After the release and success of his blistering short Mud Crab, filmmaker David Robinson-Smith was approached by production company Good Oil who offered him the creative opportunity to use his commanding authorial voice on a new project and so, inspired by the all too relatable housing crisis in Australia, he rapidly constructed confrontational short We Used to Own Houses. A film of two halves, Robinson-Smith presents the anti-capitalist, societally critical lyrics of Glaswegian prog black metal band Ashenspire as we flip between a tension fuelled to and fro between an evicted tenant and his landlord and a surreal dream sequence which expresses the desperate actuality of the mounting situation. These dual parts create a powerful whole which offers no solutions but rather looks to cinematically depict the bleak future of anyone striving for that modern unattainable dream for most of an affordable roof over their heads. The visuals in We Used To Own Houses echo with fear and desperation which enhance and lay the perfect bed for his adaptation of Alasdair Dunn’s poetic words which open with, “Stare into the void, it won’t meet your gaze”. We caught up with Robinson-Smith to speak about about having to hit tight and fast deadlines, how the anger and truth of the piece directly reflect his own feelings towards unjust systems and how he moved between the two worlds of his film.
What inspired this searingly powerful short?
The idea came around during my move out of Sydney. I had to move to focus on film because staying in Sydney and pursuing writing/directing the way I was, which is full time, had become untenable for the amount I had been making. I’ve watched a lot of artists in the same situation, some have taken on more work leading to less artistic output and it’s just a really sad time. I see people who have lots of support from family or whatever who can continue with ease and I don’t think those people will be making films criticising the class system that has led to this. So I wanted to make a short that felt like a punk song, less of a sprawling narrative but just this really short succinct piece that would convey my frustration and anger. Not offer any solutions or anything like that. I was listening a lot to Ashenspire’s album Hostile Architecture at the time and it has a lot of similar theme’s running through it. I was really blown away by Alasdair’s lyrics. For the whole record, his lyrics and his performance really are amazing so I wanted to channel some of that into a short. I reached out and they were super keen so that’s how it got started.
I see people who have lots of support from family or whatever who can continue with ease and I don’t think those people will be making films criticising the class system that has led to this.
From there it was a really fast short to make. I’ve seen a lot of shorts getting dragged out in pre or in post so for this I just wanted to go, for better or worse, it’s being shot, it’s being edited, we’re hitting these deadlines then it’s done. Just see how that comes out and embrace the moment and energy of that. I created an animatic which was voice acted by friends with temp score from the composers. From there I was able to watch the film and see where it might be lagging or what coverage we might need. Once I had done that I let it go and captured all of that footage as base level and improvised as much as possible on the days.
What does it mean to you as a filmmaker to see your work recognised and appreciated by a team such as Good Oil which enabled you to make this project?
It meant a lot so I really took the opportunity seriously. I can’t speak to whether their interest in me is correct but these guys are going to ask me if I have a short idea, if there is a chance here I can get some free funding for a short and set myself up into the commercial world at the same time then I am going to fully throw myself at it. At the same time I didn’t want to pitch something without any teeth just to get by and make a project, it had to be worth making. I told them the idea with the script and a small pitch deck and kind of expected them to have a lot of notes but they were so trusting and totally understood the project. That willingness to trust and experiment was perfect. Such a great environment to be around.
I didn’t want to pitch something without any teeth just to get by and make a project, it had to be worth making.
How did you move into the shoot and production knowing that time wasn’t on your side?
DOP Jaclyn Paterson and I took the gear out four days before the fully crewed shoot days and began grabbing a lot of the footage from the dream sequence in the middle of the short. A lot of that is shot around my house in Budgewoi or just with friends in Sydney. That helped us warm up a bit before the dinner scene between Thom Green (the renter) and Anthony Phelan (the Landlord). We shot the scene in Producer Chloe Brennan’s family home as we were on a small budget and struggling to find a location for that scene. Very thankful to her family for that. I really wanted Jaclyn and I on the same page as much as possible before that day so I could spend the entire night of the shoot with the actors. Fortunately, both Thom and Anthony were incredible to work with and building that scene was by far my favourite shoot day.
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The next day was out in the field where Production Designer Calum Wilson Austin was building sets to shoot around and my friend Frazer Bull Clarke was floating in the air for that shot. It was a bit of a circus but a relaxed fun shoot (for me). After that I had the edit with James Taylor and sound/music with Wade Keighran and Joel Byrne running concurrently. Not an ideal way to do it but there was a submission date lurking for MIFF and people were going to be busy with other work in the weeks after so it was needed to work this way on this particular short. There was an hour between the two locations so I was just zipping back and forth as I could to check in on everything.
The gentrification of big cities and the repercussions of this is a problem across the world and you have managed to depict such poignant examples of the breadth of people affected.
I can’t speak to how Alasdair wrote the poem but for myself, it doesn’t take much looking to find it. I think the older generations are really underestimating the anger that we are feeling about this. Australia has essentially a two party system and our most left party is Labor and the people in the party themselves own 5-6 investment properties, how can we trust people who are openly profiting from the system to enact any changes? It’s completely corrupt. That’s the anger the short is getting at…Alasdair’s lyrics just encapsulated that whole thing for me. I just felt it all. On an emotional level it really really affected me. All this sadness and despair is thrown into the world as anger. A pure reaction to the situation.
I love the intention of a short like a punk song – full of rage, criticism and all of the strength of emotion and sentiment punk is driven by. How did this basis affect and form the making of We Used To Own Houses?
It’s the anger, the length and format along with the blunt messaging. So a mixture of that along with the experimentation in the film. Sort of like the album The Shape of Punk to Come by Refused. It’s all the anger, the experimentation, etc. and channelling that into something with a purpose. But like that album and punk music in general, the experimentation can be a way for new audiences to start listening again. It needs to grow and do something different otherwise people won’t listen.
Tell us about the making of your animatic and how this assisted the actual production.
It’s something I like to do with the storyboards. I guess it alleviates a certain level of pre-shoot anxiety as I am feeling like I am not leaving any stone unturned but it’s really about putting the idea through a certain level of scrutiny. If it holds up then it should stand up to scrutiny so I like making the short and looking at what wasn’t working. For example, it highlighted an issue of getting from the conversation scene to the dream sequence. I needed an interstitial shot which ended up being on Thom – pulling back as we went out of focus. I was looking for something on the day that might work and the camera dept went back to 1’s after a push in. As it pulled back the First AC wasn’t pulling focus and I really loved it.
How can we trust people who are openly profiting from the system to enact any changes. It’s completely corrupt. That’s the anger the short is getting at.
Did you enjoy the faster pace of this project and what advantages or disadvantages did this create?
I think I enjoyed it quite a bit. I like both processes to be honest. Sometimes I like overthinking it all and drafting forever and then doing this process where we just hit the ground running. Caution to the wind. I feel like you just have to trust your gut more and stay present. I think having done this now, I would be more open to doing that in general for other shorts, ads or even a feature.
I felt the tension and horror that bleed from the scene between Thom and Anthony in my soul. How did you juxtapose that from the dream sequence and those different tones?
I think by covering the conversation scene in a highly stylised fashion, without using the wide too much and a constantly moving camera. The whole thing could be a dream…So although that scene is much more grounded in reality than the dream sequence, I think the two sections sit alongside each other well.
Was there any particular approach in the edit to differentiate these two parts of the film which blend stunningly but are clear in their distinction?
It was definitely a hard process to get the mood of the conversation to match that of the dream sequence in post. It really was a tightrope walk to have the conversation feel tense but still fit with that next montage. From memory – I think we just really focused on nailing the conversation scene and then added the dream sequence after… then we had to adjust the conversation to interact with the overall tone once it was together. I won’t lie, that was tedious.
I need to ask you about the sound design, your previous short Mud Crab features a similar haunting soundscape and I would love to know more!
Wade and Joel were doing the sound design and score in Wade’s home studio in the Blue Mountains. Due to time constraints and availability that was happening at the same time as the edit so I was driving back and forth to make it work. There was a really holistic (lack of a better word) approach to the sound and music. They were both being adjusted at the same time and really became one and the same thing. The guys were so keen to experiment by recording birds, sampling them, slowing it down and throwing it in places. Seeing how it felt.
I loved watching this process as it opens us up to so many happy accidents or experiments that ended up in the film and make it what it is.
I think all the sounds used in the sound design and music followed some Rick Rubin principle of needing to have vibrated air in the room, to have actually interacted with the air and created its own tangible organic quality. For a low Sub boom sound I watched the guys create a padded drumstick out of tape and make a drum, hit it and start messing with that sound until it was the sound we would need. Usually, that’s just a sample pack but I loved watching this process as it opens us up to so many happy accidents or experiments that ended up in the film and make it what it is. I have a 5.1 sound set up at home now and it’s been an amazing process developing my taste for mixing. What films and filmmakers I like that utilise the 5.1 set up best. I really love surround sound so as my taste gets better I want to utilise the space for more experimentation and storytelling in abstract ways.
You have an incredibly haunting but affecting voice and one that talks about things that matter – what’s next for you?
Thank you! I really really hope that my feature is next. I think I’m ready to do that now and I’m itching to start. So right now I am just writing toward that goal.
