Craft
Face to Face with... Henry & Rel
The directing duo from Moxie Pictures talks about their controversial docu-film "Catfish".
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When photographer Nev Schulman received a mysterious painting from an eight-year-old girl in the mail, his brother Rel and directing partner Henry Joost saw an opportunity and began rolling the cameras. The result is Catfish, a fascinating journey into social networking, and with the film's release in the UK last Friday, we talk to the duo about the unique project and their impulse to shoot life.
Explain how your mind sets changed when you began to see Catfish unravelling...
Henry: From my perspective this began as one of Rel's pet projects that I became increasingly interested in. He had an idea that he could be shooting the beginning of a short film about his brother Nev, a photographer who works in our office, corresponding with a young painter online.
I started filming as well when Nev fell for the painter's older sister Megan, but it didn't become a full blown project in our minds until one night in Vail, Colorado when the story completely changed again.
It's important to understand that we never leave home without a little HD camera in our pockets, and we're constantly shooting little things that pique our interest. Most of this footage ends up sitting on a hard-drive, unwatched. It's a compulsion in our group of friends.
How did you think it would be received?
Henry: We had no idea how it would be received. We knew that we had an incredible and life changing experience, and that it took at least an hour and a half to tell someone what happened. Over the course of the edit we had to learn that the film and the experience were separate, they could never be interchangeable, and we needed to strive to match the feeling of the experience with the feeling of watching the film.
You both star in the movie too, is this something you intend to do more of?
Henry: Being on camera was never something I aspired to, but in this particular instance it was impossible for me to stay behind the camera - I was watching my friend get embroiled in a potentially dangerous and emotionally sensitive situation and there were times when I felt that I should intervene. I would do it again, if necessary.
Rel: It would have been bad brothering to stay out of it. Once I got used to the sound of my own voice (whiney!?) on tape, it was all good.
Tell us about the 'real' in Catfish - would you say that we are seeing more and more of this type of docu-film?
Henry: The film is completely real. Nothing was staged, re-enacted, or told out of order. Of course, there is a high degree of editing involved because we turned a 9-month experience and over 250 hours of footage into an 86 minute film. We never imagined that people would question the authenticity of the film. Looking back, I understand why some people had that reaction though.
There has been a rash of ambiguous documentaries recently, along with a trend of commercials disguised as home videos on YouTube, but ours does not fit into that trend. I think what people are reacting to is that we put the film together more like a narrative than a traditional documentary. We actually shot dozens of hours of talking head interviews before realising that we had the footage to tell the story in a completely linear way.
And how's life at Moxie Pictures?
Henry: Life at Moxie is great. We immediately felt at home there. We joined up with them because we see commercials as a vital part of being a filmmaker. It's a chance to experiment, accept challenges, hone your skills, and make a living. I feel like all of the commercial work we did prior to making Catfish - interviewing people, learning how to tell stories concisely, overcoming technical problems - allowed us to be ready when a story started unfolding right in front of us and to anticipate problems before they occurred.
Are there any plans to collaborate on any big projects with Nev in the future?
Henry: Yes! So many people contacted us after Catfish was released in the US that we decided to develop a TV show to tell their stories.
What's been inspiring Henry & Rel recently?
Henry: YouTube, always.
Rel: Reading Jay-Z's book "Decoded" while looking up the songs he mentions on my iPad.
Tell us a bit about social networking...
Rel: Human beings are a funny lot - we're in a constant state of war and aggression, yet we hunger for better communication. People need to talk to each other, share their stories, and find connections with other people, and they want to do it quickly. I wonder if social networking leads to more love connections worldwide. Is there a way to measure that?
What are you working on at the moment?
We're working on the aforementioned TV show, writing several narrative features, pursuing a small studio movie, and directing commercials. It's going to be a busy year.
How will you be spending Christmas, shooting no doubt?
The three of us are going on a trip to a tropical island with some friends we haven't seen enough of in the past year. Who knows, maybe it will turn into the next documentary.
Henry: From my perspective this began as one of Rel's pet projects that I became increasingly interested in. He had an idea that he could be shooting the beginning of a short film about his brother Nev, a photographer who works in our office, corresponding with a young painter online.
I started filming as well when Nev fell for the painter's older sister Megan, but it didn't become a full blown project in our minds until one night in Vail, Colorado when the story completely changed again.
It's important to understand that we never leave home without a little HD camera in our pockets, and we're constantly shooting little things that pique our interest. Most of this footage ends up sitting on a hard-drive, unwatched. It's a compulsion in our group of friends.
How did you think it would be received?
Henry: We had no idea how it would be received. We knew that we had an incredible and life changing experience, and that it took at least an hour and a half to tell someone what happened. Over the course of the edit we had to learn that the film and the experience were separate, they could never be interchangeable, and we needed to strive to match the feeling of the experience with the feeling of watching the film.
You both star in the movie too, is this something you intend to do more of?
Henry: Being on camera was never something I aspired to, but in this particular instance it was impossible for me to stay behind the camera - I was watching my friend get embroiled in a potentially dangerous and emotionally sensitive situation and there were times when I felt that I should intervene. I would do it again, if necessary.
Rel: It would have been bad brothering to stay out of it. Once I got used to the sound of my own voice (whiney!?) on tape, it was all good.
Tell us about the 'real' in Catfish - would you say that we are seeing more and more of this type of docu-film?
Henry: The film is completely real. Nothing was staged, re-enacted, or told out of order. Of course, there is a high degree of editing involved because we turned a 9-month experience and over 250 hours of footage into an 86 minute film. We never imagined that people would question the authenticity of the film. Looking back, I understand why some people had that reaction though.
There has been a rash of ambiguous documentaries recently, along with a trend of commercials disguised as home videos on YouTube, but ours does not fit into that trend. I think what people are reacting to is that we put the film together more like a narrative than a traditional documentary. We actually shot dozens of hours of talking head interviews before realising that we had the footage to tell the story in a completely linear way.
And how's life at Moxie Pictures?
Henry: Life at Moxie is great. We immediately felt at home there. We joined up with them because we see commercials as a vital part of being a filmmaker. It's a chance to experiment, accept challenges, hone your skills, and make a living. I feel like all of the commercial work we did prior to making Catfish - interviewing people, learning how to tell stories concisely, overcoming technical problems - allowed us to be ready when a story started unfolding right in front of us and to anticipate problems before they occurred.
Are there any plans to collaborate on any big projects with Nev in the future?
Henry: Yes! So many people contacted us after Catfish was released in the US that we decided to develop a TV show to tell their stories.
What's been inspiring Henry & Rel recently?
Henry: YouTube, always.
Rel: Reading Jay-Z's book "Decoded" while looking up the songs he mentions on my iPad.
Tell us a bit about social networking...
Rel: Human beings are a funny lot - we're in a constant state of war and aggression, yet we hunger for better communication. People need to talk to each other, share their stories, and find connections with other people, and they want to do it quickly. I wonder if social networking leads to more love connections worldwide. Is there a way to measure that?
What are you working on at the moment?
We're working on the aforementioned TV show, writing several narrative features, pursuing a small studio movie, and directing commercials. It's going to be a busy year.
How will you be spending Christmas, shooting no doubt?
The three of us are going on a trip to a tropical island with some friends we haven't seen enough of in the past year. Who knows, maybe it will turn into the next documentary.
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