Interview with Indie Filmmaker Patrick Keith
Patrick Keith is the founder of Doom Bunny Films and has recently been finishing up post-production on his latest film, Bloodwine.
Bloodwine is a vampire film set in college, and, in the words of their Myspace page, is “an independent vampire film about friendship, loss, grief, redemption and nubile college chicks biting necks.”
The Dhampir got to chat with Patrick about Bloodwine, his mascot the Doom Bunny, being a part of the group of Texas filmmakers known as the “Texas Blood,” the Suicide Girls’ love of Doom Bunny and much, much more!
The Dhampir: Ok, the first thing I want to say is thank you for doing this interview with me, from looking at the website, it looks as thought you’re very busy.
Patrick Keith: Cool. Thanks for the opportunity to allow me to share some info about our movie with you and the Fatally Yours readers.
The Dhampir: You’re the co-founder of Doom Bunny Films as well as Executive Producer, Director, Writer, Editor, Music, and Visual Effects on Bloodwine. That’s quite a bit to shoulder - how has it affected you?
Patrick Keith: Well, if I had to do all of that stuff at the same time it would be impossible. The key to wearing a lot of hats, particularly on a micro-budget production, is planning and organization. When we set out to make the film, we wrote the script with the intention of a small cast, a small crew and to keep all of the elements within the scope of our available resources. What I didn’t expect was how that could all balloon into something much larger than the sum of its parts.
The Dhampir: Is the wearing of all of the different hats a problem of not having enough people capable to do it, not having a budget or not trusting “your vision” in someone else’s hands?
Patrick Keith: Maybe it’s a little bit of all of that. When I made my short film “Escape” it was pretty much a one-man-show. I did get a bit of help here and there setting a couple of things up, carrying some things and I had an actor. But essentially, I built all of the sets, props, costuming, miniatures and shot, edited and scored it all myself just get a sample of all those departments. To do that on Bloodwine would have been impossible. I set out from the beginning to find the most capable people around me that could deliver top notch work, even though they may not have previous film experience. The place I started was with casting. We hired a producer that had an extensive network of talent he could tap into in the Dallas area theater realm and set up with an ensemble of really great actors. Moving on from there, I tried to fill in as many areas of the production with people who were willing to do what they enjoyed doing the most, so that would free me up to concentrate on just directing. It was really terrific to have a crew where I could just go in and sit and look at wardrobe selections or pop out and see the set in progress while I was working on getting other things done.
The Dhampir: So Bloodwine is a vampire film set on a college campus, tell us a bit more about that.
Patrick Keith:Well, in the first draft it was a high school film. Once Vicky [Morgan-Keith] and I rebuilt the story from top-to-bottom in October, we moved it to college aged characters and felt there would be a little more freedom with the story if that were in the 18-25 age range. I specifically wanted Andrea to be associated with the Goth crowd, and not be a typical Goth character, who many times ends up being the sidekick or witty comic relief. In this case it is a definite distinction between “city-mouse and country-mouse”. Essentially it is about two childhood friends who are reunited by chance and wind up sharing a dorm room together. It’s a little convenient but makes for better background for the two main characters Andrea and Brandy. What is playing in the background though, is a subtext of cat-and-mouse between Carmilla, an ancient vampire, and apparently Andrea’s uncle.
The Dhampir: You’re obviously a vampire fan, but what inspired this story?
Patrick Keith: Er…Old Yeller. Really. And when you see the ending you will see why. I really wanted to craft interesting characters, though, that were engaging to watch even when there wasn’t vamp action going on. I’m a huge fan of Cameron’s Aliens in that regard. But really its inspiration is from a lot of different things. There are probably elements in it lifted from just about every vampire film out there that I’ve seen. I didn’t necessarily want to rip stuff directly from any of them, but there are subtle nods to things I have enjoyed in many other films. From the design of Carmilla’s brandy bottles to the design of Brandy’s vampire costume, each thing is grounded in the library of past films that we all love watching. Just to give an example, I freely admit to being inspired by the design of the Corpse Bride and Gina from Brides of Dracula for the look of Brandy as a vampire.
The Dhampir: And we all love looking at attractive women! How important was the appearance of the actresses in the casting process?
Patrick Keith: Well, the mantra all through production and on the set was “it’s not that kind of movie.” This is not soft-core vampire porn. There are plenty of other productions out there like that, and although I think it would be terrific fun to make one, this is not that. My sole requirement of the actors we selected was that they deliver their dialogue in a convincing and natural way. I also wanted them to look like college students you would know. I was extremely fortunate to get a cast that exudes a natural beauty. Each of them have a distinct and appealing appearance that serves the character they’re playing.
The Dhampir: So you’ve got the Doom Bunny, a rather cute, yet slightly disturbing mascot/logo. How did that come about?
Patrick Keith: I drew the art when I wrote the first draft of the script back in ‘05 with the intention of having it printed on a t-shirt for the main character, Andrea, to wear throughout the film. Once we started the re-write in August last year, Vicky came up with the idea that Andrea should also have an actual Doom Bunny plushie as well and set about the task of hand crafting two props and a puppet in December for the Haunted Hostess segment. It snowballed from there. When it came time to register the name for the production company LLC we felt Doom Bunny as a mascot was a natural fit. I have the original art posted up over my editing system so he can oversee all of postproduction.
The Dhampir: I understand that someone went out and even got a tattoo of it recently. How have you and the rest of the cast reacted to that?
Keith: I thought it was pretty amazing. We talked a bit about it at the wrap party and everyone thought it was great. I had already told the cast and crew I would be getting a tattoo of him myself, once the film sells to distribution to commemorate what Doom Bunny has done for me.
The Dhampir: Kind of a “stamp” to mark the occasion?
Patrick Keith: Exactly! Plus - then I could afford to have it done!
The Dhampir: Ok what is the release plan at this point?
Patrick Keith: Well, I’m still editing and am hoping to have a rough cut completed within the next week or so. We will screen that for the other producers and lock picture by the end of the month. That will give us all of May to finish the sound mix, color grade, and VFX odds and ends. I want to have a finished release version to submit to Fantastic Fest and several other festivals. Most of the deadlines are in June. That gives us a pretty tight schedule for postproduction. But I shot it in two weeks and people didn’t believe I could do that either. We will also be having a couple of local screenings. One for the cast & crew and probably another public screening.
The Dhampir: Now, you, being in Texas, fall into my favorite group of horror filmmakers, the “Texas Blood” as Parrish Randall puts it. Do you know any of these guys? How do you feel knowing that you’ll be associated with them?
Patrick Keith: I think it’s brilliant! It sounds like just the sort of motley collection of passionate artists I have been looking to hang with all along. I’m looking forward to meeting the other guys and talking shop if the chance presents itself. I met [Tony] Brownrigg a few years back at a local convention where our short films screened. We posted on a couple of the message forums back and forth and then it turned out we had this odd backstory. I used to airbrush t-shirts for the sound crew that his brother worked on. It’s a pretty small community in the Dallas market; everybody goes back one way or another. Anyway, I missed seeing Red Victoria at the TFW [Texas Frightmare Weekend] screening but it sounds terrific and I love the trailer. Can’t wait to get a copy.
The Dhampir: Red Victoria is an amazing first film for Brownrigg and hopefully Bloodwine will get the kind of praise Red Victoria has gotten. Do you plan on screening it at the next Texas Frightmare Weekend?
Patrick Keith: I would love to screen Bloodwine at TFW. We plan to set up a booth there to promote the film next year. The girls are already excited about coming out and meeting the fans, signing autographs and all that. We made the rounds at TFW a little bit this year but were bit pressed for time. I did get a few snapshots with the Doom Bunny at the show. One of our actors is an aspiring Suicide Girl. Since we got permission for SG stuff in the film, we are hoping the Suicide Girls fan-base will pick up on Bloodwine too if her photo set is accepted.
The Dhampir: So what can we expect for future projects from Doom Bunny Films?
Patrick Keith: We are currently working on a werewolf script right now. That should be done by the time Bloodwine goes off to the festivals. I am also developing a high concept sci-fi script with a dark gothic future look to it. Further still is a pet Steampunk project I want to do once I get my hands on Maya. A lot of diversity I know but you gotta mix it up a bit.
The Dhampir: Aside from this interview, where can people find more info about Bloodwine and Doom Bunny Films?
Patrick Keith: Stuff about Doom Bunny Films can be found here http://www.doombunnyfilms.com/ but it’s a new site and it still being built.
The official Bloodwine movie blog with all the production news is at http://www.bloodwinemovie.com/ and is updated frequently as stuff develops.
You can send us a friend request at MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/bloodwinemovie to be updated with a few different, personal blog posts. More like a production diary type of thing.
We have a YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/DoomBunnyFilms where we will post clips and trailers about the film.
There is also a listing at IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1212018/ which is still a work in progress until the movie is released.
So there should be no shortage of Bloodwine on the web.
The Dhampir: Any final thoughts, shout outs or anything you want to say to anyone?
Patrick Keith: All the folks who are sitting around, watching this stuff and saying, “I could do that.”
Do it.
It may be hard, it may be expensive, it may kill you, but if you are passionate about creating something, it must be created. No amount of nay-saying from others who cannot grasp your vision should stand in your way. There is no knowledge that cannot be learned, there is no problem that cannot be solved to get your idea into tangible form and share it with others. It will be the most rewarding thing you can look back on. Also - many thanks go to The Dhampir and all the cool readers at Fatally Yours for allowing me to ramble on about our little vampire flick. I hope to meet you all soon.
The Dhampir: Great words! I’d like to thank you once again for your time and we wish you, Doom Bunny Films and Bloodwine the best of luck in all of your endeavors!!!!
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