As infectiously entertaining as its live wire subject, KITT from filmmaker Ben Dean throws us headlong into the kinetic mind of Melbourne artist Kitt Bennett who has been making his record-breaking mark on the art scene with his giant murals which force us to reconsider concepts of scale and perspective. Exploding onto the web today, Dean explains how he used a mixture of formats to capture the essence of Bennett’s wonderfully joyous existence on screen.
Kitt Bennett is a Melbourne-based artist specializing in colossal large-scale ground murals. His most recent work utilises aerial photography to create the world’s largest piece of “Gif-iti” – four times the size of the previous title holder. It’s this marriage of perspective and technology that drives him to create and invent new ways of looking at the world. Most of his recent body of work can be seen from space when zoomed in from Google Maps.
His work is truly epic and was a big inspiration for making the film. But it’s his personality, contagious energy and outlook on life that really got me excited. This film is not just about his artistic approach – it’s a fun and energetic deeper dive into what goes on in his head. He paints 40-metre-long figures with a simple paint roller, bathes in a tub full of milk and giant Fruit Loops by a lake, talks about his infamous “Scorpenis” painting and plays “bush pokies” — all while sporting a mullet, golden tooth and body covered in tattoos.
This film is not just about his artistic approach – it’s a fun and energetic deeper dive into what goes on in his head.
At times we complimented his down and dirty artistic approach through a vast compilation of formats but for the most part, it’s shot with a cinematic quality – with a touch of grit. Equipment-wise we shot with an Alexa, 16mm film camera and Handycam over 5 days and edited for roughly a month. The biggest hurdle was getting all the music licensed. The soundtrack includes music from Soulwax, Slowthai, Mura Masa, XVOTO, North Sea Dialect, and Hungarian classic rock band Omega.
The goal was to create a film that is unexpected and unpredictable, reflecting Kitt’s fun and somewhat frenetic personality. Visually, we wanted to create a feel that’s entirely its own. A film that is simultaneously erratic and beautiful.
