photos by Harrison Martin
words by Michael Todd | Q&A by Chevy Anderson
Reality melds with the fictional world of Sam Martin's mind in "Pick Your Nose." At the Slowdown, a gaggle of gadabouts fly on various substances at The Faint concert, but don't take this footage to any local authorities: It's only a short film.
While Sam wrote the script that follows two young souls throwing just about everything into a chemical cauldron, taking it and going to a show, his brother Harrison Martin filmed it. Cameos by comedian Ross Brockley and Omaha music godfather Dereck Higgins further fill out a well-produced statement of what Sam calls "a somewhat overstated tone of what I feel Omaha is like."
Press play, and as The Martin Brothers ask, don't press pause. Also look for yet another special appearance by another member of the music community. It might get raunchy.
Note: The full short film will be playable only through Friday, Nov. 30 at midnight. A trailer will replace the video at that time.
SHORT FILM
Pick Your Nose from Harrison Martin on Vimeo.
directed and edited by The Martin Brothers
written by Sam Martin
cinematography by Harrison Martin
cast:
Noah Kohll as himself
Matt Tillwick as himself
Ross Brockley as himself
Sarah Bohling as club girl
narrated by Dereck Higgins
original music by Sam Martin
sound recording by Greg Elsasser
music:
"Chop The Peach Masters" by Conchance
"Burn Rubber" by Icky Blossoms
"Q&A" by Capgun Coup
special thanks:
Aaron Gum
Tony Bonacci
Jane Dodson
Terry Martin
Rob Walters
Justin Kohll
The Faint
The Slowdown
Q&A
Hear Nebraska: How did the Ross Brockley cameo come about?
Sam Martin: I met Ross through Nik Fackler in 2011 when the three of us and some others went to Africa to make a documentary about a spiritual sacrament called Iboga. I asked him to be in this project because he is in my opinion a comic genius and I knew that he could make this scene play.
HN: Why do you create projects like this? Is it to satisfy your creativity or are there other reasons?
SM: I make short films because I love movies and I need to learn how to make them for myself. Music and movies satisfy the same thing for me which is the need to tell stories. Mine or other people's. I want to make feature films eventually, but I can't see doing so until I feel I know the ins and outs of filmmaking from a technical point of view.
Harrison Martin: A certain part of the process is fulfilling the need to be active creatively for sure. Anyone who knows me knows that when I come back to visit Omaha it's rare that I'm not shooting some project in the time I'm back. I really love collaborating with others, and there are so many great friends of mine in Omaha I like to collaborate with, so I try and utilize the opportunity when I'm back home, Sam being one of those people.
Other reasons I aspire to make projects like this are to showcase things I think are important socially, politically, environmentally, etc. I'm not ashamed to say that at this point I'm still learning how to use the medium and I haven't yet found that more activist voice within the short film medium.
HN: What do you plan on doing with this short? How do you plan on showing it? Are you going to submit it anywhere?
SM: This short will be submitted to a few regional festivals including the Omaha Film Festival. We'll see what happens. I'm happy with the way it turned out to a certain degree. I feel short films are more a showcasing of a director, cinematographer, editor's ability more than a real medium by which to tell a complete story. At least that's how I intend to use the format.
HM: The film has been submitted to the Omaha Film Festival, which we're still waiting to find out the status of as far as getting in or not. Submitting to other festivals would be great, but honestly I'm just too broke that I'm not sure we will do that. Its ultimate home will be on the internet where the viewers are seeing it now. That was the format it was created for.
HN: How did the story come about? Any real experiences?
SM: I wrote the script because I wanted to make a short film. The idea of kids getting fucked up for fun has been around forever, I imagine. I thought It was a good way to create a somewhat overstated tone of what I feel Omaha is like.
HM: We had a lot of fun adapting the script to different spaces. We were free with improvisation at certain points during the film and some of the sequences have a music video-like quality to them aesthetically and pacing-wise. Some of the dialog came from Noah and Matt and experiences they've had.
We spent some time with them just hanging out as friends and picked up on some stories they told each other and incorporated those into the story to try and make It feel more authentic. The story at the beginning is inspired by a debaucherous tale experienced by Sean Pratt in Chicago.
A highlight for filming for me was working with Ross. He had such a great comedic ability and his improvisational skills added so much to the scene and the performance. It was great to have him involved, and I hope to work with him again.
HN: What was the timeline for this project?
SM: I wrote the script because Harrison was coming to town, and we knew we wanted to make something. From the first typed word to the last audio mix, I would say was about two months. Took a lot longer because Harrison lives in Chicago and I live in Omaha.
HM: Sam sent me the script in near the end of September, and we discussed it via telephone before I came to town in early August. We shot one very long day from 7 a.m. to about 2 a.m. to capture most of the film. Then on a separate day we were fortunate enough to get to shoot the club sequence at The Faint show at The Slowdown. So we shot the whole thing in two days.
Then we really didn't get to our final cut until the first week of November. There were a lot of pauses in between given that I am in school full-time and Sam is recording his solo album. Editing back and forth from two different cities definitely slows the production down. It's a process I'm not going to attempt again.
HN: Elaborate on your role, Sam. Talk about your role a bit, too, Harrison.
SM: My role was that of writer initially. While shooting, Harrison acted as director of photography and I acted as director of cast, script and we hashed out the shots we wanted together. After it was shot Harrison and I edited it together, I color-corrected and mixed the sound.
HM: Sam came to me with the first draft of the script and we made changes and went back and forth remotely before I came to town. We hung out with Noah and Matt beforehand and explained their performances to them.
Once set, it was very organic. Everyone was very comfortable. Sam and I knew what we wanted beforehand, and the shots fell into place as we went. It was a very guerrilla project, very spontaneous, which I feel spoiled to be able to do so easily given the technology of now.
Sam Martin – A notion in an ocean – Promo from samuel martin on Vimeo.
HN: Any other projects in the works? Short films? Music videos?
SM: I always have a short or movie in the works. I have a new solo album I'm working on, which I intend on making many videos for.
HM: I just wrapped editing on a music video for a song off of UUVVWWZ's upcoming album. That video should be on its way to the public soon, so keep an eye out. Otherwise I have a few independent shorts in the work back in Chicago. I've discussed tentative plans for a few upcoming music videos which I'll wait to talk about until they come to fruition.
HN: Is there any message that you want to get across from this short? Anything the viewer should look for in particular when watching?
SM: The only thing I ask of a viewer or a listener ever is to give it your full attention at least once. the rest will happen as it is supposed to.
HM: I'm totally with Sam on this one. Just give it your full attention once through, just make it without pressing the pause button. Hopefully, we've made something that doesn't tempt that urge too often.
HN: Anything else you would like to add?
SM: I would like to add that making a film or anything video related is as much an art as anything else and it's as easy as any other art. but that in my opinion the point of it isn't how hard or easy it was to do but how much, or in what way it makes you feel. something to keep in mind while watching I suppose.
HM: Coming back the the pausing thing. If there is any moment to pause at it'd be the Special Thanks page on the credits. A lot of people really helped us make this a film with less than a $50 budget and we couldn't have done it without them.
There are a great group of people in Omaha who are constantly helping me make projects for free by lending their equipment or their time and I'm really fortunate to have them. They're the reason I keep coming back to Omaha often to collaborate on projects.
Michael Todd is Hear Nebraska's managing editor. He uploaded this story premiering a video with all sorts of academic experiences while at the UNL College of Journalism. Reach Michael at michaeltodd@hearnebraska.org.