“…somehow the OCD drove the person towards a known danger. They would want to get away, but their compulsion would prevent it.”
Every year, LakeFrontRow talks to the filmmakers behind some of our favorite entries from Madison’s 48 Hour Film Project, which challenges teams to write, shoot and cut a short film in the span of one weekend.
For 48 Hour Film Projects, 9 is about as tidy as they come. From its single-digit title to a shooting crew of two, Magic Fur Hat did what any great 48 Hour Team does and used their personnel constraints to great effect, centering an atmospheric home invasion around its lone character (Jocelyn Dawson) and her obsessive compulsion with the number nine. Exploiting its conceit for paranoia and tension, 9 can lay claim to a sneaky slow-burn and the only worthwhile jump scare in any 48 Hour film this year.
Team leader Dustin Kunkel, a video editor at Spectrum Reach, served as the short’s producer and rounded up his crew but resisted taking credit for much of the film. At Kunkel’s request, I asked him and a few team members about Madison’s most efficient 48 Hour Film Project this year. Needless to say, I got a few amusingly blunt responses. For efficiency’s sake, I’m sure.
Had you done a 48 Hour Film Project before?
Dustin: [Co-writer] Steve Slack and I had done one in 2008 I think. Everyone else was a first-timer.
I know an audience member asked if you were directly affected by OCD in your life. Where did this idea come from?
Dustin: That person came and talked to us afterwards as well. He liked what we did and said that we did a good job portraying it. I was glad to hear that because I was a little concerned about us presuming to understand something none of us is affected by well enough to make it a major device.
Ray Ibsen (Producer): My perception of this and the OCD element is like a bad dream where you’re running from the devil but can’t actually move.
Dustin: I don’t quite recall where the original idea came from, but it started as more of an alternative take on horror. Like showing how things that would seem normal to someone without OCD can be horrifying to someone with it. I thought that wouldn’t be relateable to a wide enough audience and that we really didn’t have enough firsthand knowledge of OCD to effectively pull that off. Then I think Ashley [Voss, co-writer] suggested that somehow the OCD drove the person towards a known danger. They would want to get away, but their compulsion would prevent it. I thought that was something that would be scary for everyone and also an interesting plot device. Everyone else seemed to like it too, so that’s where we went.
9 is an extremely small cast. What motivated such a small character focus?
Ray: From my perspective, the small cast was based on having a very small crew shooting with very limited time. Having a small cast gives an opportunity to try to be creative and complete with shots.
Dustin: We didn’t really need a large cast with our idea, so in the interest of keeping it simple we didn’t go trying to add more people. We also thought it would be scarier and help build tension if she were alone the whole time. We didn’t have any actors on board until we emailed Jocelyn on Friday night. We contacted her through the 48 Hour page for people looking for teams, and she was nice enough to drive all the way from Oconomowoc to help us out.
John K. Underly (Credits): Why a small cast? The more complicated you make the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain.
Your music and sound design in this are incredible. Was it difficult coming up with such polished effects or had any of you done that kind of thing before?
Dustin: The instrumental sounds are almost all from VideoCoPilot’s Pro Scores. The only music that isn’t is the radio commercial which Ben Licocki wrote and recorded. Ruby Lezon, Ray Ibsen and Brandon Davie did a great job capturing the natural sounds. We basically didn’t even have to touch those, which was good because we didn’t have time anyway. Other than that, Ben and I just sat down and listened to the stock sound effects and music I had while the others were figuring out the exact story on Friday night. We kind of had a game plan on Sunday when we did the sound design as a result. We wanted to keep the music minimal at the beginning to build tension and then have it come in when she came back and realized something was askew. It then drops out again briefly after the shower non-reveal, so that it really startles you when the killer is revealed at the end. ProScores has a lot of stuff that works well for horror, and we knew what kind of sounds and music we wanted. We found it, inserted it, layered it with other stuff we liked, adjusted levels, and we were done. It is a lot easier when someone else records the stuff.
If the 48 Hour Film Project were the *72* Hour Film Project, what would you have done differently?
Dustin: I would have spent more time in post. There was a lot of stuff that didn’t get the attention it should have. We could’ve tightened up the edit and done a better color grade. We also didn’t have time to check all the audio levels. Fortunately, those were pretty good without any adjustments. There’s also a chance we would’ve just gone with a completely different idea. Several were tossed aside immediately because we didn’t think we could get them done in 48 hours.
Ray: Doing a film fest like this ends up being a day of compromising. There is no time to consider all alternatives. So if it was 72 there would be more time to consider other possibilities for character development, etc. Regardless, even if it was a 48 and doing the same concept, it would end up different. Different day, different thoughts and ideas!
Melissa Roe Kagerbauer (Editor): If it were 72 hours, I would’ve slept at night instead of editing.