5 Questions with Karsten Kaufmann
1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?
I grew up in Oakland, CA and was a happy kid. I played a handful of sports before I turned into a little skate grom In middle school. I wasn’t as talented or brave as my group of friends, so I ended up filming them a lot which I really came to enjoy. I also have memories of getting the chills watching the intro sequence to “Survivor” when I was nine years old. So between those two things, a switch definitely flipped.
2) What was the initial idea for this project and how did it evolve from there?
At the time (Nov 2018) I wasn’t really planning to make anything out of the footage, I just wanted to film Thanksgiving with a fun camera In hopes that’d I’d appreciate it decades later.
It wasn’t until early quarantine this year when I went back and watched everything that I realized there was a little story I could tell with what I’d shot. Everyone’s personality came out in a way I didn’t notice when I filmed it. Once I got all the footage on the timeline the narrative just fell into place.
The cherry on top was asking my friend Matt if he could do a spooky/ cursed cover of “If You’re going to San Francisco” during the Alcatraz scene. When the seagull takes a shit and the kazoo’s come in, I lose I every time.
3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And the easiest part?
I think the hardest part was just making the initial effort to pull the camera out. Especially with unscripted stuff I make, I have a period where I get self conscious about filming people, and don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. This results In me feeling guilty about missing out on capturing good moments, and there is a very unproductive internal back-and-forth that goes on for a bit. But usually I find a groove and things start to come naturally.
The easiest part was for sure cutting it together. I’m first and foremost an editor, and have grown to enjoy it way more than directing or shooting. So I kinda see the process of sitting down and creating the narrative as the reward for doing the “dirty work” of shooting.
4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?
I watched Being John Malkovich for the first time a couple months ago and think about it a lot. I loved where they chose to be surreal, and the arbitrary rules of the universe they created. It’s so funny to me how the climax of the movie takes place on the New Jersey Turnpike for no other reason than “that’s just where it spits you out after 15 minutes”. I also really like when Actors play themselves in movies. I feel like it’s always so fun and we don’t see it enough.
5) What’s next for you?
Not completely sure yet! I’m newly unemployed and have been doing some freelance editing here and there. I live in Seattle and work a lot with Claire Buss who always has a mountain of fun work she has been able to throw my way which has been so great. I kinda just wait for her emails to come in and that’s how I’ve been paying rent.
I’m also starting to shoot stuff for “What You Missed During The Big Dark” which is essentially just a personal B-roll project. In the Pacific Northwest there is this thing that meteorologists refer to as “The Big Dark” where from November to March we get lots of rain and little to no sunlight for many days at a time. It sucks. As a result, everyone stops going outside on the weekdays, and we kinda just forget to see our friends for a few months. Obviously with the pandemic, that is happening anyways, so this year the dark will be even BIGGER.
This project is kind of just a reason for me to get outside (safely) and focus on something creative during the hard times.
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http://www.videobykarsten.com | IG: @gnarsten