Four Eyed Monsters is a 2005 film by Susan Buice and Arin Crumley. It roughly follows Buice and Crumley's real life relationship; the couple initially communicated only through artistic means because Arin was too shy to introduce himself to Susan.
| Four Eyed Monsters | |
|---|---|
| File:Femposter.jpg | |
| Directed by | Susan Buice Arin Crumley |
| Written by | Susan Buice Arin Crumley |
| Starring | Susan Buice Arin Crumley |
| Edited by | Susan Buice Arin Crumley |
| Music by | Andrew A. Peterson |
| Distributed by | self-distributed |
Release dates | December 1, 2006 (NYC) |
Running time | 70 minutes |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $3,135 (Estimate) |
The film was shot on MiniDV in Brooklyn and Manhattan, New York, Framingham, Massachusetts and Johnson, Vermont. It was edited on Apple's Final Cut Pro editing software. It debuted on the festival circuit in January 2006 at the Slamdance Film Festival, and theatrically on December 1st, 2006 in New York City at the Cinema Village in Greenwich Village.
It was released on DVD in May 2006.
Plot
A shy videographer (Arin) and an uninspired artist working as a waitress (Susan) meet on the Internet and spark a relationship. Fed up with the usual dating game, the two decide to not communicate verbally, only through artistic means to see if they can make it work.
Video Podcast
Throughout the creation of the the feature film, the filmmakers were constantly documenting how making the film was affecting their relationship and eventually how the issue of crediting their friends who helped them with the film blew up.
At first they just sat on all of this footage for a while. Then, after the film premiered at Slamdance 2005, they went to SXSW where they were inspired by all of the talk about filmmakers using blogs to try making a daily video blog about being at the festival. It caught on fast, and the filmmakers had gotten their feet wet learning the power of web video.
Then they went to more film festivals, continuing to film everything and on October 12, 2005, the day Apple announced the video capable iPod, Four Eyed Monsters posted Episode 0, an introductory episode teasing what their planned series would reveal.
Attention from the blogosphere and enthusiasm from a growing audience put the pressure on the filmmakers to deliver, and they then edited Episode 1. It basically revealed the evolution of the filmmakers' real lives into the creation of their feature film and ended letting the audience know the film got a phone call from Slamdance. The remaining episodes went on to show how getting approval from a festival changed everything in their lives and goes on to show how people who had helped with their film then started to want to receive directing credits.
The video podcast helped it receive promotion from major websites that wanted to see more of this kind of thing happen. For example, MySpace featured episodes 1, 2 and 3 on their homepage. This was before there was a filmmaker section on MySpace and before MySpace allowed users to upload videos. The iTunes podcast directory would also regularly feature the video podcast when new episodes would post.
The filmmakers have also been active in encouraging other filmmakers to post their material to the web. During 2006 and 2007, they attended many film festivals and conferences including Sundance, Digimart, IFP, and Berlin Talent Campus, spreading the word about how the exposure they received from their video podcast enabled them to self-distribute their movie.
As they self distributed to theaters, the filmmakers would make video messages, announcements and invitations they'd post to their video podcast feed to encourage participation in their film's distribution.
Currently, the video podcast is on a hiatus until the filmmakers have the next slew of episodes edited.
Awards
- Best New Directors - 2005 Brooklyn International Film Festival
- Chameleon Award - 2005 Brooklyn International Film Festival
- Student Jury Award - 2005 Newport International Film Festival
- Special Audience Award - 2005 South by South West Film Festival
- Special Mention - 2005 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival
- Nominated for Best Cinematography - 2007 Independent Spirit Awards
- Nominated for John Cassavetes Award - 2007 Independent Spirit Awards
- Winner of the Undiscovered Gems 2006 Showcase - Awarded 50K towards further theatrical release and 50K for a TV deal with Sundance Channel still under negotiation.