The story, remember the story. But first, the numbers...
0. The amount paid to the actors, but you wouldn’t know it.
2. The number of different public schools and track facilities.
3. This is Kelley Baker’s third feature film in the last six years.
18. This is how many days it took to shoot all the footage "guerilla style".
23. Number of cuts on the soundtrack from four different artists.
49. This is how many people gave $100 each to finance this film.
70. Thirty credited cast members and forty more extras to fill out the scenes.
100. The running time of this truly independent feature film.
Run. To seek the truth. To escape the beating.
Now for the story. This original screenplay is based on really believable characters as they confront a series of emotional challenges. The raw emotion, mixed with the hope through running, is well paced, and has an original soundtrack that rocks this story as often as the characters can be seen running. Although set at a high school level, this is not a feel-good-make-lots-of-money-for-the-fancy-studio kind of film. This movie is not just simply "entertainment" either. It is about life’s struggles exposed and you will be thinking, reflecting, hoping, and plotting as the story of Martin Johnson (Ian Anderson-Priddy) is revealed. It is not too often that feature films use running as a method of story line (run from problems, run to avoid pain, run for hope of the future, run to find yourself, run to save your life!), and that is what stands this movie apart.
Run. For the purity of it.
Oh yeah, the running. The first image is the word "Run" on the screen and the first scene is of Martin "Bird" Johnson running out of the school and down the street. He continues to run from the cross country team that want to beat him up and after he is in a fight he joins the team to get out of detention. The coach has a speech about how running could be his "out" from being a "loser" and how he can make it into college with his talent. Yet first he must train, and compete in some races to really show his true potential. Although Martin discovers where he stands, the motives of those around him are much more questionable.
Run. Because its the only thing left to do.
If you are a running purist and want to sit back and nit-pick the clothing, shoes, surfaces, training methods, and race logistics then skip this title and move onto the documentary films instead. If you want a fictional, thought provoking tale with twists and revelations along the way, then take notice of Kicking Bird. In the end I was glad it was over, yet I wanted more. Although not rated, it would get an "R" listing for language, violence, and adult situations. The screen may not be filled with the richness and depth of a multi-million dollar blockbuster that you are used to seeing, but that is the price for a great story on a shoestring budget. You may order this DVD in widescreen format directly from the filmmaker, Kelley Baker (read an interview). Visit his website at AngryFilmmaker.com to request this movie. Be sure to see it on the big screen, if it comes to a town near you, because this is one story that will stay with you long after you have left the darkened theater. Below is a trailer as found on YouTube:
Running Movies: Congratulations on your recent completion of Kicking Bird. How was this movie funded?
Kelley Baker: This movie was funded in kind of a unique way. In December of 2002 I mailed out 100 letters to 100 friends and acquaintances asking each person for $100. I figured if I could put $10,000 together I could make a movie. 49 people responded and I raised over $5000, so I figured what the hell, and I decided to shoot the movie on that money and hope that I could raise the money to finish the movie after I shot it. I called these people "49 People Who Should Know Better By Now". All I promised was that they would all get really nice seats at the Premiere. So I own the entire movie, these people just pre paid for their seats. I ended up putting some of my own money in and that’s how I made the movie for around $6000 cash. That certainly doesn’t count all of the hours myself, or the cast and crew put in to this movie. I also had lots of people donate a lot of services, and other things. I haven’t sat down to think about how much this should have cost, it would probably scare me when I see the extent of all of the donations of time and services.
RM: What are your plans for its release now that it completed?
KB: At this point in time I’m self distributing it. I have spent the last two years touring the country with my other movies and getting good sized audiences. So I’m going to tour with this one as well. I tell people that when I tour, I'm kind of like a punk band on the road, only there's no band and no music.
RM: Publicity and distribution seem to be a difficult issue for independent film makers such as yourself. How are you addressing this issue?
KB: In the past I’ve tried getting larger distributors interested in my films and what has happened to me in the past is that you set up these screenings in New York and LA and some people show up, lots don’t, and some distributors ask you to submit your film to them so they can consider it, and then they sit on it for months. So by the time you finish the movie and take it around to the various distributors and try to get it in to film festivals, which is a lot harder than people think, you’ve been trying to get a deal for a year and you’re totally burned out. You start losing confidence in your film and this whole thing has been such a struggle that you end up not doing anything with it. For me, I’ve done that with my other films, and then after a year I started self distributing but then I felt like I had lost a lot of momentum. With this movie I’m self distributing it from the start. I’ll take it out on tour with me. Kicking Bird will be available for purchase at my shows, and on the web, at www.angryfilmmaker.com. If a big distributor becomes interested, we’ll see what happens, until then, I’m doing this myself. As far as publicity, since we have no budget, I’m circulating press stuff as cheaply as possible and relying on word of mouth. The touring is a big part of it though. I think I’m getting an audience for my work one screening at a time.
RM: This is your third major independent film in the last 5 years. Your last release, The Gas Café was shot in one location without much movement. Were there new challenges involved with shooting this film with so much action and running involved?
KB: The whole movie was a challenge. When you don’t have any money but you have a fairly ambitious idea, you have got to come up with some very novel solutions. With the running, I have a great Cinematographer in Randy Timmerman. No matter what I throw at him he responds with originality and inventiveness. A lot of the street running scenes were shot hanging off the back of his old Blazer, and we tied him to the rollbar on my old Land Cruiser for some of it. In fact as we were shooting with the Landcruiser the back of the camera rig kept hitting me in the head as I was trying to drive. That was a bit uncomfortable. Randy also designed and built a couple of camera harnesses so that he could run with the Actors sometimes. In this film I wanted to get a real sense of motion so we also shot a lot of the static shots hand held. I just wanted a loose feeling, and Randy delivered that for me.
RM: I was really impressed with the realistic characters development. You tend to put a lot of yourself into your films. Is there some aspect in Kicking Bird that is reflective of you or your experience?
KB: I think all of my films are personal. I think there are various parts of me, and my experiences throughout. I was never physically abused, but there were kids who would come to school when I was young and you kind of wondered if they weren’t being abused at home. They had a look to them. And there were always the kids who were being picked on, who were at the lower end of the grade school/high school food chain. And for the most part they were good kids who were stuck in the "no mans land" in school mostly because they were poor. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, and I still don’t have much now, so I think that affects the way that I look at the world. Also, some of the characters are composites of people I knew growing up, and people I have dealt with in the film business. The Coach is very self centered, and he’s a liar and just wants to help himself. He wants to use others to get ahead. Gosh, do you think there are people in the movie business that I’ve worked with or come in contact with that are like that? So the movie contains a lot of my personal experience, it’s just shown in a different way.
RM: Were there other movies that influenced the way you approached Kicking Bird?
KB: Oh sure, a lot of movies. The obvious ones are The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, I also really liked the book, which I read before I saw the movie, and Run Lola Run. I love both of those movies. But there’s also films like Mike Leigh’s movie Naked, and the Danish film The Celebration. I had Randy (my Cinematographer) check out both Run Lola Run and The Celebration. I told him I wanted our visual style somewhere in the middle of that. Lots of hand held low light stuff, combined with lots of energy. I think we achieved that. I'm sure there are more movies, but those are the ones that come to mind.
RM: Were there any major challenges in filming the running sequences used in this film?
KB: Sure, we had no permits and no permission from anyone. So it was really a lot of stress, we needed to shoot these scenes and not get caught. We found a couple of tracks that fit really well in to the script so we went there on weekends and tried to shoot as fast and efficiently as possible before we got busted. Actually that’s pretty much true for all of the exterior scenes. No permits, no permission, no problems. So you have to figure out quickly how you can cover scenes really well, with extras, and get out of there before any officials show up and ask for paperwork.
RM: You are called "The Angry Filmmaker". Need the public be warned when you bring your film to their community for film festivals?
KB: Yes, they should be very afraid... Actually I’m angry about the plight of independent film. I think it’s crap. The whole independent film movement doesn’t mean anything anymore. It’s a label. When you have these "indie" films that are made for 5-10 million dollars with well known actors, directors with trust funds, and you have test market screenings to see what audiences want and don’t want, that makes me angry. That’s not independent. People are being sold a bill of goods, a brand if you will. As far as do I walk around pissed off all of the time? No. I think if I did I would probably have had a couple of heart attacks by now. I’m just angry about the state of filmmaking in general. There’s way too much crap out there and a lot of good stuff never gets distributed, and seen. I try to be good when I’m touring. Honest.
RM: Thanks for your time, Kelley, is there anything else you want to say to the readers at RunningMovies.com?
KB: Yeah, go to my website (www.angryfilmmaker.com), and buy my movies. I want to make more. And tell all your friends there’s this crazy guy in Oregon who needs to be supported, go to his website and check it out. And support real independent filmmaking, not the corporate crap we’re getting in the theaters. I’ll shut up now...
