I met Forrest when I was living in Seattle. He was putting on DIY shows with Tiff in the gallery next to his house. He is an amazing filmmaker who most recently has been collaborating with Clyde Peterson making music videos for artists such as Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, Horse Feathers, Quasi, Deerhoof, Lake and more! Check out their videos at Do It For the Girls Productions.
IMTFY: Where do you live? Describe your place. What is your favorite part about it? What do you wish you could change?
I live in a little 2BR house in Seattle, in the Wallingford neighborhood. It shares a common wall with my father’s art gallery, Windows Art Gallery, which is on the corner. The house is small, but I have the whole back yard, so I have space on both streets. Importantly, I have a 4.5 yr-old, Jack. Even with only having him on the weekends, he’s a huge part of my life, and my home. I think my favorite part [of the house] is its quirky and singular nature. Example: the floors and doorways are crooked. When you drop something, or (god forbid) spill something, it heads for the back corner… This is due to the house being 80/90?+ yrs old
I’m not sure, but it started as a teensy house, and was added on to. I believe the person who lived there worked in the corner store where the gallery is now. I live on a very wide street, Woodland Park Ave, and the reason for it is that a trolley used to run down it – in the 20s, I do believe. This is why “Motor Place” is up the street, for that’s where the Motor was! Trolleys used to be so widespread, and they were actually replaced for the most part by electric trolley buses, for safety. In Seattle, we have some limited streetcar action again, and talk of more. Which totally disregards some of the reasons for going to electric trolley buses…
I miss our waterfront streetcar, and can’t wait to take Jack on the SF streetcars! Yes, my friend just biffed it on the SLUT tracks and is still injured, probably 2 months later… I believe bikes were one of the reasons to change to a bus. (For those who dunno, the South Lake Union Trolley is not an official name for the trolley, but the name has stuck!).
I’m really interested in bike logistics. I don’t drive, and basically rage all over town on my bike. Then tone it down when I have Jack. Have you seen the footage of “rush hour” in oh, I dunno… one of those bike-heavy countries. It’s amazing! Everyone is courteous, stopping at lights, and yielding. I used to not bike so much, because this damn place is so hilly. It was super warm last week, and shorts were totally cool w/ the spray. I just finally got zip-off leg short-pants, and am stooooooooked!
IMTFY: Is there anything you don’t like about living in your house?
Yes. My parents own it, and it is in a state of disrepair. My Dad does a lot of fix-it stuff, and I basically have a lot more than I’d like to be doing.
IMTFY: Many people struggle to create and live at the same time. How do you pay the bills? How do you fund your projects? Has this ever been a struggle for you? How did you work through it?
Oh, shit dude. Yeah, that sucks. I just had a few meetings about summer Filmmaking for Kids, which I’ll be teaching. But I’ve been helping a friend with her in-home childcare. Basically a couple hours a day, near-minimum wage. If my parents hadn’t been giving me a great break, I’d be having an extremely hard time right now.
IMTFY: What’s a normal day for you like?
Lately, workin’ a lot, it’s been: Get up, laze around a bit, hopefully grab some food, head out… Bike to bus, go into the tunnel, take the light rail, bomb downhill and over to work… Do some childcare, maybe jump on the trampoline or go to the park w/ kids. This part of my job is actually really great.
IMTFY: what’s the not so good part?
Oh, man. Screamin’ baby! This one little girl, adoooorable, but serious separation anxiety. Not so much with her Mom, but as she’s taken to Tiff (who does the childcare)… When Tiff leaves to pick up kids, and the babe wakes up, she’s really upset. It’s actually gotten better, but I do not like bein’ yelled at. That was actually my biggest fear of parenting, that I’d have a screaming baby that just wouldn’t stop. She’s growing used to me, but maaaan.
To continue my day, I then do the first part backwards, though generally I don’t go home, as I’ve been goin’ to a lot of DIY shows, and if at all possible, science lectures! I’m currently obsessed. Pacific Science Center has one. The U, was another. That just ended, so I’m on a mission! I found the Town Hall Seattle lecture calendar, and will be hitting that up, soon. Also, the U Bookstore has readings, which I’ve gone to occasionally, but need to look up again, and get on my cal.
IMTFY: Can you talk a little about what DIY shows are?
DIY shows are basically house shows (as in, in someone’s house) or in alternate DIY venues… There used to be a venue in town that took place in an old boat-building warehouse! I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, the main thing about shows is they’re either boozy or not. I mean, $-wise, the main thing behind big touring bands or even clubs with local nights is that they make their $ on booze. Everything is based around that fact. DIY! The reason is that there can be both together! I can go to a house, bring my son, eat amazing food, and bring some beer. Also: some of the most fun shows I’ve ever been to have been entirely sober. Even with a tiny show, a much higher percentage of profit is going to the musicians. Plus there’s a real sense of community! Often people are already friends, or are friends of a friend. The bands can stay the night, and… dude, I love this. I’m trying not to cry in public thinking about it! My friends know people all over from touring. Ooh, ooh! I’m finally going on tour this summer! My BFF Clyde (Your Heart Breaks) is playing Athens Popfest, and I’m goin’! We’re doin’ a mini-tour of the south. I’ve traveled all over our fine country, but have never been to the gulf states.
How often do you work on your creative projects?
Not nearly enough. I’ve been so busy lately, they’ve been pushed… I work on projects with Clyde, but haven’t really done my own lately – writing a grant today!
What inspired you to start making videos?
Hmm… oh! I started making vids around Xmas one year, when we first got a video camera… early 90s? That one was actually stop motion stuffed animals, which is very close to the projects I’ve done lately! The inspiration probably came in later…
What interests you about the medium of stop motion animation?
I’m actually not obsessed with it, but… well, I guess meaning that I’m probably more into other techniques, but I certainly love working with actual tangible materials. I really like the trickery that can take place. Fooling the eye into perceived movement! There’s so much you can do!
IMTFY: Why music videos?
Well, they are the paying gigs, currently. But, moreso we only really work for people who have good music. Working on something you want to do is so great! Also, the vids can loosely sync to the music.
How do you get your gigs?
Well, Clyde, my Co-Producer/-Conspirator has spearheaded that. He actually asked me to work on his first real music vid “shoot” (we’d been friends, and had a history of making vids/working together).
How do you figure out what to make everything out of?
He’s seeked out more work, and talked Kill Rock Stars, a label we’d worked on for a few projects, into putting him on salary for 6 vids a year. This is the second year we’ve done that, it’s great! Every project is different. We generally pitch an idea, trying out new techniques as we go. We’ve done claymation, puppets, cut-out animation, pixellation. Usually a combo of live and animation. We even built a multi-plane! Oh, man. It is really awesome! I mean the whole process, I miss it pretty bad.
How long does it usually take to make a video, beginning to end?
Wellll… We’ve spent a couple months in the basement before, but that wasn’t full time. Mostly, there’s a deadline… or we have a deadline ’cause we’re too busy and hafta have stuff done before someone does the next crazy thing in their life. Probably 6-8 wks from concept to completion…
Do you promote your work otherwise? How?
Well, we’ve been putting stuff more out there in the real world. (Since usually these vids are mostly watched and shared online). But having premieres with the bands is great! We’ve also had stuff in some fests, Clyde had one in SXSW!, and in Local Sightings and other animation shows. It’s been amazing meeting other animators!
What is something(s) you have learned that has a great impact on your life and/or how you operate?
Hmm… I think I learned to be a producer! I never knew what a producer was, but just taking that word… I was more of a dreamer than a writer! I had soo many ideas, none of which were really fleshed out… Then I started making actual films with friends. We started actually producing content! Actually making our friends laugh, it’s wonderful!
I really love teaching kids to do the same, but haven’t really seen myself as that. My ideal job, and I’ll stick with this, is to be a Documentary Filmmaker……of Crazy Scientists! That is the ideal pinnacle that I can think of. Yes!
IMTFY: Who or what has discouraged you in the past, and how have you dealt with it?
Well, I hate to say it, but my Mom is really more interested in my having a good job and benefits, which… I can’t blame her I don’t have those things… But, in other ways, I have a great job… and I think I can make the rest happen, too! I mean, she just like to say: “Oh, I heard so&so is hiring” where so&so is like being an admin ass’t, or the like. I’m also discouraged by some of my manic tendencies… I am definitely a nite owl, and won’t sleep if I have a choice in the matter. I’ll stay up, thinking of ideas. And, I mean really good ideas! If I could implement all of them, my takeover of the world for good and justice would be eaaaaaassssy.
IMTFY: What is your idea of success? Are you aiming for anything in particular?
Ooh, success… that’s a good one. I’m really interested in storytelling, and just want to tell a good story.
I also like telling jokes. I want people to be enraptured and entertained. I love actual screenings. Watching people watch our work feels like success. Some artists freak out, and never wanna show their work. I love it. I want to show people my friends’ work. My favorite question to ask someone is, what do you have that I would have never heard of before? That discovery and sharing is such a lovely part of who we are. As a person, and as a people.
IMTFY: If you could be doing whatever you wanted, with unlimited resources, what would you do?
I’d have a stadium, or, oh, not that! I’d build a rocket, it’d really be a school, though. We’d all learn to be astronauts, and in space we could concentrate on research and work on some real 22nd century shit. Passing out of our solar system, we’d start mining the cosmos, eventually building our own spaceport. With advances in science, we could travel faster than light. It’d be a huge world, we could capture a dwarf star, and take advantage of all of its energy inside our now-larger Dyson’s sphere. Children would learn arts and sciences along side adults. We’d explore the Universe, we’d thrive in a new way. Humans would not only see what’s out there, but would see why the Earth is special. We’d be safe from “putting all our eggs in one basket”, but learn to appreciate where we came from. Moving beyond everything that keeps us from progressing will be incredibly difficult. But we already have unlimited resources. They’re out there… I really want to go into space. I don’t know how it would ever happen, and that’s heartbreaking. But maybe my son will go!
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Hi! Forrest is going to be running a media program in partnership with 911 Media for my youth and I’m really excited. But, I haven’t been able to get in touch with him and it’s a week away! Would you be able to give me a contact number or forward this to him to get in touch with me?
Thanks!!
Ruth
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