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Reel Clever caught up with Cody Campanale, a film maker we found on our ReelClever Facebook Page. Using the power of electronic mail we asked him a few questions about his film Roofies and romance. Then complied the electronic emails into a single article to make it look like it was a casual conversation, seamless! We hope you enjoy.

Cody, can you please give us a quick synopses of your film (subject, running time, locations...etc), and elaborate on what inspired you to make a film about such a grave subject.

My first short film Roofies & Romance, produced with a grant provided by Ottawa's SAW Video Co-op, is a psychological portrait of a sociopathic date rapist prowling for new victims on a lonely night. In his search for fresh blood, he sets his sights on one unfortunate young woman, but discovers he’s not the only predator in search of new prey. The film was shot on location in Toronto, and runs just over 12 minutes.  

It recently won an Award of Merit at the Indie Fest in California, and will have its first public screening at the NewFilmmakers Festival in New York City on April 2nd 2010.

I was inspired to make this film after coming to the conclusion that most people in my age group (I'm in my early 20's) don't really understand what date rape is. Most of us are ignorant to the fact that rapists more often than not, know their victims. I myself was ignorant to this until I began reading about the topic. I used to think that rapists were the type of predators that hide in the bushes. Though these types of predators do exist, more often than not, they are the people you call your friends. 

It was completely by coincidence that I stumbled upon the subject matter too...one day I came across an article online that stated, 'in the last 30 years, the number of violent crimes against women, statistically speaking, have increased'. What a shocking statistic I thought. And so began my research into sociopathic behaviour, sexual violence, and the darkness that surrounds those issues. I'm a very curious person, you see. I often find myself compelled to stories that explore the evil and often neglected side of human behaviour. I feel like our society doesn't like to discuss things we don't fully understand, and rape, in my opinion, is one of those things. Also, this film gave me the opportunity to tackle the subject matter from a unique perspective, a male's perspective.

Congratulations on the award, its nice to see an indy film go down the traditional route of film festivals and screenings. 

Thanks a bunch. It feels really great to know that people are responding well to it. Also, I should mention we just got excepted into the NSI's Online Short Film Festival. It's pretty prestigious, so keep an eye out for the movie on their website. 

What sort of critical feedback regarding your subject matter did you receive pre and post production?

During my research, I began a filmmaker's blog, where I posted every once and awhile my thoughts and feelings towards the project. I had already a large group of friends from facebook and other networking sites, so I would send links to them every time I posted an entry. This was how I started building hype around the film.  You can now find my blog on www.roofiesandromance.com.

I was met with hesitation from some people about what I was trying to accomplish. Some questioned the fact that I wanted a date rapist to be my central character. One time, I received an email from somebody who thought that making a date rapist the lead in a film meant I was trying to have audiences sympathize with him. I sent an email back, 'saying that I was very happy that she voiced her concerns, but I feel that making a film about how a date rapist operates, and having us watch him interact with others, exposes an audience to the behavioral patterns that most people are unaware of, and that was my most important goal in making this film.' While doing research, and I did a lot of it, I found allies in those who I interviewed. For example, I interviewed police officers, lawyers, date rape councillors, and many others. The one thing you realize when you speak to enough people about date rape, is how frightfully common it is amongst young people. This desire to educate others on my findings kept me moving forward.

It's hard work producing and distributing an indy film, what challenges did you run into along the way? 

Surprisingly, I didn't have very much trouble putting together a crew and cast to work on the movie. We spent almost 6 months developing the script, so what we had in our hands was polished, and people always respond better to a polished script than something that needs work. Producing a decent script is always a good way to get professionals to work for free or really cheap. You'd be surprised to see how many bad scripts are floating around the indie world. Or maybe you wouldn't be surprised. Ha ha. 

Here's a pretty funny story and a good lesson for any young filmmakers out there. Unless you work in a bar, or have the money to pay for a location, don't write in a bar as your primary location. I spent almost 5 weeks trying to find a bar that would let us shoot in it for free. I either had to pay for it with money I didn't have, or I could only have the location for a couple hours a day, which would be impractical. Thanks to my production manager, he found me a fantastic Art person, Caroline Pandeli, and her and I worked on transforming a UofT's fraternity basement into a seedy underground bar. We managed to do this for almost no money and if you see the film, you'd never know. Fantastic art direction on her part. 

There is no doubt that producing a movie the indie way is difficult. I was lucky that I had a team that was resourceful and passionate about the story we were trying to tell. This film would never have come as far as it has without them.

But as for distribution and trying to get something out of your movie when it's all finished, it requires an incredible amount of entrepreneurial skills. Most indie filmmakers who manage to do well, have taught themselves that filmmaking is not only an art, but a business. There are a number of ways to distribute a movie, you can approach traditional distributors or be inventive and find your own way to make a dime. As for this film, I've found that the best market to be selling to universities. I'm currently in talks about getting the film into a number of university libraries. This would be a good way to bring awareness to these issues.

Right now, I'm riding the festival circuit and I'm in pre-production for two new short films, "Teach'er" and "Scars". I'll have more updates about distribution for "Roofies & Romance" shortly.

Thanks Cody for sharing your experiences with us, to find out more information on Roofies & Romance the official site can be found here. www.roofiesandromance.com