George Rausch

Q: George, when did you start shooting films?
A: Around 1991 I started shooting one take films on a VHS camcorder with friends in and around my neighborhood. We would storyboard the scenes in a composition notebook, which I still have to this day.

Q: When did you make the jump to digital video?
A: I got a QuickCam in 1995 and was shooting short comedy videos with the camera tethered to my PC. I was editing using Adobe Premiere. However, I continued to edit linear video until I 2001 when I started editing exclusively on computers.

Q: Wow! Do you still have those old videos?
A: Yes and no. I have all of the VHS tapes, but they have not been captured to digital. All of the DIGITAL shorts were erased accidentally in 2006 when I mistook one external hard drive for another. This is one of the reasons why I continue to shoot everything on tapes and not memory cards. There is only one or two digital shorts that survive on an aging HD on a friend's computer in Hollywood.

Q: What kind of films do you like to do?
A: I've done a lot of things, but I really enjoy doing comedy and documentary. My senior film at Tufts University (Titled "SNAFU") was a dark comedy. I like comedy, but not light hearted or pure slapstick. It has to have a little bite. My mother said, "Next time, can you make something without so much death in it?" I once wrote a screenplay adaption of a scene from a Gothic English play (The Castle Specter). I learned a lot about dramatic lighting. I've assisted student filmmakers direct Shakespeare and narrative films as well.

Q: What is your gear?
A: I do not own a camera myself (except a Canon Elura 100 for capturing miniDV) and instead borrow or rent depending on what I want to do. I've been fortunate enough to have access to equipment through my place of employment. At home, I run FCP Studio 2 on an iMac (late 2007 model). I shoot digital photos on my Nikon D80. I've become a master of zero budget work by making a lot of my own equipment or pulling parts together from other gear.

Q: What do you see yourself doing in the future with video/film?
A: I'm hoping that I'll find a niche in creating films that have my own distinct style (like you know when you're watching a Coen Brother's or Wes Anderson film) that deals with the relationship between technology and society. I also enjoy teaching and working with new and old filmmakers, discovering new perspectives on how to shoot films and creating new methods for capturing the image. Ultimately, I think it would be amazing to be a filmmaker and a professor/lecturer at a university.

Q: I heard that you are an actor as well. Is this true?
A: Yes, I've been acting for a long time (just about the same time that I started shooting video, 1991). I love being on stage and in front of the camera. However, in filmmaking, I find myself more often behind the camera or as producer because I like running a tight ship and making sure that everything runs on time and on budget. So, I'd like to revise what I said before: I'd like to be an actor/producer/director/professor when I grow up.

Q: Is there anything else that you'd like to share.
A: I really think video/film have an bright future and I wish to be a part of it as things change. Also, I'd like to thank my mom for supporting my filmmaking habits when I was a kid, the Excursions in Learning Program which taught me how to edit (on linear decks) and run a set, Glastonbury Youth Services Bureau for their after school programs in acting and television production, Tufts University for providing me with an opportunity to learn about film history, experiment with all kinds of technology, and act/director/produce several films, and my mentors Howard Woolf, Don Schechter, and Joshua Seftel.

Q: Red pill or blue pill?
A: I know that is a reference to the Matrix, but I have no idea which does what. I promptly forgot it. Does that make me a bad filmmaker? I hope not.

Q: Thank you for your time.
A: It was my pleasure. I like interviewing myself.