No Such Thing As Bad Timing – Texas Director Keller Davis Talks About Aggie SWAMP and His Short Film “Bad Timing.”

Film Title: Bad Timing
Director: Keller Davis
Writer: Michael Ruiz
Director of Photography: David Lackey
Cast: Andrew Fairleigh, Lindsay Lewis

ShortFilmTexas (Q): What is Bad Timing about?
Keller Davis (A): “Bad Timing” tells a simple story about a man who is running to bring his girlfriend a water bottle, but with a time-altering hourglass, changes his encounters with strangers who seem to exist only to slow him down.

Q: Okay that’s a pretty literal description. What’s going on under the surface?
A: I would say the film itself is interpretive, but I usually identify it with themes of fate, time, helping others, and “what goes around, comes around”.

Q: What camera did you shoot on? What Post Production tools did you use?
A: The film was shot on a Canon HV20 with wide-angle lenses and a 35mm adapter for selected shots. It was edited in Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects. I’m very pleased with the way it turned out, and I accredit a lot of the technical qualities with the cinematographer, David Lackey. I think the camera and software allowed us to accomplish everything I envisioned for “Bad Timing”, so I didn’t have any dislikes with the equipment.

Q: Is it true you made the film for $15.00 Dollars? How did you pull that off?
A: Yeah, the entire shoot for the film was organized for a mere $15, which accounted for only a few costume accessories for Andrew Fairleigh (the guy) and some food provided for the cast and crew.

Q: Pretty impressive. Did you shoot it all in one day?
A: Actually, it was filmed over the course of three days with a combined total of 14 hours. The entire schedule for shooting was put together the day before filming began, and all locations were selected spur-of-the-moment without prior location scouting.

Q: True guerrilla filmmaking! And you had no problem moving around with cast and crew?
A: Not really. We were lucky. The carnival (from the mime scenes), by Century 21 Shows, just happened to be in College Station at the time and it worked perfectly. The house (from the scenes with the handicapped woman) was the home of Lindsay Lewis and Katie Ricks (the girlfriend and the handicapped woman respectively), who are roommates. All the other locations were around town and I just happened to have them in mind. All my actors and crew are friends it was mainly their cooperation with the project that got it accomplished so quickly and efficiently. I got the rights to use the music in the film from Jose Arredondo, a part of the band, “hopeforthestars”.

Q: Sounds like you had some pretty dedicated artists working with you. All Aggie filmmakers?
A: Everyone who worked on “Bad Timing” is a member of Aggie SWAMP and I’m so grateful for the culmination of resources that came together to make the movie what it is. Aggie SWAMP (Screen Writing, Acting, & Movie Production) Club is the official filmmaking organization of Texas A&M University.

Q: Aggie SWAMP? How long has it been around?
A: It was started in 2000, revived in 2005, and there are currently over one hundred official members. Its primary goal is to assist students who are interested in making films by providing film equipment, manpower, resources, and instruction in filmmaking techniques to all members. Additionally there are screenwriting, editing, cinematography, and acting workshops held by SWAMP. Every Spring the annual “SWAMPfest Film Festival” is put on by SWAMP to showcase the best films submitted by students of Texas A&M and residents of the Bryan/College Station area. The websites associated to the club and the film festival are http://swamp.tamu.edu

Q: What did you learn while making “Bad Timing?”
A: While making “Bad Timing”, I learned a lot about being efficient with time on a shoot, lighting outdoors, and directing the performance of actors who are interactive with one another in a scene. It taught me to pay greater attention to every last detail of filming because of how complicated it got with the time-travel aspect to this film. You can do as much planning and pre-production on a film like this as you want, but when you actually get to filming it, you should allow for a great deal of flexibility and work with the elements you’re given. Sometimes the best creative decisions stem out of something that goes wrong on the set or an experimentation.

Q: Let’s shift gears. When did you first become interested in film?
A: Ever since I was very young, I’ve had an interest in making movies, and my first attempts date back to as young as Kindergarten. It’s always been so much fun for me, but it wasn’t until my senior year of high school that I began to realize that I might want to pursue filmmaking in college and as a career.

Q: Most people ask what your favorite film is…but how about instead you tell me about a film that has had the most impact on your life, be it personal or professional?
A: I usually can never think of what my favorite film is, but I would say “There Will Be Blood” (2007, P.T. Anderson) has had the most impact on my life because I left the theater after having seen it with a thrilling sensation of awe and an affirmation that I wanted to pursue filmmaking for the rest of my life. I just feel the directing of the film masterfully crafted the superb cinematography, acting, and score into an epic work of art.

Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m currently finishing up a humerous spoof on spy films, but I’m also writing a script for a short film to begin shooting this summer. A friend, and the writer of “Bad Timing”, Michael Ruiz, has written over a dozen short stories that often involve humor, ambiguity, and romance.

ShortFilmTexas (Q): Thanks so much for your time Keller and sharing both the film and your insights into the making of “Bad Timing” with the ShortFilmTexas community.
Keller Davis (A): Thanks Chris!

WATCH THE SHORT FILM “BAD TIMING” BELOW:

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