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- Eric Wippo in Phreaker
Plot: The shady activities of a digital-age entrepreneur (Eric Wippo) land him in hot water with both the law (repped by Carl McIntyre) and a particularly vicious thug (John W. Love, Jr.).
Guiding Light: Charlotte filmmaker Mark Young, who wrote and directed the movie. "I came to filmmaking as an artist," Young explains. "I was a figurative painter for years, and my interest in narrative art led me to experimental film. I bought an old 16mm CineKodak, shot a few stop-motion films, and was immediately hooked." Young's previous pictures include 1990's noirish The Architect and 1995's Dead Bodies, a cautionary tale about cyberspace that has been screened at international film festivals.
The Project's Genesis: "It's funny -- usually you write a screenplay, then choose the medium or format that will best tell the story," confides Young. "In this case, we had the camera first. In 2001, the Sony Corporation introduced the HDW-F900 24P Cine-Alta high definition camera, which George Lucas used to shoot Attack of the Clones. The Cine-Alta is a video camera that produces a very high-resolution image at 24 frames per second, just like film. In an effort to promote this new technology, Sony was loaning out the camera to filmmakers and commercial directors, and I got on the shortlist. Once I learned I was getting a camera, I decided to exploit the opportunity and make a film, although I didn't have either a script or funding. We ended up getting the camera for 17 days, and it was one used by Lucas for testing.
"It seemed to me that the story should reference digital technology. I had a dozen screenplays on the shelf, but none fit thematically, so I decided to write a new one. I came up with a metaphor of classifying people as either digital or analog, which I liked a lot, and the story took off from there. Because of the schedule, I only had two weeks to complete the screenplay, which is a lot faster than I usually write."
Budget: $28,000.
Shooting Schedule: "We shot roughly 90 scenes on 40-odd locations over 17 days -- quite a feat for a no-budget film! In spite of the rigorous schedule, the production was very smooth, thanks to my director of photography Chuck Bludsworth, my producer John Merrick, and an incredibly professional, enthusiastic crew."
Familiar Sites: "Karl Golden did an awesome job on locations," offers Young. "I told him I wanted to stay within a tight radius of downtown Charlotte to keep our travel time down. All of the monologues were recorded at The Penguin. We shot at Tonic, Urban Evolution, CPCC and the Mint Museum garden. My favorite location, though, had to be the Ascot Inn. We had no budget for set dressing or an art department, so it was great to find a motel room with pink glittered walls and a heart-shaped tub... major production value!"
Familiar Faces: "Eric Wippo [a regular on the MTV series Boiling Points] came to us through our formidable casting company, Corrigan & Johnston. He sent an audition tape from New York, and we were simply floored by his talent. I keep waiting for him to blow up and get really famous. We also had a wonderful local cast of actors: Amy Campbell, Zach Lee, Carl McIntyre, John W. Love, Jr., and Kevin Campbell. If you watch closely, one of the montages in the film features the faces of some famous hackers, like Kevin Mitnick. Oh, and Richard Nixon has a cameo!"
The Future Of The Film: Phreaker was recently accepted into the Asheville Film Festival, which will be held in early November. The movie is also being considered for purchase by two separate distributors.
Consensus: Often fiendishly clever, the flick belies its low-budget roots thanks to Chuck Bludsworth's imaginative camerawork and Mark Young's ability to not only create a slew of vivid characters but to place them smack in the middle of a savvy techno-thriller that will resonate with today's consumer culture crowd. Look for scene-stealing work from beatific actor John W. Love, Jr., atypically cast as a profane, murderous brute.
Screening Info: Phreaker will be shown Thursday, October 7, at the Visulite Theatre. Doors open at 8pm and the movie will be screened at 8:30pm; drink specials will be available, and DJ-spun music will wind down the evening. Admission is free. For more info, call 704-358-9200.
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