scene 1, int., 9 am
interviewer
Welcome to our sit down interview with new film director, Andres Alatorre. He directed the film The End of Love. It's a small musical film, which really challenges genre characteristics and brings a new, different view to the struggles LGBT+ people face in their everyday life, as well as those who are mentally ill
andres
Thank you, I'm so happy to be here.
interviewer
So, what would you say was your favorite part of this film?
andres
I would say the fact that I was able to express my emotions in such a healthy way. I have had much trouble finding healthy coping mechanisms for my emotions, and I feel that expressing them in a healthy way like art is very good for me. It helps me stay in touch with my emotions and remember that I am in control. It's almost like a form of therapy. I can express my feelings in a way that I couldn't do verbally in therapy.
interviewer
So, this is a musical, but the opening does not have any music. Why did you choose to do this?
andres
Well, first of all, I don't know how to play instruments (laughs), so I thought that doing it without music would be a lot easier. Also, I did work on producing music, but I realized that having no music would help me develop that feeling of emptiness I was trying to create. The audience will feel as if something is missing, a feeling of emptiness, since something is missing- the music. This creates the feeling that something is missing from the character's life.
interviewer
What other genre characteristics did you challenge in this film?
andres
Well, obviously, there's no dancing in it. Musicals tend to be very upbeat and have a lot of dancing and flash mobs and people doing cartwheels and flips to develop excitement. But, since that's not the feeling I'm trying to create, I decided to steer away from that. Most musicals also have this moment in which the character is shown under a spotlight during a moment of significance. I decided to steer away from this since I want the whole film to feel like a moment of significance. Each song should represent feelings being expressed; feelings that words cannot express.
interviewer
You made your main character gay. Why did you choose to do this?
andres
Well, I wanted to represent an issue that is very common in a group of people that, I feel, are not represented properly. People think that being gay means you're very happy with your boyfriend and that you have a bunch of female friends and have all these hobbies, when it's not true. Most of LGBTQI+ teenagers suffer some sort of mental illnesses, such as depression and anxiety. I wanted to represent something that didn't have a happy ending, but rather expressed pain and growth. Also, I did not want his sexuality to drive the narrative. Most queer films have the characters' sexuality be the focus of the plot. And, while this is a great thing that really helps shine light on important issues, I think it would be good to have a character be gay without it being part of the narrative. They're just a normal person going through a normal life. It's a new take on representation that I feel is very important.
interviewer
In the opening, you have a very interesting use of shots. Please elaborate on that.
andres
Well, what I did was have the shots create a feeling of zooming without actually zooming; you're just being brought closer and closer to the character. This does two things. First, it creates a feeling of building intensity- that emotions are becoming stronger and stronger. This is difficult for me to explain, since I feel technique helps me elaborate better than words, but you understand what I mean. Also, I have this feeling repeat over and over again. It represents a feeling of repetitiveness, that things cycle around and around with no change. That's a lot of what I went through with my depression, feelings of things getting better then getting worse then getting better again and then getting worse again. This makes it feel like the character is stuck in a constant loop, or that he is stuck in this emotion.
interviewer
This creates engagement with your audience. How else do you engage with your audience?
andres
Well, my target audience is mainly teenagers 13 and up and young adults under 25. Having a teenager protagonist helps bond with my target audience. People enjoy having their problems represented on screen, especially with people who look like them and are in the same age range. I also connect with the LGBTQI+ audiences with a queer protagonist. I don't have a particular social demographic I am targeting, as this can apply to people from any socioeconomic status. As for gender, although the story does focus a male, gay character, it can be applied for female and people of other gender identities. My work is not really trying to isolate a specific group- I am trying to isolate a problem and express how I feel about it.
interviewer
How do you plan on distributing your piece?
andres
Well, I'm no Tarantino or Scorcese, so I don't plan on going all out and showing my films in big movie theaters with red carpet premieres. South Florida has a great number of film festivals, which I believe can help me distribute my film. Also, YouTube is a great help, as it is one of the greatest media distributors in the world. I plan on uploading it there, and have YouTube recommend people who are interested in similar genres. This includes musicals, LGBTQI+ films, and coming of age films. This serves as a form of promotion, as well as distribution.
interviewer
This is your very first film- what was your process when creating it?
andres
Well, I wanted to do something unique. Something that would challenge me out of my comfort zone. Something that no matter how I did it, I would do it. I started from the very beginning- a feeling. I thought- "what is the mood I am trying to evoke?" Once I had that done, I got to work on the music. I began to draw inspiration from songs, as well as many songwriting podcasts. One podcast in particular that really drew my attention was one with Solange Knowles on how she wrote her song Cranes in the Sky. She said that she drew inspiration from her surroundings- while she was in Miami, she saw all these cranes in the buildings. Miami was a place that she felt was peaceful for her to write in, and seeing it all under construction made her feel flustered. This way, she came up with the lyric "It's like cranes in the sky, sometimes I don't wanna feel those metal clouds." So, I decided I should also take something literal to create a metaphor about how I feel. One day, I was walking lost in Miami with my family, and we couldn't find our way about. We kept turning and turning and turning, still lost. I felt that represented my situation very well. That I kept trying to find a way out of this mess but I couldn't. No matter where I turned and how many times I looked, I felt lost. And it was as if I wasn't meant to follow. That's how I came up with the lyrics.
interviewer
And the camera shots- how did that idea come to you?
andres
Honestly, it just came naturally. I was thinking- "how can I evoke repetition?" I thought about making the music repeat, but I was scared that would come off as lazy and would not work. I thought that maybe the camera movements, but I just wasn't satisfied with how those storyboards came to be. Finally, I came up with that, and pitched it to some people, who all agreed that could work very well. For the costume design, I did my research on color schemes. I found that keeping color patterns minimum and using bold colors show a character that wants control.
interviewer
Now, you filmed this project during the COVID-19 pandemic. How did this come into conflict with your schedule?
andres
Well, first of all, I was alone. I had no cast and now crew for the opening, which I had to finish by a certain date. I filmed it entirely by myself as the star, cameraman, and director. Thankfully, this allowed me to find set very easily, as most parking lots were already empty due to the social distancing. It was a difficult obstacle, but something that allowed me to appreciate how much work goes into as little as two minutes.
interviewer
How would you say your abilities as a media producer developed because of this project?
andres
Well, first of all, I learned organization. I have typically not been a very organized person, doing things at the last minute and in random order. That doesn't work for film. It's a culminating process. I start from something very small- a thought- which builds an emotion, and then a mood, and then a rough draft, to a storyboard, to several other processes, such as costume design, script writing, final drafts, shooting, reshooting, editing, and making final cuts. My editing abilities were really put to the challenge, as I had to sync audio to video. I came around this by recording the video and audio at the same time. I had a small microphone on me during scenes that would pick up my singing; no matter how far away I was. This way, I can pair the audio to the video perfectly with no problems. I did have to buy this out of my own money, as I did not have a budget or any grants. You really put a lot more effort into ensuring your work turns out the way you want it when it's your own money being inverted.
interviewer
How did technology help you in this project?
andres
Well, I had to use my iPhone camera for recording, which was more than fine. I got high resolution video that was really satisfactory, which shows that anyone can create films. I used the microphone to help catch audio from afar during the long and extreme long shots, as well as to sync the audio properly. For editing, I used Apple's Final Cut Pro, which provided me with many resources to edit. After a few classes, I became quite proficient at it.
interviewer
Well, anything else you would like to add?
andres
I feel like the visual and performing arts are special, because they help bring to life many emotions that you can share with the world. This project was very fun and very therapeutic for me, and I am very happy with how it turned out. Of course, I feel I could have done much better with more time, as you can never have a perfect project. But I hope this will inspire other people to see media as more than a movie, and as a form of expression.
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