This year the 2013 San Diego Surf Film Festival will highlight over 35
long and short-form surf-themed international films. One of the selected
shorts, “River Run,” has a mat theme to it and comes from the creative
mind of Santa Barbara local Dirk Brandts. Dirk is a very experienced mat
rider and filmmaker. Recently Dirk was asked by Ken McKnight to tell us
a little about the film:
Q – Congratulations Dirk on your film “River Run” being accepted into the SDSFF for 2013! How does it feel?
Dirk – Thanks! It's terrific on several counts. The San Diego Surf Film
Festival has really gained inertia this year, and so has my own film
producing. So I was very grateful that they accepted this piece, and it
feels good to have that traction and to connect with an audience.
Q – Can you tell us what “River Run” is about?
Dirk – Well, it's short and sweet and simple on its face--a man rides
his surf mat down a river to the sea while a boy watches. But I hope
that the simplicity invites the viewer to invest some sentiment of their
own into it, and find additional resonance.
Q – How did you come up with this concept?
Dirk – I've camped near that particular river and made that ride myself
scores of times since my college days in the mid-70s. It always struck
me as a cinematically interesting prospect, and eventually I just got
around to filming it. I had more story in mind when I shot it, but the
editing process revealed that I sort of over-thought things--I tend to
do that--and so it eventually got distilled down to a clear essence.
Q – Where was the filming done and why did you choose that location?
Dirk – I grew up in Santa Barbara and my family had some property up in
Santa Cruz, where I went to college for a spell, so I toggled back and
forth a lot and got to know the coast pretty well as young surfer. The
location is very susceptible to weather, highly unpredictable, and a bit
remote, but there's a period in the spring when conditions usually come
together.
Q – How long have you been working on this project?
Dirk – Truth be told I've made versions of this film a couple of times
already with older technology. Some people think it's a film that I'll
just keep making over and over again in different iterations for the
rest of my life, which doesn't sound too bad to me actually! But
shooting this particular piece spanned two seasons, from 2010 to 2012. A
lot of time for an 8-minute blip!
Q – What was involved in putting the production together?
Dirk – I wanted to keep it compact and efficient, because there was
quite a bit of hiking involved. It was basically a couple of light
camping trips with surf gear and a camcorder. Besides watching the
weather to gauge water levels in the river and the potential for surf, I
just needed a few dedicated souls to back me up. Ken Mcknight was the
key figure -- a guy who never lost his stoke and upbeat attitude despite
countless long hours in the cold, cold water -- while John Landreth,
Steve Senese, Maria McCall, and Decker helped me wrangle the gear. The
shooting was straightforward in an almost documentary style, although we
sometimes did 2 or 3 takes. I was pleased that very few people are
visible in the movie, despite shooting openly in public places
surrounded by onlookers. And finally, I edited on a Mac with Adobe
Premiere Pro CS6, with valuable input from Paul Gross.
Q – Why did you choose a mat as a vehicle to go down the river instead of say a surfboard?
Dirk – I'm in love with surfmats, what can I say? We've ridden hard
boards at times, and bodyboards, but mats just hit the spot. Surfmats
are fun, they're easy, and they're challenging, all at the same time. I
realize that mats aren't for everyone, but those of us who have the
fever are kind of giddy about them. The first trip up there with Ken was
really fun, because it was the first time we met one another in person.
We chattered non-stop about every nuance of mat riding for a couple of
days straight! And that's part of what I like about surf mats -- they
seem to energize a playful, fun-loving element in people, even crusty
old seamen like us.
Q – The young man in the film is your son Decker, correct? How did he
like being part of the film and did he understand the overall concept
before and during the filming?
Dirk – Yeah, my son Decker… he completely understood the process because
he was in an earlier version, and he works with me on movies all the
time. I don't exactly force it on him, but I've always made sure that
daddy's work is visible and and available to him, and he's welcome to
participate in it. So he understands the rhythms of the work schedule,
and the necessary coverage as we shoot a scene and so forth. He's a very
natural actor, with a great sense of timing. I love working with him.
Q – The film score is pretty dreamy? Where did it come from?
Dirk – I graduated from Santa Barbara High School in 1972, with a
talented group of kids during a charmed period of time. It seemed like
everyone had some special gift. So my friend Jeff Bruner became an
award-winning music composer for films and television and commercials
and so forth. I called him for some advice about working with a
musician, and he went well beyond advice and generously provided an
actual soundtrack to me, something that he had produced a while back but
which had never gotten used. I tried several other pieces of music with
the film, but this was absolutely the best choice. It really adds a lot
of dramatic power to the visuals, and makes it extraordinary.
Q – What do you hope viewers will get out of “River Run?”
Dirk – I decided many decades ago that surfing would not be a means to
an end for me. In my life, it's a form of play, and that's an end in its
own right. There's a kind of innocence in that value, and I hope that
viewers will see it in "River Run" and in other work that I'm producing.
Q – What’s next for Dirk Brandts, besides riding your mat? Any more film ideas brewing about?
Lots of film production--both personal projects and commercial jobs for
Pantopia/Mission Cinema. Right now we're deep into a stop-motion
animated music video for a fine singer/songwriter named David
Poe--animation is laborious, but the result is so beautiful. I'd be
really pleased to continue growing in this direction.
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Info on the San Diego Surf Film Festival is
here!
SATURDAY, MAY 11TH- BIG WAVE SATURDAY
2:00-4:00pm: (SET 4)
ALASKA SESSIONS- Frederick Dickerson and Matthew McNeil
Short:
RIVER RUN- Dirk Brandts
*Filmmaker Q&A
*Food and beverages provided
Location: Bird's Surf Shed
