As part of our efforts to give you a glimpse into our story and characters before they finally make it into the final film, we’re conducting interviews with our cast and crew to get their insight into roles in this film and their careers in general. Now that filming has wrapped, we are into Post-Production. A huge, sometimes under appreciated part of Post-Production is the composition of the score. There are stories of Halloween going before a test audience and people getting bored and leaving the screening. Then, the same print was shown later with the distinct synthesizer soundtrack and people were scared to death and Halloween went on to be one of the greatest horror films of all time. And now that task in Cherry Bomb falls upon the shoulders of Jason Latimer. And besides all that, he also found time to Executive Produce the film. Basically when we needed something done, Latimer was there to make sure it got done and the film would not have made it to Post without him. So, we asked him about all things music and producing. Good read below. Below are the questions we asked him post-shoot and his responses:
10 Questions
1. I’ll break this down into some composer questions and some producer questions. Producer question first. This is your first feature to produce. We took on an incredible task in making an action period piece for under $100k In hindsight, what would you have/should we have done different that may help other young producers?
Really the most helpful thing we could have done was to bring more people on to handle the workload. Given our budget and time restraints, we all ended up wearing a lot more hats than we probably would have liked to. There were several times when I would like to have been able to give my input on set, but instead I would find myself taking care of any number of things that would have otherwise fallen through the cracks.
As far as actually producing the thing for under $100k, a big part of it was relying on our instincts and our guerrilla filmmaking experience, and generally things turned out really well. I think a lot of the fun in indie filmmaking comes from the necessity for creative thinking and problem solving when you don’t have the money to do things the easy way.
2. Who do you think this film will appeal to?
The obvious answer is that Cherry Bomb appeals to horny, bloodthirsty teenage boys. But really, we’ve done a lot of work to ensure that it’s not so two-dimensional. Unlike a lot of the 80s movies we tried to emulate, Cherry Bomb strives to create more of a sense of empathy for the characters, instead of just using their mishaps as impetus to move the story.
It’s an action movie, but it’s got some depth to it. I’m sure I’ll catch hell for this, but I’ve always thought (coming from a writing point of view at least) that the movie has a sort of feminist element to it. Cherry finds herself in a vulnerable situation and ultimately empowers herself to take revenge against the men who have committed one of the worst possible acts against a woman. She faces a lot of obstacles (almost all of them are imposed directly by chauvinistic or misogynistic male characters) and she grows as a person as the movie progresses.
I think Cherry Bomb is going to have a wider appeal than some people think, but you’ll definitely want to leave the kids at home for this one.
3. What has been the most rewarding part of being a producer?
I’ll let you know…
A bad ass pimp and Nick Manning.
…just kidding. It’s been really cool to see some of the things that we’ve been able to make happen with so little time and money. Generally speaking, everyone we approached for help, whether it was using their house as a location, or providing catering, helping us locate props… whatever, most people were very helpful and generally excited about helping our little project come together. The support and enthusiasm from other filmmakers and our online fanbase has been incredible as well. It’s kind of humbling in a way, but also really cool to see so many people excited about what we were doing.
But aside from that, and getting to be around a lot of really cool people all day, it’s not the kind of job where you can expect any kind of immediate gratification. It’s been a great exercise in patience for me, and I think that when the movie comes out, that’s when people will start to recognize all the hard work that went into making it.
4. What actor or actress is most going to surprise us?
If I told you, you wouldn’t be surprised!
All of the actors did a great job, especially given the harsh shooting environment. Julin was on set almost every single day doing fights, stunts, emotional scenes… and several of those were 14 hour days.
Allen Hackley, who plays the hitman Bull, came onto the project with little experience, but he has an understanding of what really goes into understanding and becoming a character, which is a completely necessary quality that many “professional” actors lack.
I think Nick Manning sort of surprised some of us a bit too. He showed up on his first day completely off book. I’m talking COMPLETELY. Also the guy is a born entertainer and I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone with quite so much energy. He really embraced the part and was a blast to work with.
5. What is your next step in your career as a producer?
Well I guess technically, my next step is to put on my composer hat and produce some music! But as far as producing film, probably a few smaller projects before I tackle another big one like this. Kyle and I are talking with Austin hip hop artist NIKKAGE about shooting another music video soon, and I’m sure we’ll do some more shorts as well. Once it’s time to start conceptualizing our next big project, I think I’d like to work on a comedy with a bit of an action edge to it.
6. As a composer, what sound are you looking to achieve?
Kyle and I always talked about a soundtrack that would fit the feel and period of our movie, but that would also be modern enough to be interesting to today’s viewers. I suppose the sound we’re trying to find is partially influenced by the 80s synth-heavy, drum machine-laden soundtracks of The Terminator or any of the stuff that John Carpenter composed for his films. The other part is influenced by more modern electronic music — mostly industrial stuff like Nine Inch Nails, Massive Attack, Stabbing Westward…
7. How did you get into music and music composition?
I started playing the alto sax at school in the 5th grade. I think there were about 20 of us. It must have sounded awful, but our teacher was cool enough to let us play stuff like the theme from Jurassic Park or whatever, so most of us were actually interested in learning. I kept playing through high school, and had fantastic teachers in school that really taught me a lot about music, and helped me to develop a good ear. I picked up the tenor and baritone saxes, learned guitar, picked up a bass, played around with sousaphone a bit… I always liked learning new things about music and playing new instruments. Once I got to Austin, I was really into learning to record, as well as learning how to make electronic music, so I bought a nice synthesizer and more or less taught myself.
8. When you compose, is it more input coming from the director before you start composing or more so you putting ideas out there and the director guiding you in a new direction?
It’s nice working on this project as composer, because Kyle and I think a lot alike and are pretty much on the same page as far as what we want. Also, I have a film background, so he doesn’t have to be hovering over me, telling me which parts need to convey what, etc. I get it, and I’m sure he appreciates the fact that he won’t have to micro-manage the composition stage.
9. Kind of a producer/composer question. Are you going to be composing any original songs or seeking out local bands to fill out a soundtrack and if so, what sort of sound will you be looking for?
There are certain scenes where I would definitely like to find some local and/or indie artists to really help establish the tone. We haven’t gotten too far into what music we want to get rights for, or have people write for us, but I expect about 90% of the soundtrack to be an original score.
10. The initial assault on Cherry is something that has to be handled delicately and respectfully. We in no way try to glorify what happens to Cherry, but are you worried about any sort of backlash or difficult questions on the subject?
This has been a concern from the very beginning, and while there isn’t one right way to do a rape scene, there are a LOT of wrong ways to do it. We spent a lot of time thinking about the best way to do the scene, and I really don’t expect it to upset too many people, if any (knock on wood).
There’s definitely a chance that some people are going to be offended, or maybe misunderstand what we’re trying to do, but it’s tricky subject matter and I can understand that. It’s really sort of a horrible thing, so you have to be careful how you portray it, especially in comparison to the other violent acts in the movie. You don’t want to linger on it, or be too graphic, but at the same time, you can’t just gloss over it simply as an inciting incident with no other residual effects on the characters and story.
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