An Interview
By Draven Copeland, Editor-in-Chief
Before winter break last year, I had the honor of interviewing Scarlet Prater on her life at Pellissippi State Community College as a film student and a filmmaker. Prater is in the process of making her very own horror feature film, The Butcher’s Daughter. I ended up scoring a role in the film as a biker, which I found particularly funny because I’ve always been afraid of riding motorcycles.
Instead of writing a story around the interview like I had originally planned, I read over the transcript a couple times and decided that Scarlet’s story is better told in her own words: here they are.
Draven: Tell me about your filmmaking classes, which ones are you taking and which one is your favorite.
Scarlett: I gotta think about this, cuz I never think before I speak, but I feel like for this, I should.
D: Okay, [laughs].
S: So right now at Pellissippi I’m enrolled in six classes this semester, on top of my internships and I think 5 of those are VVT classes, so I have guerilla filmmaking, where right now we’re working on a short film about a taxi driver who is coming back to collect these souls to try and get his wife back, which has been fun to produce.
D: Wow, yeah that’s really cool.
S: I’m directing it, so it’s really fun. We’ve been filming that every Tuesday, so we should be done, or “wrapped”, on Monday, so that’s really cool. Then, I have Motion Lighting, which you’re technically supposed to take in your first semester at Pellissippi, but in my first semester I didn’t really have time for it and then my second it got cancelled, so I didn’t get to take it, but I’m taking it this semester so it’s revamping some of the stuff I already knew about lighting sets and getting hands-on experience with the equipment. Then I have Media Management, which… it’s kinda brutal, like a lot of people fail. Actually I think a lot of my class is retaking it.
D: What’s hard about it?
S: It’s just knowing a lot about computers, media and files and the proper way to organize things… which I think is the easy part but just remembering things like different specs, online proxies, offline proxies, and how to share it with other people in the web that you’re working with for a project. For our final project we have to film and organize it all, and we have a contract that we have to follow strictly with the exact aspect ratio and bit rate and all that sort of stuff. It’s a lot, the classes are really intense.
D: Yeah, I can imagine with all of that.
S: And then my fourth class… it’s bad I have to think about it… Oh, Production Management and Career Development! We just mainly talk a lot about planning our capstone, that’s what that class is really for.
D: What’s a capstone?
S: A capstone project is, if you’re working in the arts or anything like that, your final project. So, you take all of the knowledge you’ve learned from all your classes and feed them into your capstone, which is what my film is, I’m just making it more fun. A lot of people do documentaries, like they’ll document a church, or some sort of group and make a whole thing on it, but I was like no… I’m making a slasher film just for funzies. It’s cold and I think the vibe is just very fitting right now.
D: Yeah, for sure.
S: And then I have Remote Field Production, which is what I just went to Korea with. It was super fun, essentially we got to plan a project, and my group was making a short film all in Korea.
D: What was the short film about?
S: Originally it was about these two hitmen, one of them living in Korea and one was coming from America, and they both had the same target, so they have interferences with each other. When we got there, we had issues with one of the actors, he wasn’t really a team player… true colors were shown. So then the script altered to a scene where one of them is in an interrogation room and he’s telling a story about how he used to be a hitman, how something went wrong and his wife died… we came up with that at the North Seoul Tower. There’s this mile-long wall of lockets and it’s overlooking all of Seoul, the biggest city in South Korea… that’s where we altered the script ‘cause we realized that other guy was not gonna be in it and we had all this footage of just the one. It’s turned out really well. I filmed the fight scene last week, which I think is my favorite thing I’ve filmed yet. It was so good, I was like “wait I did that?”
D: That’s really cool!
S: It was literally at 9pm in a parking garage downtown and it’s just me and my little light, and my friend Josie was holding audio zoom to catch stuff… it was super fun.
D: That actually answers my next question, I was going to ask if you had any filmmaking experience.
S: Oh, yes… you can’t really tell anyone cause I’m a film major, but I’ve never made my own full-length short film before this semester, which… is that bad? Probably. When I got into film I was like thirteen/fourteen, and I was really sick. Usually I would skate with my friends, but I was in bed-rest and I didn’t have the energy to skate. I found this really sh** cam-corder in my mom’s stuff and I was like “I should make skate videos like the ones I watch,” so I started doing that. I was like “this is fun, but this camera sucks. It’s real small, I can’t see anything, I just zoom in and everything is gone.” So I saved up, while working at Karm, for a tape-camera, and I got a TRV900. I got these little tapes I’d put in there, and I’d go around and start filming every time we’d go skating. It was just so fun because I still got to experience it and have fun with it even though I wasn’t in the physical strength to [skate] with them. But I could still coast on my board and go with them, so that progressed to editing, and I was like “this is fun, and I can tell a cute little story about what we did.” I feel like there’s so much archive footage that’s never seen the light of day from that. [The films] kind of sucked but it’s fun to look back on. And then I started doing music videos with my friends, cuz I’ve been going to shows since I was like 13. My mom’s a musician, so I grew up going to the Opry and stuff when I was like four. So I’ve been going to music stuff since forever, but when I was 13, I was like “Aw, metal’s cool”, so I would go to shows and get in the pit, and I was like “Wait, I can film this stuff?” So I started doing that… a lot of that footage has also never seen the light of day, [it’s] kinda brutal.
D: Well, you gotta start somewhere.
S: Yeah. I started getting really good at it and now I have a TV show where I film local bands. It’s kind of like if MTV and Narduwar had a baby, which is what I’m doing this weekend with my friend’s final show.
D: Does the show post anywhere?
S: Yes, it’s aired on Knoxville Community Media (it’s like a public access television station,) and I also archive it on YouTube. So I did a lot of skating and music cuz people were like “oh you could do my music video” and I was like “sure”… cuz I feel like with music videos there’s just more room to do whatever you want, and everyone’s like “oh, makes sense”. And I’ve always written scripts and stories, and I’ve filmed portions of stuff but I’ve never sat down, made a script, made a story, got actors for it, got people for it, went out and actually filmed something until Guerilla [Filmmaking class]. We had a two-minute personal project where we could only have two actors, two locations, and we could only use what we had. That was my first time ever making anything. I told one of my classmates that and he was like “really?” ‘Cause I want to be a cinematographer, that’s my whole bit, but I just started making stuff… but I’m only 19, it’s not that hard. But in my head I’m like “Oh, that’s crazy, I wasn’t making movies out of the womb? Oh my god.” Now I feel like I’m ready ‘cause my next film I want to be feature-length… it’ll probably end up being like 45 minutes or something, but still, I feel like that’s a lot. I’m not spending more than $100 on this, it’s low-budgeted, it’s all volunteer work, it’s all people who want to be a part of something important and creative.
D: That’s really cool, I mean Host was only 50 minutes, so you’re good.
S: I know, I think I’ve got it… I’ve just started on my filmmaking journey, but give me a few years, you know.
D: Oh you’ll be good! Did you write your horror movie?
S: Yes, I wrote the entire script. I started the idea a year ago… there was this whole story where I was dating this guy and while I was gone he cheated on me, within like two days. I was like “this motherf*****,” and I just started [typing], so that’s what started the idea for this movie. It’s about this girl who hunts and kills men after she was cheated on, and it triggers this really angry, violent thing in her. And to hide the evidence she feeds them through a meat grinder. And then the whole town’s like “hmmm”, which is funny. But that’s what really started the idea, but that’s not me, I’m not violent I swear. I just got the idea and it was kind of like this feminist slasher but make it really 80s and moody.
D: When are you filming?
S: We’re filming during winter break, December 9th-15th. My plan is to just set up camp in my house and everyone who’s involved can come and go as they please. We are locked in for that time. For those days I’ve taken off from everything so I can just put my brain into this project and make something that everyone’s really proud of.
D: Where are you shooting?
S: I’ve kind of planned the schedule so everyday we’re in a different location for the script, just because I’m trying to get it pretty long. [For example,] for the film I’m making for Guerilla, we’ve been spending eight hours every week of the semester working on it and the film’s like ten minutes long. I didn’t even think that much went into it, but when you really get down to the nitty gritty, one shot of one scene will sometimes take an hour. It shouldn’t, but [that’s] just how it goes. You have to plan with the weather and the timing, and every little thing… It’s really hard. So I’m trying to have everyday be perfectly manufactured to flow, where we only need these characters on this day and if that doesn’t work we still have one open day to move around. Right now, I’m trying to get the rights to film at the Ingles in Halls, because it hasn’t been renovated, ever. They have the cool, big LED signs all around the store that say “Meat” [and] “Groceries” [and] the lightbulbs haven’t been replaced in a while so it’s very dim… but I’ll pitch that to them nicely. So there’s that, and then my friend’s gonna have this big bonfire party, so I was like “Why don’t you throw an actual party and instead of buying a bunch of background actors, we can just have our friends come and I’ll have all my actors and crew members…” We’ll film some scenes there and we’ll film scenes in the woods, then go down and find a lake nearby and finish the story out. Then my best friend Emma has this “teenage girl” room and I was like “wait, can we film there… and while we’re there can we film in your kitchen… and in your driveway?” It’s finding stuff like that and using resources… it’s just naturally manufacturing and finding places that make it make sense.
D: Are any Pellissippi students acting in the film?
S: Yes, for talent we’ve got Hamilton Baker, Elijah McCoy, and you. Then, on the crew we’ll have Alyssa Goldman, Tristan Franklin, Stephanie Taboada, Gavin Carroll, Zach Webb, and Emma Dorsey… all Pellissippi students.
D: I saw on your flier you had a shot from Sleepaway Camp… was that an inspiration for the movie?
S: I like the vibes… but also I just took it off the internet. Is that bad? I’m not very photoshop savvy and I wanted to make a cute, campy flier, so I just went on Google to find “dark forest and girl screaming” and put them over each other… but that is a good movie.
D: Are there any particular slashers/horror characters that inspired your story?
S: Honestly… this is bad, I’m not a big horror [fan.] I feel like I’m getting out of my film comfort zone and trying something new, because honestly I watch a lot of coming of age movies… my favorite movie is I Believe In Unicorns… like girlhood and real life stuff. I like horror movies but none of them have stuck with me. I’ve been trying to watch a lot, just so I can do it justice, you know.
D: What filmmakers do you look up to generally/for this project?
S: Harmony Korine, he’s one of my favorites. He made Gummo, Kids, and Trash Humpers. Sofia Coppola, I look up to her a lot, I love all of her films. Nadia Lee Cohen, she’s not a filmmaker, but she makes a lot of cool funky art… I really like her vibe, I look up to a lot of stuff she does. I really love weird, random artists, I feel like I draw more from them than filmmakers. I watch a lot of movies, it’s what I major in, so most of my homework is just watching movies, but I feel like I get more from observing art and observing people. I pull from that a lot. Whereas with movies, I’m like “that’s a cool shot, that’s cool composition” but for [artistic] elements I just like weird sh**, you know? I’ve always had a mindset of taking things from reality.
D: How do you balance 80’s homage with originality?
S: Since I don’t watch a lot of horror movies, I feel like I’m coming from an original standpoint because I haven’t spent years absorbing the stuff from them to make it like the other ones. I’ve tried watching them with my boyfriend but I can’t look for too long… I just get bored and turn it off. I’m trying to make something that’s based in the 80s and has that vintage, dim feel, but I’m not trying to make something that’s overdone, like I feel like some things are. I honestly want it to be cinematic and moody, but also have you enticed and have you be like “Oh my god, what’s she doing?” I feel like [it] ends with a really big cliffhanger that could lead to another movie… I hate when movies do that, but I’m doing it anyway. I want everything to be cinematic, pretty, but also enticing.
D: Are there any effects that you’re excited to create?
S: Yes! I know nothing about special effects, I’ve never done a movie like this so most of it, we’ll figure it out. But there’s this special effects guy Hack, I pitched him my idea and he liked it, so he says he’ll help out with whatever’s needed. He’s my main support for special effects, cuz this’ll be my third or fourth film.
D: If you were to make a cheesy trailer tagline for your film what would it be?
S: “In the cold of winter, their blood is her only warmth.”
D: Badass.
