PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Cinematographers often don’t get the love they deserve, but I recognize that many films wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for that talented person behind the camera. Derek Huey is one of the most talented cinematographers in the indie horror business and with each film his work always improves.
I had a chance to talk with Derek the other day about his career, how he met Troy Escamilla, Teacher Shortage, and more. Click down below to check out the campaign:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1488629688/teacher-shortage/description
PopHorror – It’s great to talk with you Derek and to finally have this interview! At what age did you know that you wanted to work in the film industry?
Derek Huey – First of all I’d like to give thanks for taking time out to interview me. Pophorror has always been really supportive on the films I’ve worked on, and it’s always nice seeing the underdog in filmmaking get some publicity. It means a lot to filmmakers in general to get their films seen by an audience that loves this type of stuff. Horror has always been a really important and fun genre in my life, It makes me ecstatic to see so many people supporting us and making their own films.
Probably the first time I saw Evil Dead when I was about twelve or thirteen years old. I’m 31, so when I was that age we had the internet. I looked up a lot of information about how the film was made, how it took years. Looking at it in a way where it was a bunch of friends that got together to make art. It really inspired me and made me think, I can do that. Got my first camera at around 14 or 15, made my first REALLY crappy film called The Pissed Off Apple. It’s about an apple that hasn’t been eaten for six months so it gets pissed off and kills everyone in the house. It was god awful, and I feel bad for anyone I got to watch it. I was so young and so proud of my work then. I didn’t have an editing program, so the entire film was edited in camera. So I guess you could say I was a SOV (shot on video) filmmaker. A kid with a drawer full of hi8 tapes. What always go to me is my films never looked like films, they looked like a kid was shooting it. So I was fascinated with how to make them look better.
PopHorror – That’s amazing that you pushed yourself to improve. Have you always had a love for film editing and cinematography? How did you get involved with that beyond your childhood experiments?
Derek Huey – It’s quite interesting. I always been in love with telling stories. It was after working on Conjoined, I learned a lot about DSLR filmmaking. Which is a real cheap way to get started and make pretty decent high definition films. This was back in 2013, or 2014. I mainly learned everything to make my own films. I shot a film called Stalking Miss Barlow. I learned how to do everything because I didn’t want to depend on people to do it or bring their equipment. I was always afraid someone wouldn’t show up, then I’d have all these actors coming in for nothing. Honestly, I didn’t know any better, it was more ignorance. I thought everyone basically did everything behind the scenes to make their film on this level.
After showing my first film around, I started getting people asking me to film their movies. The first time it happened this guy was like, “oh my god that was really well shot, how much would you charge to shoot my movie?” I thought to myself, how much do I charge, I do this for free.
So the first thing I said back was, “I don’t know, like fifty bucks?”
“A day? That’s a great deal!” he said back, but I really meant fifty dollars for the whole project. After that, people kept recommending me to do other people films. So I became an editor and cinematographer out of total accident.
PopHorror – That’s exciting. I’ve known you for awhile and always wondered that. Have you ever directed a film?
Derek Huey – Yes, quite a few of them. I haven’t directed anything since 2015 though. I been meaning to get back in it. Usually what I do is when I get a new camera, I make some sort of short film on it so I can understand how to use it properly. I haven’t done that with my last two cameras, but I do plan on directing sometime soon again. I’ll drop some links below of my films I directed and wrote.
PopHorror – You definitely should. Have you ever acted and if not, would you ever do it?
Derek Huey – I have acted, and I’ll drop a link below on the film I acted in. I will NEVER act again, I’ll save that for the actual actors. It’s not that I didn’t like acting, I’m just more of a behind the camera person, that’s where my passion is at.
Funny story how I got the acting job for a film I co-wrote and co-directed called Dave and Al Get Coffee. We were doing the casting process, we had a table read. The guy funding it was like, “you’re Al!” I’m like, no I’m not we can get someone way better. He pretty much put his foot down, and since he was funding the project, I was like, okay I’m Al. It was fun, but remembering lines, even though I wrote it, suuuuuucks. I think it gave me a bigger appreciation for actors and the craft behind it. It’s definitely not easy to do, anyone who can do it convincingly, I really admire.
I’ve also been in some commercials, but did that just for the money. Stuff like, a Tide commercial, Adidas, and South West Airlines. Usually as a blur in the background.
PopHorror – That’s pretty cool, learning more and more about you! What was the first film you ever worked on?
Derek Huey – The Pissed Off Apple, my family were the cast, I was the voice of the apple. I just basically had an apple on a stick, moving around and killing my family. It was god awful, shot on video, and editing in camera. Maybe I’ll drop a link below.
That film actually gave me the opportunity to work on a film in Middle School for the school news people, even though I wasn’t even taking that class. It was an anti-drug film, since that’s all they were interested in. It was a fun film that also made fun of anti-drug films. The experience was awesome, we didn’t’ stay after school, we shot it during school. I took out all my friends from their class, and they joined me to make another bad SOV film that played during the school announcements. The first time I had an audience was an entire school of middle schoolers, who said it was hilarious and gave me compliments after it aired. I heard that they still play it there once a year or so.
PopHorror – That’s wonderful, I love that you’ve been doing this forever and your technique has improved so much. You’ve worked on all 3 of Troy Escamilla’s feature films. How did you meet him?
Derek Huey – I met him through Lawrence McKinney. The actor who played the killer in Party Night. He came up to me, like, “hey this film is looking for some one to shoot their movie, and I recommended you.” I was like, right on! Troy and I talked on the internet, I showed him clips from the films I worked on. He was still deciding who he wanted to film it. I saw some of the other people who were my competition. I kept showing him examples why I felt I was best for the job. Eventually he was like, okay. Probably not the most interesting story, but it was the start of many great film experiences.
I actually lied to get the job. Before Party Night I never actually filmed or edited a complete feature film. I worked on a lot of features, but only filmed short movies. I’ve always been a fan of the quote fake it until you make it.
Since then I have worked on countless feature films and shorts for other people. It seems like once you make one feature, everyone then wants to hire you. So that’s the lesson for today kids, LIE and you will become successful. Joking.
PopHorror – Well I’m glad you two met. You make indie magic together. What was your favorite part about shooting Party Night?
Derek Huey – Hanging out with the cast and crew. It was so great seeing so many young and talented people. Billy Brannigan was always coming with the comedy, which was very needed. I wouldn’t call the experience enjoyable, because it was long days, really hard work, and hot as hell. It was really stressful to try and get everything just right, and within a short amount of time. I do look back fondly, on the experience though, but it was a lot of work.
Also met Drew Shotwell, who I still hang out with and get him cast in as many movies as I can. Another great person was Ryan Poole. I should just name the whole cast, it was a group of great people to work with. We took our work very seriously, and all lived in the same house for 16 days, so the bonding experience was my favorite part.
Also working with Lawrence McKinney for the first time. I was always a fan of his work, and even on days when he wasn’t acting he would come by to help out. Dude is a legend.
PopHorror – It was truly a great cast and I agree that Billy’s comedic role was perfect. In Mrs. Claus/Stirring, you could see your craft was growing. What scene was your favorite to do?
Derek Huey – Mrs. Claus was a lot more chilled film to do. It was leagues easier than Party Night. I don’t know if that’s because I was more experienced, or just had more of a relaxed attitude. I didn’t worry as much about getting everything we needed. I just did what had to be done. The fun part of working with Troy is he lets me do whatever angle I want, he’s more of a director for the actors, and lets me basically do anything. It’s a real nice feeling of getting beautiful shot after beautiful shot. On some films, I have directors that tell me how to do every shot, and usually they turn out looking really amateur, and they blame me saying, “you’re last film looked amazing, how come this doesn’t.” So it’s nice to have that freedom and trust. I just realized I wrote a lot and didn’t answer the question.
My favorite scene to film… it’s a really tough question. Probably the first day of filming, the first scene in the movie. Was the first time using my newest camera on a film. The Mini Ursa Pro 4.6k, we shot half of it RAW on 2k then the other half 2k prores (my plan for the next film is to shoot it all in 4.6k raw, which will look twice as good as Mrs. Claus did). Back on track, anyway, the first day was probably the best. Because usually you can judge how the rest of the film is going to be by the first day of filming. If Murphy’s law (everything that can go wrong will go wrong) will take place or not. Thankfully I’ve been doing this for a long time, I can usually get myself out of any situation where something goes wrong.
PopHorror – The first scene was crazy intense and perfect! The newest feature you are working on from Troy is, Teacher’s Shortage. Can you tell us more about it?
Derek Huey – We have a kickstarter that’ll explain the plot and a nice little video telling you more about it. I’ll put the link at the bottom where you can help get it made.
I can tell you, I got a lot of new camera toys that’ll be used in full effect on this film. I’ve gotten way better at my craft. The film will be shot in 4.6k raw, so it’ll look two times better than Mrs. Claus did. So excited for this film, but kickstarter is all or nothing.
If you are reading this after the kickstarter is done, then I hope we made the goal, and expect a great movie coming soon!
PopHorror – I’m often one broke chick, but I contributed to the campaign because I believe in what you guys do and I honestly can’t be more excited about Teacher Shortage. How does this different from the other two films?
Derek Huey – It’s still a slasher flick, but this time it’s about the teachers themselves. Usually these films are about the students, so it’ll be an interesting turn. The story is also very fun, I think the ending will take a lot of people by surprise.
PopHorror – I’m definitely ready for a different setting.What about this film are you looking forward to most about?
Derek Huey – Working with Mel Heflin and Kaylee Williams again! Also a whole new group of people. I’ll be getting to work with Michael Tula who I worked with previously on a short film called The Contract. So much talent. I really enjoy working with people who are there to make a good film.
I’m excited to work with a few people for the first time. Ashley La Porta who is an up and coming actress, seems to be getting into a lot of really amazing projects. Roger Conners who has a few films being released really soon. Really talented actor, who’s audition blew me away. We agreed to lose like twenty pounds before filming, so far I think I gained five. Get to work with David McMahon who seems like a really fun guy to work with. We chat through messenger and he usually makes me laugh. Also working with the great Brinke Stevens again, always an amazing person who is really professional. She also recommends me to other peoples projects as an editor. Can’t wait to work with Julie Anne Prescott as well, I’ve been editing a movie with her in it, and she is amazingly talented.
I’ve talked with a lot of the cast and they all seem amazing. Also just something about pressing record and making art. I can’t seem to get enough of it
PopHorror – I’m seriously so stoked for it as well! So, tell me, what directors inspire you?
Derek Huey – Sam Raimi of course. Peter Jackson, loved Bad Taste from him. George Romero. I’m noticing a lot of my favorite directors that inspire me are ones that started with making films next to nothing, who are now making huge films. In all honesty, I don’t think I’d want to work on big productions, I think i’d want to keep working on the indie scale I’m working on now. It’s just more fun to me than the “big” budget projects I work on where no one knows anyone, and you’re working as a machine to get everything done. They feel more like a job. Which don’t get me wrong, filmmaking is always hard, but on the indie scale, it’s more personal. You have more input on stuff, and can all work together to make something that you’re proud of.
PopHorror – I couldn’t agree more, that’s why I love covering indie horror. Do you have any other upcoming projects you’d like to talk about or anything else in general?
Derek Huey – I have a CRAP ton of upcoming projects! I have a film called Roach that I filmed for Trent Johnson, the editing is almost done on it. Met some awesome people on that set. Trent also has me film his Neva Letta series, a real fun gangsta webseries, i’ll drop a link below.
Editing a feature film for John Wade called Meathook Massacre IV. Really fun and gory film, I think horror fans will get a kick out of it. It was shot in Navada.
Got a film I shot with Anthony Spadaccini in Delaware called Viscera, also editing some of it. It’s a nice drama story. Drove all the way from Houston to Delaware state for that, a drive I hope to never do again. Took 3 days there and three days back. Saw some insane stuff on the road, like a trucks crashing into each other right in front of me and glass breaking all over the road. Not today Final Destination!
I’m in talks with other directors and their projects. Trying to get out and edit more. So if anything is in need of a cinematographer or editor, let me know. I travel, work within budget, and will try my best to make your film top notch. So maybe it’s best not to see my old short films that are bad!
Thanks for having me answer some questions. I’d like to leave here with one last thing I want to tell aspiring filmmakers. Don’t wait for anyone else, if you want to make a film, just do it. It might be bad, but you’ll learn from your mistakes and do better next time. I waited so long to start my projects feeling like I had to wait for someone to give me permission or an extra boost. You have to be your own motivator, and sometimes it’s hard, but just keep pushing.
Links to some of his work:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1488629688/teacher-shortage?fbclid=IwAR0wYVMpiQ1V5BdFOJSOz3W9jqcaDrXyH_aT3spW7pI6Pm-IXWMA1XTkQK0
