24fps Talks To Will Canon

Will Canon is one of those unique young artists whose creative voice comes squarely and passionately from a solid sense of who he is and where he came from. Not your typical filmmaker by pedigree, the 27 year old writer/director chose athletics as his original collegiate focus, playing Division III basketball at the University of Dallas. His unique journey from college hoops to one of the most prestigious film schools in the country was fueled solely by an undeniable need to express himself. The result: his concise and intelligent films are at once as athletic as they are compelling.

Will’s short film “Youngster,” a harrowing 7 minute look into the life of a twelve year-old drug dealer, recently screened at the AFI Festival in Los Angeles and has been seen in over 30 festivals worldwide. In January it was named Best Narrative Short at the Hip Hop Association Film Festival in New York City.

“Roslyn,” another of Canon’s kinetic short films about a frat prank gone wrong, was produced as his junior level film at NYU. It has received numerous awards on the festival circuit as well as distribution by Hypnotic Pictures. It has been seen on Showtime, the Sundance Channel, and HBO International.

Both films are Medal Winners in our 24fps competition (formerly WESTfest). Both films have just been accepted into the Texas Filmmaker’s Showcase. Only ten short films are selected, and they in turn are screened throughout the state of Texas. The culmination of the showcase is a screening at the Director’s Guild in Los Angeles.

W.C. is Will Canon. Will currently resides in Los Angles, California. He is an honors graduate of the film program at NYU. You can see his work by visiting his website at www.threefolks.com.

24fps is Barry Smoot. He is the Artistic Director of the historic Paramount Theatre in Abilene, Texas. He is the founder of the 24fps Short Film + Video Festival, now in its eighth year.

24fps: First of all how does one get from Lufkin, Texas to the highly competitive undergrad film program at NYU via playing Division III basketball?

WC: I have always loved the creative process and been really energized by it. I just took the sports route initially because I also felt really passionate about that aspect of my life as well. I think I just came full circle.

24fps: Were you interested in film at an early age?

WC: Not really movies so much as the idea of being a director. I liked the idea of being in charge. I was always imagining myself as a director, not necessarily knowing what a director did or what that entailed, but just the idea of it.

24fps: A lot of directors working in Hollywood today follow that same philosophy, I think.

WC: (laughs) You’re probably right.

24fps: Did you play high school sports as well?

WC: Yes. I played basketball for Arlington High School. I was one of the team captains.

24fps: Were you interested in or involved in the arts in high school?

WC: Yes. I was very active in speech and drama. I really liked that means of expression.

24fps: So you made the choice after high school to continue your athletic career at the University of Dallas. What was your major?

WC: Undecided. And I really was. I eventually transferred to Baylor University to study communications.

24fps: Why the jump?

WC: I just felt I had things I needed to say and missed the creative process.

24fps: Was your emphasis at Baylor in film?

WC: Not specifically. But I was, for the first time really, exposed to great films and became very excited about the medium. I also had a great mentor, Robert Darden, who was my writing teacher. He taught me so much.

24fps: What inspired or motivated you to apply to NYU?

WC: After my freshman year at the University of Dallas I started to think about what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I had always wanted to be a director but had no idea how to really get there. Knowing Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee and Oliver Stone and Adam Sandler and all these guys I dug had gone to NYU - it sounded like a good place to start.

24fps: So you just went for it?

WC: I had missed the [fall] deadline so I applied to go there in the spring. I sent them a script I had written called “The Coup de Grace.” I wanted to make the film and send it to them as well but I didn’t have the chance so I just sent them the script.

24fps: That’s it?

WC: Yes. At the beginning of the spring semester I got a call saying they only take about 20 people in the spring, because it is the middle of the school year, but that if I wanted to come the next fall they would have me.

24fps: How was the transition going from Texas to New York City? That’s quite a contrast.

WC: It was my first time really going away from home - heading to New York City to finally follow my dream was a really cool thing for me.

24fps: Let’s talk now about the medium itself. What is your basic philosophy of film as a forum for artistic expression?

WC: The first thing you have to do with a film is entertain. If people aren’t engaged on the most basic level, then anything you’re trying to accomplish goes out the window. The challenge is to get their attention long enough to say something engaging and moving.

24fps: And what do you want to say?

WC: The goal for me is to make films that express how I see the world. Storytelling is such a valuable forum for getting those ideas and opinions across.

24fps: What do you think about the current trend to shatter the traditional “three act” narrative structure that has been the bible for screenwriters for so long? Films like “Memento” and more recently “You and Me and Everyone We Know” that turn the narrative structure on its ear?

WC: Well first of all I am a big fan of “Memento.” I thought it was very intelligent. But I do think that first you have to master the basics of something before you can successfully tear it apart. The three-act structure of telling a story is ingrained in us.

24fps: I recently saw “The Squid and the Whale” and I thought the way the writer handed us information, the way the timeframe was constantly changing my perspective on the characters and the story made the film even more emotionally compelling. I don’t think I would have appreciated the film as much if it had been told from point A to point C.

WC: Exactly. With me it’s simple. If it works, it works. I think it’s fantastic to be challenged that way.

24fps: Which filmmakers have influenced or inspired you the most?

WC: My favorite filmmakers are Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Wes Anderson and P.T. Anderson. I think Scorsese most importantly because of his passion and vitality. He has gone through some very trying and emotional struggles to tell the stories he needed to tell. I loved “Goodfellas” and “The Last Temptation of Christ.”

24fps: Plus he’s a fantastic technician.

WC: The best. He really knows his job.

24fps: You mentioned Spike Lee. There is certainly a faction of critics who have accused Lee of politicizing his films to such an extent that they lose clarity and objectivity.

WC: I don’t think that’s true. He has a platform to express his beliefs and opinions and I think he’s brave to do that. That’s the whole point. I remember seeing “Do the Right Thing” when I was 10 or 11 years old and I knew I was seeing something completely different than what had come before. I couldn’t explain how I knew that, but I did.

24fps: I think it is tone. So many young filmmakers don’t understand that to have your own particular vision you have to leave your fingerprint on what you do.

WC: Yes. Lee’s “The 25^th Hour” is an amazing film and it is not political at all. But it does have his fingerprint.

24fps: It’s interesting that your list of artists that have influenced you all seem to have this very clear and recognizable imprint. Wes Anderson does, especially.

WC: He is such a talented person. His work is so hilarious and yet at the same time so incredibly moving. You immediately know you’re watching a Wes Anderson film, and yet you can’t quite describe what it is that tells you this.

24fps: Right. I think its perspective, which is so hard to verbalize. I tend to be drawn to films that show me something I have never seen before, or at lest tell the story with an attitude or energy that is new and original.

WC: “The Royal Tannenbaums” is a great example of that. It is so dry and playful and yet at the end I found it very emotional.

24fps: It takes risks. It has a unique voice.

WC: P.T. Anderson is another filmmaker who does that. “Magnolia” was passionate and so inspired. I felt like I was watching something totally new when I saw it.

24fps: It took the viewer to some completely unexpected places.

WC: That’s what I think film should do.

24fps: Lets talk a little more about your film school experience. You are an honors graduate of the NYU film program. Did going through that educational process change or influence your view of the film industry?

WC: NYU was really inspiring for me because I was around film 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All my friends were into film and everyone at that point is so positive and idealistic. None of us thought we’d have any trouble coming straight out of school and getting our first features made.

24fps: Any advice you could pass along to the young artists out there going into film school?

WC: Be flexible. Allow yourself to take the challenges you encounter (and there will be a lot of them) and use them to make your work better. Also, enjoy your time there. Make good friends and strong connections because a lot of the people you are around you’ll be working with when you get out.

24fps: You really had your first intense exposure to film and the filmmaking process when you arrived at NYU for the undergraduate program. What inspired you there?

WC: Just the huge amount of knowledge and information I had access to there was the most inspiring. I am very influenced by the work of Sydney Lumet and David Mamet. I’m a huge fan of many of the films that both have made. Lumet’s film “Dog Day Afternoon” is a favorite of mine. But the books that both have written about the filmmaking process have been huge for me.

24fps: What books are those?

WC: Lumet’s book is Making Movies. Mamet has two great books: On Directing Film and The Three Uses of the Knife.

24fps: Mamet is a genius writer.

WC: He has a way of breaking down whatever subject he is talking about and explaining himself with such clarity. Nobody I’ve read breaks down drama as clearly as Mamet does and as a young filmmaker that’s tremendously helpful.

24fps: You also had the honor of participating in the Fox Searchlab. Your short film “Youngster” was made as a part of that program. How was that different than your NYU experience?

WC: The lab was tougher because it was even more competitive. The process of being selected and getting an idea approved was more difficult. The first [project] idea I came up with didn’t work which was good because they pushed me. It ultimately led to “Youngster.”

24fps: How many days did you have to complete your Searchlab project?

WC: There wasn’t a set amount of days to finish it. They were very supportive about the film being done the right way and taking the time needed to get there.

24fps: What was the inspiration for “Youngster”?

WC: Drug dealing was a subject that I didn’t know a whole lot about and usually if you don’t know a lot about something there are going to be others who don’t either. We have seen characters like Marcus [the young dealer] down the line a lot, but we haven’t seen him at such a young age. I wanted to see what event sent him into such a negative direction.

24fps: For our readers who haven’t seen “Youngster” (and you should) it follows a very young boy who deals crack cocaine on the streets of an urban city.

WC: Yes. What we see is the night that this kid’s life changes.

24fps: Where was it shot?

WC: It was shot over two very cold nights in Fort Worth, Texas. The crew was mostly people in Dallas (TX) that I had worked with before or had worked with friends of mine.

24fps: The two lead actors in the film are fantastic. How did you cast them?

WC: I saw people in Dallas and New York. I had friends in New York from film school that held auditions which led me to Al Thompson who plays the older character, Ronald. Al was in “The Royal Tannenbaums” and “A Walk to Remember,” so when I got his head shot I immediately put him on the top of the pile.

24fps: He was your first choice?

WC: Actually I had originally wanted the character to be older, but when I saw Al’s audition he was really good and if you can be flexible, if there’s no reason why the character has to be a certain age, sometimes it’s worth it to rethink your approach. In this case I had a really good actor who could bring something interesting that I hadn’t considered before.

24fps: I do think many filmmakers get so caught up in their initial (original) vision that they corner themselves creatively. I see them, in early projects, be so inflexible. They don’t let the project “breathe” when it needs to.

WC: I do think it’s important to follow your vision. I mean we all see things differently for a reason. I have learned, though, that a lot that happens in filmmaking is out of your control. The set is so hectic and you have to learn to roll with whatever comes your way. I think that’s also true in casting. When he made “Nashville” Robert Altman had originally seen Robert Duval in the role Henry Gibson eventually played.

24fps: That’s quite a jump.

WC: Yes. But it worked. He just had to rethink the story and make adjustments.

24fps: How did you find Derek [Taylor], the title character of “Youngster”?

WC: I had a contact with a producer at Hypnotic named Nicholas Karlson. He had just finished the production of a film where he had cast two kids around the same age. He put me in touch with Derek and when I saw his tape I knew we were in great shape.

24fps: The film eventually made it to Los Angeles and two American Film Institute Festival Screenings. How was that experience?

WC: It was one of the best if not the best festival situations I’ve had in terms of getting industry people to notice my films. We had two screenings at the Mann’s Chinese Theatre, which was amazing. The projector they used was one of the Star Wars super hi-def projectors, and the image itself looked fantastic.

24fps: Did the screening help you make connections?

WC: The AFI really does a lot to put industry people in touch with filmmakers. They have sessions where the filmmakers sit down with agents, managers, producers, distributors, anybody you can think of and you just chat about your films and your career. It got “Youngster” and “Roslyn” and a lot of my other projects in front of people, which is exactly what you need.

24fps: Speaking of “Roslyn,” when it screened here at the Paramount as part of our competition, it was considered by our jury to be a “textbook” short. It combined a compelling story, athletic camera work and sharp editing to take us through the complete story arc in the most conservative amount of time. Shorts are so difficult because they are so succinct. What advice would you give to aspiring artists trying to wrestle with this form?

WC: First, thank you. Shorts are definitely tough to master. They can’t really have any fat in them and there is no time to do anything extraneous. You don’t have time for subplots or things that don’t move the story forward.

24fps: Exactly. We see so many short films during the submission process for 24fps and the most consistent problems have to do with scope and structure. They insist on trying to be epic in a 15 minute time span. You just can’t do that. A short film should be very direct.

WC: Right. You get in, make your point, and get out. And you really don’t have time for the extraneous stuff in a feature length film, either. When I realized how focused a short film had to be, I think my shorts got a lot better. You have to get it wrong a lot before you get it right. You learn from that. It’s a cliché, but I definitely learned more from the films I made early on that didn’t work than I did from films that did work.

24fps: Yes and so many filmmakers are afraid of that process. You have to put yourself out there to see what works and what doesn’t.

WC: You mentioned “Roslyn” being a textbook short and I might even say that “Youngster” is even more textbook in terms of its structure. People call it off-beat or edgy because of what’s going on and what happens inside the story but the structure is really simple. We meet a main character, a problem arises (thus he has a goal - to solve his problem), he tries to overcome it and things escalate to the point of no return. In seven minutes it has a beginning, middle and an end.

24fps: Actually the immediacy and lean structure of “Youngster” make it even more compelling.

WC: People don’t usually have problems with making their short films too short; the problem is that they’re usually too long. The problems always come back to structure.

24fps: “Youngster’ is a very visceral film. At times the camera seems almost invasive. The same can be said of “Roslyn,” which places us squarely inside the action of the film - as if we were participants ourselves. Your work certainly seems to be driven by this immediacy. What pushes you toward these kinds of films?

WC: If you’re working inside a short format rather than a full-length there are certain things that seem to work well. One thing that seems to work that I like is to see an event happening in real time or close to real time. I enjoy films that have that feeling of immediacy. Ultimately as an audience we empathize with the characters we’re watching because part of what we do when we watch a film is put ourselves in the shoes of the characters on-screen, mainly the protagonist.

24fps: Yes. That’s another aspect of filmmaking that I think students tend to overlook or don’t consider. Audiences tend to see the story through the eyes and psychology of the characters they are interacting with on the screen.

WC: If you’re watching a film, more than anything else you want to feel it.

24fps: Both of your winning shorts from our competition here deal with violence or the threat thereof. What is your take on violence in our culture and particularly how it is portrayed in modern cinema?

WC: My take on violence is that it’s around and happens and it’s part of the human experience and therefore should be portrayed and commented on. When I have been around violence it has always really shaken me up and I think those experiences have really affected how I view it.

24fps: Both films deal with the subject more realistically than stylistically.

WC: I see violence as pretty horrifying. To act out violently against another human being is a pretty drastic act. When you tell stories you’re dealing with the human experience and unfortunately that’s a part of it. As long as there’s violence we will be making art that deals with it and we should. We shouldn’t avoid it.

24fps: “Youngster” really is a shot in the gut. We see a young person lose control of his life and the moment happens so quickly, so casually that it is really devastating.

WC: It’s the human experience, we should capture it.

24fps: Let’s just talk briefly about the two films from a technical standpoint. I particularly want to talk about your collaborators and how the films were shot. Where did you film “Roslyn”?

WC: “Roslyn” was shot in 16mm over three nights in Roslyn, Long Island.

24fps: Who was the DP on that project?

WC: That was Doug Simon. I met Doug at NYU. I’ve never made a film without Doug being there.

24fps: What about “Youngster”?

WC: “Youngster” was shot in 35 mm and the co-producer and DP was Jason Croft. He was a huge part of that film.

24fps: And Doug [Simon] was your co-writer?

WC: Yes.

24fps: I understand you are currently working on a full-length feature version of “Roslyn.”

WC: Yes, I am.

24fps: Talk to us a little about the process of adapting that short story idea into a feature length project.

WC: Well it starts out very similar to the short film but takes a dramatic turn early on and things start to spin out of control.

24fps: For those who haven’t seen “Roslyn” (and you should) it follows a fraternity initiation that is pretty harrowing.

WC: The feature takes place over one night in the lives of the same characters as they try to figure out how to get out of the mess that they have created.

24fps: Is this your first feature?

WC: Yes, and I am very excited about it. We should be shooting it early this fall in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Hopefully a lot of the same people who were involved in my earlier projects are going to be involved in this one as well.

24fp: Any parting advice for all those young artists out there who will see your work and be inspired by it?

WC: Make the movies that you want to make. Listen to other people’s advice and take it all in, but trust yourself enough to make the movies that you want to make. I had people on several of my films give strong opinions about doing things differently than I wanted to do them. I had a professor who wanted to me structure Roslyn completely differently. I had to listen to him, consider what he was saying, but at the end of the day Roslyn was my film and I had to decide what I wanted to do. So trust yourself.

24fps: Which is more challenging, basketball or filmmaking?

WC: Basketball and filmmaking are both pretty challenging. So much of basketball is genetics (are you tall, quick, can you jump). There’s a tremendous amount you can learn and ways to improve as a ballplayer, but at the end of the day a lot of it is out of your control. I feel like if you’re not a real natural storyteller you can learn the techniques to make yourself better and it’s a little easier to improve as a filmmaker. But to be successful at either you need similar things - confidence in what you’re doing, drive, perseverance, and passion. The things that make you successful at anything in life are the same things that serve you well as a filmmaker.

Our conversation included:

The Texas Filmmaker’s Showcase:
www.filmhouston.texaswebhost.com/showcase_main.htm

The AFI Festival:
www.afi.com/onscreen/afifest/2006

The Fox Searchlab:
www.foxsearchlight.com/lab

NYU Film Program:
www.tisch.nyu.edu/filmtv