How did you meet Animal Collective?

I met them 2002. I was with Black Dice and it was my very first time going on tour.And we were meeting up with them in Louisiana and they were going on tour. So, I basically met them on tour. And that was their first tour as well so it was really, really RAW. Really gnarley, really… what’s the word I’m looking for? Not confrontational, but just pretty… I don’t know.

So, how did the relationship grow to where you were doing the videos?
Well, then just from there, I started to know them in New York. I had met Dave in school. He went to NYU briefly while I was there, then he left. So I wouldn’t say I knew them from college. I was in film school and Dave and Eric from Black Dice did music and sound for my senior experimental movie; so, they knew that I made stuff and just from hanging out and watching movies and sharing tastes they knew that, at the very least I was someone who knew how to technically use a camera. And had made some interesting stuff.

The rabbit video I did for them was basically like the first thing that I did outside of college and I was really excited and put a lot of work into it. If anything, I was pretty fresh off the college experience. With setting up a shoot and how to do it. It was very meticulously storyboarded and had everything planned out and then- basically from there that was kind of right where they broke with that album and I’ve been lucky enough to have been friends with them since. They’re super supportive of me and given me a lot of opportunity, so that’s just kind of how it happened.
What was the inspiration behind the “Who Could Win the Rabbit?” video?
The rabbit video was actually… they came to me with the idea. They’re like, “We want to have a tortoise and hare on bikes. And whether it was puppets or whether it was them or whatever, it was up to me. So, I then designed the costume, the look of it, chose a location, then shot it, did all the editing… So that’s kind of how the “Summertime Clothes’ video worked and also for the movie. They’ll come to me with an idea (usually) minimal, really, really raw. They’ll be like, “Oh. We want to do this.” “Ok. Then what.” “Oh, well we thought you could fill that in.” Literally, the smallest idea. Then I say, “Ok” and just expound upon it. Then, I’ll work on the design and how it’s gonna look and such. So, that video: tortoise & hare, totally their idea and then I just did the costumes. So, Dave’ll do this and then I would do this. Then, we shot it and I edited for a long time. Or what seemed like a long time. I edited for like 4 weeks; then, worked with someone else on the composites. Yeah, ya know, I was happy this was the first thing I did outside of school.

Have you seen Donnie Darko?
Yeah…

They kind of stole your design a little bit.
I don’t know if they made it at the same time though!

Did they?
I thought they did. Didn’t they?

It was about 5 years ago.
Well, you know, it’s not like- actually I heard that Dunkin’ Doughnuts straight up ripped off the video.

Oh, really?
I never saw, but a friend saw. This Dunkin’ Doughnuts commercial that basically looked like the “Who Could Win a Rabbit?” video. So, I’m not super protective of that idea because it’s common archetype, ya know? It’s “Tortoise and the Hare”.

How much of the visuals do you think come from the music itself?
I would say it’s “Super, super important to me.” I do my own editing and I don’t think I’m anyone who could ever cut something, slap it together, and then put it in a video. Even if it was a Mariah Carey video, ya know? Where it’s just like: obviously there’s not cuts happening to the beats or for effect or anything. It’s just her looking pretty or something. I’ve done editing jobs where it’s like something crappy songwise or for a band and I think that’s what I’ll do. “Oh. I’ll just cut it all together and then slap it on the song at the last minute that way I don’t have to listen to the music.” But I always feel like I’m bound to the track and I feel like that’s ‘cause right outside of college that’s what I got into. A lot of the 60s filmmakers out in California where they did this thing called synesthesia. Those films where it was a visual representation of the sound. I very much take influence from and need the sound. That’s why making the Animal Collective movie was crazy and weird. For the longest time, I didn’t have any music. So, I’d make cuts and say, “Ok. Make a song for this. And hopefully you’ll make something that’ll all fit this.” There would be a back forth, which was nice, but for the longest time it was really ambiguous. I was like, I have no idea what their gonna do for this scene.

Where did the name ODDSAC come from?

It took a while to find the title because the whole piece is kinda schizophrenic piece. It’s got a lot of different tones, it’s all over the place. Anything we came up with for the title was gonna be A. completely random and total bullshit because the nature of the piece is kind of out there or it was gonna be too literal. I mean, you wouldn’t want it to be “Trippy Colors” by Animal Collective and Danny Perez. I wanted something in the title that was visual. O-D-D-S-A-C fulfilled that-

So, it is an acronym?
No, it’s not. My girlfriend already found stuff online where people were trying to find the meaning to it… keep trying. So, Oddsac is good because- well, I’ll have to practice this answer I guess. ODD, I feel like, implies this tongue in cheek element which I like. I definitely find humor to it. It doesn’t take itself super seriously. SAC is interesting to me because it’s a verb and a noun. It implies a singular thing containing multiple things. Which is the same as the movie as far as being this singular thing. It’s not meant to be a music video or a series of music videos. It’s meant to be this singular thing. And sack can also be a verb. As in someone getting sacked. I liked that because it’s sort of comic aggressive. As to where a sack is totally docile. It’s kind of these two different words and then you tack ODD onto it and you think, “Oh, yeah. That’s kind of funny.”

You really thought that through.
I  have.

How do you feel about your film premiering at Sundance?
I’m just excited to get it out there, man. I could show it to a retirement home and be excited. It’s a bug out. I haven’t really processed it. I’m really happy. I’ve been with this thing for 4 years. I’ve been way too inside of my own head. As far as it being Sundance… I ain’t gonna lie, man. It’s kind of a certain amount of validation, too. Before I found out I got in, I was wallowing. “Ohh. I didn’t get in,” or, “Oh, am I crazy?”. Is this total nonsense or something I’ve puled out of my ass. It’s not good to put all your eggs in one basket-
-or in one sack.

Or in one sack. Just because Sundance excepted me doesn’t mean… ya know, it could go down like hell. They could hate it and say “This is garbage. This is self-indulgant.” But I’m excited about it.

So, is it gonna be an arthouse release?
I think we’re gonna do a screening tour. I’m excited just to try. Maybe in bigger cities we’ll try a multiple night run, but I don’t think it’ll theatrical release. It’s also, like, 50 minutes.
Is this film a little bit like The Wall?
I’ve actually never even seen the film.
It’s like a mix of narrative which gets broken apart randomly.
It’s probably a lot less narrative than that. I really feel like this is a 21st century work. Not that it’s super advanced and you’re gonna see new technology, but it’s a 21st century work as in everything is on the cusp of changing. The music industry has gone to shit, the movie industry is not far behind, everything. Every generation feels like they’re falling apart, but let’s focus on media. Media, music, movies, and internet. It is in a major change. Shit’s gonna be crazy different 10 years from now. 5 years from now rental stores will be gone. I bet ya. All these things are changing. So, when I say this is gonna be a 21st century work, it is reflective on itself. It is introverted on itself, as far as I am a slave to the screen. I watch movies and I watch youtube all the time. The way you take in information and they way you get it back out there. For instance, this was released in a day and bam! I’m going to Sundance. It’s a reaction to all these things; from being constantly bombarding by these things. Where the fuck else are we gonna go from here?

Do you have any other projects that you’re working on right now?
I mean, I have another long format feature that would not be affiliated with any band. So, if I could find someone who would be interested and wants to give me some more dough I’d really want to do that. I really want to work with this band, these friends of mine, IUD, up in New York. It’s one member from Gang Gang Dance and one member from Growing. It’s two female drummers; really dirge and heavy like Fucked Up. It almost sounds like a marching line getting sped up. And girls singing about getting fucked. It’s really good. I’m also gonna be doing a lot of shows with Panda Bear this year in Europe. Basically, just gonna finish this up and hope to be in a different place a year from now.

ODDSAC Trailer:

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