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Andrew Pearce has accomplished a lot in the nearly 10 years since he started making movies. The filmmaker, who is all of 19, has won numerous local and international awards. He grew up on a farm in Australia. His hometown, Kergunyah (situated in the northeastern part of the state of Victoria), has a population of 188. Stuck out in the boonies, Pearce relied on family members to act in his movies. He learned how to write, shoot and edit. He scoured the Web and local art brochures, looking for festivals and competitions that might accept his films. Most of them did.

Falling mostly under the horror genre, Pearce’s films show a rare gift for screen direction and a rhythmic editing style. This is a filmmaker who knows how to create a visceral viewing experience. FilmNet recently spoke with the young virtuoso about his life’s work so far, both as a filmmaker and as an award-winning photographer.

You started shooting at a very young age. What sparked your interest in film?

I always had a fascination with the fact that it was possible to record sounds and images. I bought radios, handheld tape recorders, disposable cameras – practically anything that would record. Then, at the age of 10, I spent all my money on a black-and-white security camera which was wired to the TV. Since that purchase nearly 10 years ago, I have been making films.

What was the first film you ever made?

The first film I ever made was with my security camera. It was a short horror film about a mysterious creature which roamed the neighborhoods, kidnapping people and leaving a potato peeler where they last stood. The film was suitably titled “Peeler”. I often acted in my films, as living on a farm in the country I don’t have many casting options.

Did you have any mentors or people who encouraged you along the way?

There were always people who gave me feedback, and encouraged me to keep at it, but no more so than my parents. They would drive me around to the film locations, to film festivals around the country, and they even acted in numerous films, to their embarrassment.

I assume Ben Pearce and Samantha Pearce – the young actors who appear in some of your films – are your brother and sister. What’s it like working with them on set? Do you have a hard time getting them to take you seriously?

Ben and Samantha are my cousins, who conveniently live two minutes down the road. I have known them since they were born, and see them regularly, so they are pretty much my brother and sister. When I first began working with them, it was difficult, as they were only about 6 and 8 and would forget my directions. So I left it a few years, and gave it another go, and this time they were perfect! They would listen to every direction, and they would take it seriously, and they just happened to have some talent for it! Since then they have been my star cast, and for each film they get to choose a gift off eBay as a reward for their good work.

Let’s talk about Fear at Dusk. What ideas did you want to get across in the screenplay?

With Fear at Dusk, I wanted it to be an emotional rollercoaster in under three minutes. It begins with happiness, followed by mystery, fear, then shock and extreme sadness. This film has been played at various film festivals, and I have seen people scream, jump in their seats and their jaws drop. I basically wanted to get an audience reaction, and I did.

You create a lot of tension with subjective shots and quick cuts, and the music is also very effective. Tell us about the making of the film.

The film began with an idea, which I wrote into a script. I wrote the script around the location, music and cast, so this made the overall production so much smoother. It was filmed over two nights at dusk. I mostly used natural lighting, which was difficult at dusk because it darkens quickly, so the filming was rather fast paced. I edited the film around the cues in the music. The rhythm, melody, and chord changes determined the duration of each shot. If the melody was to swing, then I would use it with the shot when the character swings their head. You can say my editing process is like dancing; I choreograph the film to the music. But this can be dangerous, because if you edit too closely to the music, you can begin to obscure the storyline and people will get confused!! Fear at Dusk is my quickest film to date, taking just over two weeks to complete from first idea to the final product.

All of the movies you’ve uploaded to FilmNet are horror movies. What do you like about this genre?

I like the tension, shock and general eeriness in horror films, as opposed to the blood and gore side of the genre. The great thing about horror is it can evoke reactions from the audience, which is a driving reason for why I make films. I have moved slightly from horror now, and more to an eerie mystery/adventure style.

You’re also an award-winning photographer. I’m very impressed with your perspectives and use of light. Talk about your development as a photographer. I assume nobody starts out that good…

Thank you! My photography interest comes back to my fascination with recording things. Photography stemmed off from my film work, because I have a passion for cinematography. I became more serious about photography in the last three years when I was doing it as a subject in year 11 & 12. I used to do many photo manipulations in Photoshop, but in the last year I’ve been putting more effort into taking the photograph, and using Photoshop as a means of enhancement. Recently I have been successful with competitions and exhibitions, and with the prize money I have purchased a digital SLR camera.

Who are some of your heroes?

Magdalena Wanli, Simon Strong, Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Chris Lilley

I know you’re into music. Name some of your favorite bands.

Bertie Blackman, Florence & the Machine, Kate Bush, MGMT, Tori Amos

What are you working on now?

I’m currently working on film & photography commission work here and there, but I hope to get a film done for myself on the Christmas holidays. And in the meantime I’m continuously photographing and getting my work out there for the world to see!

I was really taken aback when I learned that American audiences had declared THE BOX one of the worst movies of all time. CinemaScore, the Las Vegas-based research firm that compiles responses from the movie-going public, reported that Richard Kelly’s new film had received the lowest possible grade: an “F”. That makes it the fourth least-popular film of the decade – after BUG, WOLF CREEK and DARKNESS. Sheesh!

Only one of those movies is genuinely bad: DARKNESS. (Is it a coincidence that they’re all horror movies?) What the remaining three have in common (besides the horror element) is that they all happen to be exceptional works of filmmaking. Greg McLean’s Australian shocker WOLF CREEK may be a brutally unforgiving experience – one of the female protagonists ends up as a “head on a stick” – but you can’t fault the movie for its scare tactics; on the contrary, they’re extraordinarily effective. And BUG is arguably William Friedkin’s best movie since THE EXORCIST, with unforgettable performances by Ashley Judd and the great Michael Shannon (WORLD TRADE CENTER, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD).

That leaves us with Kelly’s latest offering, THE BOX – which, as I mentioned in my review, may go down as the best-directed bad movie of 2009. Technically, it’s a terrific achievement – imaginative makeup and special effects, period-perfect production design (the story takes place in 1976), and superb cinematography. Visually, it’s a throwback to some of the best thrillers of the 1970s, like Alan J. Pakula’s THE PARALLAX VIEW and Brian De Palma’s THE FURY. The only thing missing from Kelly’s new film is a good story.

Frankly, I’m a little shocked that an auteur like Kelly doesn’t receive a few brownie points for creating a superlative sensory experience. Instead, the public response seems to be based solely on a gut reaction – on whether the film is, well, crowd-pleasing. It’s the movie-going equivalent of voting for the politician you’d most like to have a beer with. (I’m generalizing, of course – obviously, there are some very sophisticated viewers out there – but the CinemaScore grade is nothing if not a generalization.)

Here are some other recent films and the CinemaScore grades they received:

Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince: A-
Bruno: C
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: B+
The Proposal: A-
The Hangover: A
Up: A+
Star Trek: A+

The two that stand out for me are TRANSFORMERS and THE PROPOSAL. Savvier viewers know that, as a piece of filmmaking, Michael Bay’s TRANSFORMERS sequel is a headache-inducing train wreck. There’s simply too much going on in the frame and, with each shot lasting about 2 seconds, too little time to absorb it. THE PROPOSAL is at the opposite end of the spectrum – in pictorial terms, it’s like watching paint dry.

So if THE BOX is an epic fail, then what are we to make of the good-to-excellent grades given to THE PROPOSAL and TRANSFORMERS? Simply that average moviegoers don’t factor in superior filmmaking when assessing their likes and dislikes. I’m not saying they should have loved THE BOX – I didn’t – but, for crying out loud, an F?!

As you explore FilmNet’s vast reserves of films, you’ll notice: some people’s work stands out. Sure there are titles here produced by world class film schools with tons of resources, but there are just as many semi-professional short films made by modest means. You can tell they had the same type of equipment and the same amount of people at their disposal as you do on your productions, but their stuff is just so damn good…

It’s all about making your film excel equally in all aspects.

If you quickly throw together a script and shoot the movie beautifully, people will say, “This movie has beautiful cinematography.”

If you write the most dynamic and intelligent storyline ever, then get your shy friends to play-act it all amateurishly, people will say, “This movie has an interesting plot…”

But if you write a strong script, cast it well, shoot it beautifully and edit it professionally, then people will say, “This is a great movie.”

So here are some useful (and not always obvious) resources I highly recommend for making each aspect of your production better:

Writing/Planning/Pre-production

• http://www.script-o-rama.com – Some dude named Drew keeps a database of free movie and tv scripts it has been around for many years and it is vast. Chances are you can find and download any script you’re looking for there. What’s great is that some scripts are early drafts, showing how different the story was. A great way to study writing.
• The Screenwriter’s Bible by David Trottier – (available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/yjynnrq). This unfortunately named book is widely used in film schools to help students grasp the rules of American movie script writing so that they can later break them. For this reason, it’s updated and republished regularly. It’s very insightful, easy to understand and covers everything from summoning your creative muse, to story structuring, to how many spaces the character’s name is indented in the dialogue block.
• http://www.ebay.com – Find shot lists, shooting schedules and call sheets from movies and TV shows that you like. Some former AD’s and PA’s are always selling them there. These are copies of actual documents used to make the final product. Study them, track how they organized and scheduled their massive productions, feel puny by comparison.

Production

• The Working Director by Charles Wilkinson – (available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/ylanobu). This is one of the best books on directing I’ve ever read. No glamour, no hyperbole, just really practical advice by a veteran director successfully working in the trenches his entire career.
• http://wwww.google.com/docs – Don’t waste your money on fancy, specialized production software, at least until after you try Google Docs. The combination of Spreadsheets, Calendar and Tasks are a great solution for call sheets, scheduling and shot lists. Learn the features inside-out and use them. The best part: all your stuff is available when you inevitably lose your notebook in the chaos of a running set.

Post-Production

• http://www.videocopilot.net – If you deal with any kind of visual effects or graphics in your films, you have no doubt visited this site already. Andrew Kramer and team supply the internets with a wealth of incredibly useful tutorials for doing stuff in Adobe After Effects and other popular motion graphics software. They also sell unique and affordable plugins and stock material (effects elements, sound design and music). Plus you can’t beat Kramer’s hokey, absurdist humor.
• http://www.istockphoto.com – The most inexpensive stock photo and video site around, great for finding establishing shots and graphics elements in a variety of formats. If you have accumulated useful footage of your own which you think others might need, you can also submit it there and possibly earn some cash from downloads. Win-win (win).

Well, that should be plenty. Like an ancient Kung Fu master, I’m not going to reveal all my secrets in the hope that my pupil never surpasses me. Go forth and use these resources in your creative work, then upload it to FilmNet and show us!