T. J. De Bos

Can you explain to the audience your career?

I’ve spent the last decade or so primarily with music as my main creative outlet, both as an artist and producer. This year, I began making YouTube videos doing guitar mods, D.I.Y. studio upgrades, and that sort of thing. I’ve always wanted to get into filmmaking, having written screenplays and jotting down many movie ideas throughout the years, but it wasn’t until recently, and because of my YouTube channel, that I actually had the equipment and skill set to start making them.

How many years have you been making movies?

This is essentially my first year. A few school projects from many years ago, a music video or two, and some YouTube videos in the past. But this is my first short film, and I had so much fun doing it. Certainly won’t be my last.

Why did you start making movies?

I’ve always loved film, it’s the ultimate art form, using writing, visuals, music, and everything combined into one cohesive package. Coming from music, I’ve always loved the process of creating and refining something until it feels finished, but recorded music relies heavily on the stuff that comes afterwards, like rehearsing, live performances, social media, and that type of thing that I haven’t always enjoyed as much due to stage fright and social media awkwardness. What has always appealed to me about filmmaking is that the finished film itself is the performance. You can spend time polishing and perfecting it until you are satisfied, and when someone watches it, they get to experience it as you intended.

Tell us a little about your project. What will the audience be able to see in your film?

The idea behind the film is from Japanese folklore - ikiryō means “living ghost” and is basically the ghost of a person that’s still alive, as opposed to what we typically think of ghosts being spirits of the dead. It's brought on by a person being under such intense emotions that their soul leaves their body to haunt the source of their pain. It’s a play on that idea, in that what if that source was themselves? I intentionally left the underlying issue with the main character ambiguous, and just let the emotions behind his struggle drive the story. I hope that leaves the audience room to make the story feel more personal and relatable to their own struggles, and see themselves in the character.

Why did you do this project?

I’ve known for a while that filmmaking was the ultimate goal, and convinced myself it was finally time to just make something. I set out to try and make a short film that would play to my strengths. Some of the things I was worried about were things like dialogue and audio, lighting, and being able to direct actors and crew while having no prior experience on a film set. So I intentionally wrote it in a way that turned these weaknesses into strengths. For example, the idea to shoot in mostly black and white and use color sparingly as a storytelling element, also masked my inexperience in lighting at times, and allowed for the color scenes to be more impactful. No dialogue allowed room for heavy use of scoring and minimized potential audio imperfections, while also playing to my strengths as a musician. I knew I wanted to act in this alone, and so in order to have some sort of character dynamics, I played around with the idea of someone being haunted by their own likeness, to where I could play both versions of the character, experimenting with ideas of using mimics, psychological elements, and other angles. Then, when I considered Ikiryō, imagining if a person was so upset with themselves that their own spirit started to haunt them, I started asking questions like what would cause this to happen, what if they tried to just ignore it, or what if they couldn’t tell if it was even real? Do I even want to answer those questions, or leave them open-ended? This idea really opened up the story for me while writing it, and it felt like the perfect fit to write in all the techniques I wanted to try.

One of the problems some directors encounter is directing actors and dealing with some actors, especially in the amateur world. How do you see this topic? What kind of work do you do with them?

Given my lack of experience working on sets and working with actors, I felt as if I needed to do something on my own first to learn and also prove to myself, as much as to others, that I was capable of filmmaking and directing. Having worked with artists as a producer, and in bands, and that sort of thing, I feel the approach is similar. You have to always leave room to let everyone collaborate and feel comfortable expressing their ideas, and be open minded and never married to an idea so much that you close out any opportunities to make it better. That being said, trust your vision and what is true to you as an artist, and just because someone doesn’t like an idea doesn’t mean it’s bad or something to throw away. So it's a delicate balance between the two. Even in this film, directing myself, I left room to experiment and try things in the moment, and you never know what you’ll end up using when you make the final cut. Some of those unplanned moments like that I think ended up being some of the strongest shots in this film.

A good movie takes care of all departments. But normally we can not allocate all the resources to have a good photography or spend a lot of money on sound post production or budget to hire actors. In your project what % have you allocated to. I don't just mean money but time as well. Of 100% of the time/money, what % did you dedicate to each department?

-Direction: 20% - mostly writing, storyboarding, and making a shot list all preproduction. Even though it was just me acting and directing, the precise planning allowed me to knock out all of the filming in just a few days.

-Photography: 15%

-Sound: 20%

-Postproduction: 40% - editing had the steepest learning curve for me, and trying to get it just right can take so much time experimenting with different cuts. Sometimes you have to make a decision between multiple choices that work in different ways, and that can be difficult too.

-Work with actors: 0%

-Art direction/locations: 5% - I basically used what we had available. Luckily my talented wife Missy’s artwork on the walls created a beautiful and interesting visual backdrop. Most of the actual ‘budget’ of less than $100 total was spent on things to add depth to the story, such as the matching yellow and white shower curtain, towel, and tie for the character, creating this subtle question of why all these things match.

If you could go back, what would you change about this project? (1 thing only)

The first couple scenes. I shot this in mostly sequential order to what is shown in the film, and learned a lot during the process, as well as the story slightly evolving as I went along. So I think the first couple scenes would have turned out much better if I could do them over again, having learned what I did and knowing what the story would evolve into. If you’ve seen the film, you know there was a point of no return regarding the character’s appearance, which I had already passed and couldn’t reshoot, so had to use what I had.

What are you happiest about this project?

The emotional undertones and selective use of color worked much better than I anticipated, and evolved into something deeper than when I set out to make just a “what if you were haunted by an entity that looked like you” horror short. Also, I think the score really fits nicely and ties it all together. I didn’t know what to expect when I started, but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out overall. Also, Ikiryo was recently named an official selection for the Indiewood Film Festival, and will make its premiere in Hollywood at the TCL Chinese Theatres in September, which seems very surreal to have it on any screen, let alone one as historic as that one.

Make a wish to the movie gods. What do you ask?

My only wish would be that all the joy and excitement I had making this small, no-budget short film continues into future projects, and I am able to collaborate more with others and continue learning and making films, and hopefully features, well into the future.

What movie would you have liked to direct?

That is a very tough question, my answer would probably change daily. 1984 comes to mind. One of the Star Wars sequels. The Matrix. There are so many.

What kind of cinema do you like? Genre, directors, actors?

Movies are a passion of mine, so I like to watch anything and everything, especially at the theaters. My favorite genre is probably horror, just because I feel like it keeps you on edge, and the best ones usually have some themes and allegories hidden beneath the surface that are not always obvious. I love sci-fi. I love good cinematography, and a good score. Anything with a good story really. If it sticks with you for a while after watching and makes you think on it for days - those are my favorites.

Imagine that all the movies are going to be lost. If you could save 3 movies, what would they be?

2001: A Space Odyssey, Whiplash, and Interstellar. Again my answer could be different tomorrow, but those are 3 masterpieces that came to my mind first.

If you have more projects underway, can you give us a bit of information?

I am currently working on developing a new series for my YouTube channel to start by the end of the year, it’s basically a rewind on various topics, anything from old brands, stories of albums, and other interesting pop culture stuff. I have quite a few short screenplays written, and I’m planning to film and release a few of them next year as well. I am hoping to continue my path to eventually making feature films, and everything I do can be found on my socials and YouTube channel @mwcoast. Would love to have you all follow along on our journey by following us there. When it comes to Ikiryō, once the festival run is over, it will be posted free to watch on our YouTube as well, and the soundtrack will be available on streaming services and free download on our website www.mwcoast.com along with information on all of our past and future projects.

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