THE OUTWATERS: In Conversation With Writer And Director Robbie Banfitch

You’d think by being this far into the digital revolution that ‘found footage’ films would have lost their spark by now. And yet, every so often a film comes along that pulls the rug out from beneath you and acts as a reminder that the sub-genre itself is still very much alive. That seems to be the case with The Outwaters; a desert-bound horror flick that somehow hits the sweet spot between feeling both unsettlingly intimate and disconnected, also calibrating a new kind of terror through the simple power of what’s left unexplained. Following the film’s recent release in the Chattanooga Film Festival, Film Inquiry’s Marc Ricov spoke with director Robbie Banfitch about the making of The Outwaters and what key concepts influenced his filmmaking process.

Marc Ricov from Film Inquiry: Hey Robbie, thanks for making the time to chat with us! Firstly, I wanted to ask… found-footage is obviously a very niche thing, so I’d like to know what makes an effective found footage horror film to you and how did you incorporate that into The Outwaters?

Robbie Banfitch: Hi! Well for me, the most effective is The Blair Witch Project. In found footage, I need the characters to feel authentic and not like they’re spouting off a bunch of exposition, or having stupid conversations one would never have on film. So that was important to me while making mine. Genuine performances and for the footage to feel authentically ‘found’. Here are the memory cards and this is what’s on them. I did love Willow Creek. One of the rules that Bobcat Goldthwait used for the film is that every shot had to have a logical point where the person would have pressed record and stop, so I tried to do a similar thing with The Outwaters.

I also have disdain for characters who are filming when it would be unrealistic to do so. My character is a cinematographer. He loves capturing images and the camera is almost a part of his body and soul. I felt that his complete disorientation in a burning desert combined with extreme trauma would allow for a natural reason for him to hold on to his camera; it’s a security blanket. He’s out of it. Sometimes he doesn’t even realize he’s filming, and sometimes he does, but his mind is not always necessarily in the same place as his body. So to sum all of that up: authenticity is important to me in found footage, in both performances and the logic of the piece. For me, that’s the whole point of the sub-genre.

I’m glad that you said that, because my next question was actually about your casting and working with the actors. Especially in the first half of the film – it seemed very patient with the character-building process and didn’t rush into things. Was that intended?

Robbie Banfitch: It was definitely intended. I love slow reveals, and films that take their time. I aimed for the character work in this to be subtle and natural. I picked people who I have relationships with, so even though Scott’s not my actual brother, he’s like a brother in real life. The relationships you see between us are the relationships we have in the real world. In terms of getting ‘natural’ performances from them and filming the “hanging out” stuff – that was just living. For example, with the drunk kitchen dancing scene – I love it in found-footage movies when characters go through their equipment, but I hate it when they are talking about the equipment in such an obvious, forshadowy way that you know it’s going to come up later. So, I just said “let’s hangout and dance while I’m looking through my gear”. It was all very fluid. We basically filmed our road trip.

So in that sense, while developing the The Outwaters, was there a specific script for your cast to look at or was it more about playing with the idea of what was going to happen in each scene?

Robbie Banfitch: Yeah, no script, nothing for them to look at. I would say “this is what we’re doing” and if there was something to imagine we would play around with it. Once in a while I would give them a line of dialogue, but for the most part, it was just setting up the idea of the scene and having fun with it. I have to give credit to Ange, Michelle, Scott and my Mom for helping with the whole process. With friends and family there is a familiarity and I’m not always the most eloquent in explaining a scene to them. I sometimes take it for granted that they’ll know what I’m thinking, which is absurd. They always kept me in check and pointed out when they needed more direction.

That’s awesome! After looking at some of your work, I noticed that you have a thing for nature and desolate landscapes. Is that something that you’re drawn to for horror?

Robbie Banfitch: Jaws has always been my favourite film. I wanted to be a marine biologist because of Jaws, but I also wanted to make movies because of it. I don’t know, it’s just a part of me – the nature thing. I do think the wilderness can be terrifying.

Totally. One thing I noticed in The Outwaters – without giving too much away – is the ‘switch’ that happens about halfway through the film. Where it goes from the slower, character-driven, hangin’ out together stuff to the second half, where it goes… bonkers. Was that jarring ‘flip’ intended to have a specific effect on the audience and to throw them a bit off guard?

Robbie Banfitch: It was one of the very first choices I made in my head when I was thinking about what kind of found-footage movie I wanted to do. I wanted to see a movie where there were people out somewhere, doing something, who were not looking for trouble, and how sometimes something horrific can come out of nowhere. I honestly wasn’t thinking about the audience or how it would play, I just wanted to explore that simple idea and see what happened.

So much happens in the second half and I feel like you wanted to leave a lot of it to the audiences’ imagination. It was really disorientating and I mean that in a good way. From a technical perspective there were a lot of bold choices made and in a narrative sense it was almost ambiguous, and it worked. Like, we never really know if what the characters are experiencing is something demonic, alien or even something that’s from the earth. To me, that’s what made it so great.

Robbie Banfitch: Thank you. For me, I know what happened and designed everything around that, and there are a lot of clues in the movie. Despite its chaotic nature, every moment in the film has a very specific purpose. That said, I didn’t want to take anyone’s interpretation away from them. In this case, the audience is supposed to be sifting through police evidence to try and figure out what happened, so everyone can look at the same footage and come to different conclusions, and those conclusions don’t necessarily contradict each other. If I have my theory, it might not contradict your theory based on what’s on tape. It’s fun to be a detective.

I think that’s a good thing. Audiences don’t need to be spoon-fed and I find it really impressive when filmmakers like yourself can find their own techniques on how to do that. Which makes me want to ask, do you have any inspirations outside the realms of horror? Because I noticed there were a few European-style things you did with your filmmaking style.

Robbie Banfitch: I love Woody Allen’s dramas: Interiors and Another Woman… Vicky Cristina Barcelona. My favourite directors are Éric Rohmer, Terrence Malick and François Ozon. I also love the work of Xavier Dolan and Jane Campion too.

I can definitely see the inspiration of Malick when it comes to your use of landscapes, that makes sense. And just so we can give people a little bit to get excited about, on top of The Outwaters being released – what’s next for you? What are your plans? Without giving too much away obviously, but are you going to continue with making some horror stuff or are you planning to go down another route?

Robbie Banfitch: There are two other features I’ve made over the past few years which are also in the can. One’s fully edited and one is in rough cut form. The first is a black and white silent [laughs]… arthouse drama. Very naturey. Exvallis. It’s definitely an ‘art’ movie. Technically, it was the first feature I finished shooting and The Outwaters was the second. But Exvallis still needs a score. And then I made another found footage movie right after The Outwaters called Tinsman Road. It’s a totally different vibe. It was shot on mini-DV, 4×3, and takes place in the early 2000’s. It’s still a bit artsy but with much more straightforward storytelling. Tinsman Road will be the next one ready to enter into festivals. And yeah, I’m just gonna keep making movies. I don’t mind if I have to do it on my own. I mean, I made the last three without studios or much money and I edited them here at this desk. More resources would be great, but I’m happy doing it this way, as well. Songwriting is also a hobby. I would like to do more songs at some point in the future.

So you do music as well? You play instruments?

Robbie Banfitch: I suck at instruments, but I write songs and sing. A few of my songs are on The Outwaters soundtrack.

What? No one would even know! 

Robbie Banfitch: [laughs] The purist in me had conflict about the fact that I’m technically listening to my own song in the movie, like ugh! But there’s a Spotify playlist for the soundtrack. I used songs by my friends and two by one of my favorite artists, Tim Eriksen, who worked on a lot of the music for Cold Mountain. I really love the soundtrack for The Outwaters: there’s something for everyone because the music is diegetic and listened to by the characters, who all have different tastes. As for future projects, I want to make more in the realms of drama, mystery and horror… I’m not so much an action or comedy type filmmaker. But, yeah, there are definitely a lot of dramas I want to make.

We’ll look forward to that! Thank you for taking the time to speak with us, Robbie.

Robbie Banfitch: No, thank you!

Film Inquiry would like to thank Robbie Banfitch for being such great company and taking the time to speak with us!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzrvkxVnL00