Interview: Christopher Kelley’s ‘Full Frame’ on Aug. 4, 2015 at Midwest Independent Film Festival

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CHICAGO – A new and exciting voice in the cinematic universe is cause for celebration, and the 2015 Midwest Independent Film Festival will showcase that voice this Tuesday, August 4th, at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema. Director Christopher Kelley will present the World Premiere of his indie noir thriller “Full Frame.”

“Full Frame” has a Hitchcockian feel, all shot and produced in small town Quincy, Illinois, on a micro budget. A nebbish photographer stumbles upon the desperate circumstances of a local big shot, and gets involved in a game of life and death. Filled with modern takes on the dark places of the soul, “Full Frame” is both a fresh perspective on a familiar genre, and a throwback to the best that noir has to offer.

Full Frame
Scene from ‘Full Frame’
Photo credit: Table Sixteen Productions

Christopher Kelley took an unconventional route to his advocation as a director. When he was in college, he worked for a Quincy television station. His sister asked him to make a commercial for a class, and that spurred his interest in filmmaking. “Full Frame” is part of Table Sixteen Productions, based in Quincy, and director Kelley will be bringing cast and crew to the Midwest Independent Film Festival on August 4th, and will participate in a Q&A after the screening. He spoke to HollywoodChicago.com as a preview to the festival event.

HollywoodChicago.com: What was the origin of ‘Full Frame,’ and what type of inspiration was the genesis for what the film became?

Christopher Kelley: We had made a film before ‘Full Frame’ called ‘Villainy for the Lonely,’ and it was convoluted to the point where people had trouble following it. I wanted to do something simpler. I was watching a lot of Alfred Hitchcock, and in my other production work I was taking a lot of photographs. The thought that came to me was, ‘what if I’m doing one of these side jobs as a photographer, and walked into a room where there is a dead body?’ That was the first idea, and it was just about writing what I knew. The photographer was written as having a weak personality, and the film was about him overcoming that weakness.

HollywoodChicago.com: Your casting was so precise, and each of the actors seemed to know what you wanted out of the characters. What was your procedure for finding the right people for their roles?

Kelley: I did a local casting call, and found people who have talent, but didn’t really know it or were afraid to express it. One of the characters is a local cop, for example, and another is an assistant state’s attorney and yet another runs a bow-and-arrow shop. It was a mix of weird talent that somehow worked. The hardest role to fill was the photographer. I saw a lot of people, but no one was fitting. We found Frankie [Murphy-Giesing] while we were shooting a local commercial, and we knew him. My wife thought he’d be perfect, and I agreed. We had to hound him to get him to do the role, and I had the whole ‘Villainy’ family [named for Kelley’s first film] taking turns getting ahold of him, to pressure him until he said yes.

Charles Whitcomb – who runs the bow-and-arrow shop – is a world traveler from South Africa, so he already had the right accent. People who lived in the community, who didn’t know Charles, thought I had hired him from New York City or Los Angeles.

HollywoodChicago.com: One of the the distinct elements that separates your film from others at that budget level is your careful composition. What is your process for shot selection? Are you a storyboarder or seat-of-the-pants shooter?

Kelley: This was actually the first film where I tried to create a storyboard, but they weren’t doing anything for anybody in the crew. I switched to shot lists, and worked the positioning of the shots and camera when I would get to the location. The crew and I would show up a couple hours in advance, and walked the space, and made a shot list based on the atmosphere.

HollywoodChicago.com: Within independent filmmaking, there are many stories about compromises about what is written because you couldn’t afford what was on the page. Did you have a circumstance like that in ‘Full Frame,’ and what did you do to make it work?

Full Frame
World Premiere of Director Christopher Kelley’s ‘Full Frame’ at the Midwest Independent Film Festival
Photo credit: Table Sixteen Productions

Kelley: Every scene was that way. [laughs] The biggest one was a party scene that the photographer was hired to shoot. It was envisioned as a grand set piece, with an orgy of images and characters. In the end, it came about just throwing a party, and finding a way to shoot within that situation. So we found an appropriate house, and had the owners set up the party.

As we started shooting the scene, people got hammered within the first 30 minutes, and even though they knew what was happening and had signed waivers, they kept disrupting what I needed for the scene. The outtakes mostly involved the main actor wearing a camera, and people pointing out the harness and what he was doing. They would literally walk up and say, ‘what is this?’ even though they knew why they were there. It was a great night, but it had challenges.

HollywoodChicago.com: What fascinates you about human nature in the noir genre, and what elements of that fascination were applied to ‘Full Frame’?

Kelley: It is the idea that a person lives their live day-to-day, and everything works out in that order, and then they are suddenly thrust into a situation that they never even thought possible – a different place at the wrong time. I also like the darker elements of human nature, I’m a big fan of writing despicable people and trying to find a way to get people to like them as characters. If that succeeds, I’m happy. And as far as the main character of the photographer is concerned, I wanted him to go from a base of weakness to a person who could stand up for themselves, and kick some ass if he needed to.

HollywoodChicago.com: What director or directors is the grandfather of ‘Full Frame,’ and did you put a secret tribute to any of them in the film?

Kelley: As I said, I was watching a lot of Hitchcock. but the intention wasn’t to make a homage to him. Most of my tributes are probably unconscious, but my favorites are Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. I think I rip them off all the time. [laughs] And if that’s the highest found of flattery than I must be in love with all three of them.

HollywoodChicago.com: Which script, in the history of cinema, would you like to land on your desk for a chance to film, and why?

Kelley: That’s an A-bomb of a question. [laughs] I’ve been partial to the film ‘Willow.’ I think it’s because I owe a lot of my film obsession to George Lucas, and I wonder if I could do that in sort of a dark and messed-up way. It would be like what was in [Alejandro] ‘Jordorowsky’s Dune,’ that kind of wild vision, with an intense camera composition and design.

HollywoodChicago.com: What is your next project?

Kelley: I’ve got four scenarios. One is a heist movie that takes place all at a bar. The second is a horror film, a throwback to ‘Poltergeist,’ that makes a healing connection to people. Another is a ‘chick-flick’ from my wife’s perspective – so far the opening scene is two lesbian lovers engaged in a sex act, and one calls out the wrong name. And the fourth is a Hallmark-style Christmas movie, because I promised my mother to make a movie that she would be happy to see.

“Full Frame” has its World Premiere at the Midwest Independent Film Festival on Tuesday, August 4th, 2015, at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema – 2826 North Clark Street, Chicago – starting at 6pm. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

HollywoodChicago.com senior staff writer Patrick McDonald

By PATRICK McDONALD
Writer, Editorial Coordinator
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2015 Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

Steve Looten's picture

A Quincy Treasure

How excited we are in Quincy to be able to see this bright young talent start his career. It’s an amazing journey, and one that is certain to entertain us for many years. Imagination set free!

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