Interview with Filmmaker Kyle Yip (IN MY ROOM)

IN MY ROOM played to rave reviews at the May 2020 Experimental Film Festival.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Kyle Vip: I approach my music practice from a visual artist’s perspective. I began producing electronic music because I was interested in the idea of invisible art. Techno music in particular has been historically regarded as one of the most anonymous if not faceless genres, so there hasn’t been much in the way of underground electronic music videos or narrative filmmaking up until recently. I wanted to honour the artists’ creative process by creating narrative between art and music.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this short?

Approximately three years.

3. How would you describe your short film in two words!?

Alcoholics Anonymous.

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

I think the biggest obstacle we faced in completing this film was the scene with the bubbles. We had a very tight budget to work with so each bubble had to be masked by hand, frame by frame.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to hear such positive feedback about our film in the feedback video. Whether it’s about my work or somebody else’s, it’s always gratifying to hear people embrace new ideas with such openness.

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:

6. How did you come up with the idea for this short film?

Colin and I discussed a number of ideas before production began. While we were having this ongoing dialogue over the first year, I began dreaming a lot about my art, film, and music practice. I introduced the idea to Colin to use a nightmare I had as inspiration for the music video. I also understand that Colin is a very talented filmmaker with many original ideas so I wanted to give him the opportunity to express himself as freely as possible. We finally decided on a conceptual reinterpretation of the dream, which continued evolving until completion.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?

The Face of Another by Hiroshi Teshigahara.

8. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway, what are your feelings of the submission platform from a filmmaker’s perspective?

The FilmFreeway is an efficient way for emerging filmmakers to submit their independent film projects to a number of international open calls and film festivals. My only feedback for them would be that there seems to have been a bit of a loss of quality when it comes to the compression of video files uploaded to their website. We managed to work around this by providing festivals direct download links via third party file transfers.

9. What song have you listened to the most times in your life?

L.A. Nights by Yasuko Agawa.

10. What is next for you? A new film?

I am currently reproducing an ongoing series of paintings, sculptures and short films from my dreams.