Ahead of its screening at Glasgow Frightfest, we caught up with director Travis Bible to talk about his social media infused horror comedy #chadgetstheaxe.
When you first directed the short version of #chadgetstheaxe did you always envision it having legs to be a feature?
I don’t think I was thinking about a feature of #chad originally, but as soon as I started putting it together in post, I saw potential to do something bigger that still tackled the same themes of the short. Writing and synching up 100 comments for the short was way more work than I thought it would be, so taking on over 1000 comments for the feature, well I won’t say it was easier because of the short, but at least I had some idea how hard it would be.
The themes around vlogging and streaming culture feel so accurate, was this story pulling from particular influencers?
Spencer Levin(who plays chad in both the short and the feature)Kemerton Hargrove (the cowriter) and I had a discussion very early on that we didn’t want characters to be based on just one influencer, so we pulled from different ones and put our own spin on it. I think this helped us put together a character that was a bit more likeable than some of the bigger influencers that made headlines for the wrong reasons.
How tricky is this sort of shoot as you are relying a lot on the actors to almost craft the right shots, especially for scares?
Luckily all the actors were very good with shooting on phones. The DP and I would go through what we were thinking and shoot a sample version for them and then have them emulate that and lots of times they would do it better. It was a lot of long takes, up to five minutes, so they had to not only nail the performance but also remember the camera framing. They’d nail these amazing takes and I’d come up to them after play back and be like, would you mind panning a little faster to the body at minute three and maybe go for a lower angle on the run down stairs. So that was extra work for them, but they did an incredible job.
Horror and comedy can be hard to blend, when did you know it was time to turn the screw in #chadgetstheaxe?
We kept Chad in the dark as long as possible so we could keep the tone lighter and even when he realizes it’s not a prank we had some comedic moments when he’s seeking help. I think the third act(SPOILER, when he goes back to the house) it has a tonal shift, but with all the comments scrolling even during the darker stuff it leaves it up to the audience what the comedy blend is. If you want to soak in the schendefraude and laugh at these obnoxious influencers till they all get the axe you can. But I personally start to feel bad for Chad at the end.
We’ve seen with films like Dashcam that having unlikeable protagonists can polarise audiences, how did you approach this with Chad, Steve and Spennifer?
When writing and casting we decided they don’t have to be likeable, but they do have to be watchable . Casting actors that were all naturally so charismatic helped. And then we surrounded Chad, Steve and Spennifer with a few other characters and commenters that were even worse than them. Chad might suck, but compared to the frat bros he’s pretty likeable.
How excited are you to be playing at Glasgow Frightfest?
Super excited. We’ve heard great things and most of our team is flying in from the states to be there for the International Frightfest Premiere.
What can you tell us about the filming location for Devil’s Manor?
It was a very old, creepy house that was in the middle of the city between a CVS pharmacy and Grocery super store next to a busy road. Inside was fine sound wise, but anything we shot outside we had to go to shoot in the country or ADR dialogue. In the original footage of the scene where Chad and Jen open the door after the knocking, there’s a fully lit CVS pharmacy right in the middle of the frame that we had to get rid of in post.
What are the plans for release beyond the festival circuit?
We’re in talks with a few distributors and aiming to find the best home for it once the festival circuit is over so it can reach a wide audience.
#chadgetstheaxe screens as part of Glasgow Frightfest 2023.
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