How did you get inspired to become a filmmaker?
It came as a natural evolution from years of being an artist — a painter — and photography. I’ve always loved storytelling and the medium is ideally suited to created images in pictures and words.
What is your favorite part about the short film form?
Being able to see the completed story quickly is wonderful plus I admired the ability of writers like Poe to spin a tale briefly, maybe due to my short attention span.
Still from “Compassion”
Who were the people that supported the making of this film?
Jeannette Saquet directed and Lisa Connor authored the screenplay both for their first times. As this was one of the shorts making up the anthology, “The Five Keys,” the other writer/director teams encouraged the production of the movie.
What resources do you use as a filmmaker? Music, locations, props, editing, crew, etc.
Creative Commons proved to be a treasure trove for music that is part of the soundtrack. Jeese Welter who portrays owner of the urban exploration business in real life leads photo groups through abandoned buildings. Writer Lisa Connor turned her experience on one of his trips into the storyline of this short. The Borromean key that is featured cannot be made in a three-dimensional world so a prop was made from balsa wood to create the illusion of a metal key with three mystical interlacing circles.
What is your next project?
Grandma Moses: The Farmwife Painter is a finished screenplay that needs between $500K and $1 million to turn into a respectable movie that is historically accurate with script, sets and wardrobe. The factual story covers the life of the once world famous painter of rural America who was discovered shortly after she began painting at age 76. For the next 25 years, she completed about 1500 paintings based on her recollection of growing up in Upstate New York.
Still from “Compassion”
The independent film business is a difficult one. What keeps you motivated? Where do you see the industry going in the future?
Technology has enabled the low-cost production and distribution of movies but it also has created an adundance of poorly-crafted films that find ooutlets because of high demand. Eventually the good movies will rise to top like cream but a few years will pass by before that settle out. New distribution models that include streaming will likewise sort itself out but in the meantime, moviegoers will have to wade through a lot of disappointing motion pictures.
Which filmmakers, artists or individuals have most influenced your work?
Stanley Kubrick’s portfolio stands out among the best.
What advice would you give new filmmakers?
Don’t let pride interfere with judgement about the quality of your work. Make whatever movies you need to make, find an audience and show them, then go on to make a better one.
Watch and vote for Compassion competing in 2016 Love Shorts Video Contest.
Watch his other film Grandma Moses The Farmwife Painter.
Visit his website at www.victorpytko.com
Follow Filmmaker Victor Pytko career on The Audience Awards.
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