5 Questions with Dave Biddle and Dave Ehrenreich
1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?
Dave Biddle: I consider myself more of a video artist who is fortunate enough to collaborate with a great filmmaker from time to time - a sweet fella by the name of Dave Ehrenreich. Typically I work with whatever footage is easiest to get my hands on, often found footage or cellphone footage, because I really like the materiality of digital imagery with its pixilation and flatness. I like a good story but I also have a tendency to bring the medium to the surface of things, in some ways I like to show cracks in the universe where the story takes place. Working with Dave E is great because he's so good at creating beautiful and immersive worlds to ground a story in, which also makes it that much more effective when the worlds start to fall apart.
Dave Ehrenreich: My Dad is a retired high school teacher math teacher. When I was 15 he took his Professional Development days to learn the editing software at his high school. I had been so mystified by the process and he figured out how it worked for me. We’d go back to his school after dinner and he’d mark papers till midnight and I’d experiment with edits. That was my jumping off point. I mention this because even though my body of work is different from Dave’s, it was the ability to alter the world that hooked me, to apply my point of view. I first exercised that through the editorial process, then slowly walked it backwards to creating characters and building a film from start to finish.
2) What was the initial idea for this project and how did it evolve from there?
Dave Biddle: My friend Julia and I were driving along the Fraser Canyon highway on our way to her dad's little ranch in a small desert town called Ashcroft. As we were bombing along this beautiful winding highway overlooking the Fraser River I had to suddenly slam on the brakes when I noticed a car stopped in the middle of the road. It's only two lanes so I had to cautiously pass in the oncoming lane, and as I did that I obviously looked into the stopped car to check out the deal. At that moment I saw a woman in the driver's seat with a bandaged face filming the scenery with her phone, and she smiled and waved at us, not realizing she was doing something real stupid. An hour later we rolled into a diner just outside of Ashcroft. We were talking about how strange that near crash moment was when that same bandaged lady strolled into the Greek restaurant we were eating at. She was bandaged up cosmetic post-surgery style, but you could tell she had that Hollywood look. This is a look that is uncommon in that area. Ashcroft itself is worthy of a film, so the story that we made up while sitting in that greek restaurant about this bandaged celebrity coming through a little desert town seemed like a nice way to just start filming.
Dave Ehrenreich: They called to tell me the next day. We drove back up a couple weeks later to scout and shoot tests.
3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And the easiest part?
Dave Biddle : One really intense day was when we decided to go up to Ashcroft during the forest fires that were happening all through the area so we could get some smokey highway driving shots. Dave E linked up with this guy with a really crazy camera rig on his truck that was remote controlled from the inside, typically something for car commercials and stuff. My character has an old sport-bike with leopard print fairings, perfect for riding along the section of the Fraser Canyon highway that originally inspired the film, only this time under a much more apocalyptic sky. It's about 4 1/2 hours each way to get there and we went up and back the same day. It's the most time I've spent on a motorbike in a day, and by the end it was hard to see 100 feet ahead on the road from all the smoke. My character lives on the edge though so I had to do it.
Dave Ehrenreich: It was a pretty exciting shoot day from a cinematic perspective. My friend has this company called Gorilla Camera Truck that essentially provides a more affordable, stripped back, Russian arm situation. We filled his gas tank and he was down for the cause. The further we got up the canyon on the highway the stronger the smoke. I had Dave on blue tooth so I could direct him. The last shot in the film was the most rewarding. Being able to visually link our character to climate change and also our motif of endless crisscrossing trains of commerce - all in the same image. I was thrilled.
Dave Biddle: The easiest part for me was working with John Kidder who plays the hops farmer in our film. He was basically playing himself, so we just had to float the topic of the scene and the rest would take care of itself. He's one of the most interesting people I've ever known.
Dave Ehrenreich: That scene with them in the Hops was so genuine and that relationship is something a lot of us can relate to. I also enjoyed the juxtaposition of Willa in the desert landscape, building those little scenes with her. Channeling the initial incident that sparked our story. She’s such a pro, her instincts and awareness of the camera were invaluable.
4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?
Dave Biddle: Miracle Mile (1988) by Steve De Jarnatt. I just can't believe it took me 35 years to find out about this film. It's the classic late 80's orange sky and palm trees LA look, but the movie really operates according to its own logic. It seems to be taking place in our universe, but the storyline unfolds through character's reactions and decisions that really don't feel part of this world. It's like an alternate universe where everything's the same, except that people will believe anything they're told. With that one change to the universe things get zany pretty quick.
Dave Ehrenreich: A White, White Day (2019) by Hlynur Palmason. I just watched it about three times in the last month. It deals with death and coming to terms with unresolved questions. It does so in a really powerful way, full of empathy, anger and of course, humour.
5) What’s next for you?
Dave Biddle: I'm mostly just focusing on making 360 videos that simultaneously show the outside and inside of the same object. Like being inside one of those russian dolls in 360 vision. That's how I'm gonna get rich.
Dave Ehrenreich: I just made a film, a fictional drama, that follows a young woman navigating the colourful and polarizing world of amateur competitive drone racing. I’m still editing but soon I’ll need to start convincing people it’s a film worth watching.
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Dave Biddle: davesoasis.cargo.site | IG: @copyright_linda_fox
Dave Ehrenreich: davidehrenreich.com | IG: @david_ehrenreich