Kate Kennard, an RTVF senior, sits at a computer in the basement of Fisk Hall. She’s designing promotional materials for her new movie “Pulse Electric,” a black and white, post-apocalyptic tale concerning the existence of robots after humans have become extinct.
Kennard hails from Dallas, and while she considers herself a writer/director, she often works on totally disparate parts of her projects (although she admits she can’t act), like the posters she’s working on now.
Massive.tv sat down with Kennard in the Fisk basement on a rainy day to discuss sci-fi filmmaking and to get the scoop on Pulse Electric.
Nelson Fitch
Caleb Melby
Ben Millstein
Matthew Alfonso
Nathaniel Harley
Music – “Cheap Beer” by Jake Harms and the Nelsonvillains
// INTERVIEW
Massive.tv: Both “Pulse Electric” and your previous project, “Digital Decay,” were shot exclusively on black and white film. What is it about this medium that appeals to you?
Kate Kennard: It’s simple. My first film was in color—it was really in color—lots of primary colors. Very Wes Anderson-ish. When I reverted back to black and white, it’s not that I wasn’t ready to do color, but I wanted to return to the basics with black and white, where you don’t have to deal with color. The bonus with film is that it is more dreamlike. I don’t think movies should replicate reality perfectly. Black and white automatically puts you in a cinematic world. I’m also drawn to it on a graphic level. Black and white film simplifies the images, makes them easy to read. It breaks them down farther. It is easier to control.
M.tv: This is not your first sci-fi film. Why sci-fi?
KK: I never thought of my self as a huge sci-fi fan. But recently, I’ve been drawn to how limitless the drama is. It is more fun as a writer—and really for all aspects of filmmaking. My crew members get more of a chance to explore the creative limits of their field.
M.tv: Do you have any favorite sci-fi movies?
KK: “2001: A Space Odyssey” is my favorite film, although I think it fails to give us a real sense of character. I think it ends up being a little bit cold. You don’t relate well to the characters, which happens a lot in sci-fi films. Like “Blade Runner,” you get caught up in the story and you tend to lose a bit of the character, I don’t really find myself feeling for Harrison Ford in that movie. In “2001,” we get more of a sense of who Hal is than the main astronaut, whose name I can’t remember. I personally find that to be a problem because caring a lot about a character is what really makes us care about the story itself. One of my long-term goals for my filmmaking is to make movies that people want to watch over and over again, and I think the only way to achieve that is to create characters that are relatable or likable or both.
M.tv: How much do you think about those limitations, those trends, in making your own sci-fi pieces?
KK: This is a short film, so I don’t really have much of an opportunity to redefine the genre. I don’t have any real problems with the genre itself. I do think it sometimes doesn’t get taken as seriously as it should because of some of the B-list material out there. I think sci-fi is a wonderful genre for a writer. It has limitless possibilities, and allows you to make changes to the world around your characters that fits better with the thematic goals of the story. I’m definitely trying to insert a tad more humor and character development into the genre. I’m also not as concerned with using the genre to warn people of what may be coming in the future. I think we all have enough concerns about the present day. Even though all of humanity is dead in my film, which the film vaguely links to the fact that the sun is no longer shining—I have my reason for what happened, but people can make up their own explanations—the film never makes a judgment call on this information. It’s just the setting and circumstances that I use to tell the story.
M.tv: Any major influences?
KK: I would say “Metropolis” is definitely a primary influence. I don’t think you’ll ever be able to talk about sci-fi and cinema without talking about “Metropolis.” The production design is incredible—I don’t think I’ve ever seen another film that tops its aesthetic.
M.tv: How do you like to work?
KK: This is my senior thesis film. The crew is mostly made up of all people that I’ve worked with at least once before. I don’t really deviate from the people I work with. I’m collaborative to a point, but people in my crew understand that it’s not so much about them and their position as it is about how their position operates in relation to others and works with the rest of the film. I try to make sure people understand how all the parts work together. Everyone has worked together before so everyone understands one anothers’ quirks and everyone is comfortable with one another. I think there is a lot to be gained from working with people multiple times.
M.tv: It took you a while to get a green light on this movie.
KK: I pitched it four different times, three times to Studio 22 and once to NUWFA. After not getting the grant the fourth time, I got into the senior directing sequence. I decided I didn’t want to pitch the project anymore because I didn’t want to have to make any adjustments to my treatment or script.
M.tv: So, after that, what was it about making this movie that proved to be difficult?
KK: I think the real trial is staying committed to your project and believing that you have a story worth telling. The only time that was difficult for me was while I was trying to get funding. Not that I ever thought it was a bad story, I just questioned whether or not it was the story I wanted to tell as an undergraduate, which I think is certainly still a valid concern.
M.tv: Whether you wanted it or not, you had a lot of time to think about this film.
KK: I am incredibly grateful for all the “no’s” I got. I think the film has benefited greatly from the additional experience that my crew heads and I had. It definitely wouldn’t be the same film. I think having that year and a half or so of thinking — whether subconsciously or consciously — about the project really allowed me to fine-tune my vision. And there are so many elements of the film that just wouldn’t be there if I hadn’t had that time. For example, my Director of Photography, Sarah Klein, and I thought up this one great shot almost two years ago, but on the other hand there’s two shots that we added a couple of weeks before we shot that aren’t even in the script. But besides refining my vision or thinking up great shots, we wouldn’t have had the people that we did to make this movie. I really couldn’t have had a better crew or cast. All of my crew heads played an invaluable role. I can’t imagine anyone else filling any of those positions. And even if the treatment or script for “Pulse Electric” hadn’t changed a bit since I wrote it, it was well worth waiting two years just to have our lead Alex Brown play RX-9.