Interview with Director Jed Brian [Unlisted Owner]

Kyle Laugh took the time to Chat with the Wri/Dir Jed Brian of "Unlisted Owner" for a interview.

**If you would like to read the review for Unlisted Owner first you can HERE

- Thank you for joining us here on LONG LIVE THE VOID Jed, its a pleasure to have you speak with us today.

"Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. I really appreciate it!"

- To begin, could you tell us what Unlisted Owner is about?

"Sure, Unlisted Owner is a feature length found footage horror film. The film follows a group of friends who hear of a family of five who have been murdered in a house about a mile away from where they are planning to camp for the night. Driving to the house and seeing the police, fire and ambulance crews pull a body out of the home would allow their curiosity to get the best of them. After a late night of partying and bad decision making the group of friends return to the house to investigate the murders themselves. The footage of the events has been edited by the Lawford County Sheriff's Dept."

- IMDB States that the film was created in 2013 but was released in 2017. Could you shed a little light on this?

" Yes, we actually finished the film around February 2013 and had tired submitting to different film festivals from the end of 2013 to mid 2014 with not much luck. I was still trying to figure out how to get the film out there and get a distribution deal for it. So in October of 14' I went to LA for a trip with my wife's family and learned of the American Film Market. The American Film Market or AFM is where indie filmmakers can go and showcase their work and meet different distribution companies that you wouldn't normally get to speak with. The bad part was AFM was the following week so I had no time to register or prep for it. I ended up having to wait until November of the following year to go to AFM which would end up being worth the wait and prove successful. The following October we inked a deal with Summer Hill Films/ Tom Cat Films but before the film could be released we had to create an M&E track for the film. Since the film was found footage and we wanted to make it as real as possible we used the actual audio from the cameras. So to complete the M&E track we had to recreate every sound effect for the entire 74 min film. This process took us from February 2017 to July of 2017, but after that was completed we were given a release date of November 14th 2017. So it was a very long process but it was a learning experience and I will know for next time."

- The acting was spot on, almost as if this was actual footage in which you've found. Where did you find such a talented group of unknown actors?

"Thank you so much for that! In a found footage film your acting has to believable from the start. So I'm so glad you thought it was spot on! When I decided to write Unlisted Owner I knew I was going to be limited on funds. So when it came to acting I casted mostly friends especially for the main cast of the film. When I sat down to write the script I had already planned out what friends were going to play what characters in my head. With knowing what friend was going to play what role, I was able to take common phrases or words they would say in everyday life and put it into the dialogue to give it a more natural flown. I really thought everyone getting their lines right would of proven more difficult than it actually was. I believe by me adding a little piece of themselves in every line and doing round table reads before we would shoot also helped. And keeping everyone's real 1st names also didn't hurt with lessening mistakes. I was very happy with the realism that film ended up having in the end. I'm really proud of all my actors in the film, for it being everyone's film debut I couldn't of been more happy with the results!"

- The scenes all looked to be shot as a one takes, was this the case or was there some movie magic at play here?

"In most cases the very long scenes were done with a little movie magic. For me one thing I wanted to keep to a minimum was the hard edits that are common in most found footage films. To prevent this from happening we used a technique called blend edits or jerk edits. How this process worked is when we would come to the end of a scene, I would dip the camera and bring it back up. After I brought the camera back up I would then go a little bit into the next scene. Next I would back up into the last scene do that same dip and continue on, after filming we would put the footage in the editor and put the scenes side by side. By doing this both the scenes would look like one continuous motion. We also did this same technique on shorter scenes or more effect driven scenes. For instance the attic space scene had about 7 different edits in about one minute and forty five second span. Since the house didn't have an attic space we actually had Tom Doyal Construction who are contractors from the Sumner area build a fake room/ set to the specs in the house to make it seem like the whole scene was shot right there in real time."

- When speaking to you prior to this interview, you were mentioning that you are a volunteer firefighter. Is this the connection to which you were able to utilize actual emergency service personnel in the film?

"Yes it was. With me being a volunteer firefighter for the Christy Fire Dept I was able to have have access to different first responders for the film. This also added another touch of realism as all fire, police and medics were all actual emergency personnel"

- What was the budget like for unlisted owner? Did you have to make any back end deals with any of the cast and crew in order to make it happen?

“I think the total budget was 15-20K after everything was said and done. And we did make some deals but I think most cast & crew were just really excited to be apart of the project. It was something new and different that no one in our area had ever done before.”

Vincent Price in "House On Haunted Hill" (1959)

- Now to change things up a tad bit. Overall are you a fan of horror?

“Oh yes! I am a lifelong horror fan! My mom and dad had gotten me started from a young age. I had the Vincent Price film House on Haunted Hill & the monster movie King Kong VS Godzilla on VHS. I also one night snuck down and caught part of puppet master II, that really gave me nightmares as a kid. My parents also took my brother and I to haunted houses and we always decorated big for Halloween. So I'm really glad my mom and dad did all that for me as a kid. I really owe my start in horror to them.”

- What are some of your favorite films from the genre?

“I love all the Universal Monster Movies! From Dracula and Frankenstein to Wolfman and The Creature From The Black Lagoon. But I'm a huge silent film fan! My all time favorite would be Lon Chaney's The Phantom Of The Opera. I think it's a masterpiece! The shock value his makeup had during that time period was revolutionary in spawning the classic monster movies that came out in the 30's & 40's. I also love slashers like Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th. To more modern films like the Hostel Films, Grave Encounters, the new It and Dead silence.”

- Were any of them responsible for directly inspiring your film?

“Eli Roth is a huge influence to me. When I saw the Hostel films it really got me thinking about real life horror. When I saw the first Hostel film I was like wow what would I do in this situation. The original family of five in Unlisted Owner is actually "The Roth Family" named in his honor.”

- Looking towards the future, are you planning on making more films and if so are you looking to stay in or around the horror genre?

“Oh yeah I have a few scripts ready to go. I have one called "Meth House" that we actually shot a teaser trailer for back in 2009, we just didn't have the funds to make it. But most of my scripts are traditionally shot instead of found footage. Almost all are somewhere in the Horror genre.”

- Could you share any details as to what your next project is or what you're planning on working on next?

“I have several I would love to start but Meth House would be a good one to do for sure. The concept surrounds a war between police and these twisted looking Meth Head creatures. There is this new experimental Meth that has changed them into almost superhuman monsters. A group of friends end up being caught in the middle. There is an Easter egg in Unlisted Owner where you can see a DVD case that says Meth House on it. No one has found it yet but I'll give everyone a hint where it's at in the movie. It's between when the group of friends enter the house & it's located somewhere down stairs. Happy hunting!”

- Where can people find your movie "Unlisted Owner?

“Unlisted Owner can be found on DVD through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The DVD is the only version that has all the special features on it. If you would like to stream Unlisted Owner it is on Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, GooglePlay, & the Microsoft Store so you can get it on your Xbox!”

- Is there anything else you would like to add in before we finish?

“If any wants to find out more information about Unlisted Owner check us out on Facebook Twitter @UnlistedOwner, my Instagram @mr.jed_brian or our website www.UnlistedOwner.com. We also have an upcoming event on Saturday February 10th from 1:00-2:30 CST we will be having a Unlisted Owner DVD signing at Barnes & Noble in Evansville IN. We will have DVDs available for purchase and will be signing them at no extra cost. We also have Official Unlisted Owner T-Shirts Sizes S-XL they are $20.00 plus shipping. If you are interested in one feel free to DM us on any of our social media platforms. If you take a selfie wearing it tag us and we will share your post.

I also just want to thank everyone's support of the Unlisted Owner and helping get the film to this point. We filmed Unlisted Owner in my hometown of Sumner Illinois so to have something not only filmed here but to have had the success it has had is amazing!”

- Thank you so much for doing this with us. It's greatly appreciated and you're welcome back anytime!

“Thank you for speaking with me. It was my pleasure!”

Check out the Trailer for "Unlisted Owner" below.