Robert Loomis, Director - DOG YEARS

DOG YEARS is a pleasantly loopy, gun-totin' skinhead comedy set in Arizona which follows Wally, a non-racist skinhead whose dog, Neechee, is abducted by bumbling gangsters who think he has their money and drugs. With the assistance of the Dog Pound Babe, Wally is forced to take extreme measures to insure the safe return of his best friend. Premiering at SXSW '98, its mixture of kinetic action and deadpan humor netted it a distribution deal with Troma Films.

Director Robert Loomis has a BA in Art History from the University of Arizona and made two award winning shorts, Somewhere in Between and Side by Side. Prior to DOG YEARS, he was co-producer and cinematographer for the feature CASTASTROPHE. 

What follows is the Q&A session after a screening in Kansas City, MO.

Q:  How long did it take you to make the film?

RL:  I started filming in February 1996 and finished the majority of shooting by the end of July. And then while I was editing, I was still filming stuff that I needed all the way up to the following January, when I shot the opening sequence. So it was almost a year, mostly on every Sunday, from February to July. When I realized that I didn't have any money to make it, I decided to go ahead and make it anyway, so from idea to print was a little over 2 1/2 years.

Q:  I know everyone's first question is about the budget; not that you have to go into particulars about it, but did you transfer it to video and after that, where'd you go?

RL:  I don't mind getting into particulars... it was actually all posted on film, the old-fashioned way. (applause) I don't know if it was something I actually thought about, but it's all I really knew how to do, because I learned sort of right before it all went over [to Avid] to post. When I was doing the sound mix, the sound mixer was calling up film schools to donate all his 16mm sound equipment. So I'm a little worried that I won't be able to mix if I edit on film anymore. I wasn't very particular in keeping track [of the budget], but I know roughly because I paid as I went - I got it filmed for somewhere between $8,000 and $10,000 and then to get to the final print was an additional $10 - 15,000. So, somewhere around $25,000 total.

Q:  So a lot of the actors worked for free...?

RL:  Yeah, that was with no one getting paid - everyone's 'deferred salary', which is the same as 'free'. (audience laughter) I was just very up front and I said, "OK, if we do this, I can't even pay for food & I can't pay for gas; we're just gonna be doing it on the weekend & you have to keep the same haircut for 7 months or however long it takes, you can't leave town... I'm just gonna lay it all out," and everyone was like, "OK, we'll go ahead and do it." I bought a pizza and some beer every once in awhile, but that's as far as it got.

Q:  How'd you go about casting?

RL:  Some of the people I've worked with before; some were family members, so I could make them do it (laughter) and I actually took out an ad in the weekly paper - "Casting low-budget feature", and I had about 20 people show up. And I cast about 18 of the 20 that showed up. (laughter) It really kinda worked out.

Q:  What was your shooting ratio & who's doing distribution?

RL:  Shooting ratio? It's 3 to 1, but actually 5 to 1... it was a true 5 to 1 - I had to buy 5 times as many film rolls as I ended up with, lengthwise. Usually one take, except for when the dog was involved and that's when it got - I used to freak out about it when we were first filming & finally just realized that when the dog's involved, it's gonna be 6-, 7-, 8 -... 10 to 1. Distribution - it's being distributed on video. Troma has the worldwide rights... the biggest compliment I got was when I met Lloyd Kaufman, who created TOXIC AVENGER, in his New York office and he said, "You know, this isn't really like a Troma film." And I said, "Thank you." (laughter) They have the rights for about a year - they just made it available to video stores, and you can purchase it from their website. They'll probably have to make about $100, 000 before I ever see any money. They charged me - it's all paper stuff, but to cut the trailer, they charged me more than what the whole feature cost. They have to get all that back before I get any money. I decided to go with Troma because they do get the film out there. It was more important for me to have it seen than to make any money.

Q:  I was wondering what's your educational background, especially in relation to film?

RL:  I love films - watched a lot of them, was always intimidated by the technical process so I decided to become a painter instead and studied painting & art history. I was rejected by a student art institution, so I said, "Oh, they don't know what they're doing," and went into film instead. I listed myself as a film major at the University of Arizona and took all the film courses. Then, for some reason, I went into the Masters Program for Theory and I think about now, I'm kinda recovering from that. (laughter) Hopefully, I'll just be able to get rid of that sort of theoretical nonsense and just make good films.

Q:  Who are your favorite film directors?

RL:  The more visual guys - Kurasawa, Terry Gilliam, Wim Wenders. BRAZIL, WINGS OF DESIRE and RAN were the three films that made me want to get into filmmaking. I really go for the visual stuff, but there's a pretty wide range - anyone who's witty & visual and who doesn't hit you over the head is usually who I like... John Boorman, Jim Jarmusch, Hal Hartley - I got a review in VARIETY and they compared me to Jarmusch and Hartley, so I have to always mention those guys.

Q:  How'd you get that almost widescreen look?

RL:  That was standard 16mm with a hard matte burned into the print. I hate the regular 16mm aspect ratio; I had a standard 16mm camera which I shot it all on and then had the lab put a matte on the print for an extra $800. Of course when I was filming, I had visions of Miramax or someone... you know - I was hoping to blow up to 35mm the whole time, but I knew if I ended up with a 16mm print, I'd put a matte on it to keep that aspect ratio.

Q:  What stock did you use and what kind of camera?

RL:  7248, 100 ASA. It was a CP-16 with a 170 degree shutter; most cameras have 140 degree shutters. It was the workhorse news camera of the '70's. It was a workhorse - we dropped it a couple of times. (laughter)

Q:  Did you shoot it yourself?

RL:  Yeah, except for a few things, like when I was in front of the camera. I'm kind of a control freak, I guess.

Q:  How did you handle your sound recording - was it all synch or did you loop it a lot?

RL:  The only location sound I did... one of the hardest things with no money is getting good sound, and there are a couple sound problems that I still cringe at. The only sound that I actually recorded while filming was dialog. I got the camera as close as I could & the microphone as close as I could and tried to get good, clean dialog and everything else was foleyed in afterwards. Everything else was shot MOS - you just have more control and it was actually kinda fun, even though it took an extra 2 months to do foley work.

Q:  You use a Nagra?

RL:  Nagra, yes. I've shot with both Nagra and DAT and I prefer Nagra for dialog. It just sounds better.

Q:  What did you use for squibs - you just make those yourself?

RL:  Actually, all the squibs were basically a polyurethane tube with a little plastic elbow filled with blood, cellophane & rubber-banded and someone would stand offscreen and PFFFT - blow it out. No explosive devices were used. The funny thing that I learned was that when we were filming it, the takes that we did were very DePalmaesque - everyone of them was over the top and it was ridiculous. While I was editing, those were the ones I ended up using because the other ones that looked more realistic when we were filming, you didn't even notice the blood. It was supposed to be silly; the effects in general were really low tech, but I always hoped within the style of the film, they'd come across as kind of charming. (laughter)

Q:  Like the dolly track in one shot?

RL:  Yes. I mentioned the camera got dropped a couple of times - they eyepiece used to be able to orient where you could look though this way. It broke and we fixed it by mounting it straight at 90 degrees. So when I had it at a really low angle, I couldn't look through it. I just closed the eyepiece off and shot from the hip. I did 7 takes of Neechee running and looking at the city & running down the hill. All of them had dolly track in the shot to some extent and that was the only take where she really stopped & looked, then went on. I said, "There'll be one guy who notices," and it's you, sir. (laughter)

Q:  How much of the film did you storyboard - you have so much movement with the dolly.

RL:  I spent a lot of time thinking about the visuals and the way I storyboard is, I do it on the edge of my script; I thumbnail everything. It's like really quick, really bad drawings. I've found that when you're working with no money, it's almost pointless to make nice storyboards. Once I had the thumbnails, I'd draw diagrams, top view, of where the camera was in relation to the actors & what the movement was that I wanted to do. Every shot was diagrammed before I shot it. Because I shot it over the course of 7 months, I would do it for that week for whatever I was shooting that Sunday. It was kinda relaxing that way - one of the only ways I was able to finish the film was only worrying about one Sunday at a time.

Q:  Writing the script, did you write it counting on having a lot of money or did you write it for a low budget?

RL:  Yes and no - the last film I'd done, I wouldn't even write it until I had figured out how to shoot it. This film, even though it was in the back of my mind that I wasn't going to have a lot of money, I tried to forget about it. I tried to think, "Write the script, and then figure out how to film it." I didn't want it to limit me too much as far as making sure I was telling the story the way it should be told. I just figured I'd be creative enough to figure out how to film it to where it worked.

Q:  Where'd you get the dog from? Is she yours?

RL:  Yeah, she's mine. Isn't she good? (laughter) And pretty, too.

Q:  How'd the opening sequence come about?

RL:  It ties in with the statement in the movie, "Why should the fascists have all the cool parades?", which is something I heard in grad school. I'd thought of this really funny short, where you see these guys looking very fascist & they're marching - very Leni Riefenstahl, TRIUMPH OF THE WILL-ish; Beethoven in the background - and then, they plant a flower. I just thought this was really very funny. In the longer version, they were helping ladies across the street & petting cats; stuff like that. When I edited the first cut, it came to about 69 minutes. I said, "I need to be over 70 minutes for a feature... well, I can always do that marching thing I've always wanted to do..." And it ties in with the idea - one of the themes of the film is that your stereotypes, your assumptions, are going to be challenged, and that is what that whole piece is about - you assume who these guys are and what they're about, and then they plant a flower.

Q:  In Hollywood, it's very rarely the case where the director operates his own camera - what are your thoughts & feelings about that?

RL:  I think everything suffers a little [operating the camera]... I can't spend the time with the actors when I'm setting up the shot and the lights & the dolly track. And I can't do the really good shots when I have to spend time with the actors. But at the same time, I don't think I'd do it any differently, unless perhaps Dean Semler (DP, THE ROAD WARRIOR) offered to DP my next film. I'm sure that if I were to build a relationship with a DP that I really trusted, it would be better overall, but I'm the best person I know, at this point. It's hard for me to let go. I always felt one advantage, especially without video assist, was that you know when you have a workable shot. You don't have to ask the DP or the operator, "Did we get it?" Although, it is hard to pay attention to dolly track and acting, too.

Q:  Were you deliberately trying to avoid showing brandnames?

RL:  Yeah, I tried very carefully, in most circumstances. I blacked out the RYDER on the trucks - they're just silhouetted enough so you can kinda tell it's a Ryder truck, but you really can't see RYDER. Mostly because I hear stories - I haven't run into it myself - about not being able to get distribution because of that. It can be a big sticking point, where the company will take your film, they wanna do it and then they say, "We gotta get clearance from Coca-Cola TM ... thanks, but no thanks." There's some things you don't have to worry about if they're part of the standard background, but anything foreground - Ryder, I'm sure would be pleased to have their name associated with... you call them 'coyotes' out here? The people who run illegal aliens are called coyotes in Arizona. It's a big industry in the Southwest - not a good industry...

Q:  What about the music - is it all original?

RL:  There's a good story with that - most of it's original that a friend of mine, Loren Dircks, did with his band, The Gila Band and by himself specifically for the movie. There's another Tucson band, Dave's Big Deluxe, that I talked into letting me use two of their songs. I went ahead and used Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' for the opening sequence. I was like, "Screw it... it's an old recording, it's from the 50's and it's Beethoven - how much are they gonna want?" It doesn't matter how old it is, they want $2500 minimum. So what happened is in the video version, I had Loren record 'Ode to Joy' on a canjo & singing - I had to give him the words in German. So in the video copy, it's a little different... it has an interesting Southwestern flavor to it. I did run into that problem and it was a sticking point, even with Troma, who are a bit of scofflaws and rogues themselves. I had to have the video master redubbed with that before I could finalize distribution.

Q:  What kind of signature markings do you like to place in your films?

RL:  I don't know of anything specific - I don't know if I have a signature. It's something that I haven't really thought about, other than just having what comes through naturally... I haven't thought of anything cheap & gimmicky like you're suggesting, sir. (laughter)

Q:  How'd you make the money to finance the film?

RL:  A lot of it I made working at Borders for $6.25/hr. - corporate bastards that they are. (laughter) Most of it was paycheck, but I also racked up credit cards. Then in post - I have a big family and I talked brothers and sisters into giving me $2,000 each.

Q:  After you finished the film, how did you go about trying to sell it?

RL:  IFFM in New York was the first place I went - the Independent Feature Film Market held by the IFP (Independent Feature Project) every September - it's almost 'first come, first served'; if you get your film there with the $500, you get, although they have started to select a little with the amount of films out there. Buyers are there - that's actually where I got the Troma people interested. And people did see it; a guy from Miramax and a guy from Fine Line saw it - they both told me they liked it, but they didn't think it'd be something their companies would distribute.

And I applied to the bigger festivals - Toronto, Telluride, Sundance - didn't get into any of those, but I was accepted at SXSW. Each film festival has its own agenda, as well. It's weird - you wonder how you get in and you either have to know people, which I don't or the right person has to see it. The hope I have for future projects - and the world in general - is that the film did it all  by itself. I didn't know anyone at SXSW, didn't know anyone at Troma, didn't know anyone at any of the things that have happened - it was really the film, so that gives me hope that a good film, or at least a decent film, can make it.

Q:  What's next?

RL:  I'm making a WWI movie with no money. (laughter) It's a movie about guys who play rugby - they just happen to be fighting WWI at the same time. 

One last thing - the main thing that keeps me going on each project is the fantasy of sitting in a theatre with popcorn & soda, with an audience. So, thanks again.


Loomis' next picture is actually a sequel to 'Dog Years' - DOG YEARS 2: ANGRY YOUNG MAN. It was should be making the festival rounds late in 2002.