Ask the Director: Thomas Cervenca

Your way into filmmaking was...

I started out filming my friends skating and editing on an old iMac at one of my friends' places.

I remember spending hours in front of that old machine and figuring out how to record audio into iMovie through iTunes (that was more of a bug than a feature back then). One day my mum told me that I could put all those hours spent in front of the computer to good use and pursue it as a career. 

At first, I was confused. I couldn't imagine someone paying me to come up with ideas and edit films for them. 

Fast forward a few years and apparently I'm still doing it!

I think this is the only time I took advice from my mum tho. (Just kidding, thanks for all the good advice over the years!)

Where do you get your inspiration from?

I'm of course inspired by skate culture and 90s video aesthetics. There's a little niche of skate films that are very specific in their style and choice of music which I can relate to and which inspire me. There's a certain beauty in all of the stuff being captured when you're out in the streets for an entire day. Things and scenes that would seem mundane or uninteresting suddenly carry a strange beauty. 

Besides that, I also really like fast and chaotic stuff. I spent quite a bit of time playing video games when I was younger and I'm still fascinated by gaming culture and Japanese culture in general. 

I think a lot of those influences can be found in my films too. 

How would you describe your style?

My biggest goal is to get reactions out of people. Of course, it's nice when people like my films but I also find it very fascinating when they don't. 

Growing up skating, I was always confronted with people hating that I would intrude their space or just skate somewhere where they didn't want me to. As a kid, I was obviously scared when grumpy old men would scream at me. Over the years however, I started to find it fascinating how differently people would react when they had to deal with something out of their comfort zone.

I just like seeing different emotions come out. Of course, with everything being released to the internet, that's kind of hard to observe. I did a video Installation some time ago in Switzerland and being able to see all the live reactions in peoples faces while they were watching was very rewarding for me.

But like every average ock, I also enjoy engines, motorbikes and cars - so I also like shooting Lambos at night. 

How do you build authenticity?

If I can, I try to work with people I already know or I try to build a relationship before a shoot. I often have specific things and scenes in mind and then I try to find characters or personalities that fit what I'm looking for.  

No matter what style you're going for, it helps immensely if you work with people who already have the personality and style you're searching for and who don't have to "play" their role or character. 

It's not always easy to find the right person, but when you do and you click and have the same vision it's endlessly rewarding to work together. 

There are definitely projects I worked on where it benefited me tremendously that I already had a connection with the people I worked with. 

How important is good equipment to the production?

I think equipment is important in the way of enabling you to realize what you're envisioning. Of course, you need to choose the equipment based on the look of the film. Are you going for the vintage look? Then maybe an old lens or camera would make sense. Every shoot asks for a different rig.

There is no perfect cam and no ideal setup. With that said, I believe it's much more important to focus on what is happening in front of the camera. If you don't tell a compelling story, or the film doesn't work, then no one is going to care about your corner sharpness. Likewise, you can also shoot on your phone if it enables you to shoot something in a specific way. Steven Soderberg's film "Unsane" shows that brilliantly.

You just don't think about that film being shot on an iPhone. You watch it because of what's happening. 

Do you need to be a workaholic to make good films?

This is an interesting question because I don't know if the term "workaholic" applies when working on a film (or any project that you enjoy for that matter). When I work on a project I just put in the hours. I don't really pay attention to time or how long I spend on it. It is not like I feel that I need to do it. I'm doing it anyway and when it's done it's done. Sometimes that means early mornings and late nights- sometimes for many days in a row. 

I think if you enjoy doing something you'll naturally work for how long you need to. That may come across as "working too much" for others. But in reality, it's just happens naturally. 

Favourite videogames ?

• Gone Home is a masterpiece in interactive storytelling.

• EarthBound covers topics about friendship, love and loss.

• Katamari Damacy or Taiko no Tatsujin scratches that crazy Japanese itch.