Christopher Good has directed many music videos, which you can find on his website: http://www.christophergood.net. Regardless of your taste in music, you will enjoy the videos, where he demonstrates the ability to craft strong iconic characters, an eye for color, humor, pacing, camera movement. These skills have contributed to his narrative films and vice versa. He has made videos for a Kevin Morby, Jens Lekman, Okkervil River, Joyce Manor, and many others.
Christopher Good, not in his office. Photo by Sinjun Strom.
On the narrative side, his short film, “Brad Cuts Loose,” premiered at the 2017 Slamdance Film Festival, and online as a part of Vimeo’s Staff Pick Premiere series. The film exhibits Christopher’s unique humor and sensibilities through the script and through the very needy and bizarre, yet sympathetic, characters, who were well executed by Kentucker Audley and Tipper Newton. Tipper Newton returned in Christopher’s most recent short, “Crude Oil,” which premiered at Sundance and is a part of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival Tour, where she plays against Andreina Bryne, also a producer on the film (and many of Christopher’s other projects.)
With “Crude Oil” seemingly screening weekly at festivals, and Christopher juggling a full plate of music videos, he also recently finished a draft of his feature length script, which we look forward to with great anticipation.
Follow Christopher on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/goodboychristopher/
Brad Cuts Loose, directed by Christopher Good, starring Kentucky Audley and Tipper Newton.
Miceal:
What were some of the movies, books, artworks, etc., that stuck with you from childhood, before becoming a filmmaker? What about them do you think caused them to stick, and is any of that still in your current work?
Christopher:
I think the director I was really into once I first realized that directors exist was Tim Burton. And I still love all of those films through Ed Wood. But that was before I wanted to be a director- initially I wanted to write and draw comic books. So it probably makes sense that Tim Burton would appeal to me. There was a book I liked called The 11th Hour by Graeme Base- it’s pretty detailed, which I always liked probably about any work of art. One thing I remember as a kid too was the opening sequence of Mystery! on PBS. It was Edward Gorey drawings, animated. I really loved that, but then the actual show was a 180-degree turn from that, something that didn’t appeal to me whatsoever at the time. Also that book “Busy, Busy World” by Richard Scarry, I liked that one a lot, and particularly remember the parts where it’s like maybe a house split open and you can see inside all the rooms. Anything like that, I always loved- Wes Anderson does that in Life Aquatic with the ship, maybe he got it from Richard Scarry, I don’t know.
M:
I have only seen a few of your music videos, but there are similarities between them (at least the ones I’ve seen,) and your short films “Holy Moly,” “Brad Cuts Loose,” and “Crude Oil.” Namely, pushing the characters to extreme types, not letting reality get in the way of successful world building, and how you cut - or juxtapose shots - to convey information. Not in the typical linear fashion, but rather forcing the audience to pull meaning through the contrast.
These particular attributes might just jump out at me, as I still pick up comics every Wednesday, and also work towards writing and drawing comics, but even just looking at the cutting (or shot listing,) it seems more similar to how panels are laid out in a comic than a traditional movie.
With that, when you are conceiving characters, worlds, and stories (scripts,) do you start with pictures or words? And what is your entry point into a story? Do you start with characters, or world building, theme? How heavily shot-listed/storyboarded are your movies (including music videos?) And what, if any, does your comic book past have to do with how you visually construct a story?
C:
I'm currently writing a feature script so a lot of this is on my mind lately. Generally I seem to just start with some idea for a character or situation, and then gradually I collect little ideas for moments that might connect to those elements. And then it's just like, there's a certain point where if it feels like I've collected enough ideas, I might finally think "oh maybe this could go the distance". Obviously it's a different amount of ideas for shorts or features. For narrative filmmaking I probably start more with words- lots of bits of dialogue. And with music videos it usually starts more with pictures, as you might imagine. But in general I probably just try to focus on preventing things from getting boring, as opposed to worrying about adhering to specific structures.
Probably the things I make are typically heavily storyboarded but the storyboards don't always actually get drawn. Like sometimes they just stay in my head. It just depends on if I'm working with a cinematographer or not, or whether or not I have time to draw them out. I really dislike doing them, it's kind of a chore, so if I can come up with an excuse not to, I grab it! But they obviously can be useful on set. And if I feel like a particular day of shooting might be stressful or that we'll be pressed for time, then I'll go ahead and draw them.
It's interesting you feel like the construction of the visual storytelling reminds you of comic books. I've always kind of assumed that that background informs my style a little bit but it's hard for me to see or parse it out in those terms!
Me:
Storyboards. I understand. I like the idea of them more than the execution. So for you, though, storyboards are not so much about working out ideas, as much as conveying information to the crew? So I expect, then, that you are the primary editor on your pieces?
Yeah, so with the comic book editing comment, I was thinking of how in comics, often under the dialogue they will cut to panels from a different time and place to add layers or context, similar to how you insert quick shots in a scene, or how sometimes in comics they will juxtapose a few panels, changing only a few elements, where the change or evolution creates the context or emotional state, similar to the opening of Brad Cuts Loose or Shy Boys, “Life is Peachy,” which I loved, by the way.
Final one, just while I am indulging in comic talk, but also, you know how in comics there is always a cliffhanger on the bottom panel of the right side page? The page will always end in mid-action or mid-thought? A way to drive the reader through the book. It creates a rhythm or a pulse when you are doing that every second page, under the larger arc. I got that feeling watching Crude Oil, where there is a question that is set up, and then answered with a montage. For example, on moving day when Lynn says, “What am I gonna do without you, huh, what am I gonna do?” you cut to a fantastical montage to answer the question, letting us know what Jenny might do (and raise a new question for Jenny - “do I have to decide now?”) And then a pattern develops from there.
I am excited to hear that you are working on a script for a feature. Is it a script you are planning on shooting?
Using Crude Oil as a jumping off point, I wanted ask a few more questions about your writing process.
Tipper Newton as Lynn and Andreina Byrne as Jenny in Christopher Good’s “Crude oil.”
In Crude Oil, the two lead characters have somewhat of a co-dependent relationship, summed up by the dialogue, Lynn “I love you.” Jenny, “You love to control me.” I know above you said you start with a character moment, or scene. The reason I am asking more, is because the movies are very tight thematically. So, would you first come up with, for example, a scene like the toothpaste orange juice scene in Crude Oil, and through the scene, suss out meaning to build the rest around? Or do you sort of have a theme that leads to the finding of the scenes? Basically, what is the bridge between finding those first few moments and scenes, and turning it into a full piece that is very tight and intentional?
I had the same question with Brad Cuts Loose. I love the line, “If you start letting other people map out the details for you, it’s not even your fantasy anymore,” which is pretty core to the short. That just leads to the same question. Did you find that line through developing the rest of the story, or did that idea set the rest in motion?
Is your process the same writing a feature?
Kentucky Audley and Tipper Newton in “Brad Cuts Loose.”
C:
I shouldn't overstate it; it's usually the case that the storyboards are primarily for getting things across to other people on set, but new ideas can arise from doing them, too. But yeah, I edit everything I make and so usually things are written in order to shoot a certain way and then to edit in a certain way. Unless it's like a handheld thing, sometimes then it's more free form.
All those things you mention about comic books make sense, they certainly could have influenced me in those ways but I think I stopped writing and drawing comics at an age where I hadn't even begun to consciously break down the mechanics of them like that. Like it didn't even occur to me until you just mentioned it that comics have cliffhangers at the bottom right! I think I just absorbed it all as an experience and then when I tried to make my own it was pretty instinctual. But who knows how much of that has remained or affects what I do now.
The feature script, yeah, it'll be something I direct. It's still in the pretty early stages though.
I think with Crude Oil, because it sort of originated with having seen relationships like that in real life- controlling friendships, or however you want to characterize it- the central relationship kind of naturally suggests certain themes. So to me, if you've got a strong or interesting dynamic like that, it kind of just exerts its gravitational pull and sometimes it can even pull in and bend ideas that didn't necessarily have anything to do with it before. Like in Crude Oil, there're definitely ideas I had lying around that I wasn't sure what to do with, but then when I started writing something about this sort of friendship, those scraps get animated by the context and suddenly have a purpose in life, or something. You know? Probably something like the toothpaste/ orange juice scene, you just need a scene establishing that they've been friends for that long, but the drinking-orange juice-after-brushing-your-teeth aspect is in there because I drank a lot of o.j. as a kid and occasionally forgot not to drink it after brushing my teeth. So it seemed like a funny way to torment someone.
Yeah, the line about details in Brad Cuts Loose...like maybe that line even veers perilously close to being too meta for that film, in the sense that it feels like a director talking about filmmaking. But I'm also a director hearing that line, so it's loaded for me but probably for people in general it's fine? I don't know. But I like the line too! To answer your question, though, it definitely just arose in the process of writing that scene, it wasn't like a controlling idea or anything.
M:
The line in Brad Cuts Loose is fine for the rest of us. You buried it in plenty of context leading up to it, where Brad needed to hear it at that moment. But it is funny to go back and think of Brad as a director navigating the politics of getting a movie made.
Is the feature script far enough along where you can share anything about it? Thematically? Characters?
In your films, you have cast the same actors a few times over, so I am just going string a bunch of casting questions together. Do you write for actors, or did it just work out in their favor? What is your casting process like? Do you contact specific actors with scripts, or do you hold open casting calls? If you do hold auditions, what are they like? And how solid are the characters when you bring the actors on board? For example, your films seem visually specific. How much do you allow actors to bring to the table in terms wardrobe, etc., and how much of that is determined early on?
For the feature, are you casting as you’re are writing? At least in your mind?
C:
The feature script probably isn't at a point to talk about quite yet, it's still really early going.
Tipper Newton foaming at the mouth as Lynn in Christopher Good’s “Crude Oil.”
I do write for certain actors quite a bit. The casting process so far generally involves writing for my friends. I always kind of feel like I'd be bad at auditioning people, I'm not completely confident in my ability to see if someone would be right for a part within that context. But maybe some day?
Tipper's wardrobe in Brad Cuts Loose, that was taken from her personal clothes. I guess beyond that maybe I just have a general idea of what the characters might wear and cobble together reference material and then hand it off to whoever's styling it- in the case of Brad Cuts Loose and Crude Oil, that was Sarica Douglas, and I was really happy with what she came up with.
I am casting in my mind for the feature, at least for some of the roles. Like the main ones, primarily.
M:
There are actors who you return to as the in front of the camera talent, and you mentioned Sarica Douglas above as one of the behind the scene collaborators. Do you have other collaborators who you work with regularly, whether it is on narrative or music videos? And do you bounce ideas off of anyone early in development, or do you show up with a lot the ideas already roughed out - and have the collaborations start there?
C:
Andreina Byrne, actress and producer.
For the past three years Andreina Byrne has produced everything I've made. And on some of the music videos we've collaborated on the writing. On the narrative films I'm pretty solitary while writing the script and figuring out the shots. But yeah, there is a small, core group of collaborators- Sinjun Strom is a really talented photographer who often works with us, mostly doing production design. Jeremy Osbern was the cinematographer on Brad Cuts Loose and Crude Oil, and for a number of the music videos as well. And Danny Bowersox and Stephen Deaver have been our go-to sound designer and colorist, respectively!
M:
That being said, congrats! I saw that you, Jeremy Osbern, and “Crude Oil” were recently featured in American Cinematographer. American Cinematographer has been a staple for filmmakers for decades. I remember back at film school how all the would-be cinematographers would carry around the current issue.
Cinematographer Jeremy Osbern getting wet.
Switching topics here, I wanted to ask you about festivals and “Vimeo Staff Picks.” What was the first festival you got into and with which movie? I know Crude Oil screened at Sundance, but what was the first bigger festival that you had a film screen at, and which film? Are the presented opportunities comparable between screening at a big festival and being a Vimeo Staff Pick?
C:
My first short film, "Return of the Gumshoe Kids" played at some smaller festivals and for whatever reason none of them were in the US. I think the first bigger festival was Atlanta, that was with my second short, "Holy Moly", and I met one of my closest friends through screening at that festival. So that was good! I'm not really sure how to compare screening at bigger festivals and being a Vimeo Staff Pick but they're both great in terms of exposure, etc.
M:
The reason I had asked about the Vimeo Staff Pick versus festivals is because I had read an article from a filmmaker who also had both experiences. They were a little different than you in the sense that they seemed to focus on branded content outside of short films, where you seem to more enjoy music videos. But I remember the sentiment of the article suggesting that festivals had gotten them exposure and collaborators, whereas the Vimeo Staff Pick (Short of the Week, NoBudge, Kickstarter, etc.) had gotten them work, and exposure to a different side of the industry. That was the difference that I was curious about. Is that an experience you can relate to? Or for you were they both two different things that were building on each other?
C:
I think for me they probably have built on each other. I don't know that I've really experienced as marked a difference between the two in terms of...results, for lack of a better term? Consequences? Haha. Whatever we're talking about here. Maybe, like you say, it's something to do with my focus on music videos. But the music videos, that's mostly in its own world, I think. And they've just kind of built on each other. Mostly it seems like people just email me after seeing other videos I've made.
M:
And the final question would simply be, what is your advice for filmmakers starting out? What was the first thing that you did different that had a positive impact (either in the quality of your work, or in accessibility to the market?)
C:
I guess in terms of advice, probably all I can share is what I did, which was to just go out and make things, and keep doing it as long as you want to. And just be yourself, and be patient!