Joe Badon is a filmmaker, illustrator and musician whose unconventional artistic style and vision sets him apart. Having directed feature films The God Inside My Ear and Sister Tempest, Badon's also the writer and illustrator of 'The Man with Ten Thousand Eyes' and 'Terra Kaiju'.
His unbridled creativity continues to fuel each artistic production as is the case for his latest adventure, The Blood of the Dinosaurs. A surreal, moody, trippy and altogether wild short film, which featured at Fantasia... Spling caught up with Badon to find out more about the short, his story, guerilla filmmaking and what lies ahead.
How did you get into filmmaking?
In 2017, I saved up some money, wrote a script and found all my cast and crew mainly through Facebook. Together, we made The God Inside My Ear. I have no formal training, although I did work with directors in illustrating storyboards for a number of years.
What would you say are some of the TV shows and films that have had a marked influence over your creative life?
Twin Peaks, Off The Air (adultswim), The Devils, Holy Mountain, True Stories, Rubber, Jesus Shows You The Way to the Highway, Hour of the Wolf, Evil Dead 2 and Eraserhead.
What would your elevator pitch be for The Blood of the Dinosaurs?
It's Mr Rogers on acid during a midlife crisis.
The film alludes to natural resource depletion and sexual perversion... what inspired The Blood of the Dinosaurs and are you willing to expand on some of the underlying themes of the film?
It's just a meditation on the Circle of Life and the meaninglessness of existence.
The short film creates an unnerving and uncomfortable feel by straddling genres and realities... what do you find most appealing about playing to the ambiguous?
Ambiguity lets every viewer interpret the film more personally and individually.
What’s the most freeing thing about opting to go the short film route?
People are cool with less narrative structure with short films.
Your actors seem to be completely invested in your vision. How would you describe the working relationship and do you ever get any pushback when it comes to more outlandish scenes?
At this point, actors know that I'll be asking for crazy shit and they're cool with it. Having done two other films, people know I have a specific style and vision and they seem to trust me. I am very blessed by this.
Do you prefer the short film format?
I've actually created two feature films before this. With longer format stuff, you're able to create a richer narrative story and more character development... that's why the next project - The Wheel of Heaven - is an episodic.
The Blood of the Dinosaurs is a naturally divisive film. What’s the greatest compliment and conversely the worst insult you’ve received about it?
Honestly, the reception has been overwhelmingly positive. I think that the biggest complaint is that people just want to see where the story goes from here as the short basically just ends and will pick back up in The Wheel of Heaven.
Filming almost exclusively in Louisiana, what do you think are some of the limitations and benefits?
The limitation is that there is no really no access to industry investors and professionals as opposed to Los Angeles.
The benefit is that everything is *much cheaper* and you can actually do guerilla filmmaking. That would be *impossible* in Hollywood.
You’re busy with the festival circuit with the screening at Fantasia right now... but have you had a chance to think about what’s next?
Next is editing The Wheel of Heaven, which is already shot. And there are a few bigger film festivals that we're waiting to hear back from for The Blood of the Dinosaurs. Plus, The Blood of the Dinosaurs
is playing HollyShorts on Saturday, August 13th at midnight at the Chinese Theater in Los Angeles and I'm planning on attending!
Tim Greene's ambitious lockdown project is now in post-production. Using digital communication, video conferencing and social networking apps, the writer-director managed to coordinate a feature film when the rest of the world's productions ground to a halt. The story set during the pandemic brought together a group of actors who performed and operating the cameras... in Cabin Fever their phones. Spling caught up with the film-maker to get more details on this extraordinary feat.
In this exclusive interview you'll be able to find out how Greene managed to pull it off, some of the challenges involved in shooting during a lockdown and factors that influenced the story and shooting style. The interview was conducted remotely online and unfortunately the sound quality was adversely affected by fluctuating internet speeds.
The Three Wells podcast is based on the principles expressed in Matthew Kalil's book, The Three Wells of Screenwriting. Working screenwriters, film professors, first-time screenwriters, adaptation writers, TV writers, commissioned writers, script editors, playwrights, novelists, songwriters, journalists, documentary writers... anyone looking to break into their next idea or overcome writer's block can benefit from this practical screenwriting aid.
With Spling as the host of The Three Wells podcast, Matthew gets to the nitty-gritty of what it takes to be a writer, how to find inspiration and how to apply The Three Wells of Screenwriting methodology through the lens of the films, TV shows and novels of screenwriters and authors.
Raffaella Denne Donne is a creator and writer, known for her work on many animated series including: P.King Duckling Adventure Club, The Happos Family and Monster Beach. She co-wrote award-winning animated features Adventures in Zambezia and Khumba for Triggerfish Studios and served as the TV Development Executive for Triggerfish Studios/Disney Storylab.
Pivoting around the metaphor of a well and finding your deep sources of inspiration, the concept deals with the External Sources well, the Imagination well and the Memory well. Kalil discusses how one digs into each of these wells in terms of what's been gleaned from pop culture, what the mind can fathom and how our experiences can be leveraged in the writing process.
An extension of the book, Kalil uses the podcast as a platform to discuss the writing process with renowned screenwriters and authors to unpack how they've come to rely on each of these wells in their writing journeys. Speaking about each of these wells and finding out how these screenwriters operate, you'll be able to get a better understanding of the core principles at play in The Three Wells of Screenwriting and hopefully be inspired by some of the ideas and concepts for your own projects.
Here's a review of Matthew Kalil's book, which will give you a much greater understanding and a veritable treasure trove of honest advice that has helped him and is worth revisiting.
This The Three Wells podcast was recorded at Fine Music Radio's recording studio at the Artscape in Cape Town, South Africa.
The Three Wells podcast is based on the principles expressed in Matthew Kalil's book, The Three Wells of Screenwriting. Working screenwriters, film professors, first-time screenwriters, adaptation writers, TV writers, commissioned writers, script editors, playwrights, novelists, songwriters, journalists, documentary writers... anyone looking to break into their next idea or overcome writer's block can benefit from this practical screenwriting aid.
With Spling as the host of The Three Wells podcast, Matthew gets to the nitty-gritty of what it takes to be a writer, how to find inspiration and how to apply The Three Wells of Screenwriting methodology through the lens of the films, TV shows and novels of screenwriters and authors.
Sean Drummond is a screenwriter and director, who has a wealth of writing experience from feature documentaries Lost Prophets and Outsider, to shorts Sweetheart and Wide Open. His debut feature film, a gritty African western named Five Fingers for Marseilles, caught the world's imagination in the wake of Black Panther. The in-demand screenwriter is currently busy with several projects, including: the period-set Miami fantasy, The Blue Lady, a TV drama Acts of Man and an adaptation of Charlie Human's acclaimed South African sci-fi, Apocalypse Now Now.
Pivoting around the metaphor of a well and finding your deep sources of inspiration, the concept deals with the External Sources well, the Imagination well and the Memory well. Kalil discusses how one digs into each of these wells in terms of what's been gleaned from pop culture, what the mind can fathom and how our experiences can be leveraged in the writing process.
An extension of the book, Kalil uses the podcast as a platform to discuss the writing process with renowned screenwriters and authors to unpack how they've come to rely on each of these wells in their writing journeys. Speaking about each of these wells and finding out how these screenwriters operate, you'll be able to get a better understanding of the core principles at play in The Three Wells of Screenwriting and hopefully be inspired by some of the ideas and concepts for your own projects.
Here's a review of Matthew Kalil's book, which will give you a much greater understanding and a veritable treasure trove of honest advice that has helped him and is worth revisiting.
This The Three Wells podcast was recorded at Fine Music Radio's recording studio at the Artscape in Cape Town, South Africa.
Raffaella Denne Donne is a creator and writer, known for her work on many animated series including: P.King Duckling Adventure Club, The Happos Family and Monster Beach. She co-wrote award-winning animated features Adventures in Zambezia and Khumba for Triggerfish Studios and served as the TV Development Executive for Triggerfish Studios/Disney Storylab.