Top Box Office Movies - Slim Jackson

INTERVIEW
Slim Jackson Stars in "A Day with the Dick"

Ru Zarin is the creator of the interactive on-line film series ‘Slim Jackson’. Mr. Zarin is the mastermind behind this groundbreaking film that merges entertainment with interactivity. The character of Slim Jackson is a hybrid of all that was funky in the 70’s. From Shaft to Superfly, to ‘dissing’and Disco-Dancing, Slim Jackson is the epitome of 70’s cool. He takes his role quite seriously as an international cultural icon and comes to life in a thoroughly entertaining and interactive piece of film.

Creator Ru Zarin has brought to life this renowned character through the usage of Macromedia Flash Software. Housed at Zarinmedia in Toronto, the third and greatest of the Slim Jackson films, ‘A Day With the Dick’ allows the user to become Slim's training partner of Slim all the while ‘learning the ropes’ of what it means to be a cool detective. From this comical action film, discerning internet users will come across non-linear navigation and sophisticated loading logic that complements and facilitates the film’s fun factor component.

Creator Ru Zarin and his creation ‘Slim Jackson’ have been momentously gaining attention. From attention garnering festivals in the Toronto, Canada area, to future festivals overseas, to being featured on the Canadian based CBC Television network site 120 seconds (www.120seconds.com), Ru Zarin and Slim Jackson are an incredible story in themselves and TheWorldJournal.com writer Giancarlo De Lisi had a chance to sit with Ru and discuss the effort and process that went into the creation of this interesting character and film.

To view the third installment in the Slim Jackson films, please visit: www.slimjackson.com.

For more information on Zarinmedia, please visit: www.zarinmedia.com.

How did Zarinmedia come about?

The actual company was formed about 4 years ago. Basically it is has always been involved in rich media and specialized in the creation of higher profile rich media experiences in the online realm.

What is the relationship between Zarinmedia and the online film ‘A Day with the Dick’?

The online film, ‘Slim Jackson’ is the first film that Zarinmedia has really been involved in. Zarinmedia serves as a distribution channel for the film and helped in releasing the film. Due to the previous shorter episodes of ‘Slim Jackson’ it has had sort of a cult following which was reflected at some of the micro festivals in which the film was shown at. But because of Zarinmedia and their commitment to the film, it allowed the film to be distributed over the internet and made it possible to acquire such a large viewership. The dimension of the internet has created such a dynamic following that has allowed Slim’s popularity to keep on growing.

How efficient has the online availability of the film added to the fan base?

The Internet provides a platform for the film’s viewing and allows people to see the film and explore its’ many possibilities. We have received e-mails from fans from all over, ranging from Europe and other locations. This film, ‘A Day with the Dick’ has had an enormous response worldwide.

How long has ‘A Day With the Dick’ been available on-line?

The official release date was June 1. 2002. Because of to its’ technological features we put it up online, a couple of weeks before, just to test it out. With any web site, you have to test it out in order to work out the bugs. In this beta period, we gave the URL out to a couple of our friends and we found that it had quite a viral aspect to it. People liked it so much! They were passing it off to their friends and that gained quite an audience. We had a counter on the site and we noticed that already thousands were seeing the film without even promoting it. So I had thought it was going to be fairly popular judging from the early response.

What are the implications of a movie such as this?

This film was self funded, self released, self promoted and self distributed. The significance of this is that artists do not have to be at the mercy of larger production companies and funding bodies to create an entertainment piece for the public.

Are there are any new plans to promote the on-line film due to its’ tremendous response?

At the moment, we are just submitting it to relevant film festivals such as the digital film festivals, independent film festivals and short film festivals. Also, when the film was finished, we wrote up a press release (http://www.slimjackson.com/press/), sent it across the newswire and other various news sources. The film has had quite a bit of success due to it being linked on websites, particularly in the FLASH Community because it was created using the FLASH software. It was one of the first interactive video pieces done in FLASH. They responded quite positively and as a result there seems to be a sense of ownership within that community. Many always post little blurbs about the film within these moderated websites.

Seeing as you are both the star and the Director of the film, how was the idea conceived and is there a purpose for such an interesting character?

I guess the very first Slim Jackson short came out of experimentation. It was a time when certain technologies were coming out and becoming accessible to everyday users such as myself. Digital Cameras were being released into the consumer market and that allowed me to create a short film. It was really just to see if I could write a script and put together a short production plan, create a short film and effectively entertain the intended audience. After I created the first film, it was not marketed at all. It was just basically on CD-ROM and was showed to some friends simply to get a reaction. Based on that reaction, it prompted me to do another one and slowly people responded to the genre of the film. Friends of mine who have similar personalities wanted to see more episodes and more Slim Jackson. So that is how I started, it was more out of demand, after the first was created and people kept asking me, I guess I went from there. They are quite time-consuming and I am not sure I would have made more episodes if the demand was not there. It really puts into perspective what these productions can be like; there is a lot of effort put into a film.

Are the Slim Jackson films mere entertainment, or is it to display the advancements in technology?

It started out as entertainment, and they are entertainment pieces, it is just because it was spawned out of taking advantage out of the current technology available. It stays true to that because with the release of the new Flash MX that Macromedia released, it made it possible to push the boundaries even more. Seeing as that is what I do professionally, I was in a position where I could have used and experimented with the FLASH product. The technology provided be the freedom to craft the viewer experience in non-traditional film making fashion.

Where did the inspiration for the Slim Jackson character come from?

The character came out of my fascination with the 70’s. I did not grow up in the 70’s; I never really got a chance to experience the 70’s. That is one era for me that is intriguing because I respond to all the colorful costumes, music and all the cool aspects of that era. All that jive talk and all the other aspects really interested me and that is one of the main reasons why I chose to go with the character. I wanted to explore that a bit more and the actual character Slim is based on research that I had done for the film in terms of blaxploitation films from ‘Superfly’ to ‘Jackie Brown’ to ‘Shaft’. He a fusion of all these characters, especially Superfly and the detective in him comes from Shaft. There is also a disco dancing side, which I would say is Travolta lightly sprinkled on. He is a combination of all of these characters but he definitely does have his own personality as well, which one can see in the film.

The fusion of all these characters makes for quite an interesting character. How do you see the character from an unbiased and external perspective?

Well, a friend of mine had once said that Slim is essentially not a mimicking of 70’s traits, It certainly does borrow from it, with all the cues, but I think that Slim is sort of timeless because it truly is difficult to recreate that era. If you watch any film set in the 70’s that is created today, and actually pop in a videotape of ‘Saturday Night Fever’ it has a certain authentic feel to it when you compare the two. In films made in the 70’s, the actors actually lived through it and were part of that moment in time. Because of that, while the actors were acting, there was a natural personality that the actors had, that really added a different element to the film and is very difficult to re-create. Because Slim Jackson is not a serious kind of film, it works if you throw in some kind of fake 70’s acting, it would still come out positive even if it looked cheese, in some cases it might make it funnier.

Was the interactive ingredient of the film a difficult task to accomplish?

I had been experimenting with different interactive formats because of my interests in on-line media. In the past, I had created linear scripts for linear films. Since I was a big fan of experimentation, I had decided to fuse my filmmaking side to the interactive side in order to create a different kind of film.

Take us through the steps.

The first step was to write a script with interactivity intended. Because of my background in multi-media, I knew my capabilities with what we had to work with and planned for that early on. I wrote the script interactively and all the possible scenarios of what would happen if the user clicked on the various paths and the subsequent results of their decision.

Therefore, we can say it is similar to the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ Novellas of the past.

Right, I figured because of that ‘choose your own adventure’ phenomenon, people had been fascinated with those books. If you mention that phrase (Choose your own adventure), people know what you are talking about because they had read those books, so it was not that far of a stretch to do interactive video. People have been exposed to interactive video and some do not even know it. If you look at what they have done with the DVD, the technology permits us to interact in that fashion.

With every viewing, there is a different result. How important was that to the filmmaking process?

I was trying to make the viewer/user watch the film at their own pace. Certain films are crafted through the Director’s intentions to allow the viewer to follow the film the way which the Director intends the pacing to be. Sometimes things go really quickly, and sometimes some audience members catch them and some don’t. Some of the tougher films out there that really make you think might not be appreciated by all. I know of one that comes to mind and that is Bryan Singer’s ‘The Usual Suspects’. I know people that have seen the film three or four times and are still trying to figure out what went on in that film. What I wanted to do was produce an environment where the user could go back and discover at their own pace. If users did not like the previous choice they made, they could go back. It is like you are reading “a choose your own adventure book” and where you keep your finger on a certain decision page, if you go down a path that you did not like the outcome. You can simply flip back to the page that your finger has indexed, restarting the adventure and continue discovering the different branches of that tree for all the choices that there are. That is the environment that I wanted to provide. Viewers can enjoy the movie at their own pace and at their leisure, ultimately creating different experiences for different viewers.

Judging from the amount of users screening the film on the Slim Jackson web site, is a profit for the film something that will be welcomed in order to produce more interactive films?

There is a definite implication for the film as far as the film being in an interactive environment. As far as predicting profitability, I think it is too early to tell since the film was just released. At the moment our focus is concentrating on assessing how effective the film is in its’ marketplace or the platform that its’ in.

Can we expect another Slim Jackson adventure any time soon?

Definitely. I do not have an exact date as to when the next film is being released. I do not want to let down Slim’s cult following that has developed. I know I would disappoint many if another was not made. There are some rumors of a Kung-Fu Slim brewing, we’ll have to wait and see.

In terms of the production process, how was the film engineered?

The film was a completely digital process from beginning to end. It was shot using a digital camcorder and it was edited digitally using FinalCutPro on an Apple G4 Computer. All the music was cut digitally and was produced from scratch. The film never leaves that digital realm. When we showed the film at certain festivals, we had some difficulty because the film breaks so many paradigms in terms of interactivity – many festivals do not have a category for these types of films. There are a few festivals that are digital, but even those had a category that could appreciate our film and classify it. A lot of the festivals said that they would begin to include interactive film category next year, now that people are started to produce them. Some festivals would only accept the film if we transferred the film to a linear format as in a VHS Format or a DV. We declined this option because you simply cannot take the interactivity away. The interactivity makes the film and just wouldn’t make sense without that aspect.

How has the audience responded to the film and what age group does it generally attract?

In terms of the subject matter, I know that the film itself attracts viewers that are around the ages of 18-30. A lot of these people who have viewed the film (like me) have not lived through the 70’s. It seems interesting to me that there seems to be a sort of second hand nostalgia created for this audience to respond to very out-dated, costumes style, music and language.

Aside from that, the film seems to promote a weird marriage of 70’s era funk and recent technology that is very interesting as well, but not as unusual as you might think. If you think about it, the 70’s were a time where experimentation was key in being cool people where experimenting with bigger hair, higher shoes and different music was essential in exercising your groove.

Make sure to visit the Slim Jackson' website at www.SlimJackson.com

Click here to comment on this article or post your thoughts.

Giancarlo De Lisi
July 14, 2002 © TheWorldJournal.com

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