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Ever wondered what it's like to *be* the character in a film? We dive into that very question at SXSW Film with the innovative movie "DEAD EYES." This isn't just a film; it's an experience where the camera *is* the character, offering a gut-level connection to lead character Sean's unfolding past and complex decisions.

Discover how the filmmaking technique forces an intimate audience connection, blurring the lines between viewer and protagonist. The interview explores how the cast had to deliver raw, in-the-moment reactions to make this unique POV cinematic approach truly compelling.

Learn about the empathetic nature of Grace, the character driving the emotional core of the relationship and pushing Sean to confront his grief. Her role as a nurse informs her deep care and her attempts to heal their fracturing bond.

#SXSWFilm #DeadEyesMovie #PointOfView #IndieFilm
Transcript
00:26This is Tim Walsberg from Fast Track Unstruck TV.
00:29I'm here in Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest film.
00:32Well, it's an interesting one because the audience has a conduit in this film that is, you know, purer than
00:39any other conduit you get in any films because the camera is the character.
00:45Like, so it's about sort of figuring out that history and what has informed all of Sean's decisions and why
00:55he's doing these things.
00:56And then as that unfolds throughout the story, you discover more and more about his past, what happened between him
01:03and his father and Lily.
01:05It sort of opens up that history that the audience is now experiencing.
01:12That is their history because they are the character.
01:15They are the camera, which is a great way of doing it.
01:18I don't think it's been done like that before.
01:20You must see something.
01:22Are you okay?
01:25The nightmares again, Sean.
01:28I'm so sorry to hear about your sister.
01:30Could you talk about the empathetic nature of your character and how that sort of plays through and how she
01:37acts, how she reacts, how you see her?
01:41I think Grace is very much the driving force within the relationship.
01:47Sean, to begin with, is quite reticent.
01:50He doesn't really want, he's pushed, he has to be pushed into making these decisions.
01:55So that's like a major role that Grace plays in their relationship, unfortunately for Sean.
02:00Sean, but she wants to heal the fracturing relationship between them.
02:06So she pushes him to deal with his grief.
02:10And I think that comes very much from her deeply empathetic nature as a nurse.
02:16She cares very much for Sean.
02:19And in terms of trying to convey this in a POV sort of setting,
02:26it was really interesting because obviously the characters, sorry, the audience, they don't see Sean.
02:34They experience him.
02:35So in order to really connect with what he's feeling and how he comes across,
02:42Grace and the other characters on screen have to be quite reactive to him.
02:49So there's a lot of connection back to the camera, back to Sean,
02:53in order to really give the audiences a full understanding of what Sean is going through.
03:00You're completely dancing with a character and you're on and you have to be present for the entire time.
03:05There are scenes that are, what, six to seven minutes long.
03:09So there's no chance for you to just drop off.
03:13So everything is a reaction in the moment and it has to be real in order for people to be
03:25able to buy it.
03:25Because if you don't, if it's anticipated or anything, you can see.
03:31Like audiences are just so incredibly smart, right?
03:34And you're there front and centre, eyeballing the camera, eyeballing the character of Sean,
03:40which the audience is experiencing.
03:44So, yeah, like I think it was very challenging in order to, challenging to do that.
03:49But as an actor, it was so rewarding because it's like it was, like it was theatre, theatre filmed.
03:57Why are we here?
03:58Dragging him out here searching for his piece of shit, dad.
04:06Would you talk about how you needed to see her in regards to Sean?
04:12Yeah, I think when you read any character off a script, you can't judge them.
04:18So you can't see her as like, oh, she's like evil.
04:20She's like on the dark side.
04:22You kind of have to see like all these different, like you said, layers to her.
04:26And she's a very complicated character in the sense that Richard like described her as like,
04:32she's like an alien to this world.
04:34Like, you know, she's not human, but she's trying to be.
04:37So she has all these different things.
04:38And I would show that through like all these different movements.
04:42And then also kind of like in a sense of being like robotic almost, you know.
04:48And yeah, I feel like moving her head.
04:51Yeah, I would do a lot of like blank stares and then like a little bit of like twitching in
04:55the eyes.
04:56It's quite unnatural.
04:57And you'd see her smiling a lot, which I smile a lot.
05:00But like she does it frequently.
05:04And then, yeah, her connection to Sean is very important.
05:07Obviously, it's the brother and sister relationship.
05:10And Sean, I think, has this very like, yeah, like maternal side towards her.
05:16The way she plays it, it's very unexpected when she does get emotional.
05:21And I feel like it cuts through because there's one sense of this thing trying to be human.
05:28And then all of a sudden there's, oh, it's thinking back to like the worst things.
05:35And you can see it's there's a basis of there's something vulnerable there.
05:40And that's very like that layers it well.
06:07And you can see it's there's something vulnerable.
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