Frequently asked questions, but put more eloquently...

Q: Who are you exactly?

My name is Matt Andrews, I was born in Madison, Wisconsin on the 30th of September in 1981...

Q: Yes, yes, I know all that. What is it that you do, I mean?

So, why didn't you just ask what I do?

Q: What?

Nevermind, what I do is a little bit of everything. I don't like the word 'artist' it sounds
too pretentious. I don't like terms like 'video artist' or 'media artist' or 'videographer' and
'graphic designer' sounds like beating around the bush. I guess to apply a general term to what
I do, I guess I would say I'm a filmmaker. I mean, I write, direct, produce, design, illustrate,
storyboard, film, phtograph, edit, and even compose. I'm capable of doing most of those things
on their own, but more often than not I do them all at once.

Q: So you're a filmmaker?

Yes.

Q: How many Oscars have you won?

....well, none. 

Q: Nominations?

None as well.

Q: But you said you're a filmmaker....

I'm not that kind of filmmaker.

Q: So what kind of filmmaker are you?

....The kind who doesn't win Oscars. 

Q: So you're not a real filmmaker then?

Can you elaborate on 'real'?

Q: What does 'elaborate' mean?

It means, do you have any questions not based on a false premise that occupations are
defined by awards? Or that 'Who' means 'What' for that matter?

Q: How do you work?

I generally work in ink, either with a Uni-Ball Vision Exact Micro (0.5mm) or with India and
applied with anything from a sponge to a drinking straw. I sometimes work in pencil, but only
mostly on preliminary sketches. Sometimes I make the basic lines in ink (pen) and then apply
shading with pencil. I generally like mechanical pencils (0.5mm again), but I am rather fond
of charcoal.

I don't really work in color, but sometimes an illustration will be scanned and then colored in
Photoshop or Arcstudio. I have sometimes worked with colored pencils and pastels, but often with
disastrous results. If I do use them, it is sparingly.

As far as any sort of style or aesthetic sensibility, it's all about contrast. I love contrast,
I love paradoxes, I love polarities and extremes and the middle grounds their interactions breed,
and I love the way some things can only be defined by the presence of their counterparts. 

Q: How do you work, as far as your films are concerned?

That's an obscenely difficult question to answer, so bear with me a bit. I've upgraded a few
times, but fundamentally I like the Sony Handycam series; 8mm is an underappreciated marvel
of video technology. For sound, I use MiniDiscs; they're a hundred times cheaper than DAT,
and for my money, I can't hear the difference (and frankly, neither can anyone who sees my
films, and most of them are loyal DAT fans). Maybe it's because I shoot in black and white,
and people don't expect cracking good soundtracks with monochrome imagery?

As far as techniques/trademarks, I use a lot of either fixed-yet dramatic-angle shots or POV
(first-person) shots. A static camera (often called "locked-off") is less distracting than
a non-static one, and POV shots are as discomforting to the audience (namely by playing off
our generally voyeuristic nature) as they are fun to do. Sometimes, making the audience
uncomfortable is more rewarding than entertaining them, but that doesn't mean you should
make the film unwatchable. Just don't talk down to your audience and you'll be fine. Let me
put it this way, someone once said to me, after seeing one of my animated pieces, "Matt, I
didn't understand a second of that, but I liked it." 

I prefer live action, but I've sometimes done animation, albeit making computer animation is
tantamount to watching paint dry. In any case, working with human beings is far more rewarding
than lumps of polygons with pixelated photographs pasted over them. Puppets at least carry with
them a sense of ingenuity. Think about it, Yoda is little more than a glorified muppet, yet has 
more screen presence than all of his human co-stars combined. If that's not a lesson in ingenuity, 
no one deserves to be called creative. And don't even get me started on Fraggle Rock or Alien 3! 

Q: My God, you're a cranky, pedantic idiot. Good luck with your filmmaking....

I actually got an e-mail like this, I replied and never got a response to the reply...
"Cranky? Yes, I'm an insomniac! Pedantic? Hardly! I just fail to see why people think
new always equals better, particularly in any field other than medical. Idiot? Well,
I did have to look up pedantic...."

Q: What do you dream about at night?

That is an equally obscenely difficult question to answer, but I will say this: I dream
in bad special effects. Seriously, monsters have zippers down their backs, beached dolphins
(yes, beached dolphins) have animatronic cables coming out of their stomachs, rocks look and
feel like spray-painted polystyrene, and cars are often pushed by people dressed totally in
black. 

As for general presentation, I dream in color, and often in first person (with perspective
changing erratically from person to person sometimes). I also have no real sense of identity
in my dreams, and only seem able to recall my own name when my family features in the dream.
Colors are never very strong or bright, dialogue is sparse and often non-sensical, and some
of the people I interact with are actually animated. Locations are typically places I've been,
but with the furniture moved around, I can read, and if I wake up from a dream, it will often
'resume' if I fall back asleep inside of a few minutes.

I have been stabbed, eaten, shot, thrown, clubbed, chased, bitten, kicked, punched, pecked,
hunted, stung, burned, sliced, poked, jabbed, and slapped. The earliest dream I can remember
is being attacked in a museum by a small bird (hence pecked). 

Q: What's wrong with you?

I was genuinely asked this once in high school by someone after seeing one of my video projects
that aired on our televised announcements. I looked him straight in the eye, smiled, and said:

"A great many things." 



(c)2006 MJA