5 Questions with Corey Hughes
The new experimental oddity from director Corey Hughes, “My Expanded View” presents a YouTube Yoga tutorial that descends into a strange meta deconstruction. We asked Hughes how the project began, what the biggest challenge was, and what comes next for him…
1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?
I went to a Catholic High School in Pennsylvania. Everyone was required to take classes in Catholic Theology. I convinced my teacher to let me make movies instead of writing essays for the assignments. So the first couple movies I made were based on the bible or religious texts. There were a lot of fast cuts and cool special effects. I would film them with my friends in a couple hours on my parent’s Digi8 camera and then edit them all night. I got really into it and just kept making things.
2) What’s the backstory here - what was the initial idea and how did it evolve from there?
In the Summer of 2017 I was working on Reality TV shows and trying to relax at night by doing YouTube yoga tutorials in my room. On set, I found myself more interested in what was happening behind the camera than what we were supposed to be filming. I fantasized about camera operators becoming so apathetic that they started filming the crew instead. Or wandering off into the woods to film beautiful leaves and insects.
I combined that idea with my love of the aesthetic of YouTube yoga tutorials. The tutorials are these strange and exciting modern performances. They remind me of early video artists that would set up their camera on a tripod and record themselves performing different actions in their studios.
Working with my friend Malek, who is a really amazing yoga/meditation instructor, we created this yoga instructor character. The character is an amalgamation of different virtual and real world instructors. The voiceover captures what I love about those tutorials. Breathy vocals. Spiritual platitudes. Dramatic pauses. Simultaneously absurd and authentic.
The crew is made up of a bunch of Baltimore artists and filmmakers. Each crew member was given loose directions about what to film and encouraged to film whatever seemed interesting to them in the moment. The production of the film became a meditation exercise in itself. I love the idea of the crew of the film becoming the cast. Documenting what happens when everyone is both filming and being filmed.
3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And generally what part of the creative process do you enjoy the best, and the least?
The biggest challenge for this film was cutting in down to an 8 minute short. Once I synced up all the footage I got really into the edit and cutting between the different cameras. Having drawn out sections where one camera zones out on one detail. I had a twenty minute cut at one point that I thought was really funny but I think this one is better.
This film was an experiment. Bringing together all of these disparate elements and seeing how they interact. It could have fallen apart but I think I got lucky in that most of the elements synced up.
I enjoy different parts of the process on different projects. Sometimes it is really fun to shoot but a nightmare to edit. Sometimes the opposite. I go through cycles. Sometimes I just want to sit on my computer and write. Sometimes I want to go outside and film birds.
4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?
I just watched the newest Neil Breen movie “Twisted Pair.” It’s really wild. I love the repetition of the plot and the special effects. I think it’s the best art film I’ve seen this year.
5) What’s next for you?
Just finished up a new short in the same series as My Expanded View. It’s an experimental unboxing video for Vibram Five Finger Toe Shoes called MyToeShoes.Com. I made it with my friends Marnie Ellen Hertzler and Nick Vyssotsky in Fort Lauderdale and the Florida keys. It just screened at Borscht 0 and hopefully will have some more screenings coming up in 2020.
Also, filmed an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary with Theo Anthony about instant replay in professional tennis. It’s called Subject to Review and airs on ESPN Dec. 22nd.
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Instagram: @coreyhughes2020