Recently, Dallas / Ft. Worth Filmmaker, Vu Nguyen sat down to talk with ShortFilmTexas.Com about his terrifyingly twisted short film “Insanity.”

Film Title: Insanity
Film Type: Short Film
Producer(s): Diana Camper, Vu Nguyen & Praveen Divakaran
Writer / Director: Vu Nguyen
Starring: Marrietta Harrison, Craig Foster

Q: What is “Insanity” about?
A: Insanity is a psychological thriller about a young female who thinks she’s in control of her situation until something happens that changes her life forever…

Q: How did the project come together?
A: Nothing too dramatic.   It has been quite a while since my last short film.  6 years actually.  I had put aside my filmmaking to concentrate on my family but I was itching to get behind the camera again.   So after a small meeting with a couple of friends, one of us came up with an idea we all liked that we thought was doable on the cheap.  After that, I simply sat down, wrote the screenplay for the story and pressed forward.

Q: What camera did you shoot on? How did you like it? Dislike it?
A: I shot Insanity on miniDV format with my good old Canon XL-1!  This was almost 4 years ago but it’s still a great camera.  I use it on various projects even now, including a friend’s feature and my very own 2 shorts.   But now that the HD prices have become a bit more affordable I’m switching over.

Q: You have two different cinematic looks to the film…how were you able to achieve them?(Spoiler Alert)
A: The idea was to really differentiate the two different situations in the story, one in real life and one in the movies. I basically just did a bit of color grading in post. One was a little warmer than the other and by the end of the movie you’ll notice that the color shifts to be almost the same, real life and the movie.

Q: Tell me about your cast.
A: I was lucky to have the main character played by Marrietta Harrison. She was a wonderful actress. Although this is her first film, she has been acting in the theater for many years. We chose her after going through several candidates that showed up to the audition and I was glad that we chose her. She did a wonderful job for the character. Along her side is Craig Foster, he’s also a great actor. It was a great experience and an honor to work with both of them on this film. Marrietta is now living in L.A. and pursuing her dream full time. I truly wish her the best!

Q: How long was the entire production, from pre to post?
A: The duration of the project was 4 months.

Q: Only 4 months?
A: Yep. Pre-Production began in April and wrapped up post by August. For a filmmaker, though, that was just the beginning. I spent the next 2 years taking every opportunity to get the film seen. I ran it through the festival circuit and did get accepted in NY Short Film Festival. We didn’t win anything but that was still a big thing to be accepted. We were so excited! We could finally get listed on IMDB.

Q: When did you know you wanted to become a filmmaker?
A: Becoming a filmmaker has been my life dream. I don’t remember the exact moment but I’ve been playing with cameras all my life. I was only really serious about it right after college mainly because back in my country, the opportunity wasn’t there and also financially I could not afford it. After moving to the states, when I was 19, I decided to finish school with a computer science degree instead though. I made this decision in order to build a great foundation here in the states first to support me and my filmmaking dream later.

Q: What’s next for you?
A: I am currently working on another short film scheduled to shoot in October 2008. It’s called “Going Home”. It will be my first HD Short film so I’m very excited. It will also be my first project to have a “real” production team. True collaboration is the only way to make a good film. I finally have my very own DP, music composer, an AD and also an editor! I also have a bigger cast this time… so the bar has been raised and just diving in and doing it is the only way to learn.

Through shared artistic ideas we learn from each other and together we are making what we love the most…movies!

Contact:
Email – vnguyen972@yahoo.com
Website – http://www.bluelightpictures.com/