both of our actors are going to be put through the ringer and we hope that this will be a great opportunity to highlight the acting talent of Phillip rather than have him overshadowed by Fiona. We knew we needed an actor who had a strong enough screen presence to work alongside Fiona and we are confident that we have found that with Phillip.

Mark: Perhaps initially, before the film is released. I don't think “smaller” actors are ignorant to the fact that people are going to watch a movie because of a bigger name. However, we're both confident that when people see our short they'll be going away talking about Phillip just as much as Fiona. He's a great talent, and we're lucky to have found him.

Technically-wise, you’ve also acquired the impressive talents of David Meadows (Director of Photography on HUMAN CENTEPEDE 2 AND 3) and Paul While (special effects make-up & prosthetics artist (SFX) Graphic Delusions). Presumably this gives you the scope to ‘push the envelope’ in terms of the visual elements of the story?

Chelsey: Absolutely, the visual elements were so important to both of us that we knew we wouldn't want to make SHE unless we could get a truly impressive team on board. David Meadows was pretty much our first choice for cinematography from the start, regardless of your thoughts on the film, he showcased a great artistic flair in HC2 and is a highly sought after d.o.p that has lots of great ideas for SHE. We are really looking forward to working with him. Paul wowed us with some pictures of 'similar' prosthetic work he had done before, we weren't even sure if it was possible to shoot one of our effects sequences, but with him on board I'm pretty confident that it’s going to look amazing!

Mark: Very much so. The tone and impact of SHE very much relies on what they bring to it. We can't give too much away, we're keeping everything very much on lockdown, but the visual style and prosthetics are just as important as our actors

All too often in low-budget filmmaking the sound design and execution lets down a project, I’m hoping you’ve got this element covered...?

Chelsey: Yes, we have an excellent and experienced Sound Recordist on board, who will also be taking part with the post production sound mixing. I agree, that all too often sound is overlooked in this kind of project; the importance of it can be underestimated. Sound design will play a huge part in creating the right mood for SHE and we have lots of ideas and concepts we want to put into practice.

Mark: Like I said before, we have every aspect of production and post-production covered and are making every effort to assure SHE looks and sounds as professional as possible. We don't people to watch it and know that it's our second projects. We want to look back and consider it a milestone in both our careers.

Well I wish you both the very best of luck with the Kickstarter campaign and I look forward to watching the (undoubtedly award-winning) SHE in the near future.

Interviewed by Paul Worts