A contained abrasive film fuelled by wings and beer from Brent Michal, Ponytailhead is an eccentric contemporary glimpse into a somewhat endearing yet mostly five-alarm manipulative relationship. Within the walls of a low-lit flat where a guy is called over to remove a bug from his ex’s place, Ponytailhead offers a 9 minute concoction of loving, hating and a hell of a lot of raw emotion between two individuals who can’t seem to quit one another but probably should…immediately. Co-written with and co-starring alongside Piper Verbrick, and shot in fittingly gonzo style by “little sensei on the camera” DP Jaxon Ray, Michal’s situationship short will have you thinking, “Damn is this what love looks like nowadays?” – if it doesn’t, we suggest you ask the nearest sane adult to pull the relationship ripcord for you! Watch Ponytailhead below, after which Michal takes us through the circuitous route the project took to completion, the ins and outs of its evolution along the way and how he took the classic shouty couple argument scenario to the next level.
To get started, I want to hear more about the beginnings of Ponytailhead. You’ve mentioned it was originally a scene from a feature. What is the process like for you going from a singular scene to its own text entirely?
Initially, I had the idea for the scene to fit into a darknightofthesoul, After Hours style feature I was cookin on. Though that seed never bloomed, I couldn’t get the ending of that one scene – the ending of the short – out of my nugget. Then my lady, Piper Verbrick, and I were spending a weekend in podunk ass Georgia – watching old screwball comedies, and the idea popped back up. We stayed up late eating grapes, and sippin tequila, and typing the script up on a Nakajima WPT-150 typewriter in our undies. We were writing the characters like two boxers with no defense. I hit you. You hit me. Who can get hit harder and not fall over? Then we folded the script up and it sat in the bottom of my bookbag for a month or so.
We were writing the characters like two boxers with no defense. I hit you. You hit me. Who can get hit harder and not fall over.
Fast forward a month or so – we’re housesitting for Pip’s mom at her sexy little Park Slope apartment, auditioning and writing, and we pull out the Ponytailhead script. We start revising it / slowing the pace down, and by playing the banter and one-up-manship straight (without the Tracy & Hepburn smirk or mugging), the characters’ stabs at wit played more like insecure attempts to either connect or hurt each other. Then we kept calling it a One-Act and thought maybe we’d try to put it on its feet at a short play festival in the city. Ultimately tho, we decided to shoot it in said sexy ass apartment.
Tell us about crewing up for this gonzoesque production and how you then went about shooting and editing the thing?
I called up this kid Jaxon Ray from another podunk ass town in Georgia, who I thought was a little sensei with the camera, and said get ur ass up to NY. He caught a buddy pass up to NY 2 days later. Then Pip called her college roommate Aidan Hamell up and he agreed to run sound. In the 2 days leading up – we rehearsed in the park. We bought a wig. We bought the wine. We borrowed a recorder and boom mic. Then day of – we gathered in the evening, talked it all out, we clapped for slates, we used lamps and a ring light (pointed at the vaulted ceiling) for light, I’m pretty sure only Pip and I read the script which I think led to the camera / sound having a seeking verite quality that I love.
We broke it into beats and shot each segment only 2 or 3 times and I knew I was gonna cut it with no sense of continuity – just focusing on the most interesting image at any time, so Jaxon – shooting on a Canon EOS M with adapted CCTV camera lens – had a lot of freedom to search within the scene. We shot the whole thing in 4 hours, including a couple bookend sequences (that were eventually cut) of me on the Citi Bike. Then we spent the rest of our 80 dollar budget on wings and beer.
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I cut that bitch the next day. It was 13 minutes long. We screened it for some friends and then I threw it away. Months later I was scrubbing through hard drives. Found the film. Popped it into a timeline. Cut the bookend sequences and jumpcut through the meat and potatoes. Recorded the phone call at the beginning with Piper. Then it was 9 minutes. We screened it for friends again and decided to share it!
How was it behind the scenes acting alongside your co-writer and partner? What did your established relationship bring to the energy of the writing/shoot and the edges you could push beyond with the characters?
That’s my bb, and making fuckoffs and viddys is what we live for. I remember we laughed a bunch writing it, and we debated a bunch rehearsing it, and we sweated a bunch shooting it. We knew our affection for one another would go a long way, so we leaned more into the being shitty part.
We gathered in the evening, talked it all out, we clapped for slates, we used lamps and a ring light (pointed at the vaulted ceiling) for light, I’m pretty sure only Pip and I read the script which I think led to the camera / sound having a seeking verite quality that I love.
Ponytailhead is quite a lo-fi project – one day of filming, minimal crew, low budget – and that aesthetic matches the film’s narrative so well. Were there any issues you faced with this “ny-hustler-nobudget-cassavetes-diy-fuckshit spirit” filmmaking approach and how did you turn those into benefits?
The spirit and attitude is the benefit. If you have 80 bucks you may as well have a million. When your focus is on the people in the frame and the story you’re telling – look and tone come easy as breathing.
I’m also interested in the equipment you and Jaxon used, especially the CCTV lens adapted on the Canon EOS M. What were your thoughts behind that addition?
Yeah I sent Jaxon a bunch of old Nan Goldin photos and Davide Sorrenti pics – intimate shots where the subject is king and the background is a dreamy wash and he picked up a 30 dollar lens and a couple adapters to get that warped bokeh and shallow DOF. This was the first film he DP’d. He’s gonna be a little sensei with the camera one day, I promise ya.
Ponytailhead has had a lot of evolution along the way to the point where the film could have turned out a lot different. We’d love to hear more about the process of working free of continuity constraints and how you ultimately honed the film to what it is now.
Yeah when we wrote it we thought it was gonna be the cutest little screwball com – all rat-a-tat Howard Hawks shit, but as me and Pippi developed it and rehearsed it in the park every day, we started taking breaths between barbs, and honing in on the truth of this relationship. Also, there was continuity in performance and intention. I don’t know how to shoot 12 pages in 5 hours without being locked the fuck in as actors, but in shooting and editing the only continuity that matters is emotional continuity. Polished edits are for detergent commercials.
As me and Pippi developed it and rehearsed it in the park every day, we started taking breaths between barbs, and honing in on the truth of this relationship.
The ending! How the hell did that come about? It was unexpected, to say the least!
Nothing will make me tune out of a film like a couple actors yelling at each other, so we knocked around different physical/visual ideas to convey that heightened emotional state at the climax – jerking into your ex old lady’s shoe and choppin her locks seemed most fitting. In the script I was gonna shoot into her trash can, which I still love. There’s a metaphor or a laugh in there somewhere, but if you got a pink Croc on set and you don’t blow a load of vani cream face wash into it – are you even making movies?
Are there any new projects we can look forward to seeing from you soon?
We gotta wild little feature script ready to go. Looking for a sugar daddy or mama to give me 20k. Will send dick and feet and butthole pics.
