Filmmaking | Interviews

A Great First, Impulse

1 Apr , 2006  

Written by Barbara Diggs | Posted by:

First-time filmmaker and Maine native Kristian McKenna talks about his award-winning short film Impulse.

One fine spring day in 2004, Deputy Sheriff Kristian McKenna decided to take his motorcycle, a sleek and sexy 1997 Suzuki TL 1000, out for a spin. But as he zipped along the back roads of southern Maine, he realized that he wasn’t enjoying the ride as much as usual. He had something on his mind that no amount of speed could shake off — an idea for a screenplay. He turned the idea over and over in his mind, growing more and more excited about its plausibility and originality. Suddenly, he knew what he had to do. He turned the bike around, went home, and put an ad for it in the newspaper. The very next day, it sold for $3800. McKenna took the money and bought the best digital video (DV) camera he could afford, a Panasonic DVX100A. The price? Exactly $3800. McKenna saw this parallel as a reassuring bit of kismet: selling his bike had been a good move — and making his movie would be too.

He was right. In December 2005, only eighteen months after buying the DV camera, McKenna was watching his pioneer film, Impulse, both premiere at the Hollywood DV Film Festival and come away with an award for Best Visual Effects. "It was picked out of 1100 films [to screen there] and won an award!" says a still-astonished McKenna. "For a first time venture, that’s pretty good." And it got even better. Right on the heels of its showing in Hollywood, McKenna learned that Impulse was a semifinalist in the Boston Motion Picture Awards (BMPA) International Short Film Competition. Shortly after that, it was selected to be screened at the Foursite Film Festival taking place in Ogden, Utah early this month. McKenna is definitely on a roll.

So what’s so hot about this movie? Impulse is 23-minute mystery with an ending guaranteed to make you gasp. In the film, Deputy Todd Brackett comes across a fiery car crash that seems to be an ordinary accident. However, when an accident reconstructionist is called to the scene, what is uncovered is the furthest thing from ordinary. Shot in 24P and color-controlled so that the film is "not quite black and white, not quite color" the overall effect is shadowy and unsettling, and keeps the viewer on edge as much as the plot. McKenna believes that it may have been these visual effects that snared the attention of the judges in the Hollywood Film Festival. "All the effects were done using chroma keying (green screening) or keyframing within the NLE. While I carry a better knowledge now, it was still a very demanding approach for most filmmakers."

Then again, pretty much everything about making this film was demanding. Thirty-year old McKenna acted as producer, director, script writer, casting director, and editor. He also lined up the musical score, did continuity check, and monitored the budget — all while holding down his full-time job as Deputy Sheriff for Somerset County. "Impulse…was all about learning," McKenna says. "I had a very small budget to work with and had to do everything myself. I spent an ungodly amount of hours just teaching myself the ins and outs of the applications to make [it all] work, as well as figuring out the camera. Literally, I can remember days where I would get up early, say 8 am or so, and work until 2 to 3 in the morning just editing the footage." But the most challenging part of making Impulse didn’t come from external forces, but from himself. He found himself spending lots of time worrying about what people would think, and whether the story made sense or even whether it was worthwhile. "When developing a screenplay or project, I’m my own worse critic. I’m so fussy and anal." He pauses to laugh. "I haven’t figured out how to get around that yet."

He’s not complaining, though. McKenna, a resident of Sowhegan, Maine who grew up in Old Town, has had the desire to create films since childhood, although he only began to follow through on his interest in the past few years. "It’s like — what happened there?" says McKenna. "My family has always been artsy. My father was a photographer, my mother an artist….Growing up, I always loved to draw and paint, mostly sketches of bizarre ideas and creatures." He even recalls, at age 13, making a variety of short films with a camcorder. When he came of age, however, the idea of seriously pursuing a career in the arts seemed too "far-fetched," and he sought the security of a profession in law enforcement instead. But even as he rose through the ranks of the police department, the creative impulse never left him. His head constantly buzzed with story ideas (which he promptly recorded), and in his spare time, he played around — just for kicks — with digital video editing programs.

That all changed in early 2004 when McKenna saw a pro-military video by Ryan Hickman of Grouchymedia.com. This video so inspired him that he decided to create and send Hickman a video of his own. McKenna’s video, American Heroes, is a tribute to American troops in Iraq and has been downloaded a whopping 130,000 times. The success of this video boosted McKenna’s confidence and led him to create two more videos supporting the troops: Divine Intervention and Tributation, both of which continue to be extremely popular.

McKenna pinpoints these videos as the catalysts for his filmmaking aspirations. Before that, he never believed that an autodidact such as himself could have a chance in the filmmaking world. "I thought you needed an education in the film industry, a background pre-destined for you, or to [pull up] your stakes and move to L.A." But when a friend told him about the DVX100 and how it was the camera to have for a low budget independent filmmaker, and he saw how the quality was comparable ("though not 100%") to that of 35mm film stock, he changed his mind.

Impulse took just under a year to complete, from screenplay development to the final edit, which is about what McKenna expected. Despite the intensive amount of work and long hours it required, McKenna says that every stage of the production was a blast. Working with the actors — all locals and friends from the police department — seemed to be an especially interesting experience. "I was surprised at the level of professionalism and dedication the actors showed," says McKenna, "[particularly] since they weren’t being paid."

Speaking of not getting paid, all of the funding for Impulse came out of McKenna’s own pocket. The entire film, excluding the cost of McKenna’s labor, amounted to less than $1,000 to make. McKenna attributes the low cost to the fact that he took on many of the production roles that many filmmakers farm out to other people, and that the cast and crew donated their time. He marvels at how much it would have cost otherwise: "I took the time to itemize each budget line by adding what the actual cost of each part of the production would have been to see what I would have spent in actual figures to make this happen. The figure came to over $25,000."

For future funding, McKenna hopes to attract the attention of a private investor or studio through effective use of his production company, Negative Images. "I have 33 screenplays in development. Some can’t be done on a shoe-string budget…. Impulse seemed to be a workable film with a low budget. Until a higher budget can be found, most of my screen plays will undergo [fine-tuning]." McKenna emphasizes that the only reason he’d look for additional funding is to make higher quality films, not to make the big bucks. "Consider this, I would rather make films and earn what I make now and love every minute of it than see millions of dollars come from my projects. Not to say that if the opportunity came I wouldn’t jump on it, but the reason would be that I could deliver a much higher quality product with a higher budget. I have a real satisfaction after sharing a film with someone and have a good reaction come from them. This is the most rewarding aspect of filmmaking in my eyes."

That said, McKenna sounds like a man not longed for the police department. Even though he’s still working full-time, when talking about his day-job, one clearly hears the shades of past tense. Being in the police force, he says, "wasn’t a life-long venture. It’s a well-respected position and I really learned a lot. It teaches you a lot. I developed great screenplays because of stuff I experienced on the job." But will he stay? He hesitates, then says: "At the present moment." A few seconds later he adds, "I would like to venture off and create films, but I don’t expect anyone to give me handouts."

Perhaps some of his hesitation comes from knowing how tough it is to make it in the film business. McKenna is keenly aware of how much quality competition is out there. "During the post production, my curiosity led me to spy on what other people were doing. I guess I should not have been amazed, but it was actually quite a let down [to know] the amount of competition that there is. It was really a let down when you pour your heart and soul into something and see someone else’s work, [and end up] questioning yourself." However, McKenna didn’t let this bother him for long, deciding to let the competition spur him into improving his own work.

These days McKenna’s paramount hopes are to network with other filmmakers, drum up interest in his work, attend as many film festivals as he can — and keep developing high quality projects. Right now, he’s working on a new film called Rectification, which involves a mythical being that "rectifies" people. That is, he goes around doing to people what they have done unto others. "Next time, I want to hire real actors," he says, "I think I could pull it off."

If the talent he displayed in Impulse is any indication, there’s no doubt that he can.

Impulse is scheduled to be screened at the Foursite Film Festival, which will be held in Odgen, Utah, March 31-April 2, 2006. For more information about this film and other works by Kristian McKenna, visit McKenna’s website, www.negativeimages.com.


Impulse is scheduled to be screened at the Foursite Film Festival, which will be held in Odgen, Utah, March 31-April 2, 2006. For more information about this film and other works by Kristian McKenna, visit McKenna’s website, www.negativeimages.com.

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