ART HISTORY UPDATES

JOHN: Your film was just showcased by Panasonic at NAB. What is NAB and how did this come about?

NICK: NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) is a yearly showcase of consumer electronics (an expo of sorts) where many manufacturers launch and promote their latest and future products. This year’s NAB was in Las Vegas. Since Panasonic aims for a filmmaker’s market (as opposed to a videographer’s market) they wanted to showcase the highest production value films they could find.

A Panasonic representative contacted me having seen sequences from Art History on the website and she asked if it was possible to include the film in the Panasonic showcase. This achievement was all the more remarkable given that few projects were chosen, and one of the others was November, a Sundance cinematography award winner.

JOHN: What scene(s) did they show and did you get to go? Do you know how the reaction was?

NICK: I did not get to go due to some complications with scheduling, but our post production supervisor on the project, Les Lukacs, was able to attend. Feedback from Panasonic was very positive with many people asking about how it was possible to achieve the kind of quality and look we did on miniDV alone. The scenes shown were the new trailer.

See for yourself here in Quicktime and Windows Media Player formats.

JOHN: Why a short and not a feature length film?

NICK: The story was originally feature length but was deliberately shortened simply because I didn't want to risk (a) the money and (b) other people's good will on a feature length lesson in filmmaking. I decided I would learn as much as possible from producing the short version, but we were collectively amazed at the quality of results we were getting from locations/perfomances/cameras so we decided we could use the short version as a proof-of-concept for raising money for the feature.

JOHN: The DVD and website are very good resources and well put together. Who did your web and DVD design and was it always part of the equation to get a good site out there for interested visitors?

NICK: I did the website and the DVD. My exposure to computers started roughly at Age 8 with the Sinclair ZX81. Although there was a period in my teens where I didn’t really use computers I got back into them in a big way just after university, which happened to coincide with the internet explosion. Founding a dotcom startup in the UK (which I ran for 6 years and then was instrumental in selling) went a long way to keeping me around computers on an ongoing basis. So yes, it was always part of the equation to build the brand for the film around all aspects of the product (whether it is the silk screened DVD case, the menus/commentaries therein or the website).

JOHN: Any other updates on Art History at this point?

NICK: As mentioned before a feature length expansion of the story was always planned. A synopsis for this story already exists and the script is being fine tuned. We are talking to a number of potential investors for the feature version of the project (including InDigEnt, the company behind November). It looks pretty good. But I’m reserving judgment till the money’s in the bank.

DOMINIKA WOLSKI & STELLA

JOHN: Nick has said that the character of Stella was always written with you in mind. How much of Stella is in Dominika? Does Dominika get a kick out of showing everyone her underwear as well?

DOMINIKA: Hah! I think I can make the underwear tie back into the “Principle of Stella-Dominikan Relativity”. The opening scene/sport sequence: I respect and embrace natural and unrestricted movement in the context of sport (I competed in volleyball, pentathlon, and basketball on very high levels, so I think my opinion on this is affected by years of really short running shorts, beach volleyball bikinis etc. which cease to matter when you’re intent on kicking ass). I think girls who can’t play a sport and want to enhance that fact by just standing around in a sports arena and showing off their underwear because they can’t play are lame. I think girls who can rock in any given game can wear whatever they want and if their underwear happens to show, it’s a natural kind of sexy factor. *side note: this does not apply to thongs. Thongs are gross and belong only on the same kind of beaches where men have to wear banana sling-shots! Ew!

In terms of our lead character, I can’t deny some Dominikaisms inspired the reckless nature of the person who is Stella. In a way, I think all three of us (Jason and Nick and I) shaped a lot of the dynamics in the script; all of us like to consider non-conformist and semi-rebellious ideas about popular culture…we like to debate and we like those debates most when they make us reconsider our own perspectives. In real life: I’m the one who generally gets distracted skipping by puppies on the street (unlike Stella who would focus the debate into something that elicits strategic action) while Jason is the sensitive artist who pauses at weird art installations and Nick is the ruthlessly candid semi-automatic s-word-disturber. I, the Dominika, aspire for Stella’s organizational drive (be it screenplays or designs, I unfortunately work in massive tornadoes of mixed socks, stickers and Polaroid cameras and flourish in this orchestra of chaos) and I admire Stella’s ability to manipulate her sexuality with Dan (Hayden Baptiste).

Coming from a communist Poland and being personally blessed by the Pope at the age of 3 while I was there (I kid you not), and despite becoming an agnostic with 7 years of landing here in Canada, I’m quite defiant about sex and sexuality. Sex is obvious. Sensuality (the kind that comes naturally when you dance Flamenco or get water in your hair or wear something that’s slightly sheer) is inimitable because it’s not contrived and it comes instinctively to most introspective and confident people. For me, that means taking time (unlike Stella) to savor the smells, sounds and experiences of daily life – that’s the earthy eastern European tradition that comes through in my own aura.

Rarely (as I perceive it) do I project blatant “sex”, so I think it’s funny that people find Stella so sexual and/or sexy; in my own life, I’m assuming that most people perceive me a bit like a gazelle in mid-leap. Relative to attitudes, my belief in true and lasting love also means that I don’t like to lead people on or mask my feelings. The manipulation that relies on sex drive like Stella’s with Dan in the most obvious sense seems cruel to me. I’d like to see Stella fall for Alex (Martin Christopher) more deeply, more passionately (through the course of the feature of course): most of her scenes were cool as a cucumber and very few moments involved solitude where she’s being reverent and still. I personally like a mixture of high speed with a sudden and organic shift to absolute stillness … in music and in exposition for a character. I’m pretty certain Stella will come out in the full length with some more of that whereas now she’s like pure adrenalin.

The second underwear shot: The kissing scene on the couch with Alex. In this case, again, sensuality always makes sense in the right context and waiting up for your sexy boyfriend in a tank and underwear set seems pretty sensible. The pink socks on the other hand…kidding! As for the final underwear shot (in the closing credits): Nick is dead meat! When I get my hands on some footage of him picking his nose or adjusting his gonads… every time I have to watch that shot, I increase the payback stakes on Nick.

JOHN: Looks like most of your work has been with Jason Bourque? How did you meet Jason and how did you meet Nick?

DOMINIKA: I was going to be a foreign correspondent when I met Jason. Literally, on my way through university with all of this Philosophy, English awards, French, blah blah. Then someone asked me to come and be in a country music video. The director was some young guy from Eastern Canada who had a great sense of humor and worked with a Polish DP (Director of Photography). I went along, found myself hanging out helping out friends in other departments on a set with Rosanna Arquette (amongst a few other incidents with other actors) who kept coming up to me and stuffing me in front of the camera. I’ve done a lot of stage and was up for the program at UBC. I can’t remember why I didn’t go (I preferred the UVIC campus?) but at the same time, film had always seemed like a madhouse full of insane and bizarre actors (Um, and it is!).

After being approached by about 5 different producers and of course Jason himself casting me in things, I decided to listen to the calling (I always wanted a career that allowed me to follow interesting characters and this meant literally inside of them) and moved to Vancouver in 2001. Jason moved over at the same time and we collaborated funds ($2000 each) to make a 10 minute “calling card” film that I wrote and would star in and he would direct. That film went on to be chosen out of 1200 Canada-wide to be made into a series and only two years of being in the industry, feels like a nice notch for a gleeful “Good Will Huntress” who was told you could not act and write at the same time by countless people. Jason and I always joke about the country music thing because while both of us mostly abhor it, we’ve gone and made our first feature screenplay together a western cross-genre. Go figure, yee haw!

Nick. (big breath) I met Nick in a hot tub in Whistler ski resort while Jason and I went on a weekend writing excursion to finish off the final draft of said western script. I was running around between snow bank and hot tub, yelling like a 12 year old on Nutella when this snooty voice from the pool said, “Hey! Stop running around like a 12 year old!” I stuck my tongue out, he was annoyed, I thought he was irritating and we totally did not hit it off. I think the only reason we ended up at the same dinner was because Jason and Nick’s friend Mark were both producing as well as directing; they spent the evening talking film while Nick and I bantered European literature and metaphysical aspects of being and ego-centrism (as in “order your own fries, Nick and stop eating mine! And no way is Herman Hesse a loser!”).

Two cross-cultural, cross-discipline kids who met each other in a strange setting and somehow forged a friendship, a courtship (over mail, email, and phone) and as would be fitting to a true love story, it’s as real as it gets. I try not to get uncomfortably mooshy about it though – Nick and I do work together after all and all through my series, very few people knew about us and I kind of think that’s the way it should be. He compliments my creative fervor by being ingratiatingly tactical and mathematical and inversely, my left brain has certainly taught his left brain a few useful things to help with direction and visualization. As a team with Jason, I feel pretty invincible: I admire both of them very much (as people and as creative forces) and respect their individual strengths and talents.

JOHN: Did you act at all in Poland and when did you move to Canada?

DOMINIKA: I was apparently a child predisposed to “performance” (that’s what they get for having only one!) who was taught how to read at the age of four and was raised between the aristocratic house of my mother’s family (with live theatre and orchestras) and the humble country domain of my father’s family (with walnut orchards and meadowy churches). I think a lot of what gives me vitality as an actress is the exuberant kind of childhood I was able to have despite the communist climate (or perhaps in someway as a hopeful beacon for the next generation created because of it). My uncle is a television producer there and I am invited to come and guest star on any of the shows he works with…if only they weren’t all soap operas!

I was recently introduced to Agnieszka Holland in Vancouver which is exciting because I’d kind of like to work in another language sometime (Polish or French or perhaps learn a new one) and over in the “homeland”. We came here when I was seven; the parental units were on holiday, civil war broke out in Poland and we were allowed to stay. Mama and Papa are both masters in marine biology (have their own environmental company) and yet are both ex-theatre-troop members from university days.

JOHN: What actors influence you? Name some favorites…

DOMINIKA:
Helena Bonham Carter! Oooh! Aaa! She’s just incredible: a chameleon of faces, graces and styles AND (having just had the good fortune to get to meet her in London) she has an exquisite presence when she walks into a room. She exudes mystery and intensity as well as a slight pixie-ish quality… now that is the kind of an actress who makes an impression. I find most of the Julia Stiles, Kate Hudsons all blend into one another so easily for me… I’m sure they perform well but they don’t leave any sort of distinctive impression that lasts.

Other female favorites: Julie Delpy, Milla Jovovich, the east-Indian girl in Bend it Like Beckham, Sophia Lauren (ok, this is just cause she’s so stunning on film). I liked old Cameron Diaz in The Last Supper Club and Something About Mary (I went to see the Farrely brothers speak about that script because it was the first female popular character I related to in American film)… but lost it after The Sweetest Thing.

Christopher Walken… that man is fantastic! I know he’s a character actor but I think he’s just divine, screen magic and puts a big smile on my face even when he’s being evil. I’d like him to play my dad in a script called “Design Flaw” I’m just finishing the final draft on.

Bruce Greenwood. Wonderfully giving and insightful actor to work with and watch. Robert Sean Leonard. I hope to see him back on the screen because he is really intriguing to watch and again, has that mesmerizing ability to morph with his character.

JOHN: Do you prefer acting or writing or both?

DOMINIKA: Both are enjoyable. Acting is easier because I hate sitting still and it’s kind of hard to cart a laptop on a bike ride! I find they compliment each other much like singing and song-writing … there’s a harmony, an undeniable fusion that happens when someone is able to write something while having a vision of also bringing it to life and alternately, it’s great to play around as an actor in improv and find your alter-ego bring out wacky concepts for screenplays.

GETTING ART HISTORY MADE

JOHN: How is the “film scene” in Vancouver? Looks like there is a good indie scene going on there. Did you have any trouble finding help making Art History?

NICK: There are plenty of TV series and feature films that film up here (Vancouver’s referred to as “Hollywood North”) which gives rise to a healthy scene of cast and crew that have already made it, are about to make it or are hungry to try to get their foot in the door. Either way the large surplus of cast and crew makes for a healthy indie scene because although paid work often takes precedence over unpaid work the fact remains that the kind of responsibility one gets given on a non-union is not connected to seniority in the same way a union set is. An example would be our gaffer who took time off from pulling cable on John Woo’s Paycheck to Gaff our show. So while it’s never easy to get a great experienced crew, it is usually easy to get a full crew – in a place like Vancouver. We didn’t have any real trouble getting good people (but this was in large part due to Dominika and Jason).

DOMINIKA: The film industry in Vancouver has been regarded for a long time as a service industry, a “conveyor belt” for L.A., Toronto, etc. A lot of people who are coming from years of experience in other cities have said that Vancouver had a “growth leap” with meant a lot of people got trained really quickly in certain areas to fill in the positions that people needed badly but didn’t want to bring along (ie. Gaffers, Teamsters, Catering, Locations, Production Office staff). There are film schools here which have been around for a while but no unique methodology has developed that would as yet make us distinct in the way we make films for other people, save that we are considered to be really friendly and relaxed in a “west-coast” way.

The acting scene has come about both from evolving out of theatre and via import talent from down south (or native Canadians who have trained there and returned here because the talent pool is smaller); some instructors are internationally trained but I’ve personally found it hard to locate one school that covers everything I like to do as an actor (in addition to the basic skills, I aspire for physical and linguistic and special skills agility.. kind of like the James Bond of acting …) so I prefer to work scenes with other actors. There are LOTS of other actors around, some of which aspire to mimic everything L.A. actors do, wear, emote and some of whom are dedicated to honing a “craft”, religiously following a personal schedule for diet, clothing and some of whom are fascinated with fame and are driven to do anything to feel like they have it. Of course, actors are all crazy anywhere in the world; no other career path is as daunting and no other field is as filled with neuroses and extravagant tendencies.

There is one very distinct kind of actor which I think is making a name for Vancouver actors and those are the writer/actors, director/writers, producer/writers – not the ones who do it because everyone else is but because they use their story-telling abilities to diversify. Since I’ve come here (and I’ve been writing since the age of 7), the resistance to being a hyphenate has decreased to the point of it being standard for everyone to have two or three things on the go. Grips are writing scripts. Catering is planning a clothing line. The P.A. by the stop sign is making a stop-motion film on his kitchen table with plasticine. There is no shortage of stories about people coming together to do someone’s “directorial debut” over a weekend. This makes it easy to get a crew of multi-taskers who can work dynamically and creatively to support a smaller project. You’ll have make-up who can do cameos, set designers who can do stunts and armorers who have a great Irish accent. I think if anything makes Vancouver a “scene”, it’s the colorful assortment of skills you’ll find on any given indie set beyond the official positions people are doing. (Who knew, for example, Nick was going to sing the closing titles and give them a country-music spin?)

JOHN: Were your cast and crew paid? Or just in food?

NICK: I was fortunate to be surrounded by an experienced team both behind and in front of the camera. The crew was assembled by Jason (producer) and Dominika (Associate Producer and Lead Actress). Over the years working in the industry both in Victoria and Vancouver they had assembled contacts that were invaluable. So the crew was fully professional but they were also volunteers. Full catering and craft services were provided for cast crew and extras. (Likewise we always provided a crew park, separate makeup/hair facilities for the actors and a full locations team, adding to the professionalism of the shoot). This professionalism extended to our post production crew – while I have mentioned Les Lukacs previously we also had excellent help from Alain Mayrand (www.alainmayrand.com) who composed our score under an insane time schedule as well as the very talented Martyn Smith, who did the post sound mixing and digital foley, all of whom volunteered their services.

JOHN: Did you pay for the equipment yourself or did you have investors?

NICK: We paid for the equipment ourselves. The DVX100 we had obtained for use on a previous project for the CBC (a mini series written by and starring Miss Wolski and directed by Jason Bourque - on that series I served as co-producer). There was lots of negotiating with locations we wanted use, permits we needed to acquire, music rights, equipment rentals etc etc – but fortunately we were able to convince some local companies to help us out by giving us good deals on equipment. Paladin Show Services, Clairmont Camera I salute you.

JOHN: The camera you used, the Panasonic DVX100 (approx $4,000), any thoughts?

NICK: Having experienced the DVX100 in what I call the “vanilla” mode – so no filters, letterboxed in camera (on the CBC show) as well as the “gorilla” mode (not to be confused with “guerilla”) on Art History with a 6x6 matte box and tons of (not entirely light) accessories I can say with some amount of confidence that I am very impressed with it. I have seen good footage come out of XL1’s and PD150’s but dollar for dollar I think the DVX100 makes it easier to come up with a more “expensive-looking” image. Of course an experienced DP (such as our cinematographer Mahlon Todd Williams, the man behind the cool looks in Art History) can use most any tool to their full advantage, but experienced or not, using the DVX100 in my opinion gives you a definite leg up on the competition.

JOHN: People like you and I can and are able to make pretty damned good looking films now, do you think this is a bad thing or a good thing?

NICK: A good thing. If we make a lot of garbage then for sure there is more noise out there to rise above but such is life. Politically speaking, I am definitely for putting broadcast-quality information gathering devices into the hands of the general public. Once a hacker always a hacker. “Promote decentralization, information wants to be free!” But polemics aside, I think that having great tools on the low end of filmmaking is an excellent way to prepare for the higher end – whatever that may be.

JOHN: What advice do you have for someone that may want to make a movie and/or thinks they have some good ideas about getting it done?

NICK: Assuming someone wants to be a director (I don’t know any people who wake up at age 16 and go “I want to be a lamp operator as a career”). Write a story you give a shit about. Buy/borrow a miniDV camera and try and film a scene from your story. Learn how to use the software. Read about filmmaking (magazines, books) Google, google, google. Talk to friends who have made films (if you can find some). Try to get on a set to understand the dynamic (or lack thereof) of a work in progress. Then decide if it’s for you. That’s about learning, if someone thinks they have a good idea for actually making a marketable movie...well that’s a very different question and I would hope they could figure out their own answer to it, because I don’t the right answer, but I at least know how to find it.

THE FUTURE

JOHN: Tell me about some of your future projects?

DOMINIKA: Future projects: The Yearning (the Good Will Hunting feature for me). A supernatural western fable that follows a gang of outlaws chased by a sheriff into the wilderness of the old west. Among them are two sisters (I play the younger one Virginia Caulder) who use disguise and gun skills to help the men rob banks; the older sister is in love with the leader and my character is a late bloomer, “in love with the idea of being in love.” The screenplay is currently generating lots of interest in L.A. and there’s been several options offered on it; Nick is on board as well as Jason, so I’m guessing we should be ready to roll sometime later this year.

I’ve been auditioning consistently so far this year but have lately started to feel like I don’t want to do TV series as much (the writing is generally atrocious). I’d like to start pursuing international work, in other places, in other languages and with the view of moving around and doing some traveling. My new demo tape will include scenes in Polish and French and I’m hoping to pursue some interest from down south and overseas that I’ve already had.

Also, to totally confuse my stand on TV, I do have a series in development right now, which seems removed from the criteria only in the sense that I’m writing it and I’m making it a finite series. Nothing makes for worse writing (and most of the series I’ve been on have been at one point remarkably well written) than a series past its due date when they’ve run out of ideas and it reeks of repetition and desperation. “Quick! Let’s show some skin: no one cares about the plot! And explosion – yeah! There you go… that’s Episode 2,448 in the can!” (I’m sure it goes something like that!)

American Meltdown was great! It should be done in June. It’s one of the coolest projects I’ve worked on, simply because the concept appeals to my sense of global communication. It seems to be about a radical terrorist taking over a nuclear plant and quickly throws our own expectations on the floor with something that lingers with you after you watch it (so I hope, anyways).

I’d also like to go to Africa this year. It’s been on my list since I was there at the age of 14 (the first place in the world to give me total and mind-blowing culture-shock and in a really lasting and mesmerizing way). Nothing too touristy: the countryside, its people and the animals… and ok, maybe a few attempts to speak Emu.

NICK: I am working as producer on a set of four intellectual thrillers called The Dark Seasons. These are feature length scripts written by Dominika and Jason (two a piece) that I am working on financing through investors in the US and the UK.
We have a lot of very good leads on this project, including some of the larger studios down in LA, but more about that when we get something concrete.
I am also setting up another European based tech business in the field of mobile commerce.

So there you have it. A glimpse into the lives of a couple of ambitious and talented individuals. I wish Nick Bicanic and Dominika Wolski the best and I wouldn’t be surprised if you see some combination of their threesome more prominently in years to come!