Dallas, Texas Filmmaker Joe Harris Brings His Dreamworld To Life In The Surrealistic Short Film “Love…The Black Lounge.”

Film Title: Love…the Black Lounge
Director of Photography: Ahren Shaw
Director: Joe Harris

ShortFilmTexas (Q): Your film “Black Lounge”….what the hell am I watching?? (I mean that in a good way.)
Joe Harris (A): HA! I have succeeded! Interview over!…..No, uhm that is the usual reaction! Be it silent or verbal, that’s the typical reaction I find! In a nutshell, it is a love story about a girl, in an opium den, pining and longing after her distant lover, and recalling how they danced, and listened to music, and looked at paintings, and loved each other.  She is writing her thoughts to her lover which is why I call it “Love,…the Black lounge.” On the technical side, it is a video-film which to me, is a different take on what John Landis did for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. That blew me away! NOW, keep in mind about a week before Christmas, in 2004, I  finished watching the brand new TWIN PEAKS Deluxe gold edition, so I had seen everything ever put on DVD about Twin Peaks, start to finish, then watched “Fire Walk with Me”.

Then I went to bed, and had a dream, where my girlfriend Victoria Wardrick was in an black room, and was in this incredible dress, and so beautiful, and she was longing after me, because I had been sent to war…and so she was thinking of what pining lovers do, etc, etc,etc.   I woke up the next morning and was like “HELLO!!! something fun to do one day!”

Q: And you just woke up and decided to shoot it the next day?
A: It’s interesting how it all worked out. I actually went to work on a music video I was about to shoot for Chase Pagan and then we had a scheduling AND location issue, so the music video was pushed back.  I already had some gear set up, and a couple crew guys helping out so i decided hey… why not shoot my dream?

SO, I ran to the creative studio I was working on at the time Reel FX Creative Studios here in Dallas and I thought about the dream on my 30 minute drive in. I got to the studio, I walked up stairs, to a large open area, that me and a few creatives do random fun things in and started pulling those large gray cubical walls into a very large closed off space. Then I took ALL of the black table cloths, that the kitchen use at lunch, and a TON of black sticky Velcro, and i plastered the cubical walls with black. I left the back wall open, and stretched a white blackout cloth (which I researched and purchased and still use from my first music video) across it.

Q: What about all the imagery running in the background?
A: I took some royalty free stock footage, treated it and edited it in like 20 minutes and projected it. Then I started roaming the studio halls and editing suites and borrowing things i saw that turned me on. I physically pulled, pushed, and carried stuff up! I dressed the set with everything I found.

Q: And you did all of this by yourself in a mad rush of creative inspiration??
A: Pretty much. And then 3 friends showed up, Kelli Howard, Megan Wright, and Matt Pittman and last but certainly not least Ahren Shaw (pronounced Aaron, what a weirdo).  I told the girls what i wanted and we started.

Q: What camera did you shoot on?
A: We shot in HD (1080i to be more specific) on a SONY Z1-U. My DP, a graduate of UTA Film school, was Ahren Shaw, a friend I’ve worked with before, is actually an Editor at Reel FX. I didnt know any DP’s at the time but he had experience so I just sorta asked him to give it a shot. I think his work turned out really rad.  Ahren is my buddy!!!

Q: And how did the post process go?
A: I cut the film on Final Cut Pro in about 3 days.  Bryan Bayley a friend of mine who also works at Reel FX, was kind enough to come to my rescue on his SMOKE Box, when Jared Brower my usual on line editor was booked! We threw a few different filters, and film lines, and shifts etc. on it, to give it that “almost too much to take” OLD FILM mask. Bryan was really brilliant, at anticipating my ideas, and getting to the finished result really fast! Thanks Bryan!

Q: How about your voice over artist and on screen actor…where they one and the same?
A: The voice over in Spanish is the beautiful Miss Rosa Parra, also another RFX employee. She just has an incredible voice, so when she speaks Spanish. WOW! Incredible.

Q: How did you come up with the concept of the Spanish voice over?
A: I was at The Modern museum in Ft Wort and there is a large iron vortex sculpture, that is out front, and it echos, and manipulates sound in such an amazing way. I was walking toward it, and heard kids laughing, and as i got close, I heard a Hispanic grandmother whispering to her grand daughter, and it just sent chills up my spine, in a FANTASTIC way. I had the idea to have Rosy do some background VO in the same way.

Q: And the English voice over? Was this actually the girl dancer in the mask?
A: Yes. The English VO is the girl in the mask was Kelli Howard. Kelli is an insanely talented writer, and teacher, and all around creative bad ass! She again like EVERYTHING ELSE IN THIS PROJECT came to my rescue and said she would do it all! I talked with her VERY BRIEFLY and tried to get her into this character I had created.

Q: So this is an original poem that Kelli wrote?
A: YES! Kelli Howard is my go to writer, because she is quick and brilliant at brainstorming. I always have some form of road to follow or feel better about the shape the road is in when i finish talking through things with her creatively!

Q: Tell me about those masks. Were those designed specifically for the film?
A: THE MASKS!! The masks, where done by my make up artist/muse/creative partner in crime/girlfriend Victoria Wardrick. She is an INCREDIBLY TALENTED MAKE UP ARTIST!! She really takes the art and emphasizes it in her make up! She used to doodle, on my arms, and legs, with a sharpie, and it would be this really intricate, and ornate design, and she would just “be doodling” and always blew me away. I gave her some ideas for cohesion purposes and she went to town! Obviously you saw the glory of the masks. They along with the music and sound design are the best parts of the piece! At least to me they are! They tie it all together!

Q: What films or filmmakers inspire your work?
A: Fellini! (8 1/2, Toby Dammit) Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey) Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood) Darren Aronofsky (The Fountain) the list really goes on forever! I like it when films are confident enough to be outrageous and surreal and inventive. Ideas that are spread to the masses yet can maintain an artistic sensibility get me excited also. I could never really write a list of every director I’ve stole from or worshiped, because the list is vast!

Q:What are you working on now?
A: I’m working on ANOTHER video-film, for a band called Tumbledown for there single “Butcher of San Antone.” It’s really exciting stuff about a vigilante priest that goes on a killing rampage when a band of outlaws kills the town’s eldest priest. We have it set in a Spanish church community in San Antonio and will be shot in Spanish with subtitles. We’re hoping to have it done by the end of JUNE.

I am also working on finishing a script, for a short called “Dark Gallows” with yet again.. Kelli Howard! It is about a man, convicted of murdering the town bigot, and sentenced to hang. On the morning of the hanging, the sun does not rise!

ShortFilmTexas: Can’t wait to check out both projects. Thanks for taking the time to talk with SFT.
Joe Harris: I will be sure to keep you posted and thank you for the opportunity to talk about my work!

WATCH THE SHORT FILM “LOVE…THE BLACK LOUNGE” BELOW:

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