"Four Eyed Monsters" with Directors Crumley & Buice

On Thursday, September 21st, a cohort of the Roadtrippers went to see the new indie film, "Four Eyed Monsters," by Arin Crumley and Susan Buice. Like most indies, Arin and Susan face the difficult task of distributing their film. However, unlike most, Arin and Susan have used the internet and podcasting to build  their audience and gain notoriety.

"Four Eyed Monsters" is a mostly autobiographical film about Arin and Susan’s meeting and subsequent relationship. After finding each other online, they come to know one another through writing and artistic endeavors—never through speech. The film traces their relationship as it develops.

The "Four Eyed Monsters" video podcast (video delivered via the internet, generally distributed through an RSS feed) began as a behind-the-scenes look at their efforts to make and distribute the film. Yet this simplistic description really doesn't capture the film. Their podcast, which I had been watching since last December, was a movie unto itself, filled with happiness and heartache, failure and success. I was eager to see the film that followed the podcast.

"Four Eyed Monsters" was funny and beautiful, but we were all blown away by the inter-textuality between the film and its earlier video podcast. After the movie, during the Q&A session with the directors, I asked Susan and Arin how the two projects were related. Was Four Eyed Monsters just the film and the podcast just a separate “Behind-the-scenes” story? Or is it all Four Eyed Monsters? They explained that though the movie works by itself, it is more encompassing than that. It is the movie and the evolving podcast together that create the very dynamic Four Eyed Monsters.

What makes this indie flick different is that it uses two contrasting mediums: film and the internet. Sure, the movie succeeds as a stand-alone piece for those who had not followed the podcast. But for those of us who did, the whole experience seemed revolutionary. Terin Mayer, fellow Roadtripper, explained that it was as if the film was constantly referencing and alluding to the podcast, and vice versa. This made the film extremely engaging and thought provoking. The entire subway ride home was was filled with discussion.

Four Eyed Monsters is a living, evolving project, and it is paving the way for rising generation of digital filmmakers who move easily between the net and the big screen.

Checkout foureyedmonters.com for more information on screenings in your area. If it is not playing locally, be sure to request it. And of course, don’t forget to catch their podcast.

-Karina Hill

Comments

[Terin Mayer]

I'd add to what Karina mentioned that not only does the Four Eyed Monsters project change the way that the film gets edited and the you conceive of the whole project, but it almost stops being about the film at all. I'll explain.

In the podcasts, there's a whole drama about a few of their actors wanting directorial credits they really didn't deserve. While they try doing a fair job of showing the different sides of the controversy, there are a few characters who you end up not liking. These actors are definately drama queens.

So at the end of the screening, the directors are there. And they're doing Q&A and then, all of the sudden, they ask anyone who worked on the film to come up. And there's this one dramaqueen actor (boo, hiss). And he starts giving them notes on the re-edit and totally upstaging them. And its almost hard to believe, because he's so exactly how he comes off in the podcasts.

But then, its not a movie any more. Its theater now. But its also their lives. And then you're confused because you thought people like that would have to be performing some how. And they are. But as much as they are always. Which is... how much? Who knows!
People asked about how Arin and Susan's relationship was, what's more.

Its this whole world of drama that is both real and not real because its been fed to you in the form of a refined miniseries. And, because its been spread through social networks, it feels a little like gossip. Which is why, I think, its so good. Because its distribution makes it different, it makes the whole thing a little incestuous, and for a "movie" about art and relationships, it works.