Past Filmmakers

Landis Stokes
Broken Doll

The Interview

1. How did you come up with the idea for the film?
I came up with the idea for the film while I was listening to music. An image of a young man sitting in the middle of nowhere, looking at a music box had randomly popped into my head. It haunted me for weeks. I told a couple of my friends about my random "vision" and they all suggested that I pursue it. So I did.

2. How long did the production process take?
Physical production was four days (Friday to Monday) but the actual story meetings, research, and location scouting in pre-production lasted about a month and a half. Post-production lasted about three months.

3. What challenges did you experience in the creation of the film?
Trying to give the film a futuristic look was a huge challenge. We didn't have the resources to create anything fancy, so we made decisions and sacrifices that helped us get the story across emotionally. We were also never assigned an art department crew, so my producers, friends, and myself spent a few late nights building a set and costumes with people who weren't from the film school but wanted to help us.

4. What is your favorite memory from creating the film?
The enthusiasm. The second day of the shoot was when we filmed the bathroom scene with Steve and Robyn. We had to build the bathroom in a small corner of one of the larger stages. The tub was too heavy to move by itself and we needed hot water for the actress to sit in. No one knew how to fill the tub. My apartment was at the bottom of the hill that the film school sits on and Joseph was not only my producer but also my roommate, so he got the crew to form a hot water line from the stage to our apartment. We used every pot and bucket we could, in the dead of winter, to fill that thing. Then we had to make it milky. Through that whole process, as ridiculous as it seemed, no one complained. We were all there to make a movie.

5. When someone has finished watching the film, what do you hope they take away from the experience?
I would like someone to reflect on their life and the choices they've made with the people they've met. I'd like them to think about how much of it was really what they wanted.

6.What type of reaction has your film received from viewers?
The overall reaction has been positive, a wide audience hasn't really seen it, but the people who have love the tension between Ben and Tilly. I've been told that the film is, "sweet" and/or "neat" but that's about it.

7.What advice would you give to aspiring young filmmakers?
Learn everything you can about filmmaking but don't forget to live. What's the use of learning about how to make films when you have nothing to make films about?

8. Please tell us about the next film that you plan to work on?
I haven't the slightest idea about what's coming next. I wrote a script with one of my friends and have written a few others on my own but that's about it.

9. What are your thoughts on the film industry in NC?
I don't really have much experience with the industry outside of the film school but I know that there are a lot of people who feel that NC could be just as big as Canada, Los Angeles, and New York… I have to agree with them.