| This interview was
conducted by AIM on December 7, 2005.
Sparrowpost: We're going to start the way they always do
in Vogue. What are you wearing?
Weiss:
Very very little.
Sparrowpost:
Heh heh heh. Let's get down to business. How do you feel about "Free
Samples" at this point, now that it's done, and you've left
behind the Cambridge world in which it was filmed?
Weiss:
"Free Samples" was a real odyssey for me, and odysseys
have a way of sitting heavy with you when they're over. It's strange
to me not having it hanging over me, needing to get worked on. There
is a lightness to life after "Free Samples", but I'm still
getting used to it. There was a point soon after I started work
on the soundtrack that I realized I was really in this for the long
haul (as in years), and I wasn't happy about that. Not happy at
all. I knew I had gotten myself into trouble by choosing an extremely
painstaking method of constructing the sound, one that would inevitably
take a long long time, but I couldn't get around it: this was what
it was, and it was just a question of working and working until
it was done. And now it is!
Sparrowpost: I’m going to ask you a bit more about the sound
process in a second. But first things first. Can you tell me how
you got the initial idea for the movie?
Weiss: I was living in Cambridge a few years ago,
at that noble crossroads of poor and lazy that so many young bohemians
inhabit. My roommate/fellow filmmaker Andy Rice (a jolly and humungous-haired
brute) and I took a lunch-time stroll to Whole Foods. As it turned
out, we hit gold: the most excessive free samples extravaganza I'd
ever witnessed. Andy and I were no strangers to shameless and odd
behavior (as in our recurring, wildly popular game of impersonating
Jimmy Stewart appearing in a hard-core gay porno), and we quickly
dug in and feasted. Stuffed and satisfied, we got to talking on
the way home about the notion of someone who "dined" in
a place like Whole Foods all the time. The idea really fascinated
me, and I'd been on the lookout for short film stories. So I ran
with it.
Sparrowpost: In bringing this inspiration to the screen, did you
start with an actual screenplay? At what point did you decide that
the film would be silent?
Weiss: I figured I'd start by developing the story, so I started
out with a description of action without any dialogue. And somehow
it just became clearer as the script came along that there was no
need for words, no need for dialogue. A feeling was emerging, a
tone, a vibe. And it was definitely a silent vibe, tapping into
the old films from the '20s--Chaplin in particular. Milton always
felt like a descendant of Chaplin to me.
Sparrowpost: Did you watch any Chaplin movies as you investigated
this? Do you have favorites?
Weiss: City Lights is such a gorgeously constructed
film, that's always been a favorite, though I'm not sure it was
as relevant to "Free Samples" as, say, Modern Times. I
did watch some Chaplin, although looking back I wish I had done
more research, tried to savor more of the details of that antique
form and bring them into my updating of it.
Sparrowpost: Maybe it's better you didn't; "Free Samples"
has a good dose of Chaplin, but there's also something fresh about
it. At what point in the planning process did you find Peter O'Leary?
How much did his acting shape Milton's character?
Weiss: Pete is one of my oldest, closest friends;
we went to the same high school, we used to write music together.
He was the first person that I ever felt very creative around. Anyway,
Pete went off to college and got into acting. So he was the first
person that came to mind as "Free Samples" was coming
together. Also, he's kind of a dirty guy. Not like Milton dirty,
but...let's just say, my mom and little sister used to make fun
of him sometimes when he'd come over: "Pete, didn't you where
that shirt yesterday?"
Sparrowpost: What was the character development process like? Did
you guys take a stroll around Whole Foods together as an informal
screen test?
Weiss: Pete had a strong improv background, so
we tried to develop Milton in a spontaneous, experiential way. One
exercise in particular that stands out is a few walks we took together
with Pete in character. We were strolling around Cambridge, in grocery
stores, along the Charles River, and Pete was just prancing around,
peering at simple things that intrigued him, smiling weirdly at
passersby. It was funny, but very interesting because it was a way
for us to collaboratively sculpt a character in a very organic way.
Sparrowpost: When it came time to actually shoot the film, were
you working off a storyboard, or were most things improv?
Weiss: As far as shots go, the DP Mikey Palmer
and I worked out a pretty detailed shot list. It was out of necessity;
the supermarket was so damned big that every time you turned the
camera 90 degrees to shoot in a new direction, there was all of
this SPACE to light. So that meant we would be at a specific location
in the store (at the sample table, for instance), we would choose
a direction to point the camera, and then get all shots in that
direction from all scenes in the film at that location. The few
times we forgot a shot that we really needed and had to go back
and set up for it again, it was a real waste of time, so we tried
not to let it happen.
As far as the acting goes, there was a fair amount of rehearsal,
but of course there were spontaneous moments that arose during shooting
as well.
Sparrowpost: How many supermarket shoots were you able to do? Did
you actually shoot the film in Whole Foods?
Weiss: Location scouting was hard because so much of the
film takes place in the supermarket, so we knew we would need quite
a bit of time. All the big corporations (Whole Foods, Trader Joe's)
turned us down, but then we turned to Harvest Co-op, a cooperatively
owned supermarket. They were open to the idea, and were very good
to us. The real credit for making that happen goes to the location
manager, Dave Winslow, who was basically a whiz kid consultant I'd
known from college who had a few months off from work and wanted
to help. He put together a very professional presentation that he
made to the management of Harvest, and they just couldn't say no.
Sparrowpost: While shooting the film, did you take any live (synch)
sound? How did you start down the road that ultimately led to the
film's unconventional soundtrack?
Weiss: No, we never recorded any sound on set. I knew I
didn't want that. The closest I came was sneaking into Whole Foods
a few months after production to record some tracks of ambient sound.
As to how the soundtrack came into being, assembling pieces of sound
on computers to closely follow the action onscreen was something
I'd explored in a much earlier experimental video piece from my
college years called "Do You Have Mood Swings?". So it
was natural for me to slip into that mode when I started scoring
"Free Samples". I had this enormous library of orchestral
samples, and the only idea I had in my head when I started out was
trying to find a style that melded symphonic film score with experimental
sound design. You can only think something like that through so
much, then you just start making sounds and seeing what works. The
medium and the process themselves begin to exert an influence. For
instance, because I wasn't using any live musicians (just manipulating
prerecorded sounds), I found that complex or virtuosic passages
just didn't work: it sounded totally fake (which it was). So I would
use other kinds of passages and textures that did work. And over
time, a kind of internal language and logic evolved that gave me
a sense of direction as I would approach each scene.
Sparrowpost: How did you go about constructing the Foley? I'm thinking
particularly of the intense chewing sequences.
Weiss: With the exception of one heartbeat sound
effect, I recorded all of the sound effects for the film myself.
I feel like the standard sound effect libraries out there get used
a lot, and I wanted the sounds in the film to be original. Plus,
it was a lot of fun recording them! The food sounds in particular
were pretty funny, though also gross. I needed sounds of food being
handled and also eaten. So I got together a variety of foods (different
textures was the most important thing) and just played with them,
chewed them, squeezed them, poured them around, all next to a microphone.
The most useful chewing sounds were chips, walnuts, and an orange
(the juiciness was really nice); I could layer these in various
ways to get different chew-characterizations. But the best gross-eating
sounds came from things like canned peas, overcooked pasta, and
oatmeal. I stuffed these into my mouth and just squished them around.
Almost made myself sick in some cases (general groans and moans
of "oh god" punctuate my raw sound tracks for these).
Sparrowpost:
ugh.
Weiss:
Also, in a nice moment of full circle, my old buddy Andy (who'd
accompanied me on my first trip to Whole Foods) came home during
one of these sessions and wanted to eat his lunch. Ever the good
sport, he let me set up the mike in front of him and good-naturedly
chewed his string beans with his mouth wide open (for heightened
grossness). He even belched (something I'd been unable to conjure
on demand)! His fine work makes several appearances in the film.
Sparrowpost:
Well. I can see we're running out of time. Just a few more questions.
I had the privilege of seeing a cut of the movie in May at a screening
in Cambridge. Between then, and the time I saw the final version
A LOT changed. How did the film change with editing?
Weiss: The film did change a lot in the last few
months of editing, due mainly to two major issues that were irking
me: the film felt long, and the ending felt overly-saccharine. So
I worked very hard to tighten the film, part with any unnecessary
scenes (including a couple that it really hurt to lose), and I recut
the ending so the original happy ending became a quick fantasy Milton
had as he was carted off to jail. That last change in particular
was a real lesson for me. I had been reading "The Conversations",
a book of interviews with the great film editor and sound designer
Walter Murch, and he really opened my mind up to the editor's job:
to take the raw footage that came out of production as his or her
database, and be totally open-minded about how it could be used.
It boggles the mind how a piece of footage can be repurposed in
a manner totally different from how it was originally intended in
the script.
Sparrowpost: Did you have any qualms about sending Milton away to
jail at the film's end? Is his sentence too harsh?
Weiss: It just seemed right, honest. I mean the film is
exploring what happens to people in the face of excess, and in my
view it ain't usually pretty. I just moved to LA this past July
and I'm telling you, you can just see the gravitational pull that
wealth exerts in this town, you can FEEL it. It's like a sweet does
of soma that makes everything else seem to just not matter. To stay
true to yourself in the face of that takes a rare fortitude, and
for all his sweetness Milton really wasn't up to that kind of a
challenge.
Sparrowpost: Well Nick, I know our time is up. Now that “Free
Samples” is over and done with, what are you going to do next?
Weiss: Well, as I said, I moved to LA this past
summer and have started a production company with an old friend
(it's called Pigment Pictures, www.pigmentpics.com). We are developing
3 shorts and 3 music videos. The project that has the most momentum
right now is a short fiction film about a young man with Asperger's
Syndrome (a high-functioning form of autism), tentatively titled
"Stupid Rules They Make You Live By"). Hmm, it's funny
thinking forward from "Free Samples"; it feels like such
a rite of passage, because it took so long and was such a solitary
endeavor. That was one of the big lessons I took from it, needing
to work in a more collaborative way. It was just too lonely. So
I'm working with writers on all of the shorts that are currently
in the pipeline, and (as I said) producing with a partner now. The
right collaborations are for me the most rewarding part of filmmaking,
and one of my primary goals now is finding my creative partners
out there, sitting down with them, and getting some work done.
Sparrowpost: Well, thank you Nico! And goooood luck on your next
endeavor!
Weiss: Take care, talk to you soon kiddo.
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