I have a short horror film for you to watch today called queue. The story centers on an internet content moderator who is faced with a series of increasingly disturbing online videos that seep into his psyche.
This short is shared in partnership with FilmQuest Film Festival, where we try to shine a light on some of the indie genre films and shorts filmmakers are creating.
The director of this movie is Michael Richwe have an interview with him below which you can also check out.
Please tell us, without spoiling anything, what your film is about, its characters, and its themes. Is it a proof of concept, or a standalone story?
“Queue” tells the story of a man named Cole, who starts working as a content moderator for a video-sharing site. We follow him through his first night as he filters through a series of increasingly disturbing Unsettling online videos that seep into his psyche, it explores themes of online violence and voyeurism.
What was the inspiration for your film? How did you come up with this idea?
“I read an article a few years ago about the content moderators employed by major social media sites. Men and women responsible for removing content from violent and inappropriate users. I didn’t even know it was a real job!
“I always thought artificial intelligence or algorithms would remove objectionable content, but at least in some cases it would have to be reviewed by real people. You can imagine the type of stuff they would have to watch. This takes me back to my teenage years What happened when I stumbled upon the LiveLeak video.
“I would see the most horrific things – it was a weird mixture of emotions. Disgusted, embarrassed, but also fascinated. I think the content we access online is horrific. It’s easy to forget that these violent videos make real of humans suffering real-life consequences.
Tell us about yourself. What is your background? How long have you been a filmmaker?
“I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, with a father who worked in television news. Going to his stations as a kid, I developed a fascination with cameras and production, especially the ‘behind the scenes stuff’ – because that’s what he did . I went to Chapman University to study directing and found my niche – horror films. After graduation, I continued to try to improve my skills by writing and directing short films.
What inspires you to work in genre films and tell these kinds of stories?
“I love genre movies because they’re not afraid to delve into topics that many others shy away from. It’s a safe place to feel unsafe.
What was your favorite part of the filmmaking process on this project?
“I love working with our lead actor, Burt Blossom. We don’t necessarily rehearse, but we get a call before we shoot and discuss our vision for the character. Where does this guy come from? What makes this character tick ?Bert had a lot of great ideas and we adopted them all.
“This movie is about a guy sitting in front of a computer 90% of the time. If Burt hadn’t had the ability to captivate the audience and make them believe he was watching the most horrific video imaginable, this could have been a disaster.
What are you most proud of about this film?
“During our festival we were given a number of short films titled ‘Darker Than You Think’ and ‘Nightmare Fuel’. I saw a review online where a woman said the movie made her feel sick. After about 50 people said it, I finally believed it – but some people thought the movie was scary!
“It’s miraculous to me because we barely showed anything. Obviously, the power of suggestion in horror is being used all the time, but I honestly don’t know if it works. When I was editing, I thought I’d screwed up .
“It was too tame (and that’s probably what it was to my Hotel fans). But when we did the first screening and I saw people covering their faces – I was like OMG. It works!”
What’s your favorite story or moment from the making of the film that you’d like to share?
“We had no advertising or script supervisor to make the movie, so I had a ton of paperwork to keep the schedule and shot list on track. Burt kept telling me I looked like Andy Reid. game schedule.
What was the most challenging moment or experience you had while making the film?
“The most challenging thing was making sure we had enough coverage. I’m a huge hypocrite – I don’t think looking at a computer screen is cinematic. I wanted to make sure we didn’t use the same shot multiple times in the edit , lest the audience get completely bored.
“So we tried to do a ’12 Angry Men’ type of thing, where we slowly get closer to the characters as the tension builds – which is difficult in such a small scene.”
If so, how did your film change or differ from the original concept during pre-production, production, and/or post-production? How does this impact the way you approach future projects?
“Going back to our lead actor, Burt — he really challenged me to dig deeper into the character. I think we had a really open conversation on set that resulted in a better product. So, I Plan to place a high value on the performers I work with in the future as he sets the bar very high.
Who are your collaborators and actors in this film? How did you start working together?
“I went to film school with our cinematographer, Dave Cortez. He was definitely the most important member of my process. I would send him pictures of the films I wanted. He would say, Yeah, I’ll make it happen and then you show up on set and it looks exactly like the damn reference.
“He’s legit and super cool. Another big collaborator is our sound designer Michael Cullen. We also went to Chapman University together and I believe his day job is video game sound. Michael can make anything things happen.
“Every year or two, he’ll get a message from me out of the blue about a new short film, and he always takes it in stride. Like, yeah, this needs some sex sounds and a decapitated person. He starts right away. Do it and sound great.
“Our producer is Rachel Collins. We’re married. 🙂 Our executive producers are Kory and Juliann Gammon Kleppe, who were a huge encouragement while making this film. When it came to helping me put When it was put together, they asked that it have to be my vision and not let outside influences or opinions influence what I want to do.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received as a filmmaker?
“Trust your instincts. On set, or even in the writing or editing process, it’s easy to get derailed by things that don’t matter. You need to save your energy for the real battle.
What are your plans for your career? What stories would you like to tell in the future?
“Before Queue, I was mostly doing comedic horror films, but most of my feature film ideas were straight up, scary horror films. So I wanted to be able to use it as a calling card for bigger projects.
What’s your next project?
“I’m writing a horror feature right now. It’s so scary. :)”
Where can we find more of your work? Do you have a website or YouTube/Vimeo channel? Social media handle? Give us something to share and we will share!
My website: https://michaelrich.me/
Bonus Question #1: What is your favorite movie?
“William Friedkin’s The Magician. The tension is unreal.
Bonus Question #2: Which film inspired you the most as a filmmaker and/or influenced your work the most?
“Evil Dead. Watching most movies as a kid, you have no idea how they were made. In “Evil Dead,” I felt like a participant because you could see some of the seams in the making of the film. . It actually feels achievable, wow, this is fun I can do.
Enjoy the short video!
