1. My first step toward becoming a filmmaker was when I took a video production class in high school, and had a blast making short videos with my friends. I quickly found myself taking over the role of Director, and obsessing over the filming and editing process. At the time, I had planned on going to college to study music, but that class inspired me to start making films, and I enrolled in the film program at the University of California, Santa Cruz 3 years later.
2. I wanted to make "Fixit Fables", because I wanted to tell the story of very shy, obsessive, goofy introverts, and make them into a group of scrappy, unlikely heroes. I thought it would interesting to see characters who exist inside of their own world, and to force them out of their comfort zone, and to eventually save the world by using their extremely unique interests and abilities.
3. We made Fixit Fables in Santa Cruz, California. Our locations ranged from an attic in Downtown Santa Cruz, to a few laundromats and churches in Aptos and Watsonville.
4. Since the cast and crew of my film overlapped so much, I have to give credit to everyone in that small group of people who worked on the film. I wrote, directed, and played the character Teal, while several of my co-stars acted in the film as well as recorded sound. My best friend, Ricardo Anzaldo wrote and performed all of the music for the film, which really brought the film to life and gave it the techno-pop feel that I'd hoped would portray these characters as being very quirky, high-energy, colorful, and inventive.
5. If I can tell anything to an aspiring filmmaker, its that only you can tell your story. It's sort of cliche, but it's absolutely true. I went to film school constantly expecting my projects to look like everyone else's. So I made a concious effort to make my projects constantly focus on something that was very unique to me- that I had an intimate relationship with drumming when I was younger, or that as a child I'd reinact the moon landing with my friends at the beach. And so with every project I made, I found that the more honest the story was to me, the more authentic and interesting it felt. And when I started making films that felt honest, I started making work that I was genuinely very proud of.
6. Lately, the filmmaking of PJ Liguori has inspired me to dabble in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, while being on a small budget. His films embody a DIY spirit while still looking gorgeous and telling new stories. I've also been inspired in the last few years by the filmmaker Matt Johnson, who directed two fake documentaries; Operation Avalanche and The Dirties. I became fascinated with these films which explore the possibilities of a "fake" documentary, by bending the viewer's interpretation of authenticity. This inspired the tone of the dialogue in Fixit Fables, because I'd been so interested in playing with the authenticity of characters interacting on screen in a cinema verite style, while also being rooted in fiction.
7. I think my next few projects are going to be smaller narrative pieces. I've been inspired by a lot of short personal films in the last year, and I think I'd like to try my hand at something similar- that I can make over the course of a couple weeks by myself and with no budget. I think it will be fun to make something low-key, and more personal before I venture into a project even bigger than Fixit Fables.
8. I'd really like people to know that I'm truly honored to be apart of the DIY Film Festival this year. I worked very hard on this film, and I owe it's success to my amazing cast and crew, and to all the family and friends who supported me while making it. I'm very grateful for the opportunity I was given to make the film, and to be taken seriously as a filmmaker who set out to make a campy, kids film.
9. We filmed on the Sony FS-7, and edited in Premiere Pro.
10. Pinnacle was actually the first editing software that I learned. I used to make drum videos, and edit them in Pinnacle. It was quick and easy to use, and I have very fond memories of using it to make drumming mash-up videos to popular songs.
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Thank you again so much to everyone at the DIY Film Fest! We're so proud of this award, and cannot thank you enough.
Much love from the Fixit Crew.
- Oan Lindblad
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