Finally, the interview
January 18th, 2008 | by Paul |I called him. He called me. I forgot to call him. He forgot to call me. It just never worked out.
But now, after all this silliness, I finally have my interview with Brandon McCormick, director of Consumerism! The Musical, the first anticonsumer satire I’ve seen in years that hasn’t made me want to slap the perpetrators.
We ended up doing it by e-mail, so the interview will sound stilted and weird. Forgiving my James Lipton-ness, here we go.
Name: Brandon McCormick
Age: 23
Day Job: Full time filmmaking, I own Whitestone
Location: Atlanta, Ga
Education: Art College Drop out
Now the questions:
How long have you been making films?
I’ve been making films since I was 15 years old. I started writing in high school as a way to cope with Math class. I began making films and then started winning awards. I figured maybe I could pull this off and make a living doing it. I was awarded a full scholarship to Art Institute of Atlanta through a film festival, but then soon dropped out to start my own company. I figured I could either learn about outdated equipment and techniques for four years, or start my film company and go for it.
Why consumerism as a topic? Who came up with the idea and how? Do any of Whitestone’s other movies relate to this?
As Americans, we’re faced with copious amounts of consumerism daily. One can’t help but think about it when walking through a normal day. I came up with the concept for an over the top musical about consumerism when I heard the statistic that Americans make up about 5% of the world population yet use up 60% of the worlds resources (dont quote me on that, it’s just something I heard). We throw away more food than the rest of the world gets to eat. I dreamt up the idea ironically in a Starbucks, which accounts for the opening scene. I then commissioned writer and musicians Billy Wilkerson and Nick Kirk to create the song for the piece, which they executed brilliantly, and I was then able to film the piece from there.
I think a similar piece is Smiling Addiction, which really highlights a view of sadness to our addiction to being happy. Many people think it has to do with medication or drug addiction, but they couldn’t be more wrong. It has to do with our society telling us what will make us happy, and we buy into it every time. It has to do with my own addictions that I purse to try and be ‘happy’
You call it “a satire and celebration of the culture we live in.” What makes that topic so rife for satire? What do you find funniest about it?
As a consuming American myself, I feel that the only way I could even talk about the subject was to make fun of myself. We really live in cartoon proportions considering the rest of the world, and the history of mankind before us. The Hummers and the extremely expensive clothing, it’s really absurd. I think everyone else is laughing at us, why not join in? The best and most honest satire is the satire of ourselves.
This has been viewed on YouTube over 185,000 times - over four times more than Whitestone’s next-most-viewed video. What do you think accounts for that?
It certainly hits a nerve in the culture. I know most people dont like to be preached at or watch things that make their eyes roll. Consumerism! The Musical highlights the things we all do, big or small. I believe consumerism at any level in inescapable, I know that people see themselves in the video because I put myself in the video. Maybe if they can take a look at it dead on, and think for a moment, we can all realized the absurdity and try to do something about it, no matter how small.
Who wrote the song?
The extremely talented Wright Brothers, Billy Wilkerson and Nick Kirk.
Billy is a writer at Whitestone Motion Pictures as well as a talented musician (he is the voice who sings in the song).
Nick is the composer at Whitestone Motion Pictures and creates all the original music for Whitestone.
They were the team behind the music to “Smiling Addiction” and “Off the Shelf” as well.
(note: they make a cameo in the piece, they’re the guys in the mustaches that fall off “A llama, wow, why?” 1st = billy 2nd = nick)
Did you have a hard time explaining it to people when making it?
I had a hard time explaining to some. Our Executive Producer Dave Ronne got it right away and really made it possible to push the film forward.
I had the hardest time explaining it to the mall personnel in a way that they wouldn’t kick us out. They kept saying…”hmmm…it looks like you’re making fun of the mall” and I’m going “no no no, it’s a celebration!!”
Your comments on YouTube talked about the film as self-satire. What do you do in your own life that you were referring to?
This film is completely about myself. I am that guy. I zip around drinking $4 coffees and overeating every chance I get. I ironically filmed the storyboard before the film and watched playback on my brand new iPhone while filming. I’m that guy, and this film serves as a reminder that haunts me and makes me question a lot of my actions. It helps me think twice about some of the decisions I make, and maybe someday, the addiction can be broken.
Do you own a llama?
I own two of course.