Today we’d like to introduce you to Standard Definition.
Hello Standard Definition, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Standard Definition began as a single, crazy idea; to shoot a feature film in one week for two thousand dollars. The four of us (BJ, Diana, Val, and Sam) were all born creatives, struggling to make our art while working dead-end jobs and fighting our battles. We began the Covid-19 lockdown as casual friends, loosely connected by our collective love of art and tabletop games. Despite all of us harboring filmmaking dreams since childhood, the thought of collaborating didn’t arise until BJ and Val conceived the insane idea of a feature shot in a week. We created a script, began rehearsals, gathered costumes, squibs, and blank guns, and prepared to go to Arkansas to shoot. Sam and Diana enthusiastically jumped on board, and a disorganized, inexperienced, and the relentlessly optimistic team was born.
At the last minute, one of our actresses fell through, and our entire script went with her. Rather than throw in the towel, we decided to channel our cumulate creative excitement into a different project. We scrabbled together five short story scripts in three weeks, replanned our trip, and went to Arkansas for our week of shooting. There, we shot one short film a day for five days straight, a grueling and ecstatic experience we’ve come to call the Five-in-Five. We emerged from our week of shooting as a tight-knit group of friends and decided we wanted nothing more than to keep creating together.
Since then, we’ve shot another Five-in-Five, five additional short films, and finally, our long-awaited feature (still shot for less than two-thousand dollars). We’ve found an amazing community in Austin through our work, which has received a warmer welcome than we had ever hoped for, and we have become like family to each other.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The film is an inherently challenging medium, with tight deadlines, many moving parts, and multiple creative voices to balance. These challenges are exacerbated when your film group is four people trying to cobble together the time, resources, and money to pull off exciting, ambitious projects.
There have been a lot of difficult moments, on and off set; cold, miserable shooting conditions, fiery creative disagreements, and a lot of money stress. We’ve shot in the freezing Arkansas rain, the biting cold of early Missouri spring, and the heat of the Chihuahua desert (in the dark, on a cliff. With cacti.) Financing our feature–and the endless slew of festival fees and promotion costs–has been tough on all of us, and it’s certainly not in the budget yet to hire an accountant. We’ve also had to work to balance our limited resources among four talented and energetic creators, all with different ideas for projects; we made fifteen projects in a year, and we still have a backlog of scripts and concepts to explore.
The road has certainly been challenging at times. But at the end of the day, the four of us have always come together to get through it. We’ve all felt exhausted and at the end of our ropes sometimes. And the group’s strength kept pushing forward at some point; all of us had hit a breaking point on set and relied on the rest of the group to pull us through.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Standard Definition is known for making fun, explosive, creative genre films on shoestring budgets. Each of us brings our specialties to the table; exciting and engaging fight choreography, over-the-top practical effects, creative and unique product design, and a wicked eye for detail. We’ve traversed the landscapes of horror, action, comedy, fantasy, romance, and many places in between, all while maintaining the distinct thread of our unique perspectives. Together, we create truly original films that always deliver the unexpected. However, our rate of production may set us apart the most. We never have a shortage of ideas, and we shoot like maniacs until we’ve put those ideas onto film. We shot thirteen shorts and a feature within a year; each was fun and unique. We’re constantly pushing our boundaries, learning from our mistakes, and improving the next project. We all feel we have a lot to be proud of, with each of us taking something different from our work. BJ’s proudest achievement is the authentic, uncompromising voice we’ve developed in our films. Val is most proud of the representation that is integral to all of our projects; our films are filled with queer people and minorities that get to participate in fun genre stories, which is the kind of media they wish they’d had as a kid. Sam is most proud of how we’ve integrated as a creative unit, recognizing and celebrating our voices while coming together to make great things as a group. Diana is most proud of how much fun we have together because the love and passion that’s put into every project always show. We make what we love, never anything we don’t.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
Val fondly remembers her origin as an action hero, learning martial arts from a skilled hermit in Arkansas.
BJ’s favorite childhood memory is getting into wild and dangerous adventures with his sibling Val.
Sam remembers the mischievous joy of having the house to himself, watching cartoons, and fermenting his young imagination.
Diana’s favorite childhood memory is galivanting through the woods, using sticks as swords, and pretending to be in a fantasy novel.
Contact Info:
- Website: standarddefinitionfilms.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/standarddefinitionfilms
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4hWGWisPNTh8DF01MZCNwA
- Other: https://ko-fi.com/sdfilms
Image Credits
Image Credit: Standard Definition Films
