Interview - Kobi Shely redatelj filma MacHeads

Objavljeno 11.10.2008. Objavio/la: Roberta Barbarić
U sekciji Novosti |

Kao što smo najavili, evo interview-a s redateljem dokumentarca o Mac korisnicima, (www.macheadsthemovie.com) mladim svestranim autorom neobičnog imena: Kobi Shely. Osim što je režirao film, Kobi je napisao scenarij i bio jedan od glavnih producenata projekta. Kako ćete saznati, i sam je Mac korisnik, i to poprilično često ističe. Bio je jako susretljiv i čak progovorio par riječi na hrvatskom jeziku. Po onome što smo čuli i mogli vidjeti iz trailer-a, film će biti pravi hit. Napokon će krenuti u distribuciju još ove jeseni. Nismo sigurni na koji način će doći kod nas, i hoće li biti prijevoda, ali oni najuporniji zasigurno će se snaći i s engleskom verzijom. Kao i uvijek do sad obećala sam intervju objaviti i na engleskom jeziku…

- Za početak Kobi reci nam, jesi li i ti MacHead?

- Jako volim Macintosh i Mac zajednicu, no još nisam siguran jesam li i ja MacHead. Moje prvo iskustvo s Mac-om bilo je u 1996. kad sam išao na sate video editiranja. Tad sam prvi put imao susret s Mac-om na kojem se vrtio Avid. Trebate shvatiti kako je u to vrijeme program za video editiranje bila investicija od nekoliko tisuća dolara, te kako je mogućnost imati Mac doma za video editiranje bila više san nego stvarnost. Onda sam 2000. godine kupio svoj prvi Mac i naravno Final Cut Pro 2.0. Kao i mnogima, to mi je omogućilo veliku kreativnost i rad koji najviše volim - pravljenje filmova.

- Pošto si odrastao u Izraelu, imaš potpuno drukčiji pogled na Mac “fandom”. Ovdje kod nas je ista situacija, mala smo ali rastuća zajednica. Što je to što spaja Mac korisnike i tjera ih na formiranje udruga, zajednica ili fan klubova?

- To je odlično pitanje, upravo to smo htjeli istražiti s MacHeads-ima. Između ostalih odogovora otkrili smo kako postoje dva glavna odgovora - Mac zajednicu možete promatrati kao dvije grupe. Jedna su Mac veterani, ljudi koji su se odlučili za mac u vrijeme samih početaka, kad uopće nije bio toliko popularan, a druga grupa su Switcheri, ljudi koji su se pridružili Apple svijetu kad je postao globalno popularan. Upravo sam završio intervju s marketinškim ekspertom Martinom Lindstormom. On misli kako mlađa generacija MacHeads-a želi biti u centru pozornosti, žele podijeliti uspjeh. S druge strane, tu su veterani koji su se držali skupa u vrijeme kad nije bilo interneta, kad se trebalo pronaći i obratiti jedni drugima za bilo kakav problem. Oni su imali jasnog “neprijatelja” - Microsoft. Ljudi nisu samo razgovarali o računalima, već i o stvarima koje rade na njima, kreirali su čvrste veze i duga prijateljstva. Ovako je bilo i Izraelu, a vjerujem i u Hrvatskoj, svim zemljama gdje Apple ne ulaže uopće u marketing. Mislim kako je izvrsno kad možemo promatrati druženje i povezanost ljudi kroz vrijeme, ljudi koji dijele istu strast. Mislim kako smo izgubili jedan dio toga kad je sve prešlo na internet. Možda izgleda kao ista zajednica, ali je izgubilo neku čar koju je imalo u 80-tim godinama.

- Pročitali smo kako si dobio ideju za snimanje filma na osnovu jedne Mac vs. PC prepirke. Možeš li nam reći nešto više o tome?

- Naravno. 2006. godine sam snimao kratke filmove, a moja ekipa sastojala se od pravih filmskih fanova. Nravno, mnogi razgovori vrtili su se oko filmova. Raspravljali smo također koje je okruženje bolje za kreativce, Mac ili PC. Onda je moj pomoćnik uzviknuo kako ima vijest da Apple prelazi na Intel procesore što je vodilo do prave debate između MacHeads-a i Windows poklonika. Sve je pomalo izmaklo kontroli. Pošto sam bio usred rasprave, nisam ni primijetio kako sam potrošio cijeli sat snimanja. Došao sam doma sa strahom da je Apple zajednica koju ja volim i poznajem došla do svog kraja. Odmah sam rekao bratu da krenemo u San Fancisco na Macworld konferenciju kako bismo snimali zadnje dane Apple-a onakvog kakvog poznajemo. Jeli potrebno reći kako sam bio u krivu?

Jedan od protagonista filma koji je napravio Apple muzej u svom domu

Ti i tvoj brat ste obojica kreativci. Koristite li isključivo Mac-ove?

- Moj dobri prijatelj me naziva ATO (autistična tech osoba). Sebe smatram Mac veteranom, pomalo sam paranoičan da ću biti ostavljen sam u PC svijetu i da neću nviknuti koristiti control umjesto command. Nadam se da se to ipak neće dogoditi. Koristim Avid na mom G5 PowerMac-u, također volim FCP. Moj brat Ron nije uopće tech osoba, kad mu treba računalo - koristi PC.

- Jesi li gledao Pirate Silikonske doline? Što misliš o tom filmu?

- Nekoliko sam puta pogledao taj film, zbog istraživanja. Mislim kako je to izvrstan Indie film. Dobijete dobru sliku o tome kako su neki ljudi promijenili svijet (uključujući Bill-a) To je bilo uzbudljivo razdoblje.

- A Trijumf šmokljana? (OK, znam da je pomalo nezgrapan prijevod, ali ovo je službeni hrvatski prijevod filma - The triumph of the nerds)

- Moram priznati kako sam taj dokumentarac gledao kao teenager, ali ga se slabo sjećam. Ne mogu reći da mi je bio inspiracija. MacHeads jest geek film, ali ide dublje u istraživanje tog fenomena. Nerds (molim da se nađe pravi hrvatski prijevod, do tad koristimo izvorni op. a. ) dolaze u raznim oblicima. Mi u filmu imamo sex božicu Violet Blue, a s druge strane imamo Taylora Barcrofta koji cijeli dan provodi ispred Mac-a. Zaista smo htjeli istražiti u čemu je Apple uspjeh, i shvatili smo da je to u zajednici.

- MacHeads film često uspoređuju s Trekkies dokumentarcima. Što misliš o tome?

- Mogu shvatiti zašto nas povezuju s Trekkijima. Naš prvi trailer jako podsjeća na Trekkies. Volim Trekkies, i mislim da su to prvi filmovi koji su otvorili vrata Geek kulture. Ovi filmovi su rađeni sredinom devedesetih, ali još uvijek se mogu gledati i uživati u njima. Ponavljam, MacHeads su ipak nešto malo drukčiji.

- Naši čitatelji bi htjeli znati kad će film napokon bit dostupan za gledanje?

- Još ove jeseni. Prije sedam mjeseci smo prikazali prvi trailer, i nismo očekivali toliko zanimanje. U to vrijeme još nismo završili film. Tad smo shvatili kako moramo ubrzati proces i završiti film. Zadnja četiri mjeseca bili smo zauzeti dogovorima za distribuciju filma. Ne mogu vam dati više detalja zbog povjerljivog ugovora koji smo potpisali, ali mislim kako će MacHeads distribuirati dvije velike tvrtke.

-Možeš li nam reći malo više o sebi. Tvoj najdraži redatelj, film, knjiga…

- Rođen sam u Izraelu, ali sam studirao u SAD. Bio sam pomoćnik Scota Donigera, dobitnika Emmy nagrade. Režirao sam mnoge glazbene spotove za televiziju, sudjelovao u filmovima koji su išli na festivale i osvajali nagrade. Pokušao sam angažirati producente u Izraelu za financiranje MacHeads filma, ali nisam imao sreće. Jednostavno sam uzeo sav novac sa svog računa i snimio film neovisno. Imam nekoliko omiljenih filmova, ali najdraži mi je Midnight Run s Robertom De Nirom iz 1988. godine. Mislim da je to remek djelo. Sjećam se kako sam pokušavao kupiti soundtrack, no bilo je nemoguće doći do njega. Kad sam ga napokon dobio, ukrali su mi ga iz autmobila. Kao dijete volio sam gledati komedije poput Blues brothers, ili žanrove koji uključuju “blackplotation”, takvih filmova nedostaje danas. Kad bih mogao, rado bih režirao komične kratke filmove “comedy chase” u New Yorku. Najdraža knjiga trenutačno bi bila The Brooklyn Follies od Paul Austera.

-Radiš li već na nekom novom projektu?

- Radim novi dokumentarac o djeci iz Sjeverne Karoline, ali ne mogu reći ništa više o tome za sad.

- Možeš li nam reći jeli preseljenje u SAD. utjecalo na tvoj život. Jesi li dobio pozitivne ili negativne posljedice na karijeru i rad?

- Preseljenje u SAD imalo je samo pozitivni utjecaj na moju karijeru. Preporučio bih to svakome. Nema to puno veze s mojim studiranjem, iako sam mnogo naučio tu. Više bih rekao kako je utjecalo na moj rad to što živim u gradu koji diše u skladu s filmskom umjetnošću i na taj način mi otvara horizonte. Nevjerojatno je to iskustvo, upoznao sam toliko zanimljivih ljudi iz cijelog svijeta i radio s mnogim profesionalcima. Prvo iskustvo s montažom bilo je u NBC-u i HBO-u. Ako želite biti profesionalac američka kultura je najbolja škola za to.

- Imaš li neki omiljeni software koji koristiš?

- Moram priznati kako obožavam Avid. FCP je izvrstan ali u zadnje vrijeme zanemaruje offline editiranje. Garageband je odličan, uvijek sam sanjao o nekim efektima distorzija za moju gitaru, i upravo ovaj software mi je to omogućio. Ispunio mi je san, ali ne baš i mojim susjedima!

- Za kraj ću ti reći kako Mac zajednica u Hrvatskoj i šire željno isčekuje film. Imaš li nešto posebno poručiti Mac zajednici u Hrvatskoj i regiji?

-Puno hvala (doslovce je napisao na hrvatskom, i onda upitao jel se tako piše…) Jako sam sretan da će ljudi iz Hrvatske gledati MacHeads. To je i glavni razlog zašto ljudi snimaju filmove, kako bi ih mogli gledati ljudi iz različitih kulturnih okruženja. Jednu stvar koju mogu reći hrvatskim Mac korisnicima jest to da im zavidimo što će dobiti iPhone, Izrael još nije na lisit zemalja koje ga dobivaju.

Scena iz filma, s Macworld konferencije u San Franciscu

______________________________________________________

As I promised to Kobi, I will publish this interview in English as well. Here it goes:

- First of All, Kobi tell us, are you a Machead?

I love Macintosh and the Mac community not so sure I’m a Macheads that’s a question I’m still struggling and can’t come up with a clear answer. My first Mac experience was back in 1996 when I took video editing class. That’s the first time I saw a Mac that was running Avid. You have to understand that back than editing programs was thousands of dollars operation and to own a Mac and the ability to edit movies at home was a more a dream than reality. Than in 2000 I bought my first Mac, and of course Final Cut Pro 2.0. As for many the Mac gave me the ability to become creative person and to work at what I love the most - Filmmaking.

- Since you grew up in Israel, you have totally different view of Mac fandom, here in Croatia it’s the same, small but growing community. What is the thing that bring Mac users together, to make them form groups, communities or fan clubs?

That’s a very good question, and we set out to explore this phenomenon in MacHEADS. Among the many reasons we discovered, I believe the answer splits, you have to look at the Mac community and divide into two groups. The veterans, those who choose the Mac when it was small and not popular at all, and the switches the people who joined Apple after it became world wide success. I just finished an interview with marketing guru Martin Lindstorm, he thinks that the younger generation of Macheads want to be in the limelight they want to share the success. The veterans are at the other end where they were sticking together in bad times. They had a clear enemy Microsoft and the threat of extinction made them close. Back than the internet wasn’t developed and so in order to find answers to your Mac problems you had to go to a meeting and discuss your issues with other mac enthusiast. People didn’t just talked about computers but also talked about what they were doing with them, creating close bonds and long lasting friendship. That’s how it is in Israel and Croatia and every other place where Apple don’t put a lot of effort in marketing. I think it’s very cool it’s like a time capsule that we can enjoy the company of people who share the same passion. I think we are losing something when everything went online, it may seem like the same community in the 80s but it’s very different.

- We read about how you got the idea for making a film from a Mac vs. PC fight. Can you tell us more about this?

Sure, back in 2006 I was filming my short Intervention. My crew was composed of avid film fans and of course most of our conversation related to film issues. I think we were arguing what was the best system for creative, Mac or Pc. My assistant director stormed in and said that he got a message saying Apple is going to switch to the intel chip, and that lead into a steam debate between macheads and windows fans. The mac fans were pounded that the end is near for Apple, and it got a bit out of control. I was in the midst of the argument and didn’t notice I’ve lost an hour of filming. I went back home with the notion that the Apple community I love so much is at its final hours, and so I called my brother and told him we’re going to SF for the macworld expo to document the last days of Apple as we know it Needles to say I was way off with my assumptions.

- You and your Brother are both very creative. Do you both use macs, and only macs?

Yes, as my good friend calls it ATP an autistic tech person. I consider myself belong to the old school of Mac users, I’m a bit paranoid that this can all end some day and I will be left alone in a PC world nor knowing how use control button instead of command. I use Avid on my G5 and also I love FCP. My brother Ron is not very on the tech side, he uses Windows…

- Did you see the Pirates of the Silicon Valley, what do you think about that movie?

I did saw it a few times for my research, I think it’s a great indie movie. You get a good sense of how two people changed the world (yes even Bill is responsible), it was an exciting era.

- How about the Triumph of the nerds, was this, at some point, your inspiration?

I must admit I saw it when I was a teenager but don’t remember a lt. I can’t say it was my inspiration. MacHEADS is a geek movie of course but it goes beyond the cliches of what it is to be a nerd. Nerds come in all shapes and form, we got sex goddess Violet blue and on the other hand we have Taylor Barcroft who spends most of his day in front of his Mac. We really wanted to understand what Made Apple a success and we believe its the community.

- Macheads is often related to The Trekkies documentaries. What do you think about that?

I can understand why it was linked to Trekkies. Our first trailer does resemble it a lot. I love treekies, I think it’s the first movie that opened the gates of Geek flicks, it was made in the mid 90s and still you can see it and enjoy it. I think it stands the test of time. Butagain MacHEADS is a bit different.

- Our readers want to know when the film is going to be released finally, when will we be able to buy it or watch it somewhere?

Coming this Fall we will be releasing MacHEADS. Seven months ago when we first aired the trailer we weren’t expecting the volume of reactions. We didn’t finish the film at that time, we were far from it, and since than we understood that we have to speed the process and get the film finished. In the last 4 months we were busy negotiating distribution deals with one goal in mind. I can’t go in too much details, because of confidential contract we signed, but we think we’ve accomplished securing MacHEADS by signing with 2 big distribution companies.

-Can you tell us a little more about yourself. Your favorite Movie, director, book???

I was born in Israel and left to the US to study film. I was an assistant editor in NY for Emmy award winner editor Scot Doniger. I did a few shorts that went on to film festivals won few awards, directed tons of music videos and promos for Television. I hated Promos so much and so I tried to interest producers in Israel to raise money for MacHEADS but none complied. So I took all the money from my bank account and filmed the movie independently. I have a few favorite movies, the top my list is - Midnight Run with Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin (it’s from 1988) I think it’s master piece. I remember I tried to buy the soundtrack and it was impossible that finally when I did, it was stolen from my car. Growing up I used to love watching comedy chases like the blues brothers and Genres like blacksploitation, they just don’t make those movies anymore. If I had a chance I would direct a comedy chase in NY. Favorite book right now is Paul Auster’s The Brooklyn Follies.

-Are you already working on some new projects?

Yes, I’m working on a documentary that involves kids in North Carolina, can’t go into too much details at this point.

- Can you tell us, did moving to USA changed your life in any way, and how did it affect your professional carrier in positive or negative ways?

Moving to the US had only a positive affect on professional carrier. I recommend it very much, I don’t think it has to do with my studies so much, although I did learn a lot, but I think its the fact that you live in a city that lives and breathes Cinema contributes to broaden your horizons. It was an incredible experience I got to meet a lot of interesting people from all over the world, and I got a chance to work on professional sets, and get first hand experience at the editing room on NBC and HBO programs. Also If you want to be professional American culture is best school for pros.

-Do you have any favorite software that you use everyday?

Must admit I love Avid. I think FCP is great but over the years it neglected offline editing a bit. Garageband is brilliant, I always dreamed about certain distortion effects for my guitar, and that software made my dreams come true, not so much for my neighbors I must say…

- We would like to tell you that Mac community in Croatia is excited and looking forward to see this movie. Do you have anything special to say to Croatian Mac user community?

Puno hvala, (I think it’s Thank you very much in Croatia), I’m very excited with the idea that people from Croatia will see MacHEADS, that’s the reason people are making movies, to have people from different cultures experience it from their point of view. One thing I can say to the Croatian mac users that here in Israel we envy them for getting iPhones, Israel is off the list.

Tagovi: Ovaj članak nije označen ni jednim tagom.

Komentari:

8 komentara na “Interview - Kobi Shely redatelj filma MacHeads”

Alen u 15:07, 11.10.2008.

Sve pohvale Roberta!

Pozdrav
john_st u 15:19, 11.10.2008.

performita rastura…

tko je slijedeći? Steve Jobs himself???

ili pak Anthony Michael Hall? znam da si slaba na njega pa…
Tomislav Lončar u 15:30, 11.10.2008.

Klap klap again trailer MacHeadsa sam gledao cim je izasao i jedva cekam cijeli film.

Roberta daj pokusaj doci do Jonathan-a da malo nam kaze nesto o novim proizvodima koje dizajnira
Ivan Nikolic u 16:14, 11.10.2008.

Cestitke na intervjuu, nadam se Steve Jobsu uskoro ;P
vip u 19:50, 11.10.2008.

odlično kao i uvijek.. s nestrpljenjem čekam film, i naravno, sljedeći Robertin intervju
d1a u 10:30, 12.10.2008.

mogu samo reci bravo. Ako se ovakve stvari nastave mackorisnik ce morati dobiti INT verziju za ovakve inteviewe i tekstove na engleskom! go global!
Šime Šoić u 14:13, 12.10.2008.

Dobar intervju….
I meni je palo napamet da bi mogli međunaradno s ovakvim intervjuima
Edin Selimović u 08:45, 13.10.2008.

Giggly, giggly, giggly!!!