When low-ranking worker Glen wakes up to discover his personal data has been leaked and is spreading virally all over the world, it brings an unexpected tension to his relationship with his girlfriend. In the brief eleven and a half minutes of See Saw, Director Matt Porter’s viral culture comedy, the filmmaker is able to capture the overwhelming paranoia that comes with being at the centre of a viral leak whilst also finding time for moments of levity. What started as an idea for a much larger short, in the wake of the Sony Pictures hack in 2014, has been distilled into a story which conveys the personal amidst the seismic, and how these moments of great stress can force us to face our truth. DN caught up with Porter to learn more about the origins of his short film as well as the collaboration he had with DP John de Menil in developing its anxious visual language.
Was there an event in particular that inspired the concept for this short?
So the concept originally came out of a project that I collaborated on with my good friend Max Azulay around the time of the Sony Pictures hack in 2014. We were fascinated by what this kind of sudden exposure of private data and correspondence would do to all of the normal people at a workplace, the lower tier staffers who were just caught in the crossfire of this huge corporate event. We developed it for a while as an idea for a TV pilot, but then eventually put it aside and moved on to other projects.
Ever since, I had always wanted to find some way to do something in that setting, exploring some of the emotional complexities and themes that a hack event like that would bring up. Finally, last year, during the writer’s strike, I finally figured out a way to frame the film around one person, in a simple setting, and still get a lot of fun out of the ‘bigness’ of the premise. It took me a little while to decide where the film should go, and what it should thematically ‘say’ about all this, but once I landed on this notion of being ‘seen’ and being vulnerable in relationships, as a large metaphorical takeaway, it helped me find a second half and an ending that felt right.
We were fascinated by what this kind of sudden exposure of private data and correspondence would do to all of the normal people at a workplace.
How did the making of See Saw start to come together once you had the script in place?
I worked on finalizing the script while simultaneously beginning to put out feelers in terms of production. My friend John de Menil, a fantastic DP, was on board to shoot it, and I was also quickly recommended David Brown and Sierra Katow through mutual friends as actors. John had the idea of shooting the entire film on a single zoom lens, which not only gave it a very particular look and feel, it also allowed us to move quickly between setups and make adjustments on the fly without having to wait for a lens change.
How long were you in production for then and how big a crew did you have?
We shot the film in one very hot day, with one additional day of pickups, just me and David, to create all the iPhone and webcam footage. It was a very low budget and a very small crew, basically John, a swing gaffer/AC, sound, hair & makeup, our producer and my wife Leah Henoch, as well as a few helping hands here and there, but that was all. Everyone was incredible, and especially David and Sierra who were extremely prepared and professional. Sierra had a very long monologue she had to do over and over, and she never flubbed a single line. We also had the ticking clock of a large crowd of friends doing us a huge favor by coming by to portray a crowd of paparazzi at 5 PM or so, so we knew that once they started showing up, we better be done with everything else. Luckily, it all worked out great, again thanks to our wonderful crew.
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I saw that you edited the short too, how did you find that process of constructing the film in post-production?
I almost always edit my own work, so I was able to more or less get to work right away. Early on, I knew I wanted Zak Engel to do the music if he was available and willing. I had seen his work on my friend Ben Altarescu’s short Say Hey, which also involved someone spiralling out emotionally while isolated in their apartment, so I knew he would do an excellent job. I also really wanted an actual song, not a score, for the end, and luckily my old friend Johanna Samuels, who is an incredible singer/songwriter, was willing to let me use her song All is Fine.
John had the idea of shooting the entire film on a single zoom lens, which not only gave it a very particular look and feel, it also allowed us to move quickly between setups.
All in all, I was extremely fortunate to have the help of a great number of extremely talented and wonderful people, collaborators I’ve worked with for years as well as people I had never worked with before, all going above and beyond to help this project happen. It is now extremely fulfilling and meaningful to see the response and hear people’s thoughts about it!
You mentioned earlier the use of the zoom lens to conjure a particular tone, what tone was that? And how did you look to employ it within See Saw?
The original reason for deciding to shoot the entire film on the zoom lens was mostly practical, but the more I thought about it during pre-production, the more I realized that it would also work well thematically. There’s a certain voyeuristic, creepy feeling to a zoom lens, especially when slowly zooming in, or when watching someone from far away. It felt conceptually and tonally very accurate to the experience of the main character, so I embraced it!
I think comedy, while not always appropriate, is often very powerful when paired with complex world events.
You’ve directed numerous shorts at this point as well as working on various web series, and even writing for Family Guy, I’m curious to know what you’ve learnt over the last few years from working on other projects that informed your process on See Saw.
I’ve definitely learned many things over the years of making short films and web sketches that informed my process on See Saw. I try to do as much visual prep as possible, even for simple projects. I always create photoboards, which usually just means taking a photo on an iPhone of every shot and using them for reference throughout. I will even do edits sometimes using those photoboards, just to pre-visualize the pacing and mechanics of the scenes. That being said, writing on Family Guy has been a wonderful experience as well, and I have definitely learned a lot about following instincts and collaborative creativity in that context, trusting your team, and yourself, and being willing to follow what’s working in the moment, even if it is different than what you planned.
What do you like about comedy as a vehicle for telling stories about real-world events?
In my own writing, even when I aim to write something more serious, there is inevitably some comedy. It is not dissimilar to my life, in which even at the darkest times, there are still often unexpected little reasons to laugh or find a bit of levity. So I suppose I think comedy, while not always appropriate, is often very powerful when paired with complex world events. It grounds it a bit in something human and can help acknowledge the tragic absurdity inherent in much of life’s real experiences.
What else do you have on your plate, work-wise, at the moment?
I am currently writing for Family Guy, and I’m always writing my own films as well. I have a web sketch series called Good Cop Great Cop with my longtime friend and collaborator Charlie Hankin, who also writes with me on Family Guy. We’ve been doing it for almost 20 years in various forms, and by the time this is out, we will have released a new sketch, our first one in a while. It’s called Difficulty if you want to look it up! Hope you enjoy.
