Q&A with Filmmaker, Abel Berry

Welcome to the DOJO!

In 2009 I had the pleasure of attending one of my favorite horror conventions, Texas Frightmare Weekend in Dallas, TX.  I was there to hang out with my buddy, indie film genius Stacy Davidson, and see what the Texas guerrilla filmmaking community had to offer.

I have to say that I was blown away by what I found.  The Texas filmmaking community in general, and the horror community in specific, is one of the most creative and innovative I’ve ever seen.  The group produces some amazing, and incredibly fun, work.

One of the filmmakers I had the pleasure to meet was a Dallas-native by the name of Abel Berry.  He was there pimping his first film, the killer clown flick called SPOILS.  After speaking to Abel and finding out he had shot the entire film on the amazing Canon HV20, I decided to pick up his DVD and check it out.  What I saw was an incredibly low-budget film with a whole lot of blood, a bunch of murders and more creativity and imagination than I’d seen in a very long time.

So now, a year later, I head back to Texas (well, at least via the Internet) to see what Abel has been up to and to get some of his great advice for indie filmmakers.  Take it away, Abel Berry!

5 Questions for Indie Filmmaker Abel Berry

Name: Abel Berry

Year/Age Started as a Filmmaker: 2007/24

Film Credits:
Writer/Director/Director of photography/Composer/actor on SPOILS
and KODIE. Camera Operator on OPIATE

Website: http://bsentertainmentfilms.wordpress.com

Give the Filmsensei.com readers a bit of information on yourself and your experience as a filmmaker.

Well, I started the journey as a filmmaker a few years ago with my friend Jennifer Stone. We had a little JVC handycam, and we would just play around and make silly videos and try to learn how to edit. Then a year or so later we got more serious about it, and we were approached to make a film in my friend Bart Butler’s haunted house, and that’s how SPOILS was born. We had no money, so we saved and got a Canon HV20 for around 600 or 700 bucks and edited on iMovie hd 6.  Jenn, Bart, and myself did everything. A year after that, we wanted to step it up and make something even more ambitious and used what we learned on spoils, to make it better. So I wrote the script for KODIE, (the girl in a teddy bear suit witchcraft ghosthunter splatterfest extravaganza!) And 9 months later we are deep in post production on that film.

As a run-and-gun digital filmmaker, can you give our readers an idea of the problems that you’ve run in to on some of your past productions — or even problems they can expect on theirs?

Plan your time wisely. Have shot lists ready for every day, and follow them. Of course its cool to come up with shots as you go, but shot lists have helped us save a lot of time on KODIE, because that was the biggest problem for me on spoils,… not having the time to do what I wanted with each scene. Oh, and absolutely back everything up once you begin to edit. We lost the 1st 30 minutes of rough edit and had to start over.

What is the worst thing that’s ever happened on one of your indie film shoots?

Worst thing to ever happen? On SPOILS, not having the mic on during a scene (because I was my own sound guy and messed that up pretty bad)

On KODIE, a certain effect that we prepared for weeks did not go correctly, and we had to do it over, and it cost us a few weeks. but we learned from it to be prepared for things to go wrong.

As someone who wears multiple hats on your films – writing, directing, producing, editing, running a camera — what is your favorite part of indie filmmaking and why?

I love shooting and writing, but by far, my favorite part is Directing. I’m not sure why, but I’m most happy when I’m on set and in the middle of it all ya know. Just finding creative ways to make the story work with friends.

Finally, can you give beginning indie and guerrilla filmmakers any advice on setting up their first films? In other words, what advice or tips do you wish you had been told before you put together your first film?

On setting up a first film, I would say, that first off do as much planning as you can in pre-production (shot lists, story boards, rehearsals, lighting, etc.). And also, the one thing I rant on and on about, the one thing I wish I would’ve known before, is that you shouldn’t blow a bunch of money on some fancy pants camera with all the bells and whistles. Find a camera that is ‘good enough’ and find a good deal on it. Use the money u saved on that, for other things like promotion. Indie Filmmakers NEVER plan enough for promo. I would say to be creative and come up with a good story that u can tell for no money at all, then just spend money on GOOD SOUND (because a film with bad sound will never be well received. never) and promotion.

Anything else you want to throw out to our indie film readers?

The only other thing is, don’t call your film finished, until you are satisfied that its the best it can be. Being indie, you don’t have the time restraints the big boys do so take your time.

Abel Berry, 2010

Thanks for the words of wisdom, Abel! I can’t wait to see KODIE!!

That’s it from the DOJO for today. I’ll see you all later in the week with a new article!

-Mat Nastos, the Film Sensei
http://www.FilmSensei.com

Related posts:

1. No Budget Filmmaker Profile: BS Entertainment – HV40 Feature Filmmaking
2. Q&A with Filmmaker, Jacob Strunk
3. Q&A With Filmmaker, Marcus Koch
4. Feature Filmmaking with the Canon HV40

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