Alrik Bursell is a Berkeley native and a graduate of San Francisco State University. He has worked on Feature Films, and Network Television for the past 10 years. His new story is titled The Rage. It is a psychological thriller that explores the relationship between sex, anger and violence.
“We wanted to challenge ourselves by telling a very emotional story that explores the relationship between sex, anger and violence. This is the first sex scene I ever shot and I wanted to do something that was powerful and raw. That didn’t look like every other sex scene before it. says Alrik Bursell. Alrik takes us into the atmospheric of the character of “Oscar” (L. Jeffrey Moore) as he deals with his rage and the choices he makes based on it.
The Rage, a profile: L. Jeffrey Moore & Sophia LaPaglia in RAGE with Director Alrik Bursell
indieactivity: Give a background of your personal experience with the story, writing, production and marketing
Alrik: Well the original story was presented to me by my co-producer/co-writer/star L. Jeffrey Moore who had written this as a short story before turning it into a script.
The story was very internal. Jeff and I talked about how we could tell this story in a more visual way. So from the very beginning we had decided to have very little to no dialogue. To use visuals and music to tell the story. At that point I wrote a draft, passed it to Jeff. He wrote a draft and we honed the script that way.
This is a very personal story to Jeff. It is based on a specific time in his life. And for me I just thought about the feeling of being trapped. Held by your anger and the decisions you might make when consumed with anger.
indieactivity: Did you start writing with a cast (You or any) in mind?
Alrik: Yes, from the beginning we knew Jeff was going to star as Oscar. We did have a different actor in mind for the role of Sylvi. But there was a miscommunication about our plans for the sex scene. We needed to find a last minute replacement which ended up being our other lead Sophia LaPaglia.
indieactivity: How long did you take to complete the script? (Do you have a writing process?)
Alrik: Once we got started it took us about a month to land a final version of the script. Our writing process on this one was a little different. Since we were working from an existing story but it basically consisted of us tossing drafts back and forth.
indieactivity: When did you form your production company – and what was the original motivation for its formation?
Alrik: Bursell Productions was formed years ago when I first started doing freelance video production work, shooting, editing and producing. I basically wanted a business entity to work under and at the same time to be the production company that produces all my independent films.
indieactivity: What was the first project out of the gate?
Alrik: ‘Strange Thing’ was my first narrative short film under the Bursell Productions banner, followed by a short documentary I made called ‘The Naturally Gifted Athletes’ about a friend’s band that only played one show.
indieactivity: During production, what scene (that made the cut) was the hardest to shoot?
Alrik: For The Rage the scene that was most difficult for me was the sex scene, since I had never shot a sex scene before and I had also never shot a scene with nudity before either. It ended up coming together very close to how we had originally imagined it and I think I’m very prepared when it comes to shoot my next sex scene.
indieactivity: What works better in this latest production that mightn’t have worked so well in the last one you did?
Alrik: That’s a tough question but I guess in previous films I’ve been more of a slave to coverage and made sure to shoot enough angles of each scene. I wasn’t necessarily doing the whole ‘Master, medium, close up, close up, insert’ approach but I think I was approaching my filmmaking more traditionally at first. In making The Rage my Cinematographer Jason Joseffer and I really wanted to plan out our coverage of the film very intentionally, to the point where we had the film planned out shot by shot, with zero coverage.
We probably would have shot a couple different angles of the scenes just to be safe but our production schedule was so tight that we didn’t have any other option. Luckily Jeff was into the idea and we managed to pull it off.
indieactivity: You produced and directed the film, what measure of input did it take to don these hats?
Alrik: Well luckily I had L. Jeffrey Moore helping with the producer which was very helpful but it really just means you have to be involved in every aspect of the production. From the schedule, to securing locations, crew, everything has to be planned out and managed by Jeff and I. So yeah, this film was pretty much a full time job for about two weeks leading up to the shoot.
indieactivity: Is there anything about the independent filmmaking business you still struggle with?
Alrik: I think you learn something new with every project and new struggles pop up each time. The biggest thing I am struggling with now is just the financing. Raising money has been very difficult and based on other filmmakers of talked with; it never really gets that much easier. I am making very good progress with the financing of my first feature film so slowly but surely I’m figuring it all out.
indieactivity: Where do you think your strengths line as a filmmaker?
Alrik: I hope that one of my strengths is my ability to collaborate well with my team and to take in other ideas and know when to go with my gut and when to let the new idea in. I think that is a skill all filmmakers should focus on and it’s something I hope I’m following through with.
indieactivity: Let’s talk finance, How did you finance the film?
Alrik: For this one L. Jeffrey Moore and I split the cost as producers and Jeff covered his half through a crowd funding campaign and I self financed my half.
indieactivity: How much did you go over budget? How did you manage it?
Alrik: As I recall we didn’t really go over budget during the production, it was more like once the film was done I ended up spending more on film festival submissions then I had planned.
Official The Rage
indieactivity: How important is marketing? Do you think a project can make any dent without it these days?
Alrik: That’s another good, yet tough question to answer. I’ve done marketing on all my short films for their releases and I have not seen a correlation between more outreach/marketing efforts and views. On my first short film Strange Thing I emailed about 20 websites and didn’t paid for $40 on facebook ads and I saw the most views on that release.
For later films I have emailed 40-60 websites and blogs, paid $200 on facebook ads and paid for placements and sponsorships and have yet to have a movie reach the number of views as my first film. On the other hand I’ve talked to filmmakers who have just released films on vimeo with no outreach, no connections, and they get a staff pick and then boom, they are off to the races.
indieactivity: Can you tell us about your marketing activities on the project – and how it’s gone for you?
Alrik: For The Rage I reached out to about 40 websites/blogs, posted on all the social media sites, hit up all the news feeds (buzz feed, boing boing, laughing squid etc.) and did a big push on facebook and twitter. So far I have four write ups, one review and I almost have 1000 views online to show for it. Multiple companies who want to pick up the film for distribution have shown interest in the film but it would require me to put the film behind a pay wall, which I haven’t been interested in doing, yet.
indieactivity: What do you hope audiences get from your film?
Alrik: I hope this film makes people think about their understanding of anger, sex and violence and that no matter what, there is no excuse for cheating on your significant other.
indieactivity: What else have you got in the works?
Alrik: I have written a feature film called The Alternate, which I plan to direct at the end of 2018 or the beginning of 2019. I have a producer on the project and we are currently raising money while I put the final polish on the script. The film is a sci-fi/thriller about a camera operator who discovers a portal to another dimension where all his dreams have come true.
For more information on The Alternate you can check HERE or just send Alrik a message and he can give you details.
Tell us what you think of the interview with Alrik Bursell. What do you think of it? What ideas did you get? Do you have any suggestions? Or did it help you? Let’s have your comments below and/or on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
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