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| MyDocumentary.ca Interview with Justin McConnell, Director of Working Class Rock Star |
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| Filmmaker Interviews | |||
| Written by Dixon Christie | |||
It's a film about a section of the modern music industry, the average touring band, and their struggles to be able to make music their full career. Follows 3 bands through roughly two years of their respective lives, showing how they live and attempt to launch themselves to the next level... which in reality is just being able to live off of their music. There are a lot of supporting interviews cut in with some major players in the metal and hard rock scene, all attempting to bring perspective to how the industry has changed overall in the last 20 years. MyDocumentary.ca: Tell us about your inspiration to make this movie and to help share some of the misconceptions about being a “Rock Star”? Mainly it was the unique exposure I got to two sides of the coin a few years ago. I was working on commercials for the marketing departments of a few major labels here in Canada, and at the same time building my name as a music video director in Toronto. I'd go to a ton of indie shows and meet with bands from out of town all the time, many who toured ceaselessly all year. What I began to realize was the giant gulf between these two worlds..... that the image we're fed of the average "rock star" is very manufactured, and just doesn't exist as much anymore for a rock band in this day and age. These bands would basically have music as a career, but would not be making any real money from it, having to work day jobs when they got off of the road, dealing with the minefield of the label world. From that point I just wanted to go deeper. MyDocumentary.ca: You spent 3 years making this movie, tell us about the long path and some of the highs and lows along the way? Shooting it was definitely the high. I'm in my own element when I'm out and about with a camera.... when all I have to worry about is getting the image, getting the interview, etc. Being on the road was fun, getting to know everyone was fun. Some of the interviews were easier to obtain than others, but while I was actually shooting the film there was a general acceptance from everyone and lots of people helped along the way. After the film was finished was another story. Selling a documentary, especially one that wasn't made in the traditional way (as in - with a budget and clear story editor from the start....) is very tough in this market. Tons go unsold, and music docs are a tough sell in general. I didn't really know where to turn so I brought some people into the fold (who will remain nameless) that basically took me for a ride.... took advantage of me and a large chunk of money in the process, for about a year. Luckily this also gave me time to really sit with my film and make it better, because after a while of nothing happening and getting screwed over you start to doubt yourself. I got a little bit more rutheless with the edit and approached the game again fresh. I picked up the phone myself and called/approached every distributor I could find, and took it more into my own hands. This is my first large distribution feature film, and I think in a lot of ways it will be the one that "makes" my career... not so much in terms of notoriety, but in how it changed my approach to the game. So getting it sold was definitely the least fun, but the most rewarding on a personal level. In a lot of ways it's the approach the modern musician also has to take - take your career into your own hands. MyDocumentary.ca: How did you choose the 3 bands to follow and did you ever question your choices over the 3 years and later as you watched the movie? The bands were chosen based on who I had access to easiest, who seemed like they had the most potential for a good story and to make the right point, what they already had to say, and what their future could hold. It's always a gamble picking subjects, but I think in this case I got a great cross-section of artists. I had other bands I was for a time thinking of using - Kenoma (Ottawa), Mod Flanders Conspiracy (USA), Deterrence/CayM (Toronto), Dog Fashion Disco (Baltimore) - but I'm happy with the choices I made overall. With Bloodshoteye I got the great family angle, with 3 Mile Scream I got the path to them landing a record deal, and with Tub Ring I got experiened veterans going through some great struggle (if you can call struggle great). MyDocumentary.ca: In 95 minutes, you couldn’t really focus too much on actual music of each band, as the story unfolded, did you realize the storyline or did you have it planned the whole time? The film is about the musicians, not the music. I've had criticism that it would have been great to get a full live performance from each band, but in general it really would have slowed the film down. I've seen that in documentaries before, and even if i like the music, I'm always waiting for the musical number to end. If you want those things, there are music & performance videos on the actual DVD as special features. With the story I was telling I did include a fair bit of the band's music, enough to give you a taste, but this is about people and their passions, their struggles. Additionally, I know firsthand how closed-minded metalheads can be, and if they think a particular band sucks, they'll tune out. I didn't want anyone tuning out because they weren't into the music - so I hired Rob Kleiner to write a great original score to counterbalance the heavy and the hard.You get sections of the band, but not enough to turn anyone away. My goal from the beginning was to make a movie my grandma might even find interesting, without losing the edge. Also there's rights issues and when you have zero budget you start to figure out creative ways to finish the film.... full songs end up costing more.... and I definitely didn't have any money to liscence songs from the bigger bands in the film. MyDocumentary.ca: Tell us about your overall methods and goals in recording the story and later in editing it? When I first started shooting I didn't have as clear a plan as I did toward the end. The first few interviews I got are really what shaped how I approached the rest of the film. You start to find out little things, and every once in a while there was an "ah-ha!" moment when someone would say something profound, and I'd have to go research it. I also needed to get the people I approached for interviews to take me seriously, so cutting the early trailer helped a lot with that. I'm very methodical in general.... I kept detailed logs of every tape I shot, and a numerical filing system so I could always go and easily find things I needed. The edit went smoother that way because I could paper-edit somewhat, and it made my job a lot easier in the end, putting everything together. Still, this was a difficult documentary to edit... it's a big subject, and I had a lot of different elements to balance at once... I think i was adequately successful at that, but given more time and money from the start, I might have had a better film..... that said I'm very happy with how it turned out, and the rawness of it might actually enhance the idea. I'm my own harshest critic I guess.... but I'm proud of what is there. So far other people seem to like it a lot too. MyDocumentary.ca: How did these young bands feel about the movie when it was done? It was an interesting position for the young bands to put themselves in, to be portrayed during the lean times, the pratfalls and difficulties of being a working musician… For the most part the responses I've had from them have been really positive. I've been told it really captures what it's like for them, and they're glad they were a part of it. I know during shooting it can't be the most comfortable thing to have a camera following them around, but I think it was a positive experience overall. I'd like to think it makes them more respectable to be seen in a "real" light, and I've had tons of people tell me they are now fans of the bands because of this film. I even had someone say "I don't know if I like the music, but I'm fans of every one of them".... which is a pretty great thing to hear, that people are open minded enough to connect with the people behind the music even if it isn't pleasing to their own particular set of ears. Time will tell how the film affects those that participated. MyDocumentary.ca: One has to ask you – have you seen “Dig”? Yours was such a unique path to follow, did you have any mentors to learn from? Tell us about some of the directors that have inspired you the most? I have seen "Dig!", but it was close to when I was done shooting. While shooting this I went on a big documentary kick, watched tons of them. I've always liked the medium, and had been given a chance to flex my muscles for doc in the past doing EPK work for bands, but I wanted to really study the way these films were put together, what worked and what didn't. One I can definitely recommend as a companion piece is Penelope Spheeris' "The Decline of The Western Civilization Part 2: The Metal Years", which I tracked down while I was shooting as well. Sam Dunn's two flicks are also both good, and applaud him on what he was able to make. I was shooting Working Class Rock Star at the same time they were shooting "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey" so at the time I hadn't seen those. In terms of directors that have inspired me, to be honest, I'm actually more of a narrative guy than documentary. I do love the works of the documentary greats - Errol Morris, Berlinger/Sinofsky, etc. And in terms of docs some of my favorites are "Jesus Camp" and BBC's "The Power of Nightmares"...... but overall I'm much more of a horror-hound and into twisted narrative. I could list off those directors forever, but I won't.... lets just say I have a huge taste for film of all kinds, an encylopedic knowledge of it, and I don't want to bore you. MyDocumentary.ca: Did you find yourself second guessing yourself during the editing process, just to try and make sure that you gave fair coverage to each of the bands? How long was the original cut? That's one of the biggest problems I was faced with. In a lot of cases you get to know the bands fairly well, and you want to be fair to everyone. You feel bad when you have to cut something because you're worried how they will react, and in one case I followed a couple of musicians (early in shooting), great guys on a personal level, that I ended up cutting from the documentary entirely, because I didn't think the story served the narrative..... I'm contemplating releasing a small mini-doc with them down the road for the YouTube crowd, a little bonus WCRS "episode" I guess, since I do have enough footage.... but I haven't had the time yet. In general I was fairly rutheless in the edit though, and I could have been a lot more so. You can't please everyone and in some cases one band may end up dominating the story... it's just the way things played out. The good of the message, the good of the film..... that's what is more important, in every case. The original rough cut was 113 minutes long, and was shown to a small group of people (maybe 15).... which was an invaluable "test screening" that I arranged myself. At the time the film was even scored with a Phillip Glass/Battle Royale soundtrack temp score, and was much looser, lingering on moments more, especially the Bloodshoteye family stuff. After that I cut down to a 105 minute version that was played to a small audience in Summer 2006 at the Rue Morgue House of Horror in Toronto. That version included Rob's music and was fairly well received. The version I started shopping in late 2006-2007 was 99 minutes long, had different titles and animation on it, and a brand new ending. The version on the DVD is 95 minutes, was professionally mixed (including 5.1), and is generally a lot more polished. It was a long process and went through a lot of changes. MyDocumentary.ca: Can we get an update on the 3 bands; Tub Ring, 3 Mile Scream and Bloodshoteye? Well, I can update you as much as I know. 3 Mile Scream broke up, but the musicians keep on trucking. Matt (vocals) is now the lead singer of Cryptopsy, so he's doing very well touring the world with a very successful metal band. I saw him in Milwaukee last summer while I had a crew shooting the Summer Slaughter DVD, and he seems like he's doing well. Mike has a new band called "The Catalyst" that sound really great and are already playing shows in Ontario. I'm not sure what the rest of the band is doing. Tub Ring has been getting progressively bigger since we finished shooting.... their show is tighter than ever and I wish them all the success. Additionally, I've used Rob twice more on scores for two short films I've shot (Ending The Eternal and Open Invitation) and he will be doing the score for my upcoming feature horror film (The Eternal)... he's getting a great bit of exposure film scoring and with multiple other musical projects. Bloodshoteye is now a 5-piece, but Will Davis left the band a while back. Their sound has changed a little, but they are tighter than ever, and have a new CD they've just finished recording... I just saw them live a couple of weeks back in Toronto and it was a great show.... they are still fighting the good fight. MyDocumentary.ca: Did it surprise you to learn that so many seemingly successful bands like GWAR are so jaded about the industry and yet still very much in it? Lots more questions to go still I see? Haha. At first I was surprised, yes. Looking back though I just think it should be more obvious.... yet isn't. There's going to be horror stories and troubles in any business venture, the music industry is no different. It's an opportunity to make really big money for very little work for the right people, which means you are left open to a lot of pitfalls. It's hard to know who to trust when the bottom line is what rules everything. I bet if I had more time to interview and a few more drinks into each subject (which was not a tactic I used, I just mean hypothetically) they probably would have opened up on some things that you couldn't even believe were real... people in general can be really horrible to eachother, especially in business. I'd say the "successful" people in general probably have more excuses to be jaded than those just starting out, because they probably had to wade through a ton of shit to come out sparkling. MyDocumentary.ca: Also, how’d you get Dave Brokie to talk out of costume? And without the cuttlefish of Cthulu? When I first approached GWAR's people about an interview, I was told right away that for this film the interview would be with Dave, and I figured in costume. I arrived at the club before the show, and was told then that it would be out of costume. Dave basically explained to me at the beginning (paraphrasing) "You don't want to talk to Oderus, he won't give you the answers you need." I thought that was a very humble and damned intelligent thing to say. I respect Dave a lot, he was a great guy in the interview, and he's both blunt and eloquent. It was great that he agreed to speak. MyDocumentary.ca: The movie has been quite successful in its distribution efforts – Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Blockbuster, Sam Goody – Congratulations but there is a bit of an irony in that. None of these bands and even GWAR and legends Frank Marino probably cannot be found in so many stores… I suppose there is an irony there, but I don't think it's really accurate to say none of these bands can be found in those stores. The top bands in the documentary all have very good distribution, but for everyone it all depends on the label they are on and the kind of spread they get. In Canada you can find a Bloodshoteye album much easier than you can in the US..... Our major record stores stock all this stuff though, the ones with really good sections and floor space..... it's the trend of the market though: having bands like Lamb of God and Unearth in the film, who are both very popular now, helps with that spread. I also went outside the music industry for distribution, using the great indie distributor Cinema Epoch, who have a long history of getting obscure, foreign and high-quality arthouse films to fairly wide release on store shelves. Hell, their president is one of the guys who helped first bring John Woo's The Killer to North America. It all had to do with my approach and a great willingness on the distributor's part to take a risk in what is decidedly a risky film. I think in time that risk will pay off for them, though. MyDocumentary.ca: The movie features musicians like Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe, Strapping Young Lad’s Devin Townsend and others. Tell us about your choice in these bands? I'm a fan, plain and simple. Also, Bloodshoteye already had a person connection to Randy, and through that and landing him for an interview it's really what opened the doors for me to get everyone else.... once people and PR companies saw Randy was in the film, they started taking me seriously. With Devin Townsend, I've just been a longtime fan, so I had to approach. One of my goals has always been to direct a music video for him, but this was the next best thing. I follow and listen to all his work - DTB, SYL, Ziltoid, Ocean Machine, etc. He's just a great homegrown artist. My ex-band "Heavily Medicated" even opened for Strapping Young Lad in summer 2006 in Toronto..... a great night. More practically though they were chosen because they both are outspoken and very experienced members of the music industry, and are valuable perspectives to have. MyDocumentary.ca: Tell us about the Rob Kleiner score and your goals in choosing the music for this movie about musicians? As stated before I had two reasons for this. The cost of music licensing compared to music-for-hire (score), and the feeling of universality I wanted the film to have overall. I didn't want musicians in other genres to be turned off from the film and it's valuable lessons simply because they didn't like metal. I stand by this being a great choice, and Rob's music really elevates the film. I think Mack from Twitchfilm said it best in his review, that the score provided "A nice juxtaposition to the ‘chiggy chugga’ of metal, a sense of a fairy tale that is about to be smashed wide open". MyDocumentary.ca: We like to ask our directors to share whatever they want to share about their budget, and some of the major challenges in telling their story? Not much to share about the budget, since there really wasn't one. Not when compared to what films should cost to make. One of the biggest challenges I did have was needing or wanting to go out and shoot something, some even that had happened in the band's life, and just not having the money or time to travel out and do that. I was also working pretty much full time with client work while making this as well, so this was very much shot when I could afford to. Very, very grass-roots. I'd also have times where I spent money on the doc and would be left with none for simple things like groceries (or in some cases rent), because in my mind the film came first. That's what it's like when you have a goal you have to make happen, it becomes an "at any cost" thing. Here's hoping that this kind of attitude pays off...... but in a lot of ways looking back it's very much the same attitude most of the musicians in this film have, and it can lead to trouble if you don't step carefully. MyDocumentary.ca: Where can people learn more about you? Well, they could first check out my company's website, Unstable Ground (www.unstableground.net). There's hours of video to watch there for no cost, all flash expandable to full screen. I've got an imdb page, there's a bunch more of these interviews out there at this point as well. If they are really that interested I don't keep my life all that private.... Myspace and Facebook are used (and great promotional tools). If they want to know about what I've got on tap next, it's another documentary called SKULL WORLD I'm already shooting, and a feature length horror film called THE ETERNAL (www.theeternalmovie.com). MyDocumentary.ca: Tell us about the bonus features and why people should pay for the DVD and not download it? Well,I know for a fact the film is available to download online, but it's not easy to get still. I would hope they buy or at the very least rent the DVD, especially if they are a musician or artist, because it's important to know this stuff..... and even if you don't fully agree with it, to realize they must at least approach their career's carefully. Plus I think the film is entertaining. As for special features: the film is 95 minutes long, but the DVD takes 4.5 hours to watch in total. There's deleted scenes, another bonus documentary made by Greg Sommer (the subject of my next documentary SKULL WORLD) about the mosh-pit culture called "Pit Files", music videos for the bands involved (so you can finally see them in action in entirety) and me rambling over the film in a feature length commentary. It's well worth the buy, considering the lower SRP on it to begin with. If you like it and the bands involved, you should check them out as well, hopefully buy their stuff.... though if you get the chance to pick up their merch at a show do it there, it helps the band more directly. MyDocumentary.ca: What was the single most profound thing that you learned in making this movie? Simply that I have to be more alert in this business, and that for the most part although people can help you along the way, it's not wise to ever let your work get out of your own hands. I've become wiser and approach my career from a much more mature place. i think in general it's the realization that ignorance and stupidity are what causes the most problems, and there are ways to insulate yourself against that. Doesn't mean I'm bulletproof, but I can deflect some of them now. MyDocumentary.ca: What did you shoot it on, and what is your dream camera? For budgetary reasons and because I've owned one since it hit the market, I shot on the Panasonic DVX100 24P cinema camera. I'll still stand by it's picture quality as probably the best SD camera on the market..... the warmest picture, the most versatility. It's been through thick and thin with me, been bashed around and fucked up, and it's still working fine today. *Knock on wood* I may even get another full documentary out of it, since I'm shooting SKULL WORLD on the same camera. In terms of what's on the market now: I love the new edition, the HVX200..... I shot a travel show through China & Russia earlier last year, and two short films on it, and it's just a great little piece of equipment. I'm very curious to try out the RED, and before it becomes obsolete I'd like to direct something on 35mm. MyDocumentary.ca: What did you edit it on, and why? Throughout my career I've used tons of editing systems. I started just going tape to tape with a linear editor (in my earliest days I'd cut documentaries for class projects using two editing VCRs and do sound by swapping RCA cables when I needed a seperate source cut in). Since then I've worked with Premiere, Vegas, Media100, Avid and Final Cut Pro. WORKING CLASS ROCK STAR was cut on Adobe Premiere, which I'd been using for years on my own projects because PC was basically all i could afford. For clients I was on Final Cut Pro more often. I actually used Premiere until late last year, when I finally got myself a great Mac FCP setup..... now I swear by FCP and it's capabilities. It destroys Premiere in a lot of areas, and I would have been using it longer were I able to (I always had NLE envy when I'd work away from my own home setup). MyDocumentary.ca: What was the total amount of footage that you shot and what was the final cut of the movie? Total tapes shot was 130, which give or take means between 100-120 hours of footage. The final cut is 95 minutes long. You can see why I had to be rutheless with the edit.... a lot of that footage was live performance though. And some tapes only had a couple of minutes worth of footage even worth looking at. Two questions that we ask all of our MyDocumentary.ca Directors: MyDocumentary.ca: Intelligent design or evolution and why? That's an awfully left-field and personal question to ask of your filmmakers. As life goes on a lot of my preconceptions get destoryed, some daily. I don't really know what to believe anymore, but I do think the arguements for intelligent design can border on the silly side. I don't see why there can't be room for both evolution and the idea of God simultaneously. I don't believe that things happened like "that book" said they did, I think in general they are parables and segments of true stories lost in translation over thousands of years with the general theme of "morality" (and the sub-theme of "populous control"), but I'd be naive to think that this is all there is. I've always considered myself an "anti-dogmatic spiritualist", I'm open about the idea, I just hate the doctrine. This is one of the subjects that PR people always tell you to never talk about.In any case, I'm certainly not going to believe what was written for fear of after-life reprisal... I don't think any truly "good" creator could ever rule through fear. But here's an interesting though: what if "good" and "evil" are just human constructs, and the "creator" is beyond this concept. Would God really think like a human being? It's a topic I talk in circles about, because talking in a straight line would be zealous. I think the best answer is "I just don't know", but I do believe in evolution. I just have no idea if evolution is a guided occurrence, but I'd like to think so... it would be a more comforting thought than "we rot in the ground". MyDocumentary.ca: What would surprise people most to learn about you? I'm actually a somewhat reserved and quiet person in general, unless I'm around a close friend or talking about business/film. I know, the guy that just wrote essays for answers isn't talkative that often, hard to believe. But it's true. I observe and think more often than not. Trackback(0)
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