5 Questions with Anthony Oberbeck ("Six Messages")
1) What have you been up to since we last spoke in June of last year?
I guest starred in an episode of Shrill on Hulu, I starred in the short "Whenever" that Graham Mason made for Adult Swim, and I shot another short that I'm editing right now.
2) What’s the backstory here - what was the initial idea and how did it evolve from there?
Miceal O'Donnell from the Charm City Fringe Festival reached out and asked if I would make something for one of their programming blocks. He gave 8 directors the same score, and we all had to make a short using that score. I was trying to write a script to fit the score, but I was getting frustrated, so I decided to just take a camera out to Conor's fiance's family's house in Long Island, and we shot some images, and then i worked backwards from there.
3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And generally what part of the creative process do you enjoy the most, and the least?
The biggest challenge was working completely backwards - first a very specific score which I couldn't edit or adjust the timing of at all, and then fitting images to that, and then figuring out the voice-overs to try and make it something cohesive. My favorite part of the creative process for sure is just like dreaming up ideas and outlining and taking notes. And then I also love being on set, working with people and watching it all come together. Least favorite part is editing, and definite least favorite part is putting the final stamp on it that says it's done and I'm not going to touch it any more.
4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?
Funny Games (1997 version). I'm on a Haneke kick in general. I love that he'll often have dialogue scenes where the camera doesn't cut back and forth between the two characters, just whoever he decides the scene is about the camera stays on them and we just see the back of the other person's head the whole time. I think it's a good reminder that you don't have to make things look like everything else, you don't have to follow all the mechanics that we come to see as inherent in making something.
5) What’s next for you?
I'm going to Nepal with Colin Burgess and Conor Dooley to hike the Himalayas for two weeks. Me and Matt Barats and Graham Mason are working on a follow up to our visual comedy album "Reveries". And I would love to act in anything that anyone wants to cast me in.
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http://instagram.com/anthonyoberbeck