Interview with "Shanghai" Kate Hellenbrand

On Friday June 3, 2011 I drove out to Buffalo, NY for a long awaited interview with the world renowned tattoo artist "Shanghai" Kate Hellenbrand. Noted to be one of the world's top 10 tattoo artists I would venture to say that both my excitement and my nerves were at a high.

Reaching Buffalo I pulled into the hotel where we would be conducting the interview and I immediately grabbed my equipment and headed upstairs towards my room. Upon entering my room my first thoughts were "How in the hell am I going to conduct an interview in here?" The room was very small offering no room for the lights, camera and sound equipment. I had to be inventive and I had to figure it out before the next days interview.

So, I decided this all had to change! I grabbed the two end tables next to each side of the bed and moved to the front door and then pushed the bed that was perpendicular to the wall and made it parallel. This gave me just enough space for the equipment and for Kate to sit.

As I brought up the last bit of equipment and in the middle of my brainstorming of furniture arrangement, I pulled out my iphone and shot a text to Kate letting her know that I had arrived. I got an immediate response letting me know that she would be just a bit longer. "Great, this gives me more time to figure this arrangement out and finish setting up".

After about an hour or so I was well on my way to having things set-up fairly well where the interview would look good on film. Then suddenly I got a text from Kate saying she had arrived to her room. She invited me over and my nerves went wild as I had no idea what to expect but I couldn't let that get in the way! She was two doors down and I polished myself up and headed down the hallway and knocked on the door.

As the door opened I was met with a big smile and a delicate handshake. I took a seat and she laid on her bed as she suffers from a bad back from multiple injuries. We started sharing stories of our injuries and how we came to be we we are today. As the conversation enrolled nearly 45 minutes passed by. I found myself to be not only with one of the world's top tattoo artists but an intelligent, funny and caring women whom left me inspired to continue following my dreams. As I stood up we agreed to meet the next morning for breakfast before the interview and then I left towards my room to complete setting up for the following morning.

I continued setting up the equipment testing the lighting making sure it fell just right on my subjects face and testing the audio making sure it would sound crisp and clear. Midnight was upon me and I laid on my bed in exhaustion amongst a room strewn with cables, mics, camera and furniture piled in the corners.

The next morning greeted me with an over the top alarm clock that sent me flying to the snooze button. It was eight o'clock and I had an hour to get ready and make any last minute changes or adjustments before I met Kate for breakfast. Nine o'five... a knock on the door, "House keeping". I laughed as the soft sweet voice could only be Kate.

We headed to the corner restaurant and spent nearly an hour talking over eggs, bacon and banana bread french toast. We talked about everything from politics to tattoos and right when we were finished my phone received a text from the photographer, "I am on my way".

We headed back to the hotel and we were met by the photographer. I mentioned to the photographer that this was going to be quite a challenge unlike most shoots as he had to work around a small and limited space but also he could only shoot his camera when Kate wasn't speaking as it would get picked up by the mics and ruin the interview.

So, finally the moment came and I rolled lights, camera and sound then with the SLAP of my clapper board the interview was officially underway. It was like a switch had been flipped on as Kate came to life in front of the camera. I then realized how privileged I was to be sitting with an icon. Her answers came with extreme knowledge and sincerity and it was evident that she was a master of her craft. After an hour of filming and picture taking the interview came to a close. I got what I needed and the images captured where truly amazing leaving me ecstatic and over joyed.

As we parted we exchanged information and I gave her some Under the Skin keepsakes. She left me feeling very proud of what I am doing and complimented me on my kindness and professionalism. Coming from such a profound women I felt I succeeded in my task of a well conducted interview and that I represented Under the Skin with the utmost professionalism.

My drive back home was filled with eagerness to start the editing and see the results of the interview. I know that I just made a terrific friend and I look forward to meeting her again. Under the Skin had made another leap forward and I truly feel lucky and blessed to be making this film.

Narrowing it Down

Ok, so after a long process of swishing ideas in my head, I finally went with the 3 suggestions made to me........the evolution of military tattoos and memorial tattoos.

Given that I am Active Duty Army, I have access to a lot of resources and for us military folk, we have a unique way of communicating. This will make things easier. This topic will show how the military tattoo came to be and for those of you who are not familiar it is a inspirational history. More importantly, talking about the memorial tattoo will showcase Soldiers stories behind the ink. It is our chance to tell the world what the Soldier goes through, the REAL sacrifices that are made and what it means to be a part of something that is more than oneself.

Currently, I just made contact with a lady named Kate who worked with "Sailor Jerry". If you don't know who I am talking about, get this DVD because you are in for a treat. We are also going to be advertising for Soldiers to come tell their stories so I am expecting this film to be a very unique and memorable piece.

More to come.......

Under the Skin: Re-Write

So, we are brain storming on another way to narrow down the subject material because I had my topic too broad. It is vital to have the topic down to a pin point accuracy. Given that I am serving in the Army on Active Duty service and my DP is a veteran, this will probably work. The hard part is coming up with the logline or one sentence that tells exactly what the film is about. We are all sleeping on it and then we talk tomorrow. I am starting to get some really good ideas and I think this will work out fine. Plus, I have access to everything military.





to be continued..........

Everything is moving along well. I am constantly at the computer reading and sending emails. I am on the phone talking to everyone! I recently just got permission from a museum to use their copyrighted material in my film....for free. I am talking to other museums in Britain, Egypt and Japan.

The script is a pain in the butt because it is a never-ending process of revising. The interviewing will help guide the process better but non-the-less, it is frustrating but oddly enough, I am loving it. We are about to sit down and come up with the shooting schedule. I am plugging in exactly what shots I want where so we can start filming it (ie; city scape, crowds walking...ect.)

Constantly staying on top of every detail is vital in producing this. I have a notebook and I write down every person and business I talk to with names, numbers, addresses, what we talked about, time and date we talked, notes if I should call back or whatever. Keeping everything organized and people informed is crucial for having things run as smooth as they can be.

To be continued....