A Conversation With the Editors of ‘Are We Good?’

NFS: What was your preliminary inspiration for Unusual Harvest?Stuart Ortiz: The preliminary inspiration was really the documentary Tiger King, unusually sufficient, because it appeared to show to me that true crime had really arrived within the mainstream. It was at all times my concern in doing a true-crime mock-doc that the viewers wouldn’t be acquainted sufficient / sufficient with the format to need to take the journey, however it turned clear after Tiger King that there was an enormous urge for food for this sort of factor.I’ve at all times additionally felt it is an effective way to inform a style story, particularly a horror story. It permits you to stew in world-building and exposition and go off on wild tangents you in any other case couldn’t in conventional narrative. The immediacy of the discovered footage model makes it appear extra plausible indirectly, and the extra realistically a state of affairs is conveyed in a horror context, the more practical it may be at scaring you. When on a regular basis, bland home actuality co-mingles with the uncanny, significantly in a found-footage film, the outcomes may be really unsettling.NFS: What have been among the major inspirations for the true crime documentary model that the movie pastiches? Stuart Ortiz: I can’t say one explicit doc was the inspiration we have been aping on. I believe the model is simply knowledgeable by way of osmosis of all of some of these packages we’ve all seen through the years. There’s a sure rhythm and pacing all the most effective ones share. Amazon’s sequence Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer is especially effectively executed, and the title sequence is artwork – I like a great title sequence! My past love of true crime was really from the podcast, Sword and Scale, which works significantly onerous within the first season.NFS: What cameras did you shoot on for the principle interviews? What cameras and strategy did you’re taking for the archival and located footage sequences?Stuart Ortiz: The interviews are shot on a Canon C300 Mark III with Sigma’s nice artwork lenses. I selected this primarily as a result of it was a “Netflix-approved digicam” that some of these docs are ceaselessly shot on. A big format Arri Alexa with sick lenses would look too good and cinematic. The C300 gave the superbly acceptable “Skilled interview look”. The C300 additionally has a really respectable auto-focus that may monitor objects fairly effectively in very best circumstances, which eliminates the necessity for a spotlight puller and AC if you’re working and gunning.NFS: Are you able to share any BTS tidbits from the mutilated our bodies and different results within the movie?Stuart Ortiz: The mutilated our bodies are the good work of results artist Josh Russell, who just lately did the cenobites within the David Bruckner Hellraiser film. Though we had a really low funds for making this film, an unreasonable quantity of it was allotted for a Hollywood-caliber results artist (who additionally graciously did us a favor). I’ve a factor about useless our bodies – in motion pictures, I imply. I believe there’s an artwork to the presentation, and only a few filmmakers get it fairly proper. Ari Aster has the most effective useless our bodies within the enterprise, proper now, so his work was a giant inspiration. We spent loads of time laying the demise tableaus out and artwork decking the environments. The satan is within the particulars.One of many funniest gags I keep in mind taking pictures includes a dangling physique and really graphic gore in a really home outside location, and though we had a allow, we couldn’t cease individuals who have been there from stopping to take footage and whatnot. That included babies who have been there with their dad and mom. It was only a very surreal sight, and really humorous.NFS: The movie leaves open that the story would possibly proceed. Do you propose to maintain the saga going?Stuart Ortiz: I’d like to proceed the saga! I like working within the format and have 1,000,000 concepts for an entire cinematic universe of those unusual true-crime tales. It actually comes right down to the urge for food for extra. Time will inform if it is a one-off experiment or the start of one thing larger!NFS: What recommendation would you give to any aspiring filmmakers trying to equally discover this Netflix true crime-esque model?Stuart Ortiz: My greatest recommendation is for those who’re good about the way you do issues, it is a nice strategy to make a low-budget film that may really feel prefer it has a bigger “huge funds” scope and enchantment. A lot of the film is editorial and created in post-production. I actually spent two years sharpening it to demise — re-editing, re-photoshopping, re-shooting among the demise scenes, and even including an entire new interview that by no means existed within the unique script. A mock doc could be very “modular” – you’ll be able to swap items out and in simply that don’t create main ripples to the entire piece prefer it in any other case would. It is each extremely sensible and may result in a product with a excessive gloss end.Unusual Harvest hits theaters on August 8, 2025.